Surprises in Tai O - 1

For me, Tai O is full of surprises.  I went there yesterday afternoon. I intended to explore it further, photographically. When I stepped on to the bus, there was still a bit of sun. But shortly after the bus started climbing uphill, my heart sank with the gathering storm clouds. First just a few tiny drops appeared upon the windscreen at the front of the bus, barely visible but before long, it was raining cats and dogs. It was still pitter-pattering when I arrived. As there was little else of interest to do in the rain, I went into a roadside cafe. The coffee arrived, served by a tanned wiry old man with thinning hair and a huge dark patch above his left ankle, due probably to some skin disease or other. I took a sip. I nearly scorched my lips. It was so piping hot. I could only drink it spoon by spoon, blowing upon it before slurping it up. Just as well. What's the point of finishing it up quickly? I observed the people sitting at the tables next to me. Not many. Just two tables. Families  eating their fried noodles and fried rice and sipping their coke and lemon teas and engaged in small talk. Not particularly interesting. In between indifferent sips, my eyes were glued to the dirty glass pane of the entrance door opening on to the narrow street outside for the slightest sign of better weather. My second surprise! The rain stopped sooner than I expected! My photographic exploration could begin.

I was surprised too how many colors I found in the most unexpected places.






Some paper lanterns against a parasol.

Part of a tricycle.

The entrance to one of the deserted houses.

The side of another house.

The front of another local "western" restaurant, full of bright yellows and reds, with some blue, green and orange.

The front of another house: blue, green, yellow, red, brown, silver and black.

Two letter boxes adjacent the green of nature.

A close up of the above. I like the colors and the textures of the wood, granite and the daub.

Another bicycle! I like the combination of circles, curves and the triangles.

Another door. The people here seem to have a fondness of yellows. You find them everywhere.





And racks in white and yellow.

Even the Civil Engineering and Development Department!

Even public utility companies?

Opposite the roll of cable, you find another metal work shop and its logo. Obviously some thought
had been put into its design!

There were not only colors. There were many interesting lines as well!

Some pipes in yellows, whites and blacks with their curved angles.

Rectangles and cylinders. What a way to protect the taps.
Just water supply?

Electric switchbox with cables in rounded rectangles and loops.

Squares, rectangles and lines from windows, blinds, doors.

More lines and rectangles

Lines, angles, and rectangles.

Pure lines with light and shadows. But apart from lines, there were interesting shapes too in the
most unexpected places..

Some plastic pipes waiting to fitted when required. I like the circles, curves and lines.

Some plastic tables and chairs with some quite modern lines placed outside a wire mesh fence.
But why a light blue clip between two blue clips? To break the monotony? Is the occupier of the
house an artist? I looked inside. I found a young girl completely engrossed doing something or
other on a table in the fenced and covered courtyard. Was it she who put them there?

However what is most interesting is not what is modern but what is no longer so.

The evidence of age written all over the grain of the wood, its surface scratched, discolored and
splintered.

Through the crevice of the broken down door, one can see the plants at the back of the deserted hut.

A good luck charm hung on a string, its colors bleached by I don't know how much sun and rain.

Brown, though dirt more dirt resistant, may be is too dull.

Why not some light blue!

But blue requires more attention!

A door whose lock has already been removed and replaced by a bit of nylon string and its paint
peeling off exposing its second and third coats in brighter and brighter light blue.





The Street Number plate has been removed. Where is its owner now? In one of the beautiful
new housing estate a little distance away?

The entrance to another deserted house. We can see three holes on the cross beam under the
arch of the door. Probably for inserting three wooden or metal poles to bar its entrance from
unwelcome intruders.

Flowers upon the cracked surface of the wall fronting the narrow street ?

The entrance to another dilapidated house with bits of strings hanging down all over the place.
What were hung there?. The paint on the inside appears quite new. What could have been the
reason for this renewal of interest?

Here's the answer. A "new" No. 144?

The plaster having peeled off, we see exposed the mud adobe beneath
and the underlying cement (?) bricks. But not all houses are built with
bricks.

Some houses are built with granites. We see the oxidization of the iron in the granite with age.

But not all old houses are deserted.

Grass growing on the roof tiles. Still inhabited? Note the TV antenna amidst the grass and the
adjacent zinc thatch which appear newly put up, to protect against the leaking roof?





A really old house with moss growing upon the ridges for holding the concave shaped tiles.

New aluminium windows upon an old green brick structure. Is that a roll of plasticised floor
board standing under the sunlight at a corner of the verandah with what looks like a newly put
up ledge in creamy white?

But not all owners bother about doing renovation except cosmetic ones.

Why paint only the wooden (or is it metal) girder supporting the
overhanging portion of the tiled roof? Cost? Idiosyncrasy? Who knows?

This one looks as if it needs some real work..

And what about this one?

Oh, this house was built with hollow fire and heat insulation bricks too!

A big hollow with a brick completely fallen off?

The corner of the same house.

No wonder, nobody bothers. It's another deserted house.

Look at the window. Only one iron bar left! And plants are taking it over.

But this is not the only one.

Plants and creepers taking advantage of another deserted house for
a bit more of sun!

House torn down? No problem. We'll put the vacated space to good use.

You don't need the space? We do!

What do I care about houses being torn down and plants taking them over? What's that
crawling on the other side?

We don't give a damn either! Lines, squares, rectangles? Modern and ancient? Old and new
culture? Life and death? We'll tell you what's life and death. It's not lines, triangles ,rectangles
and colors and shapes. It's circles and cycles! But not in words. We have no need of those
cumbersome and abstract inventions.

And we can tell you that, even in an around ditches!

Isn't Tai O surprising?