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2012年8月28日 星期二

Tung Ping Chau 1 (Journey)

I have been meaning to revisit an island at the easternmost point of Hong Kong for a while. It's an island which I first visited when I was still a secondary school goegraphy student, being led there upon an excursion to see for ourselves some of the features of sedimentary rock formation, folding and water erosion. It's the famous island of Tung Ping Chau, now the subject of a tourist attraction. But transport there is not easy. There is only one ferry in the morning at 9.30 a.m. and one return ferry which leaves the island at 5.15 p.m and only on weekends. If you miss that ferry, then you got to make plans for staying overnight there or for a week if you can't find any other "kaido"'s.



The ferry leaves the new pier at Ma Liu Shui, just about 10-15 minutes walk from the University Station.



Opposite to the ferry pier, one finds tower blocks after tower blocks across the Tolo Harbour



On the HKCU side, you can find our so-called "Science Park".



Some say that the architecture there is very interesting. I've never been there. So I wouldn't know.



For a stretch of two to three miles on the opposite side, it was buildings, buildings and more buildings: Shek Mun, Tai Shui Hang, Ma On Shan all the way to Wu Kai Sha. 



Finally the end of the tower blocks at Wu Kai Sha



As we reach the end of the Wu Kai Sha line, we can see the eastern most part of the Kowloon Peninsula: it's called 14 Heung and Ma On Shan



But on the Shatin side of the Peninsula, we still find lots of houses




Another boat of tourists on an organized tour was behind our boat.



A light tower to warn of the reefs for boats at night, called Tang Chau (literally Lamp Island)



We passed the Plover Cove dams.



The Plover Cove Dam was getting further and further away as our ferry continued its journey eastward through the Chik Mun Straits right into the South China Sea which forms part of the Pacific Ocean.



This is the extension to the tip of land mass adjoining Wu Kai Sha called Koon Choi Kok ( literally Cape Coffin). Many boats must have met their fate there! At the left rear, we can see the furthermost point of the land on the other side, its tip called Wong Chuk Kok Tsui (literally The Tip of Cape Yellow Bamboo)



After about an hour and a half, we got our first sight of Tung Ping Chau, lying in front of us like a giant French baquette . The hills in the rear of the photo form part of China: from left to right Ping Tau Kok, Tai O, Pun Chai Wan, Nam O.



Our first view of the tip of the island



It was full of sheets of very flat stones piled one on top of another



The corridor leading to the pier



The view from the disembarkation point



The pier with our ferry securely moored to await our return journey.



Tung Ping Chau forms part of the Global Geopark of China




The sheets of rocky steps in various stages of erosion at one side of the ferry pier



All the rocks got smooth surfaces.



The rocks on the other side of the ferry pier



they look like so many pieces of the Indonesian "thousand layer cake"



The main beach on the island with hardly any one there because it was still early.



Another view of the main beach



By the time to return, it was getting quite dark



The stretch of the sea before we reached the Plover Cove Dams



We are getting closer



By the time our ferry arrived back at Ma Liu Shiu, it was already sunset.





The sky was all red



But the southern side was still quite bright



But it would not long remain like that. The end to a very memorable journey. I shall write about what I found on the island in the next blog.

(To be Cont'd)

5 則留言:

  1. 那些紅霞叫火燒雲,不常見的。 ^_^
    [版主回覆08/28/2012 23:53:05]You're right. I never expected to find them.

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  2. Marvellous!
    [版主回覆08/28/2012 23:54:36]Yes, the clouds are quite beautiful !

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  3. The sunset was splendid! Have thought about going there for years. Thanks for your sharing.
    [版主回覆08/29/2012 01:19:32]Thanks for visiting. The island is definitely worth a visit.

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  4. I seldom go journeying because of health reasons. I enjoy the pictures. As I said somewhere, some of the rocks were formed by vocanic/under ground presure and like pressed together. There are so many of them somewhere in HK they become tourist attraction.
    [版主回覆08/30/2012 12:35:46]We may know about them but seeing them with our own eye, feeling their smoothness when we actually step upon them is something very different. Yes, there are so many such sheets of rock on the island that it has been declared a global geopark.

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  5. 域 流亦詩 Louis Rick2012年8月31日 下午2:50

    黃昏景色很美啊....
    [版主回覆08/31/2012 15:10:49]It's not often we get this kind of sky !

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