Tung Ping Chau Island

It’s the end of November, and you can’t tell it here! Today was an absolutely pristine, blue sky day! Perfect temperatures, blue sky, and the pollution level was down to a tolerable level. A day to be out and about.

Way last June Dew wanted to check out this little island we located on the internet. It’s called Tung Ping Chau and is in the furthest point in Hong Kong that you can get to without a passport. If you went any farther you would be in mainland China. So one very hot muggy day last June the Bench’s and the Jackson’s spent the day trying to locate the ferry pier you use to get to this island. It’s out in Sha Tin, and the ferry only runs on week-ends and only one ferry in the morning and one ferry back in the afternoon. If you miss it you are stuck over night, if you miss it on a Saturday, and if you miss it on a Sunday you are stuck for another week.

We found the pier and got what information we could find there, and then Elder Bench bought a book that had a phone number to call to make ferry reservations. So today was the day we chose to try this adventure.

We left early and bused to Sha Tin, then caught the mini bus #26 out to the pier. And to our surprise we were not along! By the time the ferry left it was full. It was very cool on the pier and on the ferry waiting for time to leave. We wore sweatshirts and sweaters, but still it was cold, and we were all about frozen by the time the hour and one half ferry ride was over. It was an hour and a half ride because this ferry was about the same vintage as the Mayflower andtraveled about as quickly.

We were amazed at the clothing we saw on the people on the ferry. They had on ski parka’s, ski hats, gloves, and scarves. We were seriously underdressed! And there was one group that brought along their dogs, all wearing sweaters to!

At the pier we all got off and the group scattered, and before long we found ourselves totally alone. We couldn’t help but wonder where everyone was. So we rambled along the trails, and took a few dead ends, until we finally got to one end of the island, and there they were! There was a great rock outcropping and they were all out enjoying the sun, almost like a group of seals. By this time the air was warm and it was an amazing day.

This little island was inhabited until about the 60's when everyone moved on to greener pastures, and now only a few people live there and they run the two or three very small restaurants on the island. So as a result there are stone houses everywhere in various stages of decay. Some are so old that trees have grown up inside the walls, and some have just been empty a short time an still have various junk items still strewn around inside. We found dishes in one and a huge collection of old Coke bottles in another. We were tempted to carry a few home with us, but we controlled our urges.

There are two temples on the island as well, that are still in very good shape and look like they are being taken care of. But mostly it’s just a week-end playground for those who are willing to take the slow ferry and spend the entire day.

We had a leisurely lunch, we were warned to bring our own food, and then took off to the other end of the island. We went by the times listed on the direction markers and worried that we wouldn’t get back in time for the ferry. So we got to almost the end of the island and decided that we had best head back, we didn’t want to have to call and report that we wouldn’t be back until tomorrow night.

But to our amazement we made much better time than we thought. We could have taken the whole island walk and had plenty of time, but who knew? So we had a few hours to kill, and we spent them having a cold drink, and sitting on the beach on the huge rocks and soaking up the sun and atmosphere.

At 5:30 the ferry chugged in and we all clamored aboard. As we stood in line we talked to a group of students who had spent the day as a school group and they had a great time trying out their English on us. Their English was about as good as our Chinese, so it was rather a Chinglish session.

On the ferry ride back the sunset was a glorious red and lasted almost our whole trip. When we arrived back at the pier we discovered to our amazement that the mini-bus drivers knew exactly what time to be there and that it was a great place to fill up with willing riders. We jumped on a mini and were back in Sha Tin Town Center in a matter of minutes. By then the only thing on our minds was a good hand washing, and something to eat. Triple-O was the quickest and best choice and we enjoyed it. But we were all so chilled that we asked that they turn off the air conditioning! How amazing for a group that couldn’t live without it just a week or two ago.

We arrived back home at 9:00pm, a long, leisurely and very fun day.