Oh Happy Day

We are invited for a day on a junk. The party includes visiting in-laws and four other families; 13 adults and 14 children but the junk is large and there is plenty of space for everyone.

We take a taxi to Sai Kung, a fishing village, about 40 minutes’ drive into the New Territories. It is a lovely day and it is lovely to be out. The junk leaves from the public pier and we are plied with food and drink the moment we set sail. We chug along for about an hour, past scenery remarkably reminiscent of the South Downs. We pass uninhabited islands outlined with rock structures which remind me of Finghal’s Cave and the Giant’s Causeway.

We draw into a quiet cove with a sandy beach. There are two other junks and a yacht already there enjoying the same peace. It is the first time we have been anywhere in Hong Kong without being overwhelmed by sheer numbers of people. As we drop anchor I watch as two huge jellyfish swim by. They are the size of dustbin lids with long threatening tentacles.

I go with a group in a small boat to the beach where the little ones play with buckets and spades and paddle about in the shallows. I pretend to swim but the thought of the jellyfish keeps me close to the beach. Another motor boat
sets off from the junk with the older children for a banana boat ride and we watch them being pulled along, shrieking with delight as the banana tops the waves in the motorboat’s wake. They return with the remains of one jellyfish drifting from the boat’s propeller.

We are served a delicious lunch. The children enjoy real hamburgers and then, whooping for joy start jumping from the top deck of the boat into the water below. Not wishing to be outdone the Mums follow suit. It is a blissful day and distinctions between adult and childish behaviour begin to blur with the help of sunshine and white wine. The Dads take off on the banana boat for a “boys’ ride” and the Mums go next. Within minutes there are five women, one of them a grandmother, bobbing up and down in the South China Sea laughing at their own spectacle. It gets funnier but less elegant as we try to right the banana and haul ourselves back on.

Back on board coffee and brownies are served. Someone has an iPod and the children dance in unison to Abba and the Village People on the top deck, rejoicing that no-one here will tell them to be quiet. We sun ourselves on the deck and get to know each other a little better, other recent arrivals like us, mostly strangers to Hong Kong, feeling their way and making friends, little by little.

As the sun dips behind the hills of the New Territories we return to Sai Kung. We are sun kissed, salty and tired but each of us has enjoyed the day; the escape, the service and the company. The children have been themselves, have swum and dived, laughed and made friends. The parents have relaxed and realised that Hong Kong really could be quite a good place to live after all.