Aberdeen Associations

Photo: wikitravel.org Aberdeen, Scotland

"We are sorry for the delay of the 9:15 to Newcastle, Edinburgh and Aberdeen." The musical British voice over the loudspeaker thrilled me. 1976: I was in England for the first time, Brit Rail pass in hand. The train might be late, but I would be aboard to ride to the end of the line.

Aberdeen. For anyone with roots in the British Isles, that conjures up images of northern Scotland. But for many here in Vancouver, it also evokes memories of Hong Kong.

In 1983, I ate dinner at the floating Jumbo Seafood restaurant in the harbour at Aberdeen and watched the milling junks and sampans, home to thousands of people. It was from that Aberdeen that the local one derived its name.

Now the Aberdeen Centre in Richmond is expanding. Originally built in 1989, it tripled in size in 2003. With the addition of Aberdeen Square (slated to open in 2013) it will become the largest Asian-style retail centre in North America.

The original Aberdeen is a North Sea port, a center of oil exploration and Scotland's third largest city, sometimes called the Granite City.

How strange that it lent its name to a village on Hong Kong island and from there, to the big Chinese-style shopping center that is now served by the Canada Line.