Thursday, June 23, 2011

Glamping in Hong Kong. How is it possible?

Last weekend we went camping (or 'glamping' as I prefer to call it)... in Hong Kong.
n.b. Those italics-y things there are because I want you to understand the sheer improbability of this, in my mind at least... which is kind of mean because, after all, Hong Kong is something like 80% green mountains and beaches.
So why wouldn't one camp?
I guess I just never really thought of it as a camping place. For one, I come from Australia, where an episode of Man vs. Wild is pretty much your average camping weekend. It's a camper's  paradise.
Hong Kong is more like a shopper's paradise. There are very few visible campsites. Most are impossible to get to, except via helicopter. The beaches are polluted. And it's just so darn friggin' hot.
But, then my friend found this little gem of a place called 'Treasure Island'. No, not a ride at Disneyland, not a mini-tropical island, just a little campsite in downtown Hong Kong called 'Treasure Island'.
You can see how this could go very wrong.
But, we were desperate to feel like we were still on holidays in Thailand, so we just went ahead and booked it. Not sleeping in our own bed? Wearing shorts and sunscreen? Bringing a book? Well, that's a holiday, right?
I have to say, it really was. We were more than pleasantly surprised. 
For a start, we didn't need to bring our own tent. They're already all set up at the site. It's a 30-minute ferry ride from where we live. You can leave at breakfast, and arrive in time for, well, breakfast. There were no other campers there but us, so we had the whole place to ourselves.  There was a restaurant right on the beach, which served coffee, cocktails by the jug, burgers, ribs, nachos and other straight-to-the-thighs food. It didn't rain once, despite warnings of torrential downpours and tropical storms. The tents were just a short walk to the beach... And that beach, Pui O, was simply gorgeous.

We swam, lay in banana chairs, bathed in the sun and lazed around. There were even wild buffaloes on the other side of the tents! At one point they stampeded across the field, like a scene from Out of Africa.

I am seriously not kidding. Pinky-swear.

It was pretty faultless... until it came time to go to sleep in tropical temperatures and none of us really managed it. Perhaps next time we'll pick a time of year when the sun isn't trying to kill us.

Hong Kong? You've outdone yourself again. Now if it would just stop pouring this week I might feel tempted to tell you I love you. 

But, you see, you just keep raining down. So, you miss out again.

Now, over to you... I do far too much waffling on this blog. How was your weekend? What did you get up to?









 See? I wasn't lying about the buffalo!

2 comments:

  1. I love these pics! And it's not at all how I imagined Hong Kong. Would definitely never have thought that one could camp there, but it looks like the perfect place for it. Cool!

    I live in Sweden and this is our big Midsummer's weekend, so it's been a lot of fun and food. :p

    Have a continued lovely weekend!
    /Alexandra

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