Serenity, Political Tension, Biodiversity - 1.16 sq. km of an island known as Tung Ping Chau

This past weekend my group went to our island of Tung Ping Chau. Before we left, we met our advisors at 10:00 am to discuss our project and to prepare for our trip to the island. The meeting was rather productive and took place at the world's largest Starbuck's (I don't know this as a fact, but it really was the largest Starbuck's I have seen). Then we had our Cantonese lessons. Our teacher, Victoria, brought us different snacks and treats in honor of Chinese New Years.

From there, my group traveled by MTR to the ferry pier and headed on the ferry to Tung Ping Chau. A little history of Tung Ping Chau: Tung Ping Chau is in the northeast corner of the Hong Kong territory. It is so far east, that it is often not included in maps. It is also signficantly closer to Mainland China then it is to Hong Kong. The island is a total of 1.16 square kilometers. It has a very diverse ecosystem and is surrounded by a marine park, said to be some of the best diving in Hong Kong. The island was once thriving with over 2,000 people, but has since decreased its population to about 5 locals.

Recently (November 2009), Tung Ping Chau was added to the Hong Kong Geopark. A public ferry runs to the island twice a day on Saturday and once a day on Sunday with only one return trip each day. 

The rest will be told by pictures :)

 This was the first sign for the Geopark that we saw right outside of the MTR station. The blue and pink road signs at the top point to different tourists attractions, including a sign that points to the public pier to catch the ferry to Tung Ping Chau. Amy is standing next to the hexagonal pillar that indicates the geopark (it was chosen to be a hexagonal column due to very unique volcanic pillars in Hong Kong that have a similar shape).

 This is the first proof that we found of permanent residents on the island. When evaluating ecotourism, one has to evaluate the local community. Tung Ping Chau was extremely hard to research in the United States, so we did not have any prior knowledge as to whether or not their were people living on the island. This was a very exciting first find for us, right on the ferry pier!

 This is the ferry from the pier with zillions of high-rise apartment buildings in the background.

 Something cool on one of the islands that we passed on our way out to Tung Ping Chau.

This is the secondary wall/damn (like a spillway type of thing...) to a reservoir for the Northeastern New Territories. The reservoir is inland a bit more behind the wall.

 Paul was standing on the side of the boat and he got majorly splashed!

 First sightings of our island!!! Tung Ping Chau is a very unique geological location in Hong Kong. Tung Ping Chau is full of sedimentary rock, and it can be clearly identified with all the different layers of rocks. It is also heavy with shale, which is not a normal rock type in Hong Kong.

 Getting closer!!!

 Patrol Boat! Right behind it you can see mountains. Those mountains are Mainland China!!!

Doing a loop to pull around and make our way to the public pier on the island.

 People getting off the pier.

 Puppy! He rode on the ferry with us :)

The welcome sign for Tung Ping Chau with the sign mentioning the Geopark. Underneath at are different maps of the islands and severals signs about what you can and can not do on the islands due to the restrictions put in place by the Country Parks Ordinance and the Marine Parks Ordinance.

 Some awesome, layered sedimentary rocks that we could see after we walked down the pier and started to follow the path.

This is Amy, walking down the path. Amy tends to be good with directions so she often leads the group when we are out places.

 View of the beautiful beach!

 So this is China (Mainland). It was a really crumby, rainy weekend so its not super-visible but it was suprising how close Tung Ping Chau was to the Mainland. The distance from Tung Ping Chau to Mainland China is only about 4 kilometers.

 Looking down the beach to see the different colors and layers of the awesome sedimentary rock features.

This was what really shocked and intrigued us. At first, we thought this was a sign about Chinese New Year or something because we are naive Americans. Luckily, our wonderful group member Katie and her ability to read Chinese, interpreted the sign for us. It turns out that these signs (there were a BUNCH of them with different sayings on them) were political protests against the government and against the Geopark. The local people of Tung Ping Chau (of which there are few remaining) are blaming the Geopark for ruining their lives. There are also signs about the government not providing the island with water and electricity. The hostel that we stayed at had a generated run by gasoline that they used to generate their own electricity. For water, they dug into the ground and made a well. Since there is no treatment abilities on the island, it is not safe to drink unless boiled so it is only used for flushing toilets and for cooking. Anyways... back to the island

 This is some of the ruins of an old village in Tung Ping Chau. This village is to the right of the pier and is called Tai Tong Wang. It is in this village that our hostel was located. This village is almost entirely abandoned less the three hostels and the few noodle shops that are there for the tourists. Only two of the hostels were open when we went to visit and the noodle shops were closed. Our hostel was right past this. We went on our way to check in and Katie was able to communicate with the owners. We settled into our room and then ventured downstairs.

 After verifying the time of dinner, we decided to take a mini-night time adventure to explore a little bit of the island that was close to the hostel. This is Amy walking up the path.

 I think this is rather self explanatory. We were actually fascinated that the island had its own police post. We figured with its small size, rather non-existent community and only weekend access that a police post wasn't something that was necessary. Throughout the evening we encountered several officers and Katie decided to informally interview them. We found out that they ALWAYS have several officers stationed on the island, even during the week. Due to the close proximity of Tung Ping Chau to Mainland China there was apparently a problem with immigration. The police are not really there to watch the local residents and the tourists. We found two stationed on the pier. Katie found out that they are stationed there all night and have very powerful flashlights to look into the water. They also have boats that patrol the island looking for people who are trying to swim over from the mainland. The police officers take several day shifts on the island. So they will work for 3 or 4 days straight and then have the next few days off. Anywaysssss....

 This is a really old light. When the British were in charge, they installed lights to light the pathways for the locals and the visitors. The lines have since been cut and the light bulbs removed. There a few lights that do work on the island, presumably installed by the Hong Kong government, but they are very distant.

This sign is just amusing to me so I decided to share it. :)

 Paul taking pictures of the fire. Our dinner at the hostel was Chinese style Barbeque. If you ask me, it was rather American but who knows. Anyways, we were given pieces of pork and steak, marinated in this spicy sauce, hot dogs, fish ball, beef balls, chicken wings, peppers and onions, mushrooms, bread, butter and honey. It was so good!!!!

 This is Paul eating a chicken wing. I think Katie and Amy are cooking chicken also?

More cooking over the fire.