PULSATING HONGKONG STILL REACHES NEWHEIGHTS
It’s 20 years since the handover, but life on this island remains electric
F REEDOM is a loaded word in Hong Kong. ever since the UK handed the former British colony back to China — 20 years ago this week — there have been protests over democracy. They are likely to get louder. But this sense of being caught between two worlds is why the city remains such a fascinating place to visit.
A New York minute is still a Hong Kong second; the star Ferry on Victoria Harbour dutifully y delivers 20 million people a year r between mainland Kowloon and d Hong Kong island.
WHAT’S NEW?
CHINA and Hong Kong have put their differences aside to build a 31- mile, multi- billion- pound bridge linking Hong Kong with Zhuhai and Macau. The mega-structure is due to open this year.
Life is being breathed into the once run-down Old Town n Central, where the British h planted their flag in 1842 — a younger generation descending on craft beer shops and d hipster cafes.
A full-colour graffiti of Bruce Lee pays homage to the martial arts icon who was raised in Kowloon (Hello Hong Kong tour, £48, walkin.hk).
For Bruce fans, there is also an exhibition on his life and career at the Heritage Museum until summer 2018.
GREEN SPACE
RURAL scenery accounts for