Royal View Hotel and Lido Beach

This weekend is a long weekend and Rika wanted a change of scene from Royal Ascot by staying overnight somewhere else in Hong Kong.  Since we were booking late, there was little choice and we ended up having to sleep under a bridge.

Of course not just any bridge but the 1,177m Tsing Kau bridge, one of the worlds longest cable-stayed bridges which spans Ramblers Channel from Tsing Yi Island.   Rika had booked us into the Royal View Hotel which is on a headland under the bridge.

The hotel's location offers impressive views of Ramblers Channel, the bottom of the Tsing Kau bridge and also the 1,377m span of the Tsing Ma suspension bridge connecting Tsing Yi to Lantau Island and the Airport.   Although strangely the Hotel actually has no restaurants or bars utilizing these views (these photos are all from the lift lobby).

You can also see Lido Beach just below the bridge

Lido beach doesn't have great water quality.  It was officially 'poor' when we visited (due to recent rains) so we didn't swim.   But there are plenty of trees so you can sit in the shade and enjoy the views.   It also offers beach volleyball - although sadly not while Daddy was there.

Our room faced the other way, overlooking the swimming pool.  On Saturday afternoon Hannah and I played in the pool while Rika relaxed in a lounger.   The pool had a good selection of inflatable crocodiles, sharks and dolphins which Hannah enjoyed falling off.

Unfortunately the pool-side restaurant was closed for a wedding and the other hotel restaurant was already fully-booked when we checked-in.   We didn't want to make a taxi trip to try to find a restaurant in Tsuen Mun so we took the only other option at the hotel and dined in the out-door bar by the hotel entrance.   This was a plane-spotters paradise right under the flight-path to Chek Lap Kok airport and we could watch lots of different aircraft on their final approach.    The food was OK but rather over-priced (HK 1,500 with wine) and Rika woke up at 1am with stomach cramps that she thought was from food poisoning.

On Sunday morning we went down to the beach.

Tsing Kau Bridge from Lido beach at 11am Sunday morning.  It was already about 32 degrees.  

We could watch the great container ships navigating under the Tsing Ma bridge on their way to Guangdong.

 200,000 tons of MSG steaming in to meet China's insatiable demand...

Hannah on the beach at 11am

We had chosen a prime spot.  Two hours later, a large family group set up camp just in front of us.

And the inevitable Aunties relaxing under the trees behind us.

Although we were right under the flight-path to the airport the cicadas in the trees largely drowned-out the sound of the planes.  We frequently had the weird experience of having an aircraft's shadow pass right over us and speed-off across the beach.   There was no food available at the beach so at 2 pm we got hungry and came home.

All and all and interesting trip.  Quite fun to go once but I'm not sure I'd go back.