Eleven thirteen in the morning, mid-crossing, with the whole harbour behind them.
Hong Kong sisters
Day Two
The Star Ferry, the whole of Central on foot, and an afternoon that never quite left the China Club.
Hong Kong · Wednesday 26 August 2026
“First day in Hong Kong.” That is the entire note that came with the photographs, and after you have looked through them you understand why nobody stopped to write more.
The day opens on the Star Ferry at three minutes past eleven — the wooden benches, the green-and-white rail, the towers going past the window. A minute later the ICC is standing out of the far shore on its own. At thirteen minutes past, the two of them turn the camera round: sunglasses, wind, and the entire skyline stacked up behind their heads. It is the picture of the trip and it was taken before lunch on the first proper day.
Ashore in Central by twenty to twelve — the flyover, the red taxis, a Hermès window in green and white stripes — and then, from ten to one until nearly half past two, the China Club. Bamboo steamers stacked three high, tea, a long table with friends at it. Then the rooms themselves take over completely: ceiling fans, red banquettes, mirrors, and pictures hung floor to ceiling up the stairwell, along the corridors, around the bar. A library at the top with shelves to the ceiling and a spiral stair in the corner.
Jess had said, before she left, that she was looking forward to the China Club and its interiors. She then photographed almost nothing else for an hour and a half, which is as clear an endorsement as the format allows.
Sixty photographs came in from this day and thirty-four of them are of the inside of one building. We have taken that as the review.
Recorded by Jess for the studio, a day before the trip began.
Out into the street at twenty to three, across to Tsim Sha Tsui, and along the promenade through the middle of the afternoon — the museum and its palms, the crowds, the harbour flat and grey under a heavy sky. The last frame of the day is timed at eight minutes past nine and it is almost entirely dark: black water, a scatter of coloured light, and one boat crossing with its lamps on.
Two sisters, four days, and one city chosen for no better reason than that it sits halfway between them. On the evidence of the first day, halfway is exactly far enough.