The astute among you might have found a few new additions to the galley pages as I organise my images and start uploading them onto the website. The most recent addition (currently) is a series of images from Hong Kong, Kowloon, The New Territories and the outlying islands. Navigate to the gallery to see the series.

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A trip to the quiet and unassuming Cat Street Market (officially Upper Lascar Row*) can come as a welcome diversion from such markets as found over in Kowloon. There is no gaudy plastic to be found here, mostly antiques – or excellent copies – jostle for space on the tables lining the street, each one loaded with fascinating objects. Upon approaching one stall it felt like stepping back in time to the 50’s to when People’s Republic came to power. It was quite literally overflowing with all manner of bric-a-brac under the general theme of ‘Red’. The communication gulf between myself and the wizened and wrinkled lady, who seemed to be seated somewhere inside a pile of Little Red Books (the words of Mao himself), was partially bridged as I managed to buy a couple of things from somewhere in the pile. Definitely the most interesting market of the area by a long shot!

 

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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.

 

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It’s a straightforward affair to reach a number of the 236(!) islands from Hong Kong, so one evening I headed down to the ferry port, paid the princely sum of just under £2 and enjoyed the 30min trip out across the bustling harbour passing through the West Lamma Channel towards the island of Cheung Chau. As noted in an earlier post, small pockets of people still live aboard their boats and can be found in various locations around Hong Kong such as; Causeway Bay and Aberdeen Harbours on Hong Kong island, and further afield on Lamma Island, Cheung Chau Island and Tai O on Lantau Island where the more traditional lifestyles can still be found.

Arriving at Cheung Chau is very much like going back in time, all the buildings are low-rise, a large harbour crammed with fishing boats from the large trawlers down to the ‘i-can’t-believe-you-take-that-beyond-the-harbour-wall’ type craft that bob gentle in the swell of passing craft, bright colours along the sea front promenade are not the glaring neon lights from the hub of commercialism I recently left but brightly coloured awnings and building fronts, strings of lanterns and bare light bulbs, even the gentle persuading from merchant stalls and fish restaurants seemed more laid back than anywhere else so far.

I wandered along the promenade coming to the Tin Hau temple to the north of the town, as usual you could catch the scent of incense some way away before actually spotting it, inside the burning candles and heady smoke put me in something of a daze and so I continued by wandering back to the water front, coming face to face with a stunning sunset. I set myself low and close to the water using a line of boats as my foreground, the rapidly falling light increased my exposure time but I achieved the effect, in fact I was hoping to show the movement in this way, its as though the small ones are moving around as the larger ones remain static without losing to much detail. I believe whilst out on Cheung Chau I witnessed the best sunset I’d seen since arriving in Hong Kong – still a fair bit of pollution around but at least it felt like you’re away from it all.

After pleasant evening’s stroll in a comparatively quiet location I caught the ferry back to the main island ferry port, the slow one this time so I could sit out and watch the island lights slip away behind as I went…

 

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