Todays target is to revisit a place I first was shown back when I first arrived in HK some 30+ years ago.

Back then, it was the home of the worlds largest floating restaurant, yes, the one which was used in the bond film Man with the Golden Gun.

Yes, we are talking about the Jumbo Kingdom restaurant, which used to be in the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter on Hong Kong Island. More on the used to be later.

Anyhow, after the usual fuelling up with breakfast, the question is how to get there.

As always, there are many options, but in this case, there is now an MTR station in Lei Tung, which is fairly close.

And with my liking of walking, it was a no-brainer, so it's off to the MTR; first stop was admiralty, then changing to the South Island line, three stops later.

Emerging from the station, the heat hit me, like walking into a wall, and yes, there was a heat warning displayed in the station, which looked like another new addition, as I had not seen these in previous trips.

One thing to note is that the South Island line is a fairly new line, and the stations show this; gone are the older stations that can be fairly dark at times, replaced with bright and airy.

Google maps showed a path to the typhoon shelter which meant going over the Ap Lei Chau Bridge, but me being me, decided to explore some first, and Lei Tung was a new area for me.

Heading away from the station, I eventually spotted water in the distance, so headed that way, and for once it was a good move, as I came across a waterfront walk which headed towards the bridge google told me to cross.

It seems this walk, runs along the opposite shore of the typhoon shelter, but regardless of that, it's a really nice walk, even with next to no shade from the heat.

Heading for the bridge, I had a real doh! Moment, as there was no sign of anyway to actually get up onto the bridge, so after checking google again, it seemed I needed to carry on under the bridge a loop back on myself.

Oh well it's still a good walk, and after passing under the bridge, and heading up the hill, there was a small supermarket, which is perfect as I was needing some additional hydration.

Eventually I ended up on the bridge, and spotted a sign which talked about a subway, but to me it seemed I was on the right side on the road, so onward.

Well, that was the second doh! Moment of the day, as getting off the bridge, there was no way to get across the road, think concrete dividers. I even wandered around to make sure both myself and google were not missing anything, but nope, it was going to make an interesting day.

In the end I had to walk about a km along the street to find a cross bridge, although it was being worked on. Feeling lazy, I headed for the lift, to be signaled to stay back as one of the workers who was sending showers of sparks all over the place.

They called the lift for me and stopped grinding as it arrived. I nodded a thank you to the workers, which resulted in a smile. Who needs to be able to speak the same language 😀

At least I made it to the other side of the road, but now, I would need to cross again, just further down the street. Maybe this will be a triple doh!! day.

Moving further down the street toward my target, I found my path blocked by another bridge, but this time some hunting showed there was a way around it.

Eventually, I found another cross bridge, which seemed to get me closer to my goal.

Yes, thatsthe road I needed to cross, hence the issues, not much traffic, but still no easy way across.

Finally, after over an hour of wandering, I made it to my target, the typhoon shelter, or to be more accurate the;

Now the last time I visited Aberdeen I took the following shot, which shows how busy the typhoon shelter was.

This was taken some time in the early 90s, from the same side of the typhoon shelter that I was currently walking along. And yes, this was scanned from the negative, and not the print, so not too bad 😀

While it's not the exact same position the first shot was taken from, it's as close as I could get without getting wet feet.

Moving further along the promenade, there is a display of a dragon boat, not that that should be a surprise given that Aberdeen is known for hosting races.

This boat is made of metal, so it's not going to be used ever, time for some research into what this actually is, as I could not find any signage.

Current educated guess would be its one of the sculptures displayed on the promenade.

There are several sculptures, all celebrating the fishing history of Aberdeen. I will put these in a dedicated gallery, but until then, this is the first one I came across.

So, back to the Typhoon Shelter

The difference between my first visit and this one is stunning, and all positive, to the point I would like to come back when the dragon boat races are happening.

Now, it was 34c with humidity off the scale, most people would have cut things short, but not me, I decided to continue along the promenade.

Rounding the corner, I get to the commercial part, where various tourist boats, and the ferry to Lamma Island depart from, yes Lamma Island, which was on my places to visit. I was not aware you could leave from Aberdeen; however, it was too late in the day for me to visit today.

This is one for the next visit, do Aberdeen for the Dragonboat races, then move on to Lamma Island in the same day.

Talking of the next visit, its currently being planned for the June 2024, which should let me make the dragon boat races, both at Aberdeen but also some of the others.

Anyhow, it was getting late in the day, and having been walking around all day in the heat and extreme humidity, I decided it was a good time to head back to the MTR. Now this is where the issues started, heading back to the station, this time I managed to get on the right side of the road.

But I ended up getting turned around and ending up basically lost; oops, but then there are Google Maps and plenty of people around to ask. So, after many years of dealing with locals, I asked around and eventually came across a policeman who pointed me in the right direction.

That was the good news, the bad news was I had lots of steps and a horrible hill, to do battle with, and after the day in the heat I was very sweaty already. Oh well, at least I do not feel the heat.

Eventually I make it back to Lei Tung station, although via a different entrance to the one I used before. Anyhow getting on the fairly crowded train, I realised I was actually soaked to the point I was dripping on the floor. Apologies to my fellow passengers for that, and yes I did make sure I was not in anyones way.

As for the stats for the day, 45, 325 steps for the day, and yes in 34c heat with +90% humidity. Samsung Health tells me that it was around 38km. Yes, I know, I must be nuts....