Trash

I love my picturesque Cheung Chau.  I repeatedly tell people that it's my favourite place in Hong Kong.  It's a place that makes me feel happier and more relaxed.  I've walked around the island so many times now that there aren't too many places I haven't wandered past at least once.  It's given me a familiarity to the place.  I now have a visual memory of most of the areas which helps me to explore and also to find the places I want to revisit.

The flip side to that knowledge and memory I have of the place is when I see it in a less than ideal state.

Some recent storms and the flow of the currents meant that certain parts of Cheung Chau had become filled with trash.  The oceans had brought in all the detritus floating around straight into all of the little coves on the South West of the Island.  It was disgusting and upsetting to see the normally clean beaches turned into garbage dumps.  I had seen other beaches of Hong Kong covered with trash on different occasions, but this was my first sad experience with this on Cheung Chau.  The tides and currents would eventually changes push a lot of these rubbish out to other areas, but it was still disappointing to see.

Thankfully my favourite beach was clear.  The currents carrying all the junk were on the other side of the island and so today was still a day for a swim.  After hiking around the entire Southern section of the island, I had arrived at the beach drenched in sweat.  I quickly changed and dove straight into the water.

From my vantage point in the middle of the water, I looked back at all of the umbrellas and deck chairs.  It was an inviting sight and I soon swam back for a cool drink.