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Almost
anyone who has ever visited Hong Kong has used the “Star”
Ferry and paid their quarter (or the current rate) to cross the harbor
from the Kowloon side to the Hong Kong side.
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On
one of my visits to Hong Kong, I had taken a boat tour around Victoria
harbor and then on up to Aberdeen to see the “floating cities”
where people lived on boats their entire lives. This is Victoria Peak
and Hong Kong as they looked in the early 1970’s.
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Victoria
harbor is incredibly crowded with large ships and small boats going
in every direction.
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One
of the many things which impressed me in Hong Kong was seeing how BAMBOO
scaffolding could be erected and used to construct this 20+ story building.
[But, I would personally not want to be on it!]
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Every
imaginable type propulsion and construction of boat could be seen around
Victoria harbor.
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Of
course, this is an excellent example of a classic flat-bottomed “Chinese
Junk” which is so often featured in movies.
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On
a visit to Hong Kong in 1972, I saw the remains of the famous “Queen
Elizabeth I” luxury liner which had caught fire and sunk in Victoria
harbor in JAN 1972. The ship had been in the process of being converted
to a floating university when it was destroyed.
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During
Vietnam, Hong Kong was a favorite port of call for all Navy ships for
many reasons, but one service was not often officially discussed: Getting
the ship PAINTED in exchange for empty BRASS SHELL CASES!
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US
Navy ships saved their brass 5-inch shell casings that had been fired
to trade them to the Chinese painters in Hong Kong. They accepted the
brass instead of demanding cash for their services.
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This
is the entrance to one of the small harbors on the trip to Aberdeen.
The small children are awaiting the arrival of any tour ship in order
that they can beg for money.
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The
children encourage the tourists to throw any kind of coins into the
water so that they can try to catch the coins with their nets while
they are still in the air. But, if they miss the catch, they will then
use the net to try to scoop the coin from the...
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...water
or else some of kids will dive from their boats into the water to retrieve
the coins.
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These
are some of the infamous ‘hillside slum houses’ that crowd
the steep hillsides of Hong Kong on the way to Aberdeen. When the rainy
season arrives each year, many of these flimsy wooden structures are...
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...washed
away and the people living in them lose everything (including their
lives in many cases).
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As
can be seen in this telephoto shot of a house perched precariously on
a hillside, the whole structure seems to be held together with only
pieces of bamboo supports tied together.
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In
contrast, this is one of the HUGE modern governmental apartment complexes
that was being built in the early 1970’s to replace the hillside
slum houses. These apartment buildings provided much needed improvements
to the living...
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...standards
for thousands of poor Chinese people. The complexes were so large that
they looked almost like a ‘city’ as we passed by on the tour
boat.
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As
we neared the entrance of another small harbor, the kids in their small
boats were already headed toward our ship...with their nets in hand!
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