iSurprise Instagram Pier

Gritty, photogenic neighborhood hangout

During holidays, boat owners and cargo workers return in the evening to sing karaoke and barbecue. It’s a self-made community space.

Self-made community space

Come here during the day and you’ll see how the Western District Public Cargo Working Area got its name: it’s a busy pier where barges and other boats off load cargo. As soon as the sun sets, though, it transforms into something else: a neighborhood gathering space. At any given time in the evening, you’ll find hundreds of people here riding bikes, jogging, fishing, dancing, skateboarding, walking dogs and drinking beer. During holidays, boat owners and cargo workers return in the evening to sing karaoke and barbecue. It’s a self-made community space.

Instagrammers unite

In recent years, the pier has become known as the Instagram Pier because it attracts so many members of the local Instagram community, who like documenting the idle containers, packing crates and salty puddles of water, whose dramatic reflections have earned the pier a reputation as Hong Kong’s version of the Bolivian salt lake (天空之鏡).

Secret pier

Walk up Victoria Drive just west of Kennedy Town and you’ll come across the Sai Wan Swimming Shed, a facility built in the 1950s for harbour swimmers. Today, the shed and accompanying pier is another Instagram hotspot and a perfect spot to marvel at the crashing waves.

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