another abandoned house

In my last post, I mentioned that I intended to return to the ‘rotten row’ on Sunday, when no workmen would be on-site, to see whether I’d missed anything. I’ve now done so, but most of the houses have been covered in industrial sheeting since my last visit, and access is no longer possible. However, I was still able to enter the house with the gas canister outside the door, where I took three more photos, which I’ve appended to this account of an abandoned house nearby that I also visited today.

*  *  *

Having photographed everything that I wanted to in this house, I returned to the main path linking Ma Sik Road with the Ng Tung River, which is now my (much longer) way home. A short distance along this path, I reached the start of an overgrown path leading off to the right:

I will have checked out this path many years ago and found that it led just to someone’s house, so decided that it was of no further interest. However, in view of the recent developments in the area, I wondered whether this house might also now be abandoned. It was:

I didn’t take a photo from the doorway, because the interior looked decidedly dingy, but I was gobsmacked by what I discovered in a room leading off to the right about halfway along:

This is the only house I’ve visited with a private shrine! You will notice that the light has been left on in the room to the right of the shrine. I wonder who is paying the electricity bill.

And this is a view inside the room:

I didn’t think it prudent to try to climb up to the upper floor, because there wasn’t a separate handrail, and access was provided by what wasn’t much more than a ladder.

There is also a small kitchen leading off the main room:

Finally, this is a view of the main room from the end opposite the entrance to the house:

You will notice a dog in the doorway. I wonder whether it belonged to the last occupant of the house and has been abandoned like the house, or whether it’s merely a feral dog that has found a convenient place to sleep for the night. It was too nervous to come in once it became aware of my presence.

The path actually continues past the house, and I wondered to where it might lead. To my surprise, I came across a large area that had been planted with banana ‘trees’ neatly laid out in rows:

These photos were taken from the far side of the plot, first looking to the right and then to the left. Judging by the relative absence of weeds, this plot was still being tended until quite recently, although it won’t take long for either the jungle or the developers to reclaim it.

My last photo here is a view of the entrance to the house from the direction of the banana plantation:

*  *  *

Although I eschewed the climb up the ladder in the newly investigated house, I did decide to brave the steep climb to the upper floor in the only house in the ‘rotten row’ that is still accessible. At least it had a handrail. And this is what I saw upstairs:

From the top of the stairs, I had quite a striking view of the main room:

The people living here clearly left in a hurry!

I hadn’t noticed previously that this house also had a kitchen:

…and a toilet adjoining to the right, which didn’t strike me as a particularly hygienic location for such a facility.

I probably missed an opportunity to look inside other houses in the area that were demolished while I was in the UK this summer (Farewell Ma Shi Po), but there are many more further west that are still occupied—for now.