Lights on at Silvermine Beach Resort

I must say Silvermine Beach Resort is looking much better under new management. This Cinderella coach (which is inexplicably towing a sleigh) is really pretty.

Not sure about the decorated paddle boat, though. But at least they're making an effort.

Silvermine Bay Music Festival 2013

Love seeing Mui Wo come alive!

 If only this could be a monthly flea market.

Rain, rain go away, I wanna shop

A heavy drizzle threatened to turn the Discovery Bay flea market into a washout. 

But luckily it dissipated after a bit and everyone could display their goods again.

PALS was doing quite a brisk trade in antique silver. I must admit, I was sorely tempted by the King George VI silver medallion.

Overheard in South Lantau

Guy A: So, you live here?
Guy B: Yup
Guy A: Lucky sod

Finally, the flea market...

Perfect weather for the Discovery Bay flea market this time. Ok, a bit too hot but better than last week.

Next one's in about two months' time.

Some days, the bear gets you...

China Bear's refurbished kitchen and toilets look nice.

But...

The food prices have also gone up.

We went there for our usual breakfast and found that most items were about 50 percent more expensive than before. Ouch!

Going by the crowd, I doubt it will matter much to the Discovery Bay exiles and the pilot families.

Not for us poor villagers, though.

I think I'm going to have to persuade Buffalo Wilbur to go for yum cha more often instead.

Dragonboat festival 2013

This year's dragonboat race took place during a Very Hot weather warning. So don't expect too many photos from me.

 I was too busy taking cover under the shade.

And munching on burgers from Silvermine Beach Hotel. I always look forward to events on the beach now because the hotel sets up a kiosk outside with very basic but very yummy burgers (HK$30 each).

The case of the disappearing trail

We thought we'd try out the Discovery Bay Golf Course to Mui Wo walk, which we found on our Countryside Series map. Picking up the trail was easy. It starts from the last flyover approaching the golf club. 

Then it petered off. Fifteen minutes or so into the walk, the trail came to a dead end, right smack against a huge construction site (I think it was for the Discovery Bay super luxury homes, as reported in the SCMP). I didn't take any photos because we were busy trying to find the path again.

Finally we ended up walking along the fence to end up... ON the golf course, dodging flying balls and puzzled golfers. We thought we'd be able to pick up the trail again somewhere down the road but the course went on and on.

Thankfully a golf course operative came along on his buggy and offered (more like ordered) us into the buggy and off the course. Thankfully... because as he later told us, the course was a 27-hole one. We would have been walking for hours without finding either the clubhouse or the trail.

After a good 10 minutes on the buggy, he took us to the edge of the course, showed us Mui Wo and helped us make our way though the bushes.

It was scary having no trail to follow. I had mental images of us getting hopelessly lost and having to call for a rescue helicopter.

Then Buffalo Wilbur spotted what looked like a path and we scrabbled down the hill to meet it. And wow, a distance marker!

Tung Chung in the distance.

We walked and walked. I was getting worried because it was getting dark and we had no idea which trail we were on. Then we met one guy walking the other way, radio blaring. Civilisation!

Turned out we were on the Lok Fu Tau trail.

Phew! A familiar marker!

 
Usually my posts are about what to do but this is about what NOT to do. The Discovery Bay folks appear to have killed this popular trail. I hope they revive it once the construction is complete but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Another successful day at the flea market

 To paraphrase Apocalypse Now, I love the sound of the washing machine in the afternoon. Smells like victory.

As the weather was miserable, many sellers were disposing of their stuff cheap to try and get off before the rain came. So I got plenty of clothes for HK$5 a piece. Jacqui and her volunteers from PALS were doing a roaring trade in books -- a steal at HK$5 for two.

 The next flea market is on February 17.