USS Ranger taken from a motor launch taking us into Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Harbor 1969
Chinese Border Guard 1969
I snapped these pictures with my handy-dandy Kodak instamatic camera during my first cruise aboard the Ranger in 1969, while on a tour of Hong Kong. Sorry about the quality We had to take a launch from the Ranger, because the aircraft carrier was too big to port in Hong Kong. The Mainland China border guard saw us taking pictures, and stepped out in the middle of the road for us to take his picture. We were too chicken to go any closer to the Chinese border. The guard waved at us, and then posed. Since Hong Kong belongs to China now, these checkpoints probably don’t exist anymore. In some parts of Hong Kong, the people threw fish guts at us, and in other parts, they loved us, or at least our tourist status. Whenever a carrier like the Ranger dropped anchor outside Hong Kong harbor, we made fresh water for them from the salt water. We had distilling plants to make fresh water aboard ship. Hong Kong was always short on fresh water. Many people lived aboard the Sampans in the harbor, so tightly bunched together, it was tricky navigating to the shore.
8 comments:
Very cool pictures. I'd love to go to Hong Kong. It's supposed to be an amazing city now.
I've read the Chinese government maintains strict border and immigration controls between itself and Hong Kong, so maybe they still have the little guard stations after all. I was a nineteen year old rube from Ohio when I visited Hong Kong, Japan, and the Philippines. The conditions those folks lived in back then made me want to get on my hands and knees to thank God I was born in the USA. I sincerely hope Hong Kong is amazing now, Jordan. :)
You've led a very interesting life, Bernard. Thanks for posting these pictures and giving us a little behind the scenes commentary. I've only been out of the US once, to the West Indies, Antigua, and that was over twenty years ago. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get more traveling in now that my kids are getting older. I love to hear about what other people have experienced though.
I appreciate your comments, VL. In Going through the box of pictures up in the attic, they reminded me of a few stories I'm going to bore the hell out of someone with. :) I posted some of the ones from the Navy on another website and received an e-mail from a Ranger buddy in one of the pictures. I haven't heard from him since 1971. He has three kids and five grandchildren. :)
I hope you will tell us those stories.
Coming right up, Bernita. :)
I've heard that Hong Kong is quite an amazing city these days. Lots of tourist shopping dollars pouring into it. Still a lot of pollution, but my guess is it's in better shape now than it was when you were there.
The pictures I've seen on the web look a lot better than I remember, Jordan, especially the harbor. The harbor smelled like a blocked up toilet at the beach on a hot summer day when I visited long ago. I'm only half way through the box I found, and I turned up some more Hong Kong photos from the Palace, Victoria Point, and the Tiger Balm Gardens.
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