Yesterday we decided to go to a little village/town called Mui Wo. Pronounced moo ee wo. If you google our location at Discovery Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong you will see Mui Wo down to the south of us in the next little bay.

If you were going to take ground transportation it would take half a day to get there. You'd have to take the bus to Tung Chung and from Tung Chung catch another bus or a taxi. I know the bus from here to Tung Chung is a good half hour ride. I bet the bus ride from Tung Chung to Mui Wo takes about an hour. If you factor in wait times it would probably take 2.5 or 3 hours to get there? Hilly, curvy, crazy roads between here and there.

Instead of having to bus it, we are lucky enough to have the option to take the ferry down there. And even better our apartment is very close to the ferry pier so we just have a short walk to get ourselves to the boat. The ferry service is infrequent; it runs every 2-4 hours or so during the day. So when you go, you're sort of stuck there until the next ferry runs back.

You could always hike it. There's a nice hike between here and there. That takes about an hour. I haven't had the chance to do that yet but B has done it and it's a pretty common activity around here. You could hike both ways if you're crazy or you can time it to hike one direction and ride the ferry in the other.

Mui Wo is a little beach town with 2 groceries, several little furniture stores, 2 bicycle shops, a McDonalds and many little restaurants and bars. There's also a market where you can buy touristy beachy things like toys for playing in the sand and flip flops and hats. There's a hotel right on the beach and everything. I sort of reminds me of a Chinese version of Seaside, Oregon. But not as big and not as crowded. And obviously not as American.

As we were walking with our double stroller toward the beach we passed an outdoor bar where there were a few people sitting on plastic chairs at a plastic table having a grand old time. The empty cans of Carlsberg were in a pyramind 6 cans high. It was 11am. And the beer was cheap! $6 hkd a can. That's .75 cents usd. Looked like fun.

The beach is just past the "town". It has really nice facilities. A huge nice play ground. Lifeguards. Lots of shaded picnic tables. A snack shack with cold drinks, ice cream, and snacks for sale. Outdoor showers and public bathrooms that are very clean and even private changing rooms. I was surprised how nice and clean it was. And the beach is very clean and the water isn't too scary either.

Keep in mind that Hong Kong is one of the biggest and busiest shipping and receiving ports in the world. The water is generally pretty polluted. Our beach here at Discovery Bay is pretty to look at but I wouldn't go walking barefoot on it or anything. And I see people swimming here in our beach but I personally wouldn't get in. But that's just my opinion and I don't care much for open water when I can't see the bottom.

Anyway, I can't wait to get back to Mui Wo. And if you come to visit Hong Kong I definitely think it's worth a day trip to go check it out when you need to take a break from the city.