Stanley Market

Today we experienced the delights of Stanley Market ably navigated with the help of Ben. (Sandy and Martin went to Shenzhen with friends of Martin who are in town.)

We made our way there via bus, ferry, MTR and a taxi! The weather wasn't the best. We had drizzle and temperatures dropped making it perfect to be out and about on your feet all day. We started by having lunch as it was around 1:30pm by the time we got there.

I was told that Stanley has changed and is not the bustling place it once was. The last time I visited was in 2006 and I thought it was pretty awesome. It has changed; the shops seem to be smarter, making the products more expensive. No problem. I was there more to look than to buy. There was plenty to see, some really amazing things. Bamboo cotton bedding. I had heard of this fabric but never seen it. It is quite incredible. The lacquer coconut bowls from Vietnam really caught my eye, as did some of the other things I have included in my collage. The dog was in a grooming salon and he/she was more than happy to have its picture taken!

My main picture is from Stanley Baptist Chapel who hold a "market" on the weekend. This group of young musicians were playing a song in Chinese and when they finished, I asked if they knew any Matt Redman songs, and they immediately started playing The Heart of Worship for me! :)

Coming back was a challenge. We queued up to catch the 5pm bus and waited, and waited, and waited and waited. We befriended a fellow traveller (Laura from Mexico) in the process! Think we eventually got on a bus at 6. It got us into Central an hour later. Ben treated us to Happy Hour drinks in Soho and we got to see the escalators and tram in the night. We finally got home at 10pm very tired after being out all day.