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Cruise Ship In the Middle of Hong Kong Is Actually a Crazy Shopping Centre
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 2:40 AM on July 23, 2008
This cruise ship is called the Whampoa and it is stranded in a gigantic pool in the middle of Hong Kong's largest private housing state: Whampoa Garden. However, this Love Boat is sailing to nowhere: it's just a huge shopping mall full of restaurants, shops, and a hotel, built to look like a cruise ship. Looking at it up close, it really looks like one, down to the metal finish. In Google Maps, you realise how huge this thing is:
And now, the obligatory 80s reference you were all waiting for:
Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We're expecting you.
Love, life's sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.
Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won't hurt anymore
It's an open smile on a friendly shore.
Yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It's LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! (hey-ah!)
Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure,
Your mind on a new romance.
Love won't hurt anymore
It's an open smile on a friendly shore.
It's LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It's LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It's
LOOOOOOOOOOOVE!
It's the Love Boat-ah! It's the Love Boat-ah!
Come on, sing it. You know you want to. Sing it! [stuff4restaurants--thanks Lola]
Tags: boats | hong kong | malls | ships | shopping | vehicles
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Wilson Cheng
Posted July 23, 2008 9:26 AM
@bdk185: It was built from ground up on site.
Whampoa Garden used to be a dry dock, so they think it would be a good idea to build a ship in there in memory of it.
Chris Lienert
Posted July 23, 2008 9:37 AM
This thing has been there for at least 3 years - being the last time I was in Hong Kong staying just around the corner from there. Definitely looks bizzare from ground level.
MrDru
Posted July 23, 2008 10:32 AM
Its yet another venture that Hutchison (think Three/Orange) was involved in.
Those Crazy Crazy monkeys!
MrYuk
Posted 3:25 AM 23/7/08
That's just insane. BUT I still had to play the video and sing out loud, attracting the attention of everyone nearby who of course joined in.
MrYuk
Mikestan
Posted 3:21 AM 23/7/08
Now they just need 2 of every animal and a great flood.
Mikestan
Sora57
Posted 3:18 AM 23/7/08
"Let it flow, it floats back to you"
This reminds me of the sex in space post a few days ago.
Sora57
Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy
Posted 3:18 AM 23/7/08
I wasn't thinking Love Boat, I was thinking more "Speed 2-Minus Keanu".
Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy
92FakeThomasJefferson
Posted 3:12 AM 23/7/08
@pipper: Well then I sure wish Jesus had never told me about it! I would have been much better off never hearing about something that has existed for at least 20 years. I only like to learn about things that are either brand new or haven't even happened yet. Even though I haven't lived in or been to every place in the entire world, I still don't want any sharing about things that are out there if they are old!
92FakeThomasJefferson
Joseph
Posted 3:11 AM 23/7/08
"A boats a boat but the mystery box could be anything! IT COULD EVEN BE A BOAT!"
+ Watch video
Joseph
SigmundTheSeaMonster
Posted 3:10 AM 23/7/08
Does it have Julie the Cruise Director?
SigmundTheSeaMonster
Kobe_No_Means_No
Posted 3:05 AM 23/7/08
LOL... I lived in HK for 2 years while in middle school... used to go to the ice rink in Whampoa. I forget if the rink is inside the boat, it might have been... it's been like over 15 years!!
Kobe_No_Means_No
jonnypage
Posted 3:03 AM 23/7/08
[maps.google.com]
Google Map Location
jonnypage
ANoel
Posted 3:01 AM 23/7/08
@pipper:
That's news to me!
Thanks so much.
ANoel
Ypoknons
Posted 2:59 AM 23/7/08
I was something great once, when I was little, but now it's just a Justco (or whatever semi-interesting Japanese department store is there). It'd be cool if someone put some really slick stores there like they do in the rest of Whampoa.
Ypoknons
Chromeo is typing this on his iPhone 3G
Posted 2:55 AM 23/7/08
Phew...for a second there, I was afraid it was for the upcoming Summer Blockbuster "The Day after the day after Tomorrow"
Chromeo is typing this on his iPhone 3G
impliedsurprise
Posted 2:54 AM 23/7/08
i used to live there. you can actually go on the deck so it feels like you're actually on a boat. except instead of water, there's concrete. That was like over a decade ago, and from what I remember, it has not aged well from when I went back to visit a few years back.
