Hong Kong: a famous floating restaurant leaves the city after fifty years of existence

Audio 01:16

A general view of the "Jumbo" in Hong Kong, June 2, 2022. AFP - DANIEL SUEN

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2 mins

In Hong Kong, a legendary place and one of the most popular tourist destinations, the huge floating restaurant, the

, has left the port of Aberdeen forever, two years after it was announced that it would be closed.

For the inhabitants, it is a new symbol of another era of Hong Kong which is disappearing. 

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With our correspondent in Hong Kong,

Fog horns, it is the farewell of the boats of the port of Hong Kong to the largest and most majestic of them, the famous

.

This imposing floating building, imitating an imperial palace, with its overlapping of brilliant green roofs, looking like pagodas and its red and gold balconies, was enthroned in the heart of the port of Aberdeen, the main fishing port of Hong Kong for more than fifty years. .

Thousands of bulbs

Its huge neon lights and thousands of light bulbs lit up the port at night.

76 meters long, the

offered gigantic dining rooms, with kitsch luxury, where the dishes circulated on wheeled trolleys.

We arrived there by small sampans which ensured in less than two minutes the connection with the ground.

In its heyday, the

had welcomed the most prestigious visitors to Hong Kong, from the Queen of England to movie stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Tom Cruise.

Opened in 1976 by Stanley Ho, Macau's king of casinos who died in 2020, this floating restaurant was the height of luxury.

He has also featured in several films, including Steven Soderbergh's science thriller

 about a virus that kills some 26 million people across the world.

Lack of tourists

But the economic model was worn out, and the absence of tourists for more than three years in Hong Kong completed the sinking of this dilapidated ship, which was literally already taking on water.

The part of the "kitchens" attached to the back of the building had also recently collapsed.

Still, for many Hong Kongers, the

was one of the last symbols of a Hong Kong of yesteryear and its departure recalls the end of that era.

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