Sampan Sunday

After a long lie this morning we got the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island. Once again, the weather was beautiful with the temperature in the high 20's. Mrs B had decided she wanted to see Aberdeen Harbour in the South of the island, so we got a number 70 bus that took us via Happy Valley and the mountain tunnel.

The harbour was constructed to protect fishing boats from typhoons, but sadly the fishing industry is not what is was in its heyday, when over 30,000 were employed in some capacity. Nowadays there is only a small fraction of this number employed and a few dozen boats. The harbour has featured in several movies including Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon.

We had just arrived when a wee old man shouted on us from his sampan, clearly looking for tourist business. We agreed on the half hour trip round the harbour and had the boat to ourselves. He was a decent sort and was more than happy to take our photograph with the massive Jumbo Floating Restaurant in the background. The blip is another touristy shot, but is that not what you are supposed to do on holiday?

Afterwards, we returned to Hong Kong and met up with a lad from Carradale who has been working there for the past 5 years. What a small world it is, particularly given the size of Carradale! Had a few drinks with him and got some good local knowledge, including a great recommendation for dinner in a nearby Vietnamese restaurant.

There were a couple of other blips I was tempted to go with. One I took both yesterday and today, which was meant to appeal to iPhone and iPad users, was of the giant Apple Store in Central Hong Kong. If you think the ones in Glasgow and Braehead are big, you should see the size of this place and the number of blue T shirts! Go Large and try counting them!

The other shot I had considered was of some Filipino Maids having a Sunday get together in the sheltered walkways. Apparently there are over 130,000 of them working as maids in and around Hong Kong and they are paid an absolute pittance. Sunday is their day off and they gather in groups, each made up of girls from the same village in the Philippines. I found it a bit sad to compare their situation with the outrageous wealth of the shoppers in nearby Pacific Place, where there is little other than designer label shops and high quality jewellers. However, they all seemed happy enough with their lot of earning a few dollars to send home to their families.

Tomorrow is last day in HK before an overnight flight to Oz. Suspect it will be a day or so before I can blip again!