Let's go to the beach

This morning we caught a bus to Stanley market which I believe is on the south side of Hong Kong Island. Stanley bay was quite modern but a little too touristy. The market was sweet, selling clothes and souvenirs and was only just off the bay meaning it was a perfect place for tourists. The bay would maybe have been nice if it hadn't been raining (again) but there was a lot of litter. Just looking into the sea you could see all sorts of rubbish being swept up with the tide. There was a pier on the opposite side of the bay to the market which was quite nice, with views out to other islands (a little hard to see due to the amount of mist). 

A little park lead up out of the town to a mini temple on the edge of a cliff. It was quaint and picturesque but the offerings of pork outside it was a little odd. We walked through the rest of the park, stopping at a Buddhist monastery for a quick look (quite a modern building so not very exciting) before heading back into town for lunch. 

We hit a supermarket for food, my best purchases being peanut butter m&ms and some anti-itch cream for my bug bites. Can't decide which I enjoyed more. 

From Stanley bay we got another bus to Repulse bay, a little further up the island. We headed straight for the beach and went paddling for about an hour, bearing in mind it was still raining. The beach was nice, very touristy again with large apartment buildings but there was decent sand and the water was quite warm. A path at the east side of the bay took us along the coast to another bay, passing a section of fishing boats but the view was ruined by an awful looking theme park placed on top of a hill. 

Another bus journey back to Central and we were wondering round looking for somewhere for tea. We'd researched a few places so we could be assured good food and so settled for Mak's noodles. The waiter pretty much picked for us so brought out two noodle bowls, one with beef brisket and one with shrimp wontons. I also asked for some veg which was kale with oyster sauce but to me the kale was more like tender stem broccoli. I've missed green veg though so it was delicious. The beef was also yummy, very tender, and the shrimp wontons were the best. Very flavoursome. I often find shrimp doesn't have a lot of flavour but these were meaty and delightful. 

I've got a new obsession with something called Koala's March which is these little Koala shaped biscuits with chocolate inside (strawberry ones are available too). For some reason I find them rather tasty. I bought a family pack before heading back to the hostel so might have looked a little odd walking along carrying a big box of them (I wasn't given a plastic bag).