Still interesting though.
impliedsurprise
Weihovah
Posted 2:52 AM 23/7/08
this will be great in 10 yrs when global warming puts most of hk underwater
Weihovah
bdk185
Posted 2:52 AM 23/7/08
so how did they get it there in the first place?
bdk185
pipper
Posted 2:52 AM 23/7/08
While amazing, this is not new: it has been there for more than 20 years now.
pipper
Ariel_Wollinger
Posted 2:49 AM 23/7/08
...
Ariel_Wollinger
mikail511
Posted 4:01 AM 23/7/08
theres a hotel in turkey a lot like it
mikail511
bookmark
Posted 3:40 AM 23/7/08
i think i have been there more than 18 years ago when i was on holiday with my mum
bookmark
Andywsea
Posted 4:14 AM 23/7/08
@SigmundTheSeaMonster:
Nope, shes my neighbor. :)
Andywsea
Chromeo is typing this on his iPhone 3G
Posted 4:14 AM 23/7/08
@92FakeThomasJefferson: Haha. You're old.
Chromeo is typing this on his iPhone 3G
92FakeThomasJefferson
Posted 4:07 AM 23/7/08
I was there and at every other building remotely like this as a fetus, 380 years ago.
Also I helped design and build it, with my mind. I also made this video and sailed the boat around the world in 1421 when I discovered America before Columbus.
Also, I wrote every episode of The Love Boat and my real name is Captain Stubbing. I slept with Julie sixteen times (and Gopher once).
I have seen and done everything before you.
I was born in 8000 B.C.
I am the Highlander, and there can be only one.
92FakeThomasJefferson
heroineworshipper
Posted 5:01 AM 23/7/08
They don't pay much for factory shipping either.
heroineworshipper
M.O.D.O.K.
Posted 4:48 AM 23/7/08
I believe that this department store was actually closer to the water at one point and then "land reclaimation" (i.e. land-filling) took over.
The lower level has a nice Namco kiddie arcade and also another standard arcade.
M.O.D.O.K.
BongoFury
Posted 4:46 AM 23/7/08
That's one helluva parallel parking job, Capt. Stubing!
BongoFury
jabber
Posted 5:27 AM 23/7/08
@bdk185: Global Warming ala Day after the day after Tomorrow
jabber
Sora57
Posted 5:24 AM 23/7/08
I saw "WHAM" on the boat and thought this was going to be about George Michael. He is into cruising.
Sora57
eyitsemily
Posted 5:21 AM 23/7/08
i'm about 100 yards north of where the picture #2 ends right now. about to sleep because it's 3am here right now. yay for vacations in HK
eyitsemily
jabber
Posted 5:31 AM 23/7/08
@SigmundTheSeaMonster: If it does I hope she doesn't have a coke habit.
jabber
Rand
Posted 6:25 AM 23/7/08
@Jesus: Thanks a lot! Its going to take me hours to get that tune out of my head. Curse you Jesus Diaz!!! ;-)
Rand
Sunlokyee
Posted 6:46 AM 23/7/08
Its part of the Whampoa Garden community, lived there for about 6 years.
Sunlokyee
drkick
Posted 7:59 AM 23/7/08
This version is funnier lol
+ Watch video
drkick
lotsajargon
Posted 6:52 AM 23/7/08
Hi,
Actually, I believe that the Whampoa Ship (and the housing development) is on the site of the original Hutchinson-Whampoa docks. That it is in the middle of a neighborhood now shows how much land has been reclaimed there.
I think Hutchinson and or Whampoa were originally British crown companies that have been operating in Hong Kong since the end of the Opium Wars.
lotsajargon
tehwonderboy
Posted 3:12 AM 23/7/08
"Toss the anchor into that Ford!"
tehwonderboy
Kyang
Posted 11:07 AM 23/7/08
Nice boat.
Kyang
zed0
Posted 11:29 AM 23/7/08
It's flooding! Everyone to the mall!
zed0
Mr.Wilson
Posted 12:23 PM 23/7/08
20 years old? Then where the hell are our cleverly designed mall buidlings that I can look at all day while my mom shops as long as she can, hence the term "all day"?
And I'm going to hypothesize people in Asian countries have obsessions with shopping in boats.
Mr.Wilson
SneakerFiend
Posted 12:34 PM 23/7/08
@pipper: thats why its under the category retromodo.
It looks good though. Looks real i thought someone actually put it there.
SneakerFiend
michaelleung
Posted 1:27 PM 23/7/08
I live in Hong Kong, and there is way more cool shit there than anywhere else, except maybe Tokyo.
michaelleung
dookas
Posted 5:23 AM 23/7/08
There's also one in Shenzhen, right over the border from HK. That one has several restaurants, hotel and bars.
dookas