This dumbbell shaped island is a 30-minute ferry ride from Central.
Hong Kong is made up of 262 islands. While not all of them are easy to reach, many offer interesting sites. Top of your list of islands to visit should be Cheung Chau. This dumbbell shaped island is a 30-minute ferry ride from Central. Here are a top six of things to do on Hong Kong’s “Long Island.”
1. Eat truly fresh seafood.
Cheung Chau is a fisherman community and the harbor is filled with shipping boats. Many of the waterfront restaurants feature tanks of freshly-caught fish and customers are invited to pick out a fish from the tank to be cooked for their dinner.
2. Hit the water and windsurf.
Cheung Chau is the hot spot of Hong Kong’s windsurfing culture. The bay has the perfect breezes both for experienced windsurfers and novices getting out on the water for the first time.
3. Kickback on the beach.
Tung Wan beach is a favorite beach in Hong Kong. Kickback on the sand and enjoy the warm water. The views from this beach look towards the impressive skyline of Hong Kong island.
4. Watch dragon boaters.
Dragon boat festivals take place all over Hong Kong and Cheung Chau has its own as well. To the sounds of excited bystanders drumming, the dragon boaters race each other across the harbor.
5. Eat at a gold medal Olympian’s favorite hangout.
Hong Kong’s sole gold medal Olympian, Le Lai-shan won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in windsurfing. The Cheung Chau Windsurfing Centre claims to be a favorite eatery of the windsurfer and has a bar and café serving a mix of Western and Chinese food with views over the island.
6. Rock climb a tower of buns.
Cheung Chau’s famous annual bun festival takes place in May. The festival includes a parade of children on stilts, stalls selling vegetarian buns such as lotus and sesame all over the island, and a bun scrambling festival held at midnight to conclude the festival. The climbing of the massive towers of buns used to be open to the public but after tragedies in which members of the public were injured, the climbing has been limited to a select twelve athletes who must compete for the position. The climber who can gather the most buns within the time limit wins the competition.
