Aberdeen Harbour lies in the space between the town of Aberdeen and the small island Ap Lie Chau on the south side of Hong Kong Island. Half expecting to see kilt-wearing, caber-tossing antics it couldn’t be more different. Although many places in Hong Kong share names with British and other European locations the similarities end there. Aberdeen was originally called Hong Kong, though visitors to the island mistakenly believed that to be the name of the entire island so the town was renamed Aberdeen after George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.
Aberdeen Harbour is famous for its floating village and the Tanka people that live and work on their boats, though many now live onshore the harbour is still a bustling riot of activity and noises. Fishing boats coming and going, sampans chugging back and forth as they jostle for position to catch passengers off the jetty, loud clangings from a repair yard across the harbour, a string of fish on a line drying on the sun, gentle waves break around the remnants of a sunken vessel, beyond the harbour wall fishermen bob about precariously in the swell from the vast container ships that pass by…despite the prominent commercial high-rise towers up to the water’s edge Aberdeen Harbour has retained it’s character as a fishing ‘village’ and is certainly worth a visit if ever in Hong Kong.
