Once Upon An Escalator: Staycation: Beach Camping In Style

This weekend Pat and I took a little staycation with a few friends. Our destination: beach camping at Palm Beach (Lower Cheung Sha Beach, Lantau Island, Hong Kong).

Palm Beach is my dream come true and if I could spend every weekend there, I would. (In fact, only 45 minutes from home and at a pretty cheap rate, just maybe I can!). This is no ordinary camping – no pitching tents and hanging bear bags – this is glamping at its best. Teepees that sleep 8 come equipped with air coolers and sleep mats, a small kiosk sells cold water, ice pops and beer and plays beach tunes all day long while surfboards, kayaks more are available to rent by the hour.

Saturday was a perfect beach day filled with stand up paddle boarding, reading, swimming and lounging with friends.

At around seven we motivated, still donning our bathing suits and sarongs, and made the six-minute walk down the beach to The Stoep, an awesome beach restaurant serving up South African braai (bbq). Greeting us at the restaurant was a herd of cattle sitting right out front, just taking in the view on the beach.

Pat in front of The Stoep with his new friend.

These guys parked it on the beach and stayed well past sun set.

A few hours of eating and many pitchers of sangria later, we headed back to camp (sporting our newly purchased headlamps to ensure we wouldn't trip over cattle!) where we made s’mores, danced on the beach, took a night swim and even had an impromptu sumo wrestling match with a group of French campers (weird, but true). Among the many awesome moments of the night was swimming with phosphorescence in the ocean, which caused us to all light up and sparkle as we swam (and squealed) late night in the South China Sea. I had never seen this phenomenon before, but it was truly one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.