Junk Season

Junk Boat season is back!  This year, our Hawaiian themed junk trip wasn't as sunny as last years, but it was still one of the highlights of my summer (thus far)!

We took launched out of Central's Ferry Pier 9 with a load of food and drinks.

We were even lucky to catch the Aqua Luna cruising by, which I actually didn't realized cruised in the mornings.

As you can see, the clouds were rolling in early in the morning.

On the menu for the day were some pretty awesome tropical dishes.  My favorite, which I went back for about three times, was the acai bowl.  My friend said that this was popular in Hawaii right now.  It's basically like an iced acai berry mix with strawberry/blueberry and granola toppings.  It's the perfect thing for a hot summer's day, for sure!

Sorry for the BLURR again!

We also had a really great selection of drinks (alcoholic and non).

The spread was a lot bigger this year because there were more people who joined the trip.

Some other items on the menu:  roasted veggies, pineapple/bacon kabobs, a salmon salad…

…some burgers with hot gravy on the side…

…the usual fried rice, some more kabobs, and spam musubi (a Hawaii necessity!).

Our junk took us out to Repulse Bay, where we anchored and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, spending time with friends, mingling with new friends, watching our own private hula/tahitian dance performance, eating, drinking, listening to wonderful Hawaiian music and also learning a hula.

We got back to the Central Ferry piers at around 6 pm.

Another successful junk trip, which makes me remember why I do love the summer times here!

First Friday (SORT OF): Junk Trips

The thing I love most about summers in Hong Kong are the junk trips.  

This is a Friday post, but I actually went on this junk trip last Sunday...I wanted to sort of put it under my FIRST FRIDAY type of posts because it was a sort of FIRST type of event.

This was the FIRST junk trip that I went on with a theme.  My friend organized a Hawaiian Luau theme for our trip, which I totally loved because I am originally from Honolulu!  It was also the FIRST junk trip that I went on that took off from the Central ferry piers (usually we take off from Sai Kung).  The Central ferry piers are so much more convenient than heading out to Sai Kung because the traffic in and out of there (especially during junk boat season) is horrendous!  And this was also the FIRST junk trip that I had been on that had authentic Hawaiian beers.  Cheers!

Every junk trip I've been on has been B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Food) style.  For our party of about 30 people, we had a reasonable about of drinks and food to suffice our 6 hour luau:

After loading everything onto the junk, we took off for Middle Bay (south of Hong Kong island, beside Repulse Bay):

We decorated the junk boat with all things Hawaiian, which really added to the festive ambience!

Pineapples near the air conditioning vent

Restroom decor

 When we got to Middle Bay, we unpacked the food and had our amazing luau:

The spread was beautiful and so delicious!

Besides the eating, drinking, and merriment, junk trips allow you to swim in the ocean and also make your way to the beach.  We were anchored about 500 meters from Middle Bay Beach, which was a pretty good stretch of water to swim--then a hop, skip and a jump over the shark net--to get to the beach.  Some junk trips offer banana boats, wake boarding, snorkeling gear, and jet skiing.

This was, by far, my favorite junk trip this year.

I love the summer!