This is reached by taking the ferry across to the island of Lantaow.
The ferry is similar to the star ferry service. It costs 60 cents. There are two stops before Silvermine Bay.
The ferry goes along parallel to the waterfront of Hong Kong Island past Kennedy Town. Here the buildings become progressively poorer. There are no windows to the rooms which you can see are very overcrowded.
Next, you can see the Observatory for the R.A.F. at Mount Davis. This is a high sharp peak at the end of the Island. Tall masts reach into the sky. The view is beautiful - hills, sea, sand and sky all in one.
The ferry then turns right and goes at right angles to Hongkong Island. There are islands on both sides - large and small. The first stop is at Ping Chau where there are people waiting to give you rides in their sampans. This seems to be a very poor fishing village with a very strong smell.
Finally after about an hour we arrive at Silvermine Bay. Here there is a jetty built out with a beach on both sides. The path to the beach leads past the Summer Palace restaurant where we had glasses of delicious iced lemon.
Then we paid ten cents to cross a rickety bridge to get to the main beach. There is a sort of backwater where all the sampans are kept. The water is very calm with a high peak rising in the background. The people live on the sampans and once again they are very poor, it is crowded on board and very smelly. They do not like having their photographs taken.
The main beach is beautiful but there is no shade so we become progressively pinker and pinker! We ate our lunch inside the gateway of the hotel there and were amazed at the colour and size of the butterflies.
Here many European people stay for a holiday in the summer. We shall have to try it one day.
At the back of the beach set in the grassy cliff was a typical Chinese house. The people were busy in the garden and the woman was sweeping the steps. The children came near us but ran away when we tried to photograph them. A man driving cattle which were quite thin but not as bad as we expected came along the beach. The cattle had lovely dark brown furry coats - rather like Jersey & Guernsey cattle.
On the island of Lantaow is a monastery high up in the hills to which you can walk and then spend the night. Although you attempt to sleep in bare boards, it is apparently well worth the visit, so we shall have to go.
After being in the sun all day we all thought we should get sun stroke but all was well.