Chasing waterfalls

So many people seem to be leaving Hong Kong lately.  Times have changed a lot and it seems that those changes are starting to pull more and more people out of this place.  Hong Kong has always been a bit of an itinerant place, with people coming and going, but this year seems extreme even compared to the other years.

We had a farewell organised on a small boat.  The usual junk trips we took often had more than 30 people on board, but this was a smaller and more intimate affair with only 6 of us heading out.  We all gathered in an Uber one morning and we set off for the pier at Sai Kung.  We arrived early and quickly boarded the boat once it reached the pier.  A bottle of champagne was immediately opened and after a very short cruise were clear of the harbour and sailing through the clear waters around Sai Kung.

The smaller and faster boat was a different experience to the large and slower junks we normally went on.  The wind felt fresh and the salt water whipped up harder and faster than usual.  There was a feeling of refreshment as we sped out, as though the wind was clearing out our lungs and minds.

The captain took us to a small island that is more well known for golfing than anything else.  Hong Kong is a strange place sometimes and I find it odd that with all the difficulties people face with housing that the government thought it was appropriate to give up half of an entire island to be used as a golf course.  At the southern end of the island, there remains more of the untouched forests and here we were brought to an isolated little waterfall to explore.

We jumped into the water and swam over to look at the waterfall more closely.  Up close it was more beautiful than we could have imagined.  The water was clear enough to see the bottom of the little pools that had formed and we waded through as we climbed up and down each of the different sections of the waterfall.

After the stop at the waterfalls, we sailed towards Millionaire's Beach.  It is an aptly named beach, with incredible views which give you a feeling of luxury befitting of a millionaire (probably where the name came from).  We carefully dragged one of the coolers out with us to the beach so we could enjoy ourselves with some drinks.

As the day started to end, we all dragged ourselves back onto the boat.  The sun started to set and the weather started to cool as we sailed back towards Sai Kung.

Farewells are always sad, but this was one was definitely one of the best I had been to.