Tens of thousands of people packed Tsim Sha Tsui yesterday to say goodbye to the giant rubber duck on its last day in town. In the morning, the Chan family enjoyed their first encounter with the duck. Halas Chan, eight, said: "I want to see how the giant duck works." The boy also guided his sister Halina, three, on how to create the appearance of touching the duck in a photo. Many chose to capture their last moments with the 16.5-metre inflatable sculpture through photos, but a group of children opted to do so with crayons. Sharon Lee Hiu-tung, 11, said she believed the hardest part to draw would be the feet, but the duck did not show its feet. "I want to buy a bathtub duck to take home. I also want to make one with clay," she said. Many were sad to see Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's Rubber Duck , which arrived on May 2, deflated at midnight. At last night's farewell party outside Harbour City, Hofman thanked Hongkongers for their support. "Thank you for adopting the Rubber Duck project in your heart," he said, adding that the duck would go to Azerbaijan and then the United States next. Street vendors nearby said selling rubber duck toys and accessories had nearly tripled their profits in the past month. One stall owner said she normally made about HK$15,000 a month, but that in the past month, she raked in more than HK$40,000 - the most profitable period since she took over the business a few years ago. Meanwhile, "Inflation!", a free exhibition of six giant inflatable sculptures, also ended its seven-week run yesterday. Among the works displayed on the West Kowloon promenade were US artist Paul McCarthy's sculpture Complex Pile - which many have said resembles excrement - and Chinese artist Cao Fei's House Of Treasures , a sculpture of a pig.
