traveldk.com

Residential blocks crowd Aberdeen’s small, lovely harbour, which is still filled with high-prowed wooden fishing boats despite the fact that overfishing and pollution have decimated the Hong Kong fishing industry. Ignore the ugly town centre and instead photograph the tyre-festooned sampans, or walk to the busy wholesale fish market at the western end of the harbour and watch the catches being loaded onto trucks and vans.

Fish market, Aberdeen Harbour

Barnacle-encrusted hulks and down-at-heel gin palaces rub gunwhales with multi-million dollar yachts in this packed haven from the “big winds” that regularly bear down on the South China coast. There are also quaint houseboats with homely touches like flower boxes permanently anchored behind the stone breakwater. The impressive edifice to the left as you look out to sea is the Hong Kong Yacht Club.

Perhaps the developers figured “Central Plaza” had more cachet than “Wan Chai Plaza”, or perhaps Wan Chai is more central than Central if you’re talking about the mid-point of the waterfront. Anyway, this is Hong Kong’s second tallest building (after the new IFC Tower) at 374 m (1,227 ft), and has a viewing platform.

Stretching away on the hill above Aberdeen, the Chinese Cemetery is a great place for photographs, both of the cemetery itself and of the harbour beneath. Negotiating the steep, seemingly endless steps is quite an undertaking, though, especially on a hot day.

There’s an almost Mediterranean air to the lovely beach and waterfront of Deep Water Bay, a popular place for beach lovers and the well-to-do who settle in the Bay’s upmarket housing. The smallish beach is protected by lifeguards and a sharknet, and the water is usually clean. As with most beaches in Hong Kong, it gets crowded in fine weather.

As the name suggests, Exchange Square houses Hong Kong’s red-carpeted financial engine room, although the stock exchange is not open to visitors. However, the peaceful square outside it, dominated by a large fountain, is a great place to eat or drink outside. Near the fountain are sculptures by Henry Moore and Dame Elizabeth Frink. The square’s newest building, Two IFC Tower (see Modern Buildings), is a striking addition to the island’s already impressive skyline.