Island Hopping

Island Hopping

There are 235 so-called Outer Islands, and several of them are great escapes from the city for the waterfront views, some seafood, and a little peace. Island villages are up to speed (to the regret of many, cell phones work), but they run at a humane pace. Hong Kong ferries travel from Central to many of the islands, where beaches are often a short walk from the pier.

Cheung Chau. This small, car-less island southwest of Hong Kong is best known as being the home to windsurfing Olympic gold medalist Lee Lai-shan. At the tip of the beach here is a lovely outdoor restaurant owned by relatives of San-San (as she's affectionately called), who have proudly hung a large framed picture of the athlete in her golden moment. The island community lives mostly on the sandbar that connects the two hilly tips of this dumbbell-shape land mass. It's a one-hour ferry ride from Central's Pier 5 outside Two IFC, and the town harbor is lined with seafood restaurants and shops.

On weekends Tung Wan, Cheung Chau's main beach, is so crowded that its sweep of golden sand is barely visible. At one end of the beach is the Warwick Hotel. Plenty of nearby restaurants offer refreshments, seafood, and shade. There are no private cars allowed on this island, so the air is noticeably clean.

Lamma Island. Lamma is as close to a 1960s bohemian scene as Hong Kong gets -- full of laid-back expats driven out of Central by high rents. They've spawned a subculture of vegetarian restaurants, health-food shops, and craft stores. The ferry from Central's Pier 4, in front of Two IFC, to the village of Sok Kwu Wan or to Yung Shue Wan takes about 25 minutes. It doesn't matter which village you go to first -- time spent on beaches near them and on the hour-long walk through rolling green hills between them are what a leisurely afternoon on Lamma is all about.

"Beach" overstates the scale of the sandy strip known as Hung Shing Ye. It's also called Power Station Beach because of the massive power plant visible from it. The view doesn't deter the young locals, who materialize whenever the rays shine down. They even swim here -- sometimes. Stay on shore if you see plastic bags or other refuse on the water. Or just head to Yung Shue Wan, the former farming and fishing village that's been an expat enclave since the early 1980s. Main Street is lined with handicraft shops, though the smell of the fish markets is a reminder of Lamma's humbler, less cosmopolitan origins.

Popular with families, Lo So Shing beach is an easy 20- to 30-minute hike on a paved path from Sok Kwu Wan, the smaller and grittier of Lamma's two villages and one that's notable mainly for the string of cavernous seafood restaurants that line the path leading from the pier. If you arrive on foot from Yung Shue Wan, your first glimpse of the bay from the hills will be stunning.

Ping Chau. Not to be confused with Peng Chau, this 2 1/2 square km (1 square mi) piece of land is in the far northeast of the New Territories, near the mainland coast. It's almost deserted and has a checkered history. Guns and opium were once smuggled from here, and during the Cultural Revolution many mainlanders swam through shark-infested waters in hopes of reaching Ping Chau and the freedom of Hong Kong.

The island's largest village, Sha Tau, is something of a ghost town, with many cottages boarded up. A large part of the island is country parkland, with footpaths overgrown with orchids, wild mint, and morning glories. At the island's south end are two huge rocks known as the Drum Rocks, or Watchman's Tower Rocks. At the north end is a chunk of land that has broken away from the island; the Chinese say it represents the head of a dragon.

The ferry to Ping Chau departs on weekends at 9 AM and returns only at 5:15 PM. On Saturday there's an extra trip at 3:30 PM. Board the ferry at Ma Liu Shui, near the University KCR stop. Since there's only one daily ferry, be sure to verify the timing with the HKTB before you leave. A round-trip costs HK$80.

Po Toi Island. Three barren little fishing islands, virtually unchanged since medieval times, sit in the extreme southeast of Hong Kong. Only Po Toi Island is inhabited (sort of), with fewer than 100 people. It offers spectacular walks and a fine seafood restaurant. Walk uphill past primitive dwellings, many deserted, to the Tin Hau Temple, or walk east through the hamlet of Wan Tsai, past banana and papaya groves, to some geometric rock carvings, believed to have been carved during the local Bronze Age, about 2,500 years ago.

A trip to the Po Toi Islands is an all-day affair. Ferries leave Aberdeen on Tuesday, Thursday, and weekends at 8 AM and from St. Stephen's Beach in Stanley at 10 or 11:30 AM. Ferries return at 3 and 4:30 PM directly to St. Stephen's Beach, or at 6 PM to Aberdeen via St. Stephen's Beach. A round-trip costs HK$40.

Tap Mun Island. About a 15-minute walk from the Chinese University along Tai Po Road in Sha Tin is the Ma Liu Shui Ferry Pier. This is the starting point for a ferry tour of the harbor and Tap Mun Island, whose east side is home to Tap Mun Cave and some of the territories' best-kept beaches. The ferry makes many stops; if you take the 8:30 AM trip you'll have time to hike around Tap Mun Island and be back in the city by late afternoon. The last ferry returning from the island is at 5:30 PM. A round trip costs HK$32 on weekdays and HK$50 on weekends.

The New Fisherman's Village, on the island's southern side, is populated mainly by Hakka women. About 1 km ( 1/2 mi) north, near the western shore, is the ancient village of Tap Mun, where you'll see old women playing mah-jongg. The Tin Hau Temple, dedicated to the goddess of the sea, is less than 1/2 km (¼ mi) north of the village. It's atop steps that lead down to the harbor; inside are old model junks and, of course, a veiled figure of the goddess.