Saturday, November 23, 2013

Over and Something Rusty (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

 

As regular visitors to my blog know, Hong Kong has a number of photogenic abandoned villages.  For the most part, they tend to be visited only by passing hikers and, on certain religiously significant days of the year, by folks who used to live there and/or their descendants. 

In recent years, however, certain people have got to realizing their tourism potential -- with such as the not easily accessible Lai Chi Wo making an appearance on the Hong Kong Tourism Board website.  And while there's no information on it on the Hong Kong Tourism Board's website (at the time of writing), the likes of CNN have already devoted coverage to Yim Tin Tsai, an abandoned island as well as village that's easily accessible via a 15 minute boat ride from Sai Kung pier.

As one approaches Yim Tin Tsai on the kaido on a weekend, the scene looks pretty lively.  But walk around the village and island, and you will come across ample evidence that Yim Tin Tsai's days as a living community clearly were over some years ago.  

Sure there are a few stalls set up near the main waterfront but they just are there to serve day trippers and the impressive looking chapel on the hill was closed when we visited even though it was a Sunday.  Instead, my friends and I contented ourselves with exploring areas of the village and island that had been given up to nature (witness the moss covered steps along one of the village's paths in the middle photo at the top of this blog entry) and taking photos of sights that we found eye-catching (e.g., the walls of rusty paint inside one of the village's long vacated buildings).  

Having read positive reports of the place, my friends and I were surprised to find that we didn't need to spend as much time to check out Yim Tin Tsai as we had budgeted that we'd need to do.  In retrospect, I think we've probably explored more parts of Hong Kong already than many of those who enthuse about it.  Still, it's an interesting enough place -- and, if nothing else, I reckon that it makes for a good subject for both Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts this week! :)

11 comments:

magiceye said...

Lovely takes indeed!

Aiyah Nonya said...

It is sad seeing those abandon towns or houses. There are lots of that in Perak. Old towns that slowly died together with the tin mines.
Thanks for dropping by.
Have a great weekend. :)

MaR said...

Abandoned towns make me sad.There are none in my area so I have never visited one...Great take on the themes!

photohunts

eastcoastlife said...

I am curious if these abandon houses will be demolished and a new town be built in its place. In land scarce Singapore, this place would quickly be developed and sold :P

Gattina said...

That's a very good (and clever) idea to include abandoned houses or villages in a tourist tour !

RNSANE said...

The waterfront looks lively and I would have enjoyed seeing the abandoned buildings, though a bit sad.

My post shows a white bird
( egret ? } framed by some glasseless windows!

Susan Demeter said...

That last image is powerful!

Carver said...

It does make a great place to photograph for the themes. Happy Weekend!

YTSL said...

Hi magiceye --

Thanks!

Hi Aiyah Nonya --

Are you from Perak? In any case, I wonder where the people who abandoned the towns or houses there went...

Hi Marcy --

I don't feel particularly sad when seeing abandoned towns. I guess I tend to assume their former denizens went on to better lives!

Hi EastCoastLife --

Many of the abandoned villages in Hong Kong are in parts of the territory where people don't want to live anymore because their locations are not convenient in this day and age. So even while Hong Kong is land scarce too, there won't be ready inhabitants for those areas.

Hi Gattina --

It's happened before. E.g., I remember visiting ghost towns in the US decades ago!

Hi RNSane --

It's interesting that people feel sad when seeing these pictures. I must admit I don't have that emotion!

Hi Sue --

I'm going to assume you think it's evocative too... ;)

Hi Carver --

Yes it does, and happy weekend to you too! :)

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

It is sad to think there there are homes and spaces that are abandoned... these days so many people need a roof 'over' their heads.
Great post!

YTSL said...

Hi Sandi --

People need roofs over their heads but they want those roofs in places that aren't too far away from roads, workplaces and such.

When I see the abandoned villages in Hong Kong, I feel less sad and more awe at how tough the folks back then -- and glad that many of their descendants don't have the physical burdens that they did.