Stanley

Yesterday (Saturday), our friends Rus & Mel Beasley invited us to go with them to the town of Stanley on Hong Kong island. We hadn't been there before, and as we are always up for an adventure, we said yes. Stanley is located on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, which led me to believe that it would be just another section of the Hong Kong urban sprawl. In reality, it was very different from anywhere we'd been so far in Hong Kong.

The town itself sits on a small harbor where a few fishermen still keep their boats. Apparently, Stanley was home to a village of about 2000 people before the British arrived in the 1800's, making it one of the largest settlements on Hong Kong island at the time.
While not much remains of that original settlement, there are still elements of local culture to be seen in the village (like the small Buddhist shrine that we found near the waterfront - pictured above). Not surprisingly, what attracts locals to Stanley is its sense of distance from the city. With a wide-open corniche area filled with alfresco cafes (charging tourist prices), Stanley feels almost more European than Asian. I suppose the throngs of white tourists contribute to that atmosphere as well.
Before we went to Stanley, I didn't know anything about its restaurants or its corniche. What I had heard about was the shopping. There's nothing that the people of Hong Kong love more than a bargain. And while the prices in Stanley weren't anything special, there were still plenty of people packed into its marketplace, searching for bargains.
We wandered through the market for an hour or so, looking through racks of suspiciously inexpensive "authentic" name-brand merchandise. But it wasn't the Salomon shoes or Deuter backpacks that drew our attention. We were more interested in the tourist kitsch. Here are a few of the things we found for sale:
XXXXXXL shirts - for the plump gentleman in your life.
T-shirts featuring your favorite head of state, complete with Chairman Mao hat.
And odd little journal-style books filled with perplexing sayings. I don't quite understand why there were so many products with pictures of Obama on them, as most of the tourists we met seemed to be either European or from Australia or New Zealand. Still, I guess they wouldn't sell it if people didn't buy it.

Before we left Stanley, we decided to have a little bite to eat down by the water. We were planning on having "tea" at one of the cafes by the water. But, when we saw the prices they were charging (remember: it's a tourist destination), we opted out of the alfresco dining experience. Instead, we stopped in at the local grocery store, where we each bought a pastry and a drink. We took our food down to park benches by the water and enjoyed a very cheap snack with a priceless view. And of course, we had to take a picture while we were there.


We were planning to meet some other friends from work at 6:30 up in Kowloon for a birthday dinner, which meant that we had to leave Stanley before the sun set. This meant that we had to take a bus to Central (downtown Hong Kong - on the opposite side of Hong Kong island from Stanley) and transfer to the MTR (subway) for the trip across the harbor to Tsim Sha Tsui (in Kowloon). This meant that, for the first time in 2 months, I found myself in downtown Hong Kong at dusk with my camera. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a couple of pictures. Here's my favorite:
Which leads me to my last question (and remember: we love to read your comments, so don't be shy in answering!). We've traveled quite a bit over the last few years, and I have decided that I love cities at night (in places like Cairo, it's the only time you can't see the dirt!). I haven't decided what my favorite is, but Hong Kong is in the running for most beautiful city at night. Here's our question: What's your favorite city to visit (or just look at) at night time?