Last Friday night, we had guests for dinner and one of them Barbara lives very far, North of Sha Tin and was happy to sleep at our home. So on Saturday morning, we had an early breakfast (7.15 am) and Mark and I left at 8.15 to go on a hike with the HK Royal Geographical Society.
Vendredi dernier, nous avons eu des invites a diner et l'une d'eux Barbara habite tres loin au nord de Sha Tin et etait bien contente de rester dormir chez nous. Donc Samedi matin, nous avons pris un petit dejeuner matinal (7h15) et Mark et moi sommes partis a 8h15 pour aller faire une marche avec la Societe Royale Geographique de Hong Kong.
The Royal Geographical Society organizes conferences and also hikes in the most improbable places.This time we went to Tung Ping Chau, (Tung Ping Island) which is the further north Eastern island in HK territory. It is tiny (1 square kilometre).
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| This is where we took the ferry Voila d'ou nous primes le ferry |
To get there, the group (42 people) took a bus from outside the City Hall in Central to Ma Liu Shui not far from Sha Tin. There in Ma Liu Shui we took a ferry (1hour45mn) to Tung Ping Chau.The ferry was specially hired for our group ad departed at 10am.
Pour s'y rendre, le groupe (42 personnes) prit un bus de la Mairie a Central, jusqu'a Ma Liu Shui non loin de Sha Tin. La, a Ma Liu Shui, nous primes un ferry (1h45mn) jusqu'a Tung Ping Chau. Le ferry special pour notre groupe, partit a 10h.
We arrived to the island as it was already very hot and we started touring it among lots of mosquitos. Mosquitos love me, so I had spread myself with repulsive sprays one on the clothes, the other one on the skin and I was OK, while many people wearing shorts and tee-shirts were scratching unhappily.
Nous arrivames sur l'ile alors qu'il faisait deja tres chaud et nous commencames le tour au milieu des moustiques. Les moustiques m'adorent, alors je m'etais arrosee de repulsifs "special tropiques", l'un sur les vetements, l'autre sur la peau et j'etais OK, alors que beaucoup de gens en short et tee-shirt se grattaient frenetiquement.
The beaches were splendid with very few people. There are special rock formations of thin multiple layers which are rare and of special interest for the Geographical Society, so we went to admire them.
Les plages etaient magnifiques avec tres peu de monde. Il ya des formations rocheuses speciales avec de multiples fines strates successives, qui interessaient particulierement la Royale Geographical Society, donc nous allames les admirer.
Inside the island were villages falling in ruin, the island had had 2000 inhabitants mid XXth century they used to grow peanuts and sweet potatoes, and of course, to fish, but almost everybody went away, except a few fishermen and farmers. Nowadays, people still owning houses, rebuild them as a secondary house for the week-ends.
A l'interieur de l'ile il y avait des villages en ruines, l'ile avait eu 2000 habitants au milieu du XXe siecle qui faisaient pousser des patates douces et des cacahuetes, il pechaient aussi, mais tous sont partis a part quelques pecheurs et fermiers. De nos jours les familles qui possedent des maisons la-bas les reconstruisent comme residences secondaires pour les week-ends.
As there were many trafficking of drug and smugglers on the island, which is only 3kms from China, there was also a big Police station with many houses for the staff, and there was also a sort of casern for Ghurkas (Nepali soldiers of the British Army). Many Ghurkas remained in HK after the hand over and still use this caserne as a week-end or holidays facility for their families.
Comme il y avait beaucoup de traffics de drogue et de contrebande sur l'ile qui n'est qu'a 3kms de la Chine, il y avait aussi une station de Police avec de nombreuses maisons pour le personnel, et il y avait une caserne pour les Ghurkas (soldats Nepalais de l'armee Britannique). De nombreux Ghurkas resterent a Hong Kong apres l'independance et utilisent toujours cette caserne comme lieu de week-end ou de vacances en famille.
We had lunch at one of the small family owned local "restaurants". The food was cooked by a local family well known of the Royal Geographical Society and Mark and I had special delicious vegetarian food. The grandmother was doing the washing up siting on a stool in front of a tape, and non stop dish washing for hours as there were quite a few tourists on that beautiful day.
Nous dejeunames dans l'un des petits "restaurants" familliaux locauxs. La nourriture etait cuisinee par une famille locale bien connue de la Societe Royale Geopgraphique et Mark et moi eumes droit a de la nourriture vegetarienne delicieuse. La grand-mere faisait la vaisselle assise sur un tabouret sous un robinet, et lavant de la vaisselle sans arret pendant des heures car il y avait pas mal de touristes en cette belle journee.
After lunch we went to visit the rest of the island and to admire the special rocks, then there was free time for resting or swimming in the very clear water, as it was so hot (33 degres C). Then back to HK Island as our ferry was departing at 4pm. We arrived in Central at 6.30pm and had just time to cross Victoria Harbour again to get to Tsim Sha Tsui as we had tickets for a Ballet at 7.30pm. What a day!!!
Apres dejeuner nous allames visiter le reste de l'ile et admirer les formations rocheuses speciales, puis il y eut du temps libre pour se reposer ou se baigner dans l'eau si claire, d'autant qu'il faisait tres chaud (33 degres C). Puis retour sur l'Ile de Hong Kong car notre Ferry partait a 4h. Nous arrivames a Central a 6h30 et eumes juste le temps de re-traverser le Port Victoria pour aller a Tsim Sha Tsui car nous avions des billets pour un ballet a 7.30. Quelle journee!!!
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