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This
is an over-exposed photo of some of the many fishing ships whose inhabitants
often lived their entire lives aboard their boats. On the hillside behind
the ships is a graveyard that provided a final resting place ashore
for those...
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...boat
people who had no real home (other than their floating ‘home’).
The harbors were over-crowded and boats were closely tied together.
Each boat often had more than one generation of a family living aboard.
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This
is one of three floating Chinese restaurants that existed in the early
1970’s when I went on the boat trip to Aberdeen. Two of the 3 ended
up being destroyed by fire during the late 1970’s.
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Our
tour stopped for lunch at this floating restaurant. In this photo, patrons
were being shown a live SQUID as one lunch possibility. Other seafoods,
such as this...
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...FRESH
lobster could also be selected and prepared for their mid-day snack.
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In
order to better show the congested living conditions of these ‘boat
people,’ I had ventured up a hill near the water and taken this
picture...
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...as
well as this telephoto image at a downward angle. It is hard to believe
that entire families (some with as many as 3-4 children) live their
entire lives on these small boats. I would assume that Hong Kong did
NOT have any restrictions keeping...
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...these
boat people from disposing of their waste products (such as toilet matter)
directly into the ocean. Needless to say, I had no interest in taking
a swim anywhere near one of these floating communities.
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The
next 10 photos represent a series of shots I had taken on the same evening
from the top of Victoria Peak. In this photo, the city of Hong Kong
lies directly below; the Star Ferry and Kowloon are directly across
the harbor.
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This
photo is taken more toward the Eastern part of Hong Kong Island. Both
the previous photo and this one were taken very late in the day just
as the sun was starting to set.
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A
little later as the sun began to set, lights began to show up in this
photo of Hong Kong (below) and the same section of Kowloon and the Star
Ferry (across the harbor).
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At
this point in the sunset, I had to put my camera on a tripod and expose
the film for several seconds in order to capture the image. The blurred
lights on the water are moving boats; the blurred red and white lights
below in Hong Kong are moving cars.
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I
can still remember how COLD it got up there on Victoria Peak after the
sun had gone down, but I definitely wanted to finish this sequence of
a Hong Kong sunset!
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As it got darker, I had to expose my film for progressively longer periods of time, so anything that was lighted and moving (such as cars and boats) began to leave a longer ‘trail’ of light. |
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In
this photo (which was taken just after the sun set), I had moved several
miles to the East on Hong Kong island and was shooting back toward Victoria
Peak; the Star Ferry and Kowloon are to the right of the photo.
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This
is another view of the harbor from my 2nd vantage point on Hong Kong
Island...more toward the East (or toward the International Airport).
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In
this photo looking back toward Victoria Peak and downtown Hong Kong,
in the foreground is a large apartment building. I still remember I
was amazed that almost none of the windows had any shades; I could look
directly into the units!
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This
last exposure was quite long...maybe 30 seconds or more...and really
shows the lights on the boats moving around the harbor.
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The
street markets in Hong Kong and Kowloon are really quite impressive...especially
if you have never seen similar open-air markets in other parts of the
Far East.
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Just
about anything that the local Chinese people need in their daily lives
can be purchased in one of the hundreds of street-side stalls.
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While
I would have no problem eating some of the fruit being sold in these
stands, I would really hesitate before buying or consuming many of the
other food products.
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When
you gotta go, you GOTTA GO! I just happened to see this woman holding
her little girl as the kid did “what comes naturally” onto
the sidewalk...and quickly shot their picture (without asking)!
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Now,
this street-side barber...who was holding a razor and shaving a customer
at the time...did NOT seem to really appreciate my taking his photo.
I decided not to ask him to “Smile!”
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If
there was one over-all impression I had of Hong Kong, it was CONGESTION!
And, I would not even want to think how much WORSE things have probably
become in the 30 years since I took these photos.
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This
is how the Star Ferry Terminal appeared at night.
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Of
course, for many of the sailors off the ships (as well as the many foreign
tourists), the BARS and WOMEN of Hong Kong and Kowloon were legendary.
This is how one of the nicer areas of Kowloon looked after dark...
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