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With its garish pagodas, artificial caves, and brightly painted statues of well-known Taoist and Buddhist legends, the garden is an obvious photo opportunity.
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Farther west is the ferry terminal for the outlying islands.
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Aberdeen, the island’s oldest settlement, once a pirate lair, is home to the “floating population” — the boat people who spend their entire lives on the junks in the harbor, some proudly claiming never to have set foot on land (except for funerals, which don’t count).
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The junks are a picturesque sight: children frolicking on the poop deck, women preparing food or playing mah-jong, elderly folk watching the sunset, dogs and cats underfoot, songbirds in bamboo cages overhead — and all afloat.
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On Connaught Road Central, you’ll find one of Hong Kong’s curiosities, the 244-m- (800-ft-) long Mid-Levels outdoor escalator.
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The boats may appear deceptively primitive, but many of them have their own electric generators and all the modern conveniences.
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There are fewer boats now than in the past; many boat people, especially the younger generation, have moved to housing projects.
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You can take a tour of the port in one of the small sampans, propelled by hand by women drivers.
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A half-hour tour costs HK$50; pay at the end, or the driver may cut your trip short.
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The peninsula opposite the east coast of Ap Lei Chau island contains Ocean Park (open daily 10am–6pm; admission HK$150 adults, HK$75 children), which has become one of Hong Kong’s biggest attractions.
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It is divided into three areas: a highland, a lowland, and the Middle Kingdom.
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Linking the lowland and highland sections of the park, a cable-car system offers spectacular views across to the islands of the South China Sea.
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It ferries commuters from the Mid-Levels apartment complexes downhill from 6 to 10am, and uphill from 10am to midnight.
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The Oceanarium is said to be the largest in the world, and the Ocean Theatre features displays by dolphins, killer whales, seals, and pelicans.
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An enormous roller-coaster rising way above the sea, space wheels, and high-diving shows guarantee a day of excitement.
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The Middle Kingdom is a recreated “living” history of China’s past, presented through a number of full-size replicas of shrines, temples, pagodas, palaces, and street scenes.
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There are also demonstrations of traditional Chinese crafts, including silk-weaving, pottery, and p apermaking.
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Water World, formerly in the complex, has closed for redevelopment.
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The next inlet is Repulse Bay, a roomy, sandy crescent, with green hills.
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It’s so attractive and so easy to reach that it’s packed with sunbathers all summer long.
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Stanley was once one of the main fishing villages on Hong Kong Island.
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The well-known Stanley Market (see page 55) is a major source for bargain clothing and other merchandise.
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Stanley is also a favorite place of residence for ex-pats.
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Nearby is Central Market, the wholesale food market of Hong Kong, and the Hang Seng building (private offices).
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The waterfronts at Repulse Bay and Stanley are lined with good cafés and restaurants.
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Though much smaller than Hong Kong Island, Kowloon has almost twice the population.
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In many areas, the density reaches the equivalent of 150,000 inhabitants per square km (a quarter square mile).
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Most of Kowloon’s attractions for visitors are centered near the tip of the peninsula in the district known as Tsim Sha Tsui.
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Adjacent to the Star Ferry terminal is Ocean Terminal, where international cruise ships dock, and the gigantic Harbour City, a complex of malls, hotels, and restaurants.
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If you walk east on the Star Ferry terminal concourse, you will find yourself on the wonderful Promenade, which begins at the clock tower, all that remains of the once grand Kowloon-Canton Railway Terminus.
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The waterfront here offers unparalled views of the harbor and Hong Kong Island.
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If you continue to the end of the promenade, you will be in Tsim Sha Tsui East, a busy commercial district built on more than 60 hectares (150 acres) of reclaimed land.
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Flanked by the clock tower is the imposing Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
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Hong Kong’s major venue for the performing arts, the building has been criticized for its fortress-like architecture and windowless façade.
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The interior is a comfortable amalgam of Chinese and Western design, with an impressive main lobby.
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The center contains a concert hall with acclaimed acoustics, theaters, a library, an exhibition gallery, shops, restaurants, and bars.
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Next door is the Hong Kong Space Museum and Theatre (open Monday, Wednesday–Friday 1–9pm; Saturday, Sunday 10am–9pm; closed Tuesday; admission HK$10 adults, HK$5 children; separate admission to theater).
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Its futuristic dome design is striking; inside are interactive exhibits, including one in which you can experience weightlessness.
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No longer a center of government, it now functions as a cultural center.
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The theater presents “sky shows” and IMAX films.
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The Hong Kong Museum of Art (see page 54) stands behind the Space Museum next to the cultural center.
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Particularly interesting is the collection of paintings and photographs of old Hong Kong.
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The museum mounts special exhibitions and has an excellent gift shop.
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A few blocks up Chatham Road South are two more major museums.
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The Science Museum (see page 55) is a state-of-the-art interactive museum that will teach you how everything and anything works from ancient sailing ships to the latest technology.
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The fascinating collection of artifacts pertaining showcases 6,000 years of Hong Kong’s history and Chinese culture.
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Its restored lobby is Hong Kong’s most elegant gathering place; afternoon tea here is a visitors’ ritual.
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Kowloon’s main street was created by Sir Matthew Nathan when he was governor of Hong Kong at the turn of the 19th century.
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At the time it was built, many thought it absurd to have a tree-lined boulevard running through what was practically a wilderness.
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Now the former “Nathan’s Folly” is known as the “Golden Mile. ”
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Farther up Nathan Street you will reach Yau Ma Tei, one of the older parts of Kowloon.
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Turn off Nathan and walk down Kansu Street to find the Jade Market (open 10am–3pm; see page 80), with more than 100 stalls spread out in a large tent, just before you reach the overpass.
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Hong Kong’s liveliest market scene is the Temple Street Night Market (see page 55), near Jordan Road.
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Everything is sold here, from clothing to souvenirs to electronic goods, and the market is known for its street-side food stalls, where you can dine inexpensively on seafood.
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So great is the pressure on the available land that most of Hong Kong’s colonial architectural heritage has been demolished and replaced by new skyscrapers.
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The market runs all the way up to Tin Hau Temple, where you will find fortune tellers’ tables (some speak English) and possibly street performers singing Chinese opera or pop songs.
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The temple is one of the many dedicated to Tin Hau, goddess of seafarers; this one also houses an altar to Shing Wong, the city’s god.
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In the daytime the temple (open 8am–6pm) attracts worshipers, and its park attracts strollers and mah-jong players.
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Nathan Road goes all the way up to Boundary Street, which marks the boundary between Kowloon and the New Territories.
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Near Boundary Street, off Prince Edward Street West, is the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden (open 8am–7pm).
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Birds are favorite pets in Hong Kong, valued for their singing rather than their plumage, and here you’ll find all kinds of birds for sale as well as elaborate teak and bamboo cages.
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Off the beaten path in Sham Shui Po, west of the junction of Nathan Road and Boundary Street, is the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb and Museum on Tonkin Road (open Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday 1–6pm; closed Thursday).
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This ancient burial vault is believed to date back to the Han Dynasty (a.d. 25–220).
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The barrel-vaulted chambers were discovered while excavating for a nearby housing project.
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Surprises spring up on all sides: new industrial complexes alongside sleepy farming villages, skyscraper towns blooming in the middle of nowhere, Hakka women in their traditional flat straw hats with hanging black curtains, water buffalo, and flashes of azalea everywhere.
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The New Territories can be explored by taking the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR), which makes 10 stops between the station in Kowloon and Sheung Shui, the last stop before entering China.
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Ask the tourist authority about its interesting Heritage Tour from Kowloon and other countryside tours (see page 113).
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The main highway makes a circuit of the New Territories, beginning with the new town of Tsuen Wan, situated in an area of heavy industry just west of Kowloon.
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The highway continues parallel to the coast.
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Nearby is Chater Garden and a number of notable architectural landmarks.
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One-third of all Hong Kong’s beaches are to be found in a single 14-km (9-mile) stretch of this region’s shoreline.
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Thus you will find “191/2-mile Beach” at Castle Peak Bay.
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The main road continues clockwise around the New Territories.
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As you approach the border, you can glimpse the skyscrapers of Shenzhen.
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Most famous is the striking 74-story I.M. Pei Bank of China Tower, not beloved by the people of Hong Kong — its triangular prisms and sharp angles violate the principles of feng shui (see box, page 68) and its radio masts stick up like an insect’s antennae.
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Set amid Tseun Wan’s residential towers is the 18th-century walled village of Sam Tung Uk, now preserved as a museum, and a short walk from the MTR station.
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Not far away, at milepost 21 near the large new town of Tuen Mun, is a Taoist retreat known as Ching Chung Koon.
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This “Temple of Green Pines” is a spacious complex containing temples and pavilions, statues, and gardens.
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It is known for its collection of bonsai and houses a jade seal more than 1,000 years old.
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Among the ponds is one inhabited by turtles: Visitors toss in coins in the hope of bouncing one off a turtle’s head, a sure way of achieving good fortune.
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This is the most easily accessible of the New Territories’ walled villages.
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It is built in a square, and the only way in is through the gate in the brick defensive wall.
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Kat Hing Wai was built four or five centuries ago by the Hakka Tang clan, one of the Five Great Clans that migrated here from North China (see page 11).
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Many of the old houses in the village have been replaced by modern structures.
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The Tang clan’s earliest walled village was Lo Wai, which also has its defensive wall intact and is entered by a narrow gate.
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Adjacent to the village is the restored Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall.
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Few traditional ancestral halls remain in China since the anti-historical destruction during the Cultural Revolution, so these New Territories ancestral halls are rare survivors.
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One of the most interesting sites in the New Territories is Tai Fu Tai, another rare survivor, this one a mansion that belonged to a Confucian high official.
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The house was built in 1865 by a member of the Man clan who achieved the rank of tai fu (mandarin) by doing well in the Imperial Examinations.
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The preservation of this wonderful home is ongoing; a projected restoration of the original garden is still in progress.
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The highway and the railway stay close together from Fanling, site of the best golf courses in the area.
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Tai Po, just south of Fanling, is known for its market, Tai Po Market, which buzzes with activity daily from 7am to 6pm.
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Just up a lane from the market is the Man Mo Temple, with long-burning incense coils hanging from its ceiling, a popular spot dedicated to the Taoist gods of war and literature.
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The rival Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank is by architect Norman Foster; built on a “coathanger frame,” its floors hang rather than ascend.
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The railway line then curves gracefully around Tolo Harbor, an idyllic body of water well-protected from the open sea.
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You can take a ferryboat through the harbor, past the ingenious Plover Cove reservoir, a water catchment area appropriated by damming and draining a broad inlet from the sea.
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The boats go on to the friendly fishermen’s island of Tap Mun, in Mirs Bay, with stops in remote hamlets of the Sai Kung Peninsula.
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The Sai Kung area is the location of two official parks and nature preserves, while on the south side of the peninsula are some of the territory’s best beaches.
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From the next railway station, the modern campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong is visible.
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Teaching here is conducted in both Chinese and English.
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