Vacationing in Sai Kung

Sai Kung is generally pretty removed from the rest of the city and is a nice getaway spot from the hustle and bustle of daily life. CharK and I like coming here on weekends for brunch at one of the local cafés. The fall is a great time for sitting on patio and we had a nice lunch at the Ali Oli Bakery this past weekend. I recommend the Shepard's pie, it's homemade and has a delicious beef and carrots filling. The chocolate granola bar is also one of my favourite desserts of theirs.

A chocolate-y granola bar from Ali Oli Bakery (Photo:CathC)

 After lunch we walked along the shore, and came across two cows and a calf eating grass. They apparently live in the mountains nearby and often block roads during the weekday traffic. Sai Kung is decently populated and the cows have adapted to all the traffic and people so they pretty much ignore all of people walking up to them to take photos.

Mom's eating while the calf sleeps nearby (Photo:CathC)

Even though we see these cows in the news periodically (related to traffic jams) people are still surprised to see them up close. Most people living here city folk after all.

I wasn't the only one taking photos of these cows (Photo: CathC)

Eventually, these cows moved into the parking lot after they had their fill of grass. Their moo-ing really echoed inside the parking lot too (Photo:CathC).

As we were walking around, a scent of roasted chestnuts filled the air. There use to be a lot of more of these street vendors in HK but the streetfood culture is slowly evolving into small shops and designated food districts instead. The vendor was saying business was slow for him that day. But in addition to chestnuts, he also roasted yams. And after we came back around 20 minutes late, we saw most of him yams were sold as well. So I guess the day wasn't all bad for him.

Typical HK street stalls--roasted yams and chestnuts (Photo:CathC)

These chestnuts are roasted in a big wok filled with sugar and coal (Photo:CathC)

Not only do tourists come to Sai Kung for seafood but turns out a lot of locals do as well. It's a very popular place for water sports like surfing and snorkling. Can't wait to come back here for another weekend getaway and enjoy the beach.