It’s a straightforward affair to reach a number of the 236(!) islands from Hong Kong, so one evening I headed down to the ferry port, paid the princely sum of just under £2 and enjoyed the 30min trip out across the bustling harbour passing through the West Lamma Channel towards the island of Cheung Chau. As noted in an earlier post, small pockets of people still live aboard their boats and can be found in various locations around Hong Kong such as; Causeway Bay and Aberdeen Harbours on Hong Kong island, and further afield on Lamma Island, Cheung Chau Island and Tai O on Lantau Island where the more traditional lifestyles can still be found.

Arriving at Cheung Chau is very much like going back in time, all the buildings are low-rise, a large harbour crammed with fishing boats from the large trawlers down to the ‘i-can’t-believe-you-take-that-beyond-the-harbour-wall’ type craft that bob gentle in the swell of passing craft, bright colours along the sea front promenade are not the glaring neon lights from the hub of commercialism I recently left but brightly coloured awnings and building fronts, strings of lanterns and bare light bulbs, even the gentle persuading from merchant stalls and fish restaurants seemed more laid back than anywhere else so far.

I wandered along the promenade coming to the Tin Hau temple to the north of the town, as usual you could catch the scent of incense some way away before actually spotting it, inside the burning candles and heady smoke put me in something of a daze and so I continued by wandering back to the water front, coming face to face with a stunning sunset. I set myself low and close to the water using a line of boats as my foreground, the rapidly falling light increased my exposure time but I achieved the effect, in fact I was hoping to show the movement in this way, its as though the small ones are moving around as the larger ones remain static without losing to much detail. I believe whilst out on Cheung Chau I witnessed the best sunset I’d seen since arriving in Hong Kong – still a fair bit of pollution around but at least it felt like you’re away from it all.

After pleasant evening’s stroll in a comparatively quiet location I caught the ferry back to the main island ferry port, the slow one this time so I could sit out and watch the island lights slip away behind as I went…