Tung Lung Island Again

Sunday ! Boats to Tung Lung Island is running again. Since going there for the first time, I 've always wanted to return there. I remember how little it is touched by the dazzling or subtle but always carefully calculated designs and display of contemporary consumerism. I miss the simple joys of the sun, the sea, the waves, the clouds, the rocks and uninhibitated display of the forces of nature. So off I go to Sai Wan Ho for the ferry to that small island at the easternmost tip our harbour, armed with with little but an ordinary looking but serviceable big face-towel type handkerchief, a cap, an umbrella, a camera, several spare batteries and an extra SD card.  I don't know what I'll find this time. I had to take a risk. How could there be life without risk?.

Upon arrival, I went up to a store just above the pier. I remember its home-brew cold drink made with salted small mandarin oranges and honey from a beehive at the back of its make-shift shed for its patrons. It was sublime in the hot weather. There's a kind of natural taste and fragance that you simply won't get from bottled drinks.

Whilst sipping that heavenly drink, my eyes roamed around and found this pile of chairs.

this unusual arrangement of rectangles.

This overgrown window upon the stone wall above the beehive.

and beside that stone wall, this almost perfect cobweb shining under the sun., its owner missing.

There were many types of big spiders on the island, like this colorful spider with a slender body.

its more single minded neighbor

And another one who has decided to have one more color.

There were many really tiny flowers growing beside the path to the beach, like this one. 

Or this one.

Or these

I found this little flower called sea lettuce, formally scaevola taccada (Gaerth) (草海桐) which seems to have been cut in half, growing close to some half sandy patches of the shore.

When I look closely, I found that that was not the only one with such an "unfinished" shape.

A close up of the flower. There's a sad story associated with this plant. According to legend, a pair of young lovers living by the sea were madly in love with each other. On the day the young sailor had to leave, they decided to split this flower into two, each keeping half as a token of their love. The sailor left. The girl waited for his return. The girl kept her promise, waiting by the seaside every morning for the return of her love. Days turned into months, months into years. Finally, she turned herself into this half-flower with streaks of blood from her eyes upon petals from too much crying, still waiting faithfully by the sea.

But there were bigger flowers too, like this blood-red melastoma or bristly red-hair melastoma or 毛菍

 ts heart is rather like that of the peony but  it's got many more stamens.

But the the morning glory found there has just one stigma, buried deep within its funnel-shaped support. I love its color.

On the way, I found this stunning lamp shade with black grape-like fruit.

Looks like an old fashioned lamp shade

Its grape like fruit inside that red pod.

There are all kinds of insects on this island, like this bug.

This pair of moths or butterflies.

this butterfly

This wasp

This big bug

This ant's antennae feeling out the pair of mating beetles.

The clouds on the way to the beach.

More clouds on the way to the beach.

Finally the beach

The waves coming in

Waves upon the rocks, losing all energy after the crashes.

Sprays rising to five or six storeys high.

One wave after another pounding upon the rocks.

But that does not deter these brave anglers.

Others prefer the calm of the sea and the gentle sea breezes, putting out to sea with nothing but the sky, the sea, the clouds and themselves with them. What freedom !

The sky is full of clouds trailing for miles extending beyond the photo to the left and right. It has to be seen to fully feel their power.

The sky when our ferry started its journey back to Sai Wan Ho.

This is the sky when the boat reaches Ma On Shan



The sky when the boat reaches Kwun Tong, Yau Tong etc.

The sky looking back at Central/Tai Kok Tsui. Give me the sky and the clouds. I want little more.