Junk boat parties – this is my number one most favorite part about being in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately none of my few friends here are into that because not everyone loves the sea as much as I do, so I had to find my own way to get into one.
Luckily, it is super easy to join random parties and make new friends in Hong Kong – far easier than in Singapore, in my experience. All you have to do is join one of many Facebook groups (I joined Girl Gone International HK) or sign up for Meet Up or Internations events, and then get added into a lot of WhatsApp groups, and you’ll find that there is always someone organizing something and it’s just up to you which one you wanna go to.
The only reason why it hasn’t been as easy for me to make friends is because of my age. I’m not as outgoing as I used to be because I easily get tired, not just physically but mentally – it’s just hard to make small talk sometimes, ya know?
But I really really wanted to go on a junk boat so when someone posted about a sailor-themed junk boat party on the GGI Facebook group, I joined it even though I knew no one there.
I paid H$800 inclusive of boat rental, food, and drinks, and just had to show up at 9:30 am at the Central Pier on October 2.
I signed up pretty last minute and didn’t have time to find a sailor themed outfit online, but luckily I found a striped tank crop top in Zara which I paired with a skirt. Now normally I wouldn’t dare to wear a top that exposed my arms and midriff but turning 40 recently just made me not give a damn anymore. I can’t believe so many years agonizing over that! It’s so freeing.
Another part of my outfit was a marine cap that I had coincidentally just recently bought from Etsy. I’m actually super thrilled about this hat because I have a huge head and usually find it hard to find hats to fit me. I measured it for the first time and it turns out I’m an XL (normal people are medium). The Etsy shop (Sterkowski Hats) catered to my size so finally, I have a hat that fits! 🥰
I immediately made friends with some ladies who, like me, had also signed up for this event even though they knew no one. Them’s my peeps!
We boarded the yacht and set a course for Lamma Island. Once we reached it, we dropped anchor and they set up a pool outside the boat, in the ocean, as well as an inflatable slide on the side of the boat.
We lounged and bobbed around in the ocean till noon when they served lunch and we all made a collective bee line for the food.
After eating, we sat around gabbing and drinking, then I went back into the sea again until it was time to leave at around 4pm.
On the way back to Central pier, I found my way to the front of the boat and discovered the lovely sea breeze and beautiful view of Hong Kong as the sun slowly dipped down the sky.
When I showed the video to my friends, they said: “Wow super nice expat life!”
And I realized that back in Singapore, it was my dream to even just go on a docked yacht party because that was cheaper compared to one that actually went anywhere. 🤣
This far exceeds that dream and I really am truly grateful that sometimes, dreams do come true, even if it’s not in the way you thought it would.
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