Teaching English in South Korea meant that my fellow teachers and I had a wonderful week off in the summer to go and travel. My friend Kayla and I decided we would use our five days off to make a trip to Hong Kong, one of my favorite destinations. We had been there previously for a long weekend, but we were excited by the idea of getting spend more time there to explore.

Rather than going straight to the city we spent a few days on a neighboring island; Cheung Chau. It’s always hard knowing what to expect when going to a new place, but from our research we were really excited to be visiting this island that was said to be quiet and didn’t allow motorized transportation. A perfect relaxing getaway. After the quick flight from Korea to Hong Kong we took a train into the city and a ferry onto the island where we met our Airbnb host who led us to our accommodations.

The apartment was so sweet. It sat right on the water and had a lovely balcony to enjoy the view which just so happened to be facing directly East and allowed the most beautiful sunrises to shine through the windows.

On our first full day in Cheung Chau Kayla and I decided we were going to find a hidden coral beach. It took nearly an hour of hiking to the opposite side of the island, but when we finally found this beach it was beyond worth it. We walked on to Tung Wan Tsai and realized we were the only ones there. It was like having our own private beach. A few locals and a few tourists came throughout the day, but for the most part, it was all ours. We spent the day there reading and soaking in the sun before our hunger got the best of us and we needed to go back for dinner.

Aside from the gorgeous beach, one of my favorite aspects of Cheung Chau was simply wandering the streets. So many of the buildings were painted in bright colors and it seemed there was street art around every corner. We spent one morning just walking from one side of the island to the other taking in its casual beauty.

While I was thrilled to be heading back to the city, there was a twinge of sadness in leaving this sweet island that had given us a few days of serenity.

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#bbmtravelshongkong