Out on the jetty

I've read that the Sai Wan Swimming Shed (or the jetty at the shed at the very least) is one of the most instagramed locations in Hong Kong.

It wasn't hard to understand why it was such a highly photographed location.

It was an exceptionally beautiful location which combined the natural beauty of the water and its surroundings with a strangely isolated and rickety structure.  The jetty didn't seem to quite belong in this place, and yet it was this juxtaposition of something so delicate, artificial and out of place which seem to make the whole scene that much more picturesque.

I had somehow managed to find myself here on a day when there was almost nobody in the water.  A few elderly swimmers were leaving the water just as I was entering and they all began to do their loud breathing exercises up on the hill.  They let out loud bellows as they cleared their lungs and sinuses, each like a horn being sounded.  Again, it was such a strange contrast.  The calm serenity of the water and surroundings being interrupted occasionally by the loud whoops of the elderly.  It didn't seem out of place though, it almost seemed to make the whole experience more alive. 

I walked back to Kennedy Town after that experience.  I felt refreshed and awakened by the swim and was hungry.  I found my friend Jon who had finished his workout and he took me to a local cafe.

I ordered a matcha latte and a smoothie bowl.  Looking at the different colours arrayed out in front of me, it all seemed a very far cry from my youth.  This incredibly hipster meal in front of me was didn't seem to out of the ordinary anymore as more and more people moved towards an increasingly healthy diet.  I still wondered though whether bacon and eggs would have been more satisfying.