It was another cloudy day in Clear Water Bay in Hong Kong. We were hoping for a bit of sun, but the slight fog definitely wasn't going to dampen our spirits. We were headed to a new place for adventure today - Aberdeen!
Jordan by the ferry boats
Now, the name 'Aberdeen' to Vancouverites means a shopping mall in Richmond, but it had quite a different meaning here. Aberdeen in Hong Kong is know for their fishing and seafood industry, as well as more tourist geared places such as floating restaurants. The public transit trip there took quite a while - approximately an hour and a half, but we enjoyed the ride as we talked to our fellow exchange friend, Chris, about school, Hong Kong, a bit of philosophy and lots of food.
We headed in the direction of the promenade in search of the infamous 'Fish Market', but before long, we realized that we may have taken a wrong turn. Instead of being in the area of the fish market where people sell and buy fish and seafood products, we were walking through the area where fisherman and workers were unloading fish fresh out of the ocean, pushing crates of clams and muscles, and spray down their trucks. I soon realized that I was quite wrong to wear my flats, because we were walking in a thin layer of water and if I stepped in the wrong direction, my feet would be bathed in fish water. Now that wouldn't have been too fun...
We kept on walking, while sneaking photos here and then to record the process of the workers hard at work. Our shoes eventually hit dry pavement as we exited the fishing market area and walked into the Aberdeen Promanade. Before we can fully appreciate the view, a older lady started pestering us to board their ship that takes us to one of the floating restaurants. We realized the boats that were docked in front of us were ferries that transported people to the restaurants, as well to nearby islands, such as Lamma Island.
The little ferry boats
Melody by the boats
We continued to walk down the avenue of small, colourful ferries, many of which has signs that said "Seafood Restaurant" or "Dried Seafood". We could definitely smell the dry seafood! Some of the boats were actually quite big, and that fact, along with seeing laundry being hung on the deck of the boat, made me realize that some people do actually live here. It was such a contrast - families and people are still living on boats, catching and selling fish for a living - an primitive occupation that has been around for tens of thousands of years. Meanwhile, I could see the looming skyscrapers in the background, full of people working in modern offices, performing modern jobs, dressed in clothes bought from G2000. Imagine a pin-striped suit hanging on the hangers on the fishing boat...
There must have been hundreds of boats in the Aberdeen harbour, ranging from small ferry boats to transfer passengers from land to land, to large fishing boats that roams the sea, preying on the sea creatures. The three of us leaning on the railing along the Aberdeen Promenade, taking in the scene in front of us. I, myself, was wondering what life would have been like if I were to grow up on living around a harbour like this, with my family's occupation as fishing people.
Something caught our eye in the distance - it was one of the building across the water from us. We thought it looked almost like temple, or perhaps a residence for monks, due to its Chinese-like design. As we pondered on the interesting, familiar Chinese architecture of the building, we realized that the building was situated on a completely different piece of land, only connected to Aberdeen by a bridge. And with that, our curiosities began to flow, and we set off to find this mystery island.
It took us a while to finally figure out, firstly, the name of the island and secondly, how to get there. I must say that we were not stupid, but it was actually quite difficult to find the bridge to the island. This was due to construction and the fact that we had to get across a pretty busy street in order to access the bridge. we did get there in the end, and we also found out what the island's name was: Ap Lei Chau!
We entered what appeared to the downtown of Ap Lei Chau - the streets were quiet, yet there was still a hustle bustle of little shops here and there, and of course, a few 7-Elevens scattered around. All of us agreed that our stomachs were beginning to take over our thoughts, so we set off in search of some food. Chris suggested we check out the one of these amazing buildings that usually has a meat, seafood and fruit market inside, and a cooked food area on one of the floors. He must have a sense for the markets, because in no time at all, we were standing beside one.
The next thing that happened to us was absolutely, terrifically, amazingly incredible. We decided to stop at one of the food booths beside the market, because there were a few people crowding around, and we were hungry. We paid $12 HKD for 3 full fish, deep fried batter. Actually, no, they were not only deep fried, but they must have been deep fried many MANY times, because it was simply so crunchy, greasy and DELICIOUS. The flavour and spices they added on the fish was great too, and I definitely a happy camper after eating that.
The food stand
About to eat deep fried fishies!
Lovely deep fried goodness
We headed up to the cooked food section and settled into a booth that serves, of course, more fried stuff. We could've gotten other alternatives, but we just had to try out their fried wontons and fish cakes. We ate like our usual ravenous selves, and set off again to continue to explore.
We walked around the water on Ap Lei Chau and saw some interesting buildings such as a small temple, and a Wind Tower to show residents of Ap Lei Chai the wind strength. Before long, something caught our eye again - a distant area of land that seemed to occupied by a lot of stone and open stairs. The cameras with super zoom function and the monocular came out.
Melody and a sundial!
Sundial!
Jordan and the view of the bay
Melody and the flowers
Melody: I see a sign for recycling...maybe it's recycling plant?
Jordan: But wait, there's cell phone company ads too, so maybe what was an ad.
Then Jordan saw the determining factor - tombstones. Yes, it was indeed a cemetery that was incredibly large. and of course, we had to go see it. This required us to cross back to Aberdeen, and we decided to do this via one of the passenger ferries and cost each one of us $1.80 HKD, equivalent to $0.23 CAD. And of course, they took Octopus card!
The cemetery from afar
Melody trying to see the cemetery from a distance
The entrance of the cemetery consistence of many flights of stairs, perhaps to ward of unruly, random visitors. We of course, were none of that sort. We climbed up the stairs, and began to look around the inside of the cemetary. Although the cemetary was beside the busy streets of Aberdeen, the noise of the crowds and cars faded in the background. There was a sense of reverence in the cemetery, and we set off to climb more stairs to explore this very different, yet alluring part of Hong Kong.
Little did we know, we were in for a hike. That was the second time of the day, when I wished I wore different shoes. It was almost like climbing up a mountain - there were many staircases that keep going up to the different areas of the cemetery. They were sectioned off, not only with numbers, but also with chinese chracters such as 馬 (horse) or 雲 (cloud). We paused to look at different burial grounds; some were lavishly decorated and some were plain but significant. The cemetery, I found out later, is called Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery. It is not searchable in Google maps, perhaps due to some kind of regulation? However, there is a satellite view of it on this page to show how incredibly big it is.
We kept climbing the stairs, until we finally reached the top. What amazed us, as we looked over the peak, was another section of the cemetery, as big as the one we just hiked up, on the other side. It extended up the mountain...and I realized that were definitely not at the top. It was another city in itself; as said by either Chris or Jordan (I'm sorry, I forgot!), it was a walled city of the non-living located beside a city of the living...
Melody in the cemetery
The cemetery borders several sky scrapers
View of the harbour opening
The huge skyscrapers nearby
We descended down the many stairs, and once at the bottom, we decided to look for way to our next adventure. We did, indeed, spend more than 5 hours here in Aberdeen. Jordan and I made plans to hang out with some friends that were from our university, University of Waterloo, but on exchange at other schools in HK, such as CityU. But that post is for another time, perhaps because our activities later on were so different from our activities in Aberdeen.
So it may not seem like something you would read in travel books, or hear about from your exchange friends, but visit a cemetery in Hong Kong. They are very different from the ones we see back home, and this cemetery definitely opened our eyes to another side of Hong Kong that we never expected to explore.
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