Sail Away: Sampans & Junks

Named after an English lord, not the Scottish city, the Southside town of Aberdeen (30 minutes from Central via Bus 70 or 91) was once a pirate refuge. After World War II it became commercial as the tanka (boat people) attracted visitors to their floating restaurants. In the harbor are some 3,000 junks and sampans, still interspersed with floating restaurants, among them the famous Jumbo Kingdom, its faux-Chinese decorations covered in lights. The tanka still live on houseboats, and though the vessels look picturesque, conditions are depressing.

Elderly women with sea- and sun-weathered skin and croaking voices may invite you aboard a sampan for a harbor ride. It's better to go with one of the licensed operators that depart on 20-minute tours daily from 8 to 6 from the seawall opposite Aberdeen Centre. Tickets are HK$40. A tour lets you see how the fishing community lives and works and how sampans are also homes, sometimes with three generations on one small vessel. Ironically, about 110 yards away are the yachts of the Marina Club and the slightly less exclusive Aberdeen Boat Club.

You can also hire a junk to take you to outer islands: Cheung Chau, Lamma, Lantau, Po Toi, or the islands in Port Shelter, Sai Kung. Sailing on a large (up to 80-feet long), well-varnished, plushly appointed, air-conditioned junk -- which can serve as a platform for swimmers and water-skiers -- is a unique Hong Kong experience. Many local "weekend admirals" command these floating rumpus rooms, which are also known as "gin junks" because so much alcohol is often consumed aboard them.

Ap Lei Chau Island (Duck's Tongue Island), accessible via sampan or Buses 90B or 91 along the bridge that connects it with Aberdeen, has a yard where junks, yachts, and sampans are built, almost all without formal plans. With 80,000 people living on 1 square km ( 1/2 square mi), Ap Lei Chau is the world's most densely populated island.

Look to your right when crossing the bridge for a superb view of the harbor and its countless junks.

The ritzy restaurant-bar aqua luna (2116 -- 8821. www.aqua.com.hk) is on the Cheung Po Tsai, an impressive 28-meter junk named for a pirate and created by an 80-year-old local craftsman. It's slow but impressive, with magnificent red sails. A 45-minute cruise through Victoria Harbour costs HK$150 by day and HK$180 at night. Departures are every hour on the half hour 1:30 PM to 10:30 PM from Tsim Sha Tsui Pier, near the Cultural Centre, and 15 minutes later from Queen's Pier, Central.

The Duk Ling is a fully restored 25-year-old fishing junk whose large sails are a sight to behold. But the best thing about the Duk Ling is that a ride won't cost you a dime. The HKTB offers visitors free one-hour sails from Kowloon Pier (Thursday at 2 PM and 4 PM, Saturday at 10 AM and noon) and from Central's Queen's Pier (Thursday at 3 PM and 5 PM, Saturday at 11 AM and 1 PM). Register first at the HKTB offices at the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui; when you do, bring your passport to prove you're from out of town.