Stanley

Off we set mid-morning to Stanley, bus, train and then some more bus. The bus we caught from Central (local speak for Hong Kong) was a double decker one. We saw a variety of things inside of the city 

Still trying to find out what this pretty out of place building was

Colourful buildings and traffic

Some more

Glimpse of the skyscrapers from the bus

and as you cross over the mountains towards Stanley you start seeing money. On the way to Stanley you drive past Repulse Bay (a bit of an unfortunate name if you ask me!) and this bay has a dealer for Maserati and Ferrari right next to each other ( I know its sad, I notice car dealers). 
Looking back at the bay, it looks like a combination of Clifton, Umhlanga, the Gold Coast (Brisbane). Looking down into properties (seems like there are properties here and not just flat on top op flat on top of flat on top of...) you see the expensive sports models.

Stanley is a lovely place - a certain calmness prevails there as well, which was a nice surprise. Even though there were lots of people around, you never felt that you had to compete with the crowd ( we can imagine that on a weekend it will be a different story).

Stanley Market

Stanley Bay

We had lunch somewhere in there

Stanley Promenade

We even witnessed a photo shoot

 After lunch we walked to go see if we could find the beach. 

We walked past people's houses

And scaled many flights of stairs

We did find the beach - not Stanley beach though, but St. Stephens beach. What a little gem!
I found myself with a Pineapple Daiquiri on the beach (Ingrid sat at a table of a little place called The Lanai and ordered something to drink, I then also ordered something and the next minute it was on the beach with me), Caleb in the water and Ingrid lounging in a chair.

Stanley from St. Stephens Beach

I know...

Follow the footprints...

Smell the, 'uhm' roses?

Then sit back and enjoy the view

After we left the beach, we walked through the market towards the bus terminus. Picked up a few things (presents for some of you - but only if you are good and now its not junk), then stopped for a coffee and dinner for Caleb (seeing that on our way there he flattened his cheese and biscuits and fruit so when we had lunch mister announced that he already had lunch thank you). 

So the sun had set by then and the bay now looked like this:

After dinner, we left and savoured the early evening.

Special request from Caleb to please take this picture and show everyone - so there

They switched on all the fairy lights in the trees

Couldn't work out if this was restaurant or temple - pretty none the less

Fruit stall starting to pack up for the evening

It took us nearly 3 hours to make our way back home. Traffic obviously doesn't help in the busy streets of Central.