Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Over the years, more and more high-rise buildings have been built here and Aberdeen has become a modern town with bustling waterfront activity. Jumbo the floating restaurant lives here (see travelogues). You can still see boat-dwellers who shuttle backwards and forwards in their sampans. Some 20,000 ‘boat people’ live on 3,000 junks and sampans in Aberdeen harbour.

Aberdeen lies on the southern side of Hong Kong Island and is the largest separate town on the island. It used to be a refuge for pirates two centuries ago and later it became a simple fishing village. Main Street has many inexpensive goods from the mainland and you will find local markets in Wu Pak Street.

Getting There: Take bus No. 7 or No. 71 from Exchange Square in front of the Outlying Islands Ferry Terminal.

Aberdeen was once a fishing village & a pirate's den, but the area is now filled with residental condominiums, commerical buildings and factories. However, Hong Kong Tsai ( a small part of Aberdeen) has been able to keep its traditional roots.

Hundreds of sampans & junks still serve as floating homes for the local fishing inhabitants. It is interesting to note that people a century ago could live, marry and die onboard, hardly ever setting foot on shore.

You can also take a sampan ride, but make sure they are licensed operators. They could cost anywhere from $ 50 - 80 HKD for a 20 minute ride.

The most popular restaurant in the area would have to be the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, where you could take a free ferry from the shore to reach it.

There is also a Tin Hau (goddess of the sea) temple that was built in 1851. Inside, you could smell the strong aroma of incense sticks....

Nearby is Ocean Park, the only amusement park in Hong Kong. My favourite attraction there is the Panda Bears, for they are so cute ^_^ !

Take bus routes 7, 70 to reach Aberdeen.

...the recent visit was my first time to take the ferry and tour all over and around the harbour and neighbooring islands of this small city. And it was kind of getting to rain but it didn't rained. So, as you can see in the pic that the commercial center was lost in the fog...Quiet a view after all..heheh..kidding!

ABERDEEN-lots of junkboats to see here


Aberdeen Harbour is home to hundreds of people living on fishing junks. Their traditional lifestyle is dramatically juxtaposed against a modern high-rise community that spreads up the nearby hillsides. In the evenings, the thousands of twinkling lights reflected on the water are a magical sight.

To get a close-up look at the Aberdeen way of life, many visitors take a sampan ride. In the evenings, many others prefer to take in the view from one of two magnificent floating restaurants anchored here. Three storeys high and elaborately decorated with swirling red and gold dragons and other traditional Chinese motifs, the experience is not to be missed. Neither, of course, is the delicious fresh seafood and the excellent Cantonese fare on offer.

Aberdeen is also the site of Ocean Park, one of Southeast Asia's largest oceanarium and theme parks.
Once a notorious warren of tenement buildings, the Kowloon Walled City has been demolished to make way for the recently opened Kowloon Walled City Park, which includes reconstruction's of historic buildings and traditional Chinese gardens.

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At Waterfall Bay Park in Wah Fu Estate. It is very near to Aberdeen and has a great view of the channel.

People live on boats in Arberdeen, Stanley market is interesting.
Visiting a market at night to perhaps eat in the open air.

You can get a bird's eye view of Aberdeen and its environs by walking the Hong Kong Trail originating at Victoria Peak and curls around to Wanchai Gap.