Hong Kong Travel Tips
Alphabetical Listing of Hong Kong Travel Tips
Hong Kong Key Attraction
Statue Square

Previously never a feature of traditional Hong Kong tourist itineraries, Statue Square is now a must-see on account of its dazzling ensemble of architecture. Richard Rogers, headquarters building for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation forms the south side of the square, and just to the east of it is I M Pei's Bank of China Tower . Less distinguished but equally prominent buildings jostle around them, towering over the colonial remnant of St John's Cathedral . In more antiquated contrast, the Legislative Council Building , formerly the Supreme Court , on the east side of the square, houses Hong Kong's partly elected assembly. The square should be avoided at weekends, however, unless the visitor is seeking a display of flocks of filipina and Indonesian housemaids, taking time out from their employers to chatter and picnic there.

Statue Square
Transport: MTR Central Station, exit K.
 
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Building
Recognisable from most Hong Kong dollar notes, the bizarre profile of Norman Foster's masterpiece may not look monumental on banknote paper, but in the flesh (or steel) it is tremendous. Opening in 1986, it exemplified the fashion for atriums in world architecture, and an escalator ride up into the belly of the building, into its towering air-conditioned interior, is a must. The building has no central core: bridge engineering techniques secure the walls and its infrastructure is on the outside; so all eleven storeys of the central atrium are open and unobstructed.

Des Voeux Road
Tel: 28 22 11 11. Fax: 28 68 16 46.
Transport: MTR Central Station, exit K.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1630, Sat 0900-1230.
 
Bank of China Tower
Deliberately planned to dwarf the neighbouring Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Building , the Bank of China Tower is now Hong Kong's national monument. The Chinese-American architect I M Pei developed Beijing's triumphalist intentions into a soaring, gracefully irregular pinnacle, whose design characteristics inspire lively debate amongst connoisseurs of feng shui. Visitors can ascend to the 43rd of its 74 storeys by lift for a particularly stunning view of Central.

Statue Square
Tel: 28 26 68 88. Fax: 28 10 59 63.
Transport: MTR Central Station, exit K.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0930-2130, Sat and Sun 0930-2330.
Admission: HK$9 (concessions available).
Victoria Peak
A miniature hill station in colonial times, the Peak is stratospheric in its social exclusiveness and its rents. Groundlings can still visit though, ascending by the vertiginous Peak Tram , a funicular in use since 1888. Atop the hill is the Peak Tower , a slightly bizarre viewing platform with displays and other facilities, and the Peak Galleria shopping arcade. The amusements and shops on offer vary from the appealing to the unforgiveably tacky, but there are at least plenty of restaurants and bars to sustain visitors. The view down into central Hong Kong and across the water to Kowloon defies description, day or night. Hikers can scale the real peak, some 140m above the tram terminus.

Victoria Peak
Transport: Peak Tram from Garden Road; shuttle bus from Star Ferry terminal (HK$3, 1000-2400 daily).
 
Western Market
A four-storey redbrick Edwardian building dating from 1906 occupying an entire block at the eastern end of Central, the former market was reopened in 1991 as a shopping centre featuring small shops, souvenir stands and curio sellers. Ground-floor shops must sell unique merchandise rather than chain-store goods, and the first floor recreates the old 'Cloth Alley', selling silks and fabrics of all kinds. There is also a dim sum restaurant and a fine antique-shop café.

Connaught Road
Tel: 25 43 68 78. Fax: 25 43 69 31.
Transport: MTR Sheung Wan, exit B or C; bus or tram along Des Voeux Road to Sheung Wan.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1900.
Times Square
The retail plaza to end them all, Times Square is a vast temple complex to Hong Kong's number one deity: consumerism. The vast Times Square building houses nine floors of shops, and has a spectacular exterior with a huge electronic clock: the venue for the big millennium countdown in 2000. At weekends, the hosts of sacrifices ascending the escalator, to be swallowed up in the belly of this huge idol, demonstrate exactly what the Asian economic miracle was all about.

Tel: 21 18 89 00. Fax: 25 06 20 22.
Transport: MTR Causeway Bay; bus or tram along Hennessey Road to Causeway Bay.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-2200.
 
Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware
Situated in the beautiful Hong Kong Park and overlooking the ultramodern mania of Central, Flagstaff House is the oldest surviving colonial building in Hong Kong, dating from 1846. It now houses a fine museum of teaware, seals and other ceramics.

Tel: 28 69 06 90.
Transport: MTR Admiralty, exit F; bus or tram along Queensway to Pacific Place.
Opening hours: Thurs-Tues 1000-1700.
Admission: Free.
 
Hong Kong Museum of History
It is somehow fitting that this go-ahead territory has its history commemorated in a dazzling new building. Opening in late 2000, the new museum building in Kowloon houses exhibits covering 6000 years of the region, including some spectacular sets in situ . There are traditional costumes, a huge collection of period photographs, replicas of old village houses and an entire street, c . 1881, with its own Chinese medicine store.

100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: 27 24 90 42.
Transport: MTR Tsim Sha Tsiu, then walk via Granville Road; or maxicab no 1 from Kowloon Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsiu to Science Museum Road.
Opening hours: Mon-Thurs and Sat 1000-1800, Sun 1300-1800.
Admission: HK$20 (concessions available).
Wong Tai Sin Temple
An ornate traditional temple in the heart of Kowloon, Wong Tai Sin Temple combines Buddhist, Confucian and Daoist traditions. Wong Tai Sin himself was a Zhejiang shepherd/alchemist who supposedly concocted a marvellous cure-all, and his statue in the main building was brought from the mainland in 1921. The building is spectacularly colourful with its red pillars, golden ceiling and decorated latticework, but not particularly distinguished. Far more fascinating are the fortune tellers in their arcade of booths and the throngs of worshippers.

Tai Sin Road, Kowloon
Tel: 23 27 81 41. Fax: 23 51 56 40.
Transport: MTR Wong Tai Sin, exit B, then follow signs.
Opening hours: Daily 0700-1730.
Admission: Free (donations welcome).
 
Yuen Po Street Bird Garden
Rearing caged songbirds is a time-honoured Chinese pursuit, and the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden is Hong Kong's shrine to this obsession. There are about 70 stalls, each with its own chorus, and ornate cages and cage furniture provide added interest. And while conditions in the average Hong Kong poultry market would give an animal welfare activist apoplexy, the birds here are pampered and cosseted, even fed honey nectar to sweeten their songs. Just north of the Bird Garden there is also a fine flower market, and there is a goldfish market closer to the MTR station in Tung Choi Street.

Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon
Transport: MTR Prince Edward, exit B1 or B2, then follow signs.
Opening hours: Daily 0700-2000.
Star Ferry
The green and white tub-shaped ferries are a familiar sight around Hong Kong, and as such a symbol of the city. Far more important, though, their decks give one of the best available views, day and night, of the waterfront of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, not to mention the multifarious ocean traffic surging through the shipping lanes. The boats themselves are cast-iron veterans to delight schoolboys of all ages.

Central, Tsim Sha Tsui, Wan Chai and Hung Hom Star Ferry terminals
Operating hours: Daily 0630-2330.
Admission: HKS1.70 (lower deck).
 
Mid-Levels Escalator
Not just any escalator, the Mid-Levels Escalator is the world's longest at 800m (2622ft), and was built as a commuter aid for this wealthy residential hillside. The city fathers reportedly balked at the cost of twin stairways, so there is only one escalator, which runs downhill 0700-1030 and uphill 1030-2400. It gives a fine (and free) view of the streets of fashionable Soho.

Central Market (corner of Queens Road and Jubilee Street) to Conduit Road
 
The Noon Day Gun
Yes, there still is a noon day gun, as immortalised by Noel Coward. And it is still ceremoniously fired daily at noon. Actually a Hotchkiss three-pounder, the gun overlooks the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter off Gloucester Road, opposite the Excelsior Hotel, and is reached by an underpass by the World Trade Centre.

Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
Transport: MTR Causeway Bay, exit D3.
 
Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade
Another great view of the spectacular Victoria Harbour/Hong Kong Island waterfront, this esplanade runs from the Star Ferry terminal to Hung Hom. This is where Hong Kong couples go in the evenings for a romantic backdrop while necking, but day or night the view is superb.

Transport: MTR Tsim Sha Tsui; Star Ferry to Kowloon.