When I look back on it, our visit to the New Territories was filled with non-visits - places that we would like to have seen but couldn't. Besides not being allowed to visit Sha Tau Kok, we were also denied the chance to explore the small town of Tai Mo Shan. At a hight of over 900 metres above sea level, Tai Mo Shan is the main community centred on the mountain of the same name, which is the highest in Hong Kong. The name Tai Mo Shan translates into English as "...

When you watch television travel shows about Hong Kong, have you noticed how they always make the place out to be nothing more than a huge metropolis full of tiny side streets, neon lights and about six kajillion people? Have you ever stopped to wonder if there could possibly be anything else to Hong Kong? Well, assuming that you haven't just skipped over the rest of this book and started reading here, you might have realised by now that the region is actually pr...

Note: The following entry was originally written at Christmas. The people of Hong Kong, unfortunately, are not in the habit of going out on the town dressed as Santa Claus every night for no apparent reason. If they were, and Hong Kong displayed its Christmas lights every night of the year, I'd be there all the time. At 6.30 last night, there were a group of potentially drunken Santa Clones, dressed in big red santa suits and fluffy beards, ready for the annual ...

A trip to Hong Kong Island is never complete without at least one visit to a local street market, of which the best balance between ethnic and tourist are to be found by going on the MTR to Mong Kok or Sham Shui Po where the stall holders are happy to bargain with you as most of the prices are hugely inflated to start with. The best and most extensive market on the island for tourists is at Stanley, and this is where you can get hold of all those local handicraft...

The nightlife hub of Hong Kong Island is Wan Chai, an area which once gained notoriety as the red light district due, in part, to a book called The World of Suzie Wong. Published in 1957, the book tells of a young man seeking his fortune as an artist who unknowingly checks into a brothel in Hong Kong believing it to be a legitimate hotel. He then goes on to befriend the bargirls and become infatuated by the charming "hooker with a heart of gold" Suzie Wong. The ...