Tung Ping Chau 4 (Flora)

Tung Ping Chau has to offer not only its unusual sedimentary rock formation in various stages of erosion and its tumble down buildings, it is also covered with all kind of plants that we find on other outlying islands.
 

The path leading from the ferry pier to the main beach is covered with these tiny little daisies

Some daisies in various stages of growth

Found these morning glories opening their petal to the morning sun



Another one basking nonchalantly under the morning sun

Not only were they growing atop the broken down walls of abandoned house, they decorate the rear of the main beach right next to the ferry pier

I really like its color and the delicacy of its joined up petal with ribs which enable it to fold up upon sunset

a morning glory in the evening in the process of folding in

For some reason or other, they'd fold back their petals in the evening

I also found these really tiny flowers growing upon the sand on the beach

Their buds

Another type of really tiny flowers I found growing upon the beach

And also this giant cactus like plant with its thorny blades

Some lantanas in the morning sun. How happy they look !

Everywhere I went, I found these creepers

It's so nice to be ambling under the shelter of this naturally formed arbor over the path

The path is often carpeted by fallen leaves

Someone must have cleaned the path

From time to time, you got to avoid being tangled by these overhanging adventitious creepers

Some fallen flowers clinging precariously to a broken wall

Some fluffly flowers I found on the way

How soft and delicate are its hair !

I found a lot these tiny yellow flowers towering above the surrounding vegetation

Everywhere I went, I found these beautiful looking ferns

A break in the seaside path

Ah a giant spider. I remember having seen a similar one on Tung Lung Island too

I love to look at leaves under the sun: so full of life !

Some young papaya leaves

But sooner or later, all leaves must meet their common fate. A leaf turning all yellow and brown and yet how magnificent still

Another leaf all discolored and worm eaten

This one would not give up, despite the unrelenting nibbles of caterpillars struggling to keep themselves alive in the hope of eventually mating and reproducing. Does it have any choice?

 

This is probably the fate awaiting all of us: dried, crumpled, lying on the ground, returning to whence we came: the earth. Yet in the meantime, we must all learn to live, to the fullest, the best we can ! Time won't spare us ! We should not think that somehow we can be an exception. Emperors, kings, presidents, nobles, legislators, tycoons or just ordinary folks have gone that way before us. So shall we. All men are equal before Death, the great leveller. How precarious is life? And how precious ! 

They probably knew this

How cool the water ! How moving?

Anything better than sitting, lying down on one's back, enjoying the sun, the sea, the breeze and looking around?

Or whispering sweet nothingness?

Tung Ping Chau 3 (Buildings)

Tung Ping Chau is full of deserted and dilapidated buildings.

Trees and plants never lose time. If human beings have no further use of them, they shall be most happy to take our place.

The walls are all overgrown with creepers




To prevent total collapse, the side walls are propped up by wooden beams.

To provent the interior from being flooded by rain and cause damps and rot, the windows are hoarded up



Some of the deserted houses are used as rubbish dumps

The paints have peeled off and the windows are barred up

They'd use anything for sealing off the windows, slabs of sandstone and boards.

the original balustrades have broken down

Creepers make use of the wall and the window as support for their leaves.

You find creepers everywhere, on the walls, on the roofs

Trees also take advantage of the walls for support

It is obvious that rocks found on the island were used for building

Through the former window, we get a glimpse of how nature has completely colonized what man has left behind

Plants would take every opportunity to grow upon the debris and every available crack of abandoned houses

details of the broken down wall

Windows surrounded by plants and creepers

This house has lost even its door

Creepers climb up any strings dangling from the sealed window

light passing through the window of a deserted building

Another window overgrown by creepers

Torn cloths in front of a dislocated iron gate

A stone placed on the ledge to hold the iron mesh in place

plastic pipes for sale at $10/piece?

The shade over the terrace of a seaside store where I had a drink while waiting for the ferry for returning to Ma Liu Shui

patterns on the shade

A rope presumably for hanging clothes to dry under the sun?

A knot to hold the canvas of the "shade". Must everything ultimately be tied to the ground before it becomes secure?