Aberdeen is one of the places that I am just not familiar with. I have been there on several occasions, but I still feel that I do not much about this place.
Usually we go hiking from Wan Chai to the Aberdeen reservoirs and walk downhill, pass the Aberdeen Tin Hau temple, and grab a bite before heading back home.
That’s what we did this time too, but then my hiking buddy Rik and I decided to extend our stay and as it was such a warm and sunny day, just to stroll around a little bit in Aberdeen. There was not much to see in the centre, apart from shops and restaurants, so we walked to the waterfront.
We started from the wholesale fish market area, on the Aberdeen Promenade and walked towards the East. We passed all the small ferry piers, some are for sampan boats across to Ap Lei Chau, others take eaters to the Jumbo Kingdom restaurant. And then there are the ones that leave for Lantau or Po Toi.
Originally, Aberdeen was a small village, known for its typhoon shelter, boat-building port and the people living on their boats. Many of the boat people, however, have since been moved to massive housing projects, and the waterfront surrounding Aberdeen is now crowded with high-rises. At anchor are almost as many yachts as fishing boats and junks nowadays.
In fact the name ‘Hong Kong’ was the original name of the area and foreigners who landed here in the 1800’s mistook the name as for the whole island. Consequently, Aberdeen was named in 1845 after the then British Secretary of State for War and Colonies – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen.
We continued walking along the Aberdeen Waterfront, past Ocean Court and the Aberdeen Praya Road Landing 6 from which junk boats as well as the Big Bus sampan tours depart.
We saw the big bridge to Ap Lei Chau and there is a water inlet with a small bridge that we wanted to cross, but the small bridge was under repair so we could not access it. We had to continue walking along the tennis & squash centre and the dog playground.
We continued until there was a small narrow bridge over water pipes and this is where we crossed to the other side of the water inlet.
Now we where underneath the Holy Spirit Study Seminary in Aberdeen, which is an interesting building.
Underneath is a small walkway, and it looks like here will be a dog playground or training ground soon – all the training steps/ladders/tunnels have been set-up, but when we went where no dogs nearby.
We continued our walk until we reached the waterfront. There is a small viewing point in the shape of a boat, made out of stone. We continued our walk along the water, towards the East, until we saw a little shrine and a small shipyard.
At this point we thought the walk would continue but we were mistaken – or at least we did not want to climb across machinery and tools.
So we just turned around and walked back to where we came from and took a bus back to Causeway Bay from Aberdeen Praya Road.
bluebalu 