One of the things you can't fail to notice in HK is 7-11. I don't know how many stores they have here, but it seems like, on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon and the New Territories, at least, you are never more than a few minutes walk away. There's one on Robinson Road a few minutes from my flat - which is one of at least 5 I can think of on or near the escalator - and at least 4 in Tsuen Wan town centre, not including the new one a block away from work.

They all, obviously, look very similar, and except for things like ice cream machines and food stations, they all essentially stock the same products. They all, as far as I know, can be used to pay bills and accept and top up Octopus cards - a common enough thing that a friend of mine was confused for a moment when he couldn't use his Octopus card in a 7-11 in Macau. They are mostly open 24/7 - though not all - and they're simply reliable - you know what you're going to get in any 7-11, anywhere in Hong Kong.

What you're going to get, however, isn't great. In the UK, convenience stores usually fall into one of two categories (sometimes both) - minimarts or garage (petrol/gas station) forecourt shops. Garage shops normally carry mostly junk/convenience food - prepackaged and dry and/or long-life - with the exception of things like sandwiches and milk, which you would expect to be delivered daily, and maybe some emergency dry groceries. Minimarts will normally have a more extensive fresh section, both in terms of fruits/veg and chilled, rather than frozen or vacuum-packed/pasteurised food. 7-11, unfortunately, is far more like a garage shop than a minimart.

The majority of the stock at any average 7-11 will consist mainly of sweets, fried snacks, drinks (including alcoholic), and fresh milk, sandwiches and other packaged food. Okay, I do look at the packaged food with a biased eye, since the majority of it isn't kosher and therefore isn't interesting to me, but still - it's obviously unhealthy convenience food rather than super/mini market type stuff. Again - I know that a lot of people in HK buy that sort of thing from wet markets rather than supermarkets, but there's no noticeable attempt made.

Don't get me wrong - I'm very impressed by 7-11 here. As I said, they're reliable, they're usually open and friendly through the night, they do non-retail things (bill pay, Octopus top-up), and unless you're on a small island, there's probably one a few minutes walk away. It would be nice if they sold slightly better food though...

Yesterday was a lovely day - not too hot, not too humid, and not a cloud in the sky - so I decided to do the random island thing. I've been to Cheung Chau a couple of times recently, once for lunch and once for the Bun Festival, I did the Lamma walk a few weeks ago, I couldn't be bothered with Lantau, and the north-eastern islands were too far away, so I jumped on the Peng Chau ferry at just after 3pm - there was a fast ferry waiting at the terminal when I got there.

I've been to Peng Chau before, once, last year, and it rained heavily. I didn't see much of the island that time, I was in a bit of a hurry because I was meeting someone later in the day and I had to get home and wash, and I was generally less comfortable with Hong Kong anyway. This time I found it very nice - not amazingly special, not a life-changing experience, but a nice mellow way to spend a warm spring/summer afternoon. It's not my photo, but this snap on Flickr shows some of the island, in the same sort of weather. According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the weather on Peng Chau while I was there was about 25° C and about 55%-60% humidity - as I said, lovely.

I got off the ferry, went walking through the village for a bit, then turned back to the sea and followed the promenade as far as it goes to the south - a promenade which is actually collapsing along one stretch, which I found out when I , uh, mistakenly ignored the warning signs and kept walking along it. I found a little beach at the end of the promenade and stood for a few minutes, seeing nothing but the beach, the sea, little fishing boats moored in the tiny harbour, and green, undeveloped land across the water - apart from the Lamma power station, of course, which seems to be visible everywhere... All I could hear was a family on the beach - playing or fishing, I'm not sure - the water, the birds in the trees, and the dragonflies buzzing around my head. As I said, nice and mellow.

I walked back to town, then over to the other side of the island, past a couple of temples, a playground and a school, to another beach with loads of tiny boats moored in the beautiful bay, this one overlooking Kowloon, and with a radio mast on one wing - but still, quiet, calm, green and mellow. There was a group (mixed - Chinese and Caucasian) barbecuing in a public pit at one end of the beach, I got lost up a hillside trying to find a back way to the other side of the island, and I made friends with a little girl who was flying a kite (well, whose mum was flying a kite) and whose English stretched as far as telling me it was going "higher! Higher! HIGHER!"

I walked back over to the ferry terminal, to find a slow ferry about to depart - a lot of the island ferries run two services, one slower, bigger, cheaper and more suitable for cargo than the other - but I wasn't really ready to leave yet. I let that 5pm ferry go and went to a little pub/cafe in the main square, where the owner was sitting on the patio with some friends, drinking wine and nibble bread and cheese. I had some spring rolls (obviously fresh and hand-made, a bit greasy) and a drink, and sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere. At 5:50pm I got on the fast ferry and headed back to Hong Kong, through slightly choppy waters, which just makes it more fun.

In other news, it seems we're going to get hit by a typhoon on Wednesday. Although I've been here a year, all the heavy weather last year seemed to be over on the Atlantic side, so I'm interested to see what it's like to be here during a typhoon. A report will follow...

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