The enduring mystery, what happened to a Hong Kong Icon?

Me Jamie, English and 52 years living in Hong Kong and I know the know the place - I personally completed 2,324 Private Tours (6,000+ guests) from 2011 - 2020 and was considered one of the finest Private Tour Guides in Asia.

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Jumbo Floating Restaurant Hong Kong August 2024 Update

The enduring mystery, what happened to a Hong Kong Icon?

I was a pioneer of Private Tours of Hong Kong, putting up my website in 2010 and doing my first tour in April of 2011, I completed 2,324 private tours of Hong Kong before Covid in January 2020 destroyed my much loved business as Hong Kong was literally closed to tourists for 3 years.

I do have some amazing memories of my time as a Private Tour Guide not least of which was the day I did a tour with a famous Princess on August 22nd 2012 and then another one when I shook hands with a famous alleged Hong Kong Gangster | Mob Boss | Triad Leader at an Iconic Temple in Hong Kong and also the Band members of the iconic punk rock group the Damned

….and now we have the ludicrous and enduring mystery of what actually happened to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant that had been plying it’s trade for nearly 50 years in Aberdeen Harbour Typhoon Shelter in Hong Kong, it left Aberdeen Harbour in mid June 2022 and sank a week (or did it?) later near the Paracel Islands or Xisha Islands in the South China Sea close to Vietnam.

So what actually happened?

No one knows except the crew that were on the “tug boat” when it sank, there has been basically total silence from the owners of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant (Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises), the Tug crew | Company, the Insurance Company (if there was one) and naturally the Hong Kong Government has nothing to say - there has been a very comprehensive and rather amazing news blackout particularly given the way social media works these days.

So, fast forward 2 years and 2 months and there is still NO update and even the Hong Kong Government has kept totally silent on the matter.

**The Jumbo Floating Restaurant in Aberdeen Harbour Typhoon Shelter, it's home for close to 50 years and yes, it looked amazing at night time.**

If you type into Google “Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Hong Kong - what happened” or variations of the theme, there are plenty of articles from news sources all over the world about the history (which is interesting) and the build up a few weeks before it was sent on it’s last voyage and plenty of comments about the Hong Kong Governments plans for the restaurant which floundered in a form of Government purgatory for a year or so and then silence.

There are plenty of conspiracy theories floating around, some outlandish and some pretty close to the truth me thinks but in the absence of basically no viable information for over 2 years it is all speculation and to me it makes no sense that the Government here has seemingly closed the case offering no plausible explanation for what happened particularly as on the surface (no pun intended) this could have been a massive case of insurance fraud.

They Government did threaten the owners with prosecution for not reporting “a sinking within 24 hours” the problem is it happened 690km away from Hong Kong where Hong Kong laws are presumably not taken seriously.

I will give you my own thoughts on the matter but it is as mentioned all speculation which only an Official Hong Kong Government Report can resolve and that does not look likely at this time or ever for that matter.

First up, any normal person would look at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant and think to themselves, how is this vessel seaworthy? it was parked in a typhoon shelter for close on 50 years so spared the really rough weather but even so, you also had the impression when you where up close that maintenance was probably not high up on the things to do list and more than a few people thought it was a disaster by fire waiting to happen (The first Floating Restaurant called Jumbo, went up in flames on the same spot in 1971 and was presumably used as a reference to the floating restaurant fire in the James Clavell Novel, Noble House)

But to me and my untrained nautical eyes even waves of 1 - 2 m high would cause serious problems and a heavy swell could be catastrophic and thin wooden hoardings that they used to “stop water coming on board” were about as much use as wet cardboard.

Long story short, the owners had decided to close the restaurant mainly because of Hong Kong being cut off from the world for 3 years due to Covid and virtually all of it’s business came from tourists, the borders where closed to tourists with some of the worlds strictest quarantine protocols so that was that.

Stories began to emerge that it would close in late 2020 so the Government stepped in and for a while it looked like that was going to happen, a real rescue plan, new owners and a new beginning or NOT as the case was…. presumably the Government looked at the cost of making the vessel ship shape and decided the cost was too high if you also factored in the age of the vessel, ongoing maintenance costs and of course that huge decrepit kitchen would need to be replaced.

So it seems that the owners “sold the vessel” to unknown buyers in either Vietnam or Cambodia ( I should point out that no one seems to know anything about the mystery buyers, the whole storyline could have been concocted as a ruse to divert attention ) it also appears that the Hong Kong Government wanted rid of what was a very large eyesore and visibly rotting on a daily basis through lack of upkeep (and a major fire hazard) so amazingly the Marine Department gave it a certificate of seaworthiness for it to take a very hazardous journey of roughly 900km in total across the South China Sea with rough weather always an issue oh whilst pointing out that once it left Hong Kong waters they would cease to monitor the vessels journey (so why threaten prosecution for not reporting a vessel sinking) it was like something out of a Monty Python skit.

So with the plan in place that was that and it left Hong Kong in mid June 2022 being towed by a tug and then came the news blackout until a week later when it was reported that it had either sunk or capsized on a reef about 690km from Hong Kong on a stormy day with 3m high waves and high winds, the owner Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises kept changing the story and apparently has no pictures or video of the supposed demise of the vessel.

Nobody really knows what happened as no one on the tug was talking to anyone and the owners of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant declined to comment other than pointing out there was no loss of life and amazingly no photographs or video’s or any kind of proof was offered and conveniently the Hong Kong Government had no jurisdiction so they could not get any answers either.

It then became even more farcical with some reports saying it had sunk to the seabed 1,000 m down and others saying it had just tipped over and was floating upside on a reef but there was no independent confirmation because no one was talking or sharing on social media but everyone agreed that the salvage fee of HK$10 Million (US$1.282 Million) + repair fees where too steep to even consider.

… and like I said, since then NOTHING

I am pretty sure the plan all along was to simply sink the vessel in a staged incident, the owner wanted the vessel gone so it could save millions of $ in maintenance and repair fees and presumably any fees relating to dismantling it if they had to, it just had to be done in waters far enough away from Hong Kong to “allay suspicion” … it was a very amateurish plan and with no proof, what can anyone do?

The fact of the matter is since 26 months have passed, no one cares anymore, an icon has gone and has been forgotten

The footnote

Well the other floating restaurant that was attached to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant was supposed to have been renovated and spruced up and would become the new and improved floating restaurant, that is already a year behind schedule and no one is holding their breath, it has a different owner to the ill fated Jumbo Floating Restaurant.

The only surprise to me was that they did not burn it down, Floating Restaurants have a history of that in Hong Kong and we should thank the sea gods that that did not happen given that there is a huge marina just a few meters from the Restaurant.

……. and that is that. I suspect the truth will never come out and the whole episode will become a tiny foot note in the history books and no more will people think of that enduring mystery.

ps and just when you thought I had finished - there is of course a possibility (remember we have no visual proof that the Jumbo Floating Restaurant sank 690km from Hong Kong) that it will turn up on a river or such in Cambodia or Vietnam as a restaurant | casino, that will not surprise me at all, strange things happen in Asia all the time!

The second floating restaurant which was attached to the Jumbo in the foreground did not make the fateful journey but is way behind schedule with it's apparent renovation and the owners last stated well over a year ago in 2023 that it would re open in Q3 of 2024 - we are obviously not holding our breath but it will be fabulous if it does. For the record this is the Tai Pak Floating Restaurant which closed over 10 years ago and was | is the sister ship to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant.

Anyway, I digress as usual.

…. oh and most people do not realise that every now and then these big floating restaurants have to be towed out to the South China Sea to undergo a seaworthiness test and get the certificate which allows them to float in Aberdeen Harbour Typhoon Shelter.

You can see from the images that a 1m - 2m wave might cause huge problems.

The back of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant which were the kitchens and quarters for some staff, you look at this image and think to yourself, how on earth was the Jumbo even remotely seaworthy? and to prove that point, the structure above partially sank when the Jumbo Kingdom was sent to it's watery grave, hardly surprising!

Yep, the one thing you tried to do was NOT to take a small boat (sampan) around the back of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, to say it was a fire hazard (amongst other things) was a massive understatement, patrons of the restaurant would have been horrified.

Despite the kitchens been in this rather amazing state of disrepair they did turn out some pretty good food.

**The iconic Dragon Sign when you stepped onto the Jumbo Floating Restaurant - would have looked great in our apartment, such a shame it is gone forever (or has it?)**

One of my enduring memories of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, this amazing dragon sign, over the top and in your face but boy it got your attention when you stepped through the front door, yes it was garish but it just looked right!

November 24th 2017 was the last time I was on the Jumbo Floating Restaurant with my guests from Mexico, I remember them fondly as each family member had their own bottle of home made sauce from home that they poured over every dish! far too spicy for me but they loved it!

Anyway…. I am sad to say that I never really bothered with the Jumbo Floating Restaurant as a place to take my guests, I went 8 times in 9 years and they were very specific requests… personally I went on it hundreds of times over the decades so I had a bit of a soft spot for it, I always thought the food was pretty good but it got to be very expensive and eventually service suffered and then Covid happened but I will always remember the great times my guests had on the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, they loved the place and in the end for me, that is all that mattered.

Below is just a partial list of my private tour guests and their rather diverse occupations, I completed 2,324 Private Tours of Hong Kong in just 9 years with almost 60% of these private tours being 6 - 8 hours long and the ability to talk to so many wonderful people from all walks of life is a gift I acquired, I had over 6,000 guests, not bad for one person!

I have done private tours with so many wonderful people who have the following diverse occupations:-

A REAL Princess, Very close relatives of a US President!, One Star Admiral of the US 7th Fleet, Nuclear Missile Operations Officer (Missileer) for the USAF, Plumbers, Postman, Supplier of ALL frozen burger pattie’s to McDonalds, Nuclear Sub Commanders, Farmers, Chip Shop Owner, Teachers, Pulitzer Prize Award Winning Journalists, Photocopier Repair Guys, Lawyers, Rocket Scientists, Movie Producers, Consul Generals, Police Officers, Homicide Detectives, Travel Agents, House Keepers, Linguists, Retired and Serving CIA Officers, Fighter Pilots, Army and Navy Guys, Socialites, Students, Judges, Journalists, Software Geeks, Nuclear Power Plant Inspectors, Surgeons, Doctors, Forensic Pathologists, Nurses, Coroners, Venture Capitalists, Hospice Directors, Town Planners, Accountants, Psychiatrists, Nuclear Physicists, Professional Athletes, Ferry Captains, Commercial Pilots, Airline Crew, Social Workers, Veterinarians, Musicians, Theme Park Executives, Professional Photographers, College Professors, Gaming Geeks, Inland Revenue Tax Officials, American Airforce B 52 Bomber Pilot, Senior Engineer / Ballistic Missiles, Bodyguards, Beer Salesmen, Park Rangers, Scuba Diving Instructors, Popcorn Machines Makers, Coastguard Officers, Firemen, Structural Geologists, Veterinarians, Architects, Surveyors, Hooters Waitress, Dentists, Ski Instructors, Civil Engineers, Air Traffic Controllers, Electricians, Top Law Professor's at major US Universities, Librarians, Steel Guys, Economists, Homemakers, Novelists, Book Publishers, Currency Traders, Carpenters, a Rabbi, Boiler Maker, Strawberry Farmers, Food Bloggers, Morticians, Financial Advisers, Corporate Video Makers, Private Investigators, Bounty Hunters, Chiropractors, Air Traffic Controllers, Builders, Stonemasons, Botanists, Dog Sitters, Spy, Geneticists, Interpol Agents, Prison Food Suppliers, Radio Announcers, Military Cryptologists, Forklift Drivers, Locksmiths, Icecream maker, Pastry Chef, Baker, Zoo Keepers, Explosives Experts, DEA Agents, Coffee Traders, Diamond Buyers, Wedding Photographers, Google Guru's, Geologists, Professor of Medieval History, Navy Chef's, Camp Site Operators, Animal Embalmers, Telecomms Engineers, Helicopter Pilots, Oil Industry Divers, Navy Seals, Editor for USA Today, Landscape Gardeners, Mary Kay Super Agents, Hotel Owners, TV Actors, Optometrists, Gourmet Chef's, Acclaimed Plastic Surgeons, Barristers, Travel Bloggers, Politicians, Funeral Home Directors, Former Gang Member, Anthropologist, Children's Book Author, Geophysicist, Chicken Artist, Priest, Movie Makeup Artist, Expert Witness, Bail Bondsman, Opera Singer, Master Brewer, Child Prodigy, Debt Collector, Victoria Secrets Store Manager, Head of a major Charity, Celebrity TV Talking Heads (!), Fortune 500 CEO's, Corporate Trainer, Futures Trader, Waitress (quite a few) General Manager of a Worm Bait Company, Owner of a RV Dealership, Convenience Store Owner, Owner of an Amusement Game Manufacturer, Elephant Conservationists, Chemist, High School Students, Crematorium Operator, Concert Pianist, Vet from Honduras, Hair Stylist for a Funeral Home, Calendar Maker, Pedicab Operator, Poets, F16 Fighter Pilot USAF, Steve Jobs Doctor, Major US Democratic Politician, Big cheese Executives from HBO and CBS, Famous journalist and a Journalism Professor, former Secret Service Agent, Famous Rare Coin and Stamp Collector, Major Charitable Foundation Owner ... and some really, really senior people from J. P. Morgan, Starbucks, United Airlines, Boeing, Google and Microsoft.

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J3 Consultants Private Hong Kong Experiences are tailored for individuals who prefer to explore Hong Kong independently but would like a Hong Kong Expert to tell them about Hong Kong

This unique experience offers an authentic insight into the real Hong Kong, providing a deeper understanding of the city's culture, history, and local way of life.

Led by Jamie, a dedicated Hong Kong specialist and resident for 52 years, the experience covers many aspects of Hong Kong's identity, spanning its time under both British and Chinese rule.