Hong Kong Without the Hustle

Outside our open windows, the sighing of the South China Sea and the rustle of palm fronds were the night’s only sounds. Moonlight bathed Silvermine Beach, where a handful of small hotels lines the boardwalk.

Hard to believe that the bright lights of downtown Hong Kong -- the incomparable shopping, dining and sightseeing destination -- are just a half-hour ferry ride away. But it’s true: We spent a typical tourist day in the city, ending with a tram ride up Victoria Peak to watch the city lights come on. Within an hour we were back in our beachfront B&B; in the quiet community of Mui Wo on Lantau Island.

Lantau is Hong Kong’s largest island, but it’s still rural, with hiking trails, a scenic rocky coastline, hilltop monasteries and quaint, boat-access-only fishing villages. This makes it a popular weekend outing for urbanites as well as a favorite day trip for many visitors to Hong Kong. Even on Saturdays, when prices nearly double, rooms cost far less than their city counterparts.

My partner, Maria, and I found that staying in Mui Wo, with its ferry access to Central (as downtown Hong Kong is called), was the key to making one of the world’s most expensive cities affordable and enjoyable.

When a friend, whose import business takes him to Asia often, heard we were planning to stop in Hong Kong after a trip to India in January, he told us about a little hideaway in Mui Wo. “It’s just a bar and restaurant run by a couple of expats,” he said, “but it’s right on the beach, and they have a little flat they rent out as a B&B.; Sort of funky, but clean and comfortable. You’d like it. And it costs less than 50 bucks a night.”

We called and booked a week. Our seven nights, breakfast included, would cost us about what we would have paid for a single night in a Central high-rise.

Even though our flight didn’t land until 10:30 at night, getting to Mui Wo from the airport couldn’t have been easier. (The new Chek Lap Kok International Airport is on reclaimed land connected to Lantau.) A plush airport bus took us over the mountain range that bisects the island and down to Mui Wo, dropping us off at the ferry terminal, still well lighted at that hour. We followed the paved boardwalk -- the only beach access -- and found the China Beach Club, a two-story structure near the end of the quiet strand.

Our ground-floor room was spacious and more comfortable than our friend’s wry description had us expecting. With a private bath and our own boardwalk entrance, it was easy to settle in and feel at home.

In the morning we explored the neighborhood. The beach curving around Silvermine Bay was immaculately clean. On the sand, a Chinese couple did calisthenics, while along the boardwalk an expat, with backpack and briefcase, pedaled his bicycle, no doubt heading for the ferry and work in Central. A shady walkway led us off the beach and past small vegetable gardens, rice paddies and, next to a starfruit tree, a black Brahma bull chewing his cud. Farther along we found a winding canal lined with cute cottages and tiny docks, and soon we entered the village proper. A man placed burning joss sticks on a shrine at the base of a banyan tree; down another lane, a half-dozen retired people played croquet in a small park.

There were no cars, just pedestrians and bicycles passing along the quiet lanes.

The town clearly reflects Hong Kong’s dual-national character (Chinese for 2,000 years; a British crown colony for 158 years, until 1997; and now Chinese again). In the traditional Mui Wo Market, where little English is spoken, we watched as a fishmonger took only seconds to grab, gut, scale and weigh a fish that was still flapping when she slid it into a plastic bag. The British expats prefer to shop in their impressively stocked grocery stores. At the Wellcome Supermarket we found everything from Mot et Chandon champagne ($51) to Skippy peanut butter ($2.50) and fresh produce from a dozen nations. (All prices here are in U.S. dollars.)

Completing our Mui Wo reconnoiter, we discovered a convenient ATM, a mountain bike rental, three pubs, a couple of cute Euro-style cafes, a food court that served cheap dim sum until midnight, and a popular McDonald’s (Big Macs $1.50).

Sunset found us in the China Bear pub near the wharf. When the first ferry of the evening arrived from Central, the pool table got lively and the booths filled up with expats, most of whom apparently have prospered teaching English at private schools in the city. They would all be catching the 8:30 fast ferry in the morning. And so would we.

At 8:20 a.m., as we bought our tickets ($2.90 each), dozens of island commuters, mostly on bicycles, were converging on the ferry terminal. We hustled inside, the last few seats filled, and the ferry left the pier at 8:30 sharp.

I hardly had time to read the headlines of the South China Morning Post and finish my coffee before the skyline filled with glittering buildings, the water churned with exotic boat traffic, and we were snuggling up to Pier 6 in Central, on the island of Hong Kong, 30 minutes after leaving bucolic Mui Wo.

We stepped out into a multilevel, vertical world of glass, concrete and stainless steel, a wonderland of high-tech, futuristic, urban architecture.

And a model of easy, efficient, economical mass transit. For the next couple of days we navigated effortlessly all over Hong Kong by ferry, tram, subway, city bus and funicular, every conveyance spotlessly clean, convenient and stress-free. (Petty crime is not a concern here, on the streets or in the subways, day or night.) And we did it all without putting a dent in our budget. Consider:

* The fare on the classic (1904) electric trams that run the length of Central is 28 cents.

* On comfortable city buses, it costs just $1.10 for the scenic drive across the island of Hong Kong to the pretty seaside village and popular bargain market of Stanley.

* For $2.25, the Peak Tram will lift you through a greenhouse-like thicket of bananas, vines and bamboo to 1,200-foot Victoria Peak. The million-dollar view of the harbor and the city skyline from the top is free, and so is the spectacular hourlong hike around the crest of the mountain.

* It costs 30 cents to take one of the century-old Star Ferries on an eight-minute cruise across busy Victoria Harbor between Central and Kowloon. They leave so often that missing one hardly matters; you just hop on the next one a few minutes later.

* Hong Kong’s terrific subway (MTR) not only goes under the harbor but continues out to the far suburbs. Fares are usually less than $1 a ride. The most we paid was $1.80 from Central to Wong Tai Sin Temple in the suburb of New Kowloon. The temple is known for its fortunetellers, many of whom speak English, but we weren’t tempted.

Although mass transit and sightseeing are inexpensive, eating and drinking in Hong Kong can be costly. In the fancier pubs you can pay $25 for a drink, and the food can be just as pricey. After paying $8 for a cup of coffee in one such place, we had almost decided we’d have to stick with dim sum or brown-bag it from Mui Wo to keep within our budget in the city. Then we discovered the Mariners Club right in the heart of Tsimshatsui, what one guidebook calls “the tourist ghetto” of old Kowloon. There we feasted on an extravagant lunch buffet complete with half a dozen tempting desserts and a great view for just $17, total. The club is primarily for “mariners and seafarers,” but the restaurant is open to the public.

After a few days of sightseeing and shopping in the big city, we were ready to explore the rural landscape of Lantau. Our first hike started right at our gate. We followed the beach boardwalk to where it turned into a coastal trail that wound through bamboo brakes and banana groves, past sandy coves and over grassy cliffs. We finally halted on a hilltop meadow whose view took in a half-dozen islands. The dramatic beauty of the island landscape and its easy accessibility were delightfully unexpected.

Higher up, in peaceful seclusion, was a Trappist monastery. An hour’s hike ahead, around an extensive headland, lies the upscale Discovery Bay, Lantau’s other expat seaside community. Residents there, I was told, preferred getting around by golf cart rather than bicycle, and for their city commute had the choice of helicopter or hovercraft ferry.

Our appetite for adventure whetted, we set out on a more ambitious walk the next day: We took the bus up to Po Lin monastery, where a huge bronze Buddha is the big attraction. We planned to hike all the way down to the fishing village of Tai O at the end of the island. We brought along picnic fixings from the Wellcome market: French Merlot, Italian sausage, Dutch cheese and Swedish crackers. The 80-foot-high Buddha peeked in and out of the green hills as we rode up from Mui Wo. After climbing the long stairway to the statue and wandering the monastery gardens and temples, we clomped back down the road for half an hour to a place where a wooden sign marked our starting point for the Lantau Trail. (This extensive trail system, with primitive campsites, covers the west half of the island.)

The path was easy to follow, and, in the steeper sections, steppingstones were in place. At times the path took us into dripping tropical dells spurting waterfalls and then onto open sunny meadows with broad sea views.

Three hours into our hike, we crossed a tiny creek where a trail sign said “Tai O 1 1/4 hours.” The route was mostly downhill from there. We found a comfortable spot to rest and enjoyed our picnic lunch.

The view was nothing but rolling meadow and blue horizon. “I really like Hong Kong,” I said, breaking our reverie. “So do I,” Maria said. “All this, and shopping too!”

Tai O was a colorful congestion of junks, sampans, stilt shacks, suspended boardwalks and rickety bridges. All of this crowded a narrow ocean inlet that formed the main artery of the fishing village. There were stacks and racks of dried and drying fish everywhere. Plenty of contented cats napped in the shadows.

Skiffs motored up the inlet every few minutes with fresh fish. Tiny seafood restaurants nearby displayed the catch on ice in their windows. We squeezed into one restaurant (whose name was written in Chinese only), sat down and were given chopsticks and a pot of jasmine tea. We ordered by pointing to a fish, which was then cooked to perfection. Our bill came to less than $10.

The sun was setting when the bus from Tai O dropped us off in Mui Wo. As we walked along the beach, we agreed that this had been our best day yet in Hong Kong. And, I wasn’t surprised to realize, our cheapest. Funny how that works.

*

Carl Duncan is a freelance writer and photographer who lives on Salt Spring Island, Canada.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Guidebook: Lantau Islandk: Hong Kong

* Getting there: United and Cathay Pacific have nonstop flights from LAX los Angeles to Hong Kong, with round-trip fares starting at $810 and $986, respectively. Fares start at $652 for connecting service (change of planes) on EVAva, JAL, Northwest, China Southern, Philippine, Korean, Asiana and China.

* Where to stay: Most of the hotels in Mui Wo on Lantau Island give a substantial discount by the week. Breakfast is included with the room rate at the Silvermine, Mui Wo and China Beach hotels. All are on the boardwalk, just beyond the ferry dock.

Silvermine Beach Hotel is the largest, with 128 rooms; telephone 011-852-2984-8295, fax 011-852-2984-1907, Internet https://www.hkf.com. Rates start at $117 per night, or $40 per night for a week.

Mui Wo Inn, Silvermine Bay; tel. 011-852-2984-7225, fax 011-852-2984--1916. Rates start at $40.

Seaview Holiday Resort, Silvermine Bay, tel. 011-852-2984-8877, fax 011-852-2984-8787. Rates start at $42 per night, $70 on Saturdays.

We stayed in the one-room B&B; of the China Beach Club, tel. 011-852-2983-8931, fax 011-852-2983-8421; e-mail https://chinabc@netvigator.com. Rates:: $48; $76 on Saturdays.

* Where to eat: China Beach Club, on the boardwalk (telephone above) serves Continental cuisine, such as sirloin steak, $18; boneless perch baked in olive oil, $9.

On Saturday nights, Silvermine Beach Hotel, (telephone above) serves a Southeast Asian food and barbecue buffet from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; $25 per person, including beer.

Cooked Food Court, near the ferry terminal, has half a dozen dim sum restaurants.; A serving of two steamed dumplings costs about 65 cents; jasmine tea is free.

* For more information:

Hong Kong Tourist Assn., 10940 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2050, Los Angeles, CA 90024; tel. (800) 282-HKTA (282-4582), fax (310) 208-1869, https://www.hkta.org.

For an informative map: https://www.hkta.org/map/.