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Pictures: Hannah Grogan
Sai Kung new pier at dawn. Opposite, from top: 7am tai chi; mid-morning with the sampan lady.
24 hours on the waterfront Hannah Grogan documents a day in the life of Sai Kung’s seafront.
5am It’s dark, hot and humid on Sai Kung’s waterfront when I arrive for a marathon stint on the district’s most famous and best-loved promenade. The paving is slick with dew and last night’s rain, and spattered with yesterday’s rubbish. In the hour before dawn, it does not look its best. Despite the time, I am not alone. Sai Kung is waking up. Mr Softee is not out of bed yet, but a few health-conscious joggers and dog walkers are already up and about, pounding the promenade before starting the day.
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6.45am Something stirs in the Waterfront Park. The ladies (and a few men) who take part in morning tai chi classes are beginning to gather. Within minutes there is a crowd of more than 30 ready to Hold the Sky, Shoot the Hawk, Separate Heaven and Earth and all the other evocatively named movements of this age-old discipline. At the bus station, the first commuters are starting to queue and the cleaners have been and gone at the pier, which looks spick and span and ready for another busy summer day.
9am The early-morning calm is over. The first of the day’s procession of pleasure junks arrives to pick up lucky day-trippers heading out to the beaches and seafood restaurants. Families and friends wait on the pier in cheerful, colourful knots, bristling with coolers, barbecue forks and inflatable toys. A sampan weaves through the junks on one of many trips it will make today, ferrying residents from Tui Min Hoi to the waterfront where they can catch a bus to the city.