05_576690 ch01.qxd 1/24/05 10:19 AM Page 3 1 The Best of Hong Kong Every time I come to Hong Kong, I feel as though I’ve wandered onto a movie set. Maybe I’m an incurable romantic, but when I stand at the railing of the famous Star Ferry as it glides across the harbor, ride a rickety old tram as it winds its way across Hong Kong Island, or marvel anew at the stunning views afforded from atop Victoria Peak, I can’t help but think I must have somehow landed in the middle of an epic drama where the past has melted into the present. So many images float by—wooden boats bobbing up and down in the harbor beside huge ocean liners; crumbling tenements next to ultramodern high-rises; squalid alleys behind luxury hotels; old Chinese people pushing wheelbarrows as Rolls-Royces glide by; market vendors selling chicken feet and dried squid while talking on cellular phones. In fact, one of the most striking characteristics of Hong Kong is this inter- weaving of seeming contradictions and the interplay of the exotic and the tech- nically advanced. There are as many skyscrapers here as you’re likely to see anywhere, but they’re built with bamboo scaffolding. Historic trams rumble through Central, while below ground is one of the most efficient subways in the world, complete with the world’s first “contactless” tickets, cards that are waved over a scanner. The city has what are arguably some of the best and most sophis- ticated restaurants in the world, but it also has dai pai dong, street-side food stalls. Hong Kong is home to one of the world’s largest shopping malls, but there are also lively street markets virtually everywhere. Because of these dazzling contrasts, Hong Kong offers visitors something unique—the chance to experience a vibrant Chinese city without sacrificing the comforts of home. To be sure, much of Hong Kong’s Western fabric comes from the legacy left by the British, who ruled the colony until 1997, when it was handed back to China as a Special Administrative Region (thus the SAR abbre- viation you’ll see there and throughout this book). British influence is still evi- dent everywhere, from Hong Kong’s school system to its free-market economy, from its rugby teams to its double-decker buses, and from English pubs and tea in the afternoon to (my favorite) orderly queues. But though the city was molded by the British, it has always been, at its heart, Chinese, with Chinese medicineCOPYRIGHTED shops, street vendors, lively dim sum MATERIAL restaurants, old men taking their caged birds for walks in the park, and colorful festivals. Indeed, for the casual visitor, Hong Kong seems little changed since the 1997 handover. No doubt some visitors remain oblivious to even the most visible sign of that change: the replacement of the Union Jack and old flag of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong with the red, starred flag of China and the new red Hong Kong flag with its emblem of the bauhinia flower. Hong Kong was founded as a place to conduct business and to trade, and it continues to serve that purpose both aggressively and successfully. The world’s fourth-largest banking and financial center in terms of external assets, Hong 05_576690 ch01.qxd 1/24/05 10:19 AM Page 4 4 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF HONG KONG Hong Kong Region PPEOPLE'SEOPLE'S RREPUBLICEPUBLIC OOFF CCHINAHINA SSHENZHENHENZHEN Shataukok GGUANGDONGUANGDONG PPROVINCEROVINCE LLoo WWuu d. k R Ko SShenzhenhenzhen BBayay u 1 Ta SheungSheung ShuiShui ha ShekouShekou MMaiai PPoo S NNatureature RReserveeserve Fanling LauLau FauFau ShanShan 2 Rd. Kok g n Ti Tai Po . 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K K d R Port Shelter ay MongMong KokKok Clear Water B Hong Kong YauYau MaMa TeiTei International HungHung Airport TsimTsim ShaSha HomHom Peng Chau TsuiTsui el or unn arb Island T H nel Victoria TTunnelun Tung Lantau Island Victoria CentralCentral CausewayCauseway CClearlear WWaterater BBayay Chung ChaiChai Peak BayBay 8 Mui Wo S WanWan Po Lin i Pokfulam WanWan lv ChaiChai Monastery er Tai O M AberdeenAberdeen in HHongong KKongong e Cheung Sha B a y Yung IIslandsland Shue AApleichaupleichau Wan IIslandsland S t RRepulseepulse a GGuangzhouuangzhou ((Canton)Canton) n StanleyStanley l BayBay e y PPEOPLE'SEOPLE'S RREPUBLICEPUBLIC To Macau (via Ferry) Sok Kwu Wan B OFOF CHINACHINA a y Lamma GUANGDONGGUANGDONG Island PROVINCEPROVINCE P e a r l SShenzhenhenzhen PotoiPotoi R i v e IslandIsland MMacauacau r ((Portugal)Portugal) HHongong KongKong ea area of a S detail hin th C South China Sea Sou 05_576690 ch01.qxd 1/24/05 10:19 AM Page 6 6 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF HONG KONG Kong is the “Wall Street of Asia,” with banking, international insurance, adver- tising, and publishing among its biggest industries. Hong Kong also boasts the world’s eighth-largest trading economy, and is one of the world’s leading exporters of toys, garments, and watches. Little wonder, then, that as a duty-free port, Hong Kong attracts approxi- mately 14 million visitors a year, making tourism one of its leading industries despite a devastating downturn in tourism in 2003 due to an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Shopping is one of the main reasons peo- ple come here, and at first glance, the city does seem rather like one huge depart- ment store. But there’s much more to Hong Kong than shopping. There’s also wining, dining, and sightseeing, as well as isolated places to get away from it all. For those who wish to journey farther afield, Macau, a former Portuguese colony handed back to China in 1999, is just an hour’s boat ride away; and vast China itself lies just beyond Hong Kong’s border, making it the perfect gateway for trips to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and beyond. The more you search for in Hong Kong, the more you’ll find. Before long, you, too, may find yourself swept up in the drama. 1 Frommer’s Favorite Hong Kong Experiences • Dining on Dim Sum: A great way • Riding the Star Ferry: To reac- to start your day, nothing conveys quaint myself with the city, one of a sense of Chinese life more vividly the first things I do on each return than a visit to a crowded, lively trip is to hop aboard the Star Ferry Cantonese restaurant for breakfast for one of the most dramatic— or lunch, where trolleys of dim and cheapest—5-minute boat sum in bamboo steamers are rides in the world. Hong Kong’s wheeled from customer to cus- harbor is one of the world’s tomer. Simply peer into the pass- busiest, and beyond it rises one of ing bamboo baskets and choose earth’s most breathtaking skylines. what appears the most tempting. See p. 55. See section 7 of chapter 5, begin- • Taking a Tram: Take a double- ning on p.