Hong Kong junk trips: where to sail, what to eat and who to avoid as a potentially bumper peak season kicks off
- Coronavirus restrictions don’t apply on a junk when the boat is moving, and when it drops anchor, passengers can be arranged into groups of eight
- From the beaches and bays of Sai Kung to islands dotted around Hong Kong, there’s no shortage of places to drop anchor
A big day out on the water with a feast for lunch, perhaps a little too much to drink and a touch of sunburn are the markers of a weekend junk trip. Other cities have boats and water, but you have to be in Hong Kong to appreciate a classic junk excursion.
Although pleasure boats head out to sea year-round, June marks the start of the peak junk season – and given the coronavirus travel restrictions, which rule out almost all overseas trips, the sailings are likely to be more popular than ever this year.
“We are getting lots and lots of bookings,” says Tracy Li, operation executive at Hong Kong Yachting, which has 52 boats on its books that sail with three crew each from Aberdeen. “This year is more than 30 per cent busier than last year and we are fully booked for the first three weekends of June. People can’t travel, so more people are having summer holidays in Hong Kong.”
In the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, junks were a key part of corporate entertainment and access to the “company junk” was a common perk of employment for the upper echelons. Those days have sailed, but junk trips still help define Hong Kong summers for those fortunate enough to be able to go on one.
“Elsewhere in the world you have a weekend place or take a drive in the country. In Hong Kong, the junk is our equivalent,” says Victoria Allan, founder of Habitat Property, who arrived in Hong Kong from Perth, Australia, in 1997.
“When I arrived, everyone I knew had access to the company boat. After the Asian Financial crisis, companies sold their junks.”