Hong Kong’s Jumbo restaurant in Aberdeen harbour

It’s always interesting to read news articles about places you’ve been to. So it was with interest that I recently read about the sinking of Hong Kong’s famous Jumbo restaurant back in 2022. 

Having been an icon and major tourist attraction of Hong Kong’s Aberdeen harbour since it opened in 1976, the famous floating restaurant has entertained Kings, Queens, Presidents and been the location for many major movies. Sitting at nearly 80 metres in length and with a  capacity of more than 2,000 the restaurant was the main feature of the Jumbo Kingdom which also featured the Tai Pak Floating Restaurant and the Sea Place. Styled in the form of an ancient Chinese imperial palace, the Jumbo restaurant sat in Aberdeen harbour for 44 years. However, despite its place in Hong Kong’s culinary history, the floating restaurant had been unprofitable since 2013. Then, when Covid hit the region in early 2020, the restaurant was forced to close and by 2022 it had accumulated losses exceeding HK$100 million. As the future of Jumbo’s looked bleak, several proposals were put forward to save the famous restaurant, all of which came to nothing as potential investors were deterred by the high maintenance cost and a potential government bailout also failed. So, it was announced in May of 2022 that the  restaurant would move away from Hong Kong for repairs and storage in an unspecified destination until a new owner took possession of the vessel. In June of that year, the Jumbo floating restaurant was towed out of Hong Kong where some time after it hit rough weather in the South China Sea, started taking on water, eventually sinking near the Paracel Islands to a depth of over 1,000 metres [3,300 feet]. 

The oddest thing about discovering that the famous Jumbo restaurant had sunk was realising I had photographed it only two months before it closed in March of 2020. What a curious thing it is to know that only two months after taking this photo it was closed to the public and then two years later it would be at the button of the South China Sea. 

Saigon Street in Hong Kong

Hong Kong really is an interesting place, particularly if you’ve never been there before. Just wandering the streets can be an overload for the senses with all the sights and sounds that greet you from being in the world’s fourth most densely populated region in the world with over 7.4 million residents. Once you’ve spent the day ambling the city streets or visited the wonderful contrast between old and new in the Aberdeen Floating Village you can head into the numerous night markets that awaken after dark and become a hive of people. Of course, then there’s also the Symphony of Lights show that luminates Victoria Harbour each evening. But, then again just navigating the airport can be an interesting experience in itself.

The Sampan boats of Aberdeen in Hong Kong

While I was in Hong Kong I visited Aberdeen Harbour which is famous to both locals and tourists. The area is incredibly well known for its floating village and seafood restaurants that are located within the harbour. It’s also home to the Tanka people, who used to live on boats in the harbour and are closely linked to the fishing industry. During my time there, we travelled around on a traditional sampan, which is a flat bottomed fishing boat that originated from China. The Tanka people lived on them and while they were used on the rivers and coasts to transport people during the day, they also doubled as shelter at night. Nowadays, most are used to ferrying curious tourists on tours like myself. Although I passed on the seafood restaurants.