Junk Cruise

A lady from church invited our 30's social group to join her and her visiting friends on a Junk Cruise yesterday. We sailed from Central to a small island to the south of Hong Kong Island called Po Toi. When I was told it was a Junk Cruise, I had visions in my mind of a wooden boat with bright red sails, but it turns out the modern day 'junk' isn't quite so romantic. None the less it was a fabulous day especially as the air is still so clean (that is to say, the winds are still blowing in our favour and there's barely any pollution). We were caught briefly in heavy rain as we were sailing, but most of the time it was just fine and very cloudy.

We got off at Po Toi just in time for the second heavy deluge of water from the heavens, perfectly timed for the 5 minute walk to the seafood restaurant at which we all arrived looking like a collective something the cat dragged in. But it's not like it was your typical posh Sydney seafood dining experience... This little in-the-middle-of-nowhere joint had us entering through a storage room off the kitchen... there were people packed in like sardines and a dog eating scraps under the tables. That is all to say, bedraggled as we were, we fit in perfectly well, and were soon hoeing in to some fabulous fare. I'm not much of a seafood fan, but even I liked everything on offer, including clams which I decided I may as well just try, very much expecting to not like them but they were fantastic. The Chinese have a way with sauces! We ate fit to bursting, then waddled back along the path to the jetty where our 'junk' picked us up and tootled around to a little bay of the same island for a swim off the back of the boat and rather a lot of talking and various amounts of drinking (including a "boutique beer" from New Zealand that Melanie brought along with the thickest, creamiest froth you ever saw)...



When the sun was just about finished with the day, our captain started up the motor and took us back via the other side of Hong Kong Island to our starting point at Central. It was a balmy evening and we enjoyed the cool wind and spectacular view from the front of the boat, the light of the sun slowly fading as urban lights popped to life on the islands around us. By the time we came in to the harbour we were treated to an amazing festival of lights from all the apartment buildings and perfectly timed to watch the nightly laser show which is beamed off the commercial high rise buildings on both sides of the harbour. All in all, a superb day! Check out the full photographic evidence under My Pics - Po Toi Cruise.



While you're at My Pics, have a look at the photos from my time in Sydney last week - the link is called Sydney July 07.