Insight Guides - Insight Guides Experience Hong Kong (Travel Guide eBook)

Table of Contents

Hong Kong Overview

Often compared to Manhattan on account of its urban skyscraper-scape, Hong Kong is at first glance quite like a modern Western city; but it has distinct Chinese characteristics. Take a few turns off its gleaming, dynamic downtown streets, and youll get an idea of how much tradition is still ingrained.

4Corners Images

In the shadows of tower blocks, colourful temples and street shrines bear continually replenished offerings of fresh fruit and burning incense sticks and coils. Teahouses and compact noodle shops are abuzz with as much activity as the more recent additions of coffee-houses and juice-bar chains.

Working Hong Kongers may like their designer togs and there are malls full of them but every neighbourhood is home to practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine and vendors of old-school food and snacks, who are kept as busy by young executive types as they are by the older generation.

While Hong Kong is home to the worlds second most densely populated island Ap Lei Chau and city areas are often thronged with crowds, it takes very little time to find relative tranquillity. Hills appear as if by magic amid the urban sprawl, and trails lead up them towards spectacular views. To discover Hong Kongs lower-rise lush rural pockets, hop on a slick Mass Transit Railway (MTR) train to the New Territories, or take a short ferry ride to one of the more sparsely populated outlying islands.

Back in the city, the famous skyline is best enjoyed at twilight, from the waterfront promenade at the tip of Kowloon, aboard a harbour evening cruise, or from above at The Peak on Hong Kong Island. A nightly light-and-laser display incorporating some of the most prominent, outlandish skyscrapers gives the city a surreal edge.

Street signs are in English and Chinese, English is widely understood in the main neighbourhoods and Hong Kong is one of the worlds safest cities so enjoy.

In the Mood for

. architecture

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Hong Kong is perceived as one continuous skyscraper zone and this is correct in most urban areas. In 1998, long-standing height restrictions in Kowloon were lifted and since then some very flamboyant structures have gone up the ICC Tower (for more information, ).

The few remnants of historic architecture are not so much stunning as evocative of eras past. Both hailing from the early 20th century and worth a look are the stately Court of Final Appeal Building (for more information, ) is a fine example of much older traditional Chinese architecture, modelled on the classic style of the Tang Dynasty.

. no-nonsense Cantonese fare

Ming Tang-Evans/APA Publications

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Rice is unquestionably the staple of Cantonese cuisine, but dining gets no earthier than a bowl of steaming noodle soup. Noodle shops dot almost every main thoroughfare and small street. Outside Centrals interconnecting world of indoor malls, basic noodle shops are sprinkled along Wellington Street and seem never to close along this strip. The best quality bowl is topped with fresh house-roasted duck or goose at Yung Kee (for more information, ).

For rice with robustly flavoured steamed seafood, braised meat and fresh vegetables, head for the animated dining room at Lin Heung in Sheung Wan (for more information, ).

. fine dining

Bo Innovation

If Hong Kong does earthy Cantonese food well, its top-tier restaurants are even more critically well received, especially internationally Michelin food guides launched a local edition in the late noughties.

The jewel in the culinary crown belongs to elegant Lung King Heen (for more information, ), where the creations of one of Frances culinary kings provide the expected taste-bud wow factor.

Back to the finer side of fusion, with another international celebrity chef: Nobu (for more information, ). The familiar yet memorable Japanese-meets-South American menu with Western sensibilities is served in an elegant dining room.

. a night on the town

Alamy

Once upon a time, visitors to Hong Kong craving a big night out had only the hotel bar or the expat hang-out Lan Kwai Fong to choose between. Thats not to say that Lan Kwai Fong (for more information, ) isnt still a decent night out: the area has a large Chuppie (Chinese yuppie) presence, and its popular with the partying executive set too.

These days, though, good-timers can take their pick of lively nightspots. Raise the exclusivity factor further just around the corner in Soho (for more information, ) are among the hottest nightspots in town.

Raucous, expensive but really buzzing are the banker-crowd bars on the elevated walkway joining Exchange Square and the fourth-floor roof podium at the Two IFC tower; a slightly quieter alternative is Blue Bar (for more information, ), which also has a great view.

Speaking of views, loftily perched Aqua Spirit (for more information, ) offers a panoramic backdrop and theatrical lighting for a Hong Kong cocktail to remember.

. a quiet escape in the city

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

As almost no one in Hong Kong has a garden, the citys handful of urban parks are very well used. The clever landscaping of Hong Kong Park (for more information, ) and within minutes you will find yourself high above Hong Kong Islands bustling streets.

Provided its not a lunar festival day, larger temples can be sanctuaries: Wong Tai Sin and Chi Lin Nunnery (for more information, ), which only get busy at weekends and public and school holidays.

. getting sporty

Kayak and Hike.com

Hong Kong is surrounded by the South China Sea, and the weather is warm for most of the year, so water sports are an enjoyable pastime here. Give windsurfing a go on Cheung Chau Island (for more information, ).

. a lazy day