If you enter Big Wave Bay’s village car park and turn immediately right, walk past the flower gardens and abandoned garden Bodhisattva’s, you will reach the end of the sidewalk and this isolated house. This area of Big Wave Bay is the only area flat enough to support gardens of any size. Here are lots of pepper plants, bananas and carrots planted in rows of sandy soil. And for some reason, there is this very large steel pig trap. This is unusual because there are no pigs in Big Wave Bay, or anywhere else on Hong Kong island for that matter. What is just as interesting is that this trap is set and baited with fresh vegetables inside a small pail. But, who knows, maybe the reason there are no pigs running around the village is because of this trap. In which case we owe the owners a big debt of gratitude. So, thanks for keeping the pig population in check, kind sir. On the way back to my house I did a quick sketch of the
pathway. I spent just a couple of minutes on it. But I’m trying hard to make up for the time I lost sick in bed. I like this particular stretch of sidewalk for its abundance of bananas and exotic flowers. I’m not sure what the little vines are that climb along the fence line, but they smell like honeysuckle and are shaped like small trumpets. Even if you are not interested in sketching, its nice to sit and smell the fragrance. On days such as these I feel like Ferdinand the Bull. 🙂
Hogzilla! I vaguely remember Spike over at http://hongkietown.com/ posting something about wild pigs in Sai Kung.
Have a good 2011.
No kidding? I was told they raised pigs here when the village was first settled. Maybe a couple got loose and are doing well for themselves. Thanks for the info.
This morning was the village walk-a-bout and I had a chance to ask the locals about the pig trap. They say not only are there pigs here tearing up the vegetable gardens, there is also a breed of small deer like animals around. How about that? A rabbit with antlers, perhaps? 😉
Who’d have thought wild pigs on HK island? And for there to be enough that the trapper puts out fresh bait. For sure, if there is one pig, there are lots. They multiply faster than rabbits. Perhaps, there is a steady supply of pork in one of your neighbor’s diet.
Happy New Year.
Hi Grumpa, according to the old generation of villagers, Big Wave Bay was first settled as a pig farm after WWI. Soon after the Japanese were defeated in WWII the British controlled government took control of the area causing property values to skyrocket (got to love the underground economy). Since then the residents became wealthy land owners and promptly quit farming.
I guess the pigs they didn’t eat right then got away. But I’ll believe it when I see it. 😉