Hong Kong consists of three main areas - Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Lantau - and a number of smaller islands. A short ferry ride from Discovery Bay on the famous Star Ferry takes me across to Central which is the main hub of Hong Kong and from where buses, trains, taxis and rickshaws will happily take you wherever you want to go. The Star Ferry, in fact, is one of the highlights of the whole Hong Kong experience for me. Staying in Discovery Bay, I have no choi...

The last time I was in Hong Kong prior to '98 was for the Chinese New Year in '97, months before the much publicised take-over of the region by China. On that occasion, I was stopped several times in the street and asked by schoolchildren taking part in a project whether I thought the take-over would be good or bad for Hong Kong, and my immediate reaction was to say that I didn't think the region would change much. All in all, I think this has so far turned out t...

The journey to Po Lin Monastery is something of an experience, driving as you do through Lantau National Park. The position of the Big Buddha is such that it appears teasingly between hills at various points along the route, and then when it suddenly appears in all it's glory on the horizon there is a combined intake of breath from all the tourists on the bus, and a simultaneous raising of eyes and tutting from locals who have seen it a million times and wonder w...

No visit to Hong Kong is complete without a visit to the worlds largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha (The Tian Tan Buddha, named after the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, on which its base is modelled) at Po Lin Monastery on the Ngong Ping peninsula. Although fairly easy to get to by MTR - the Hong Kong underground train system - and taxi, by far the most satisfying way to reach the Monastery is to go at least part of the way by ferry, arriving at Mui Wo (Silvermine...

In 2003, Eloise and I embarked on a second world trip - this time taking in some of the places we had missed on our tour the previous year and adding New Zealand into the mix. This time our stopping off point on the way to the other side of the world was Hong Kong, and we wanted somewhere to stay which was close enough to the main islands to explore in the limited time we had available, and yet away from the bright lights of the city. Lamma seemed the perfect cho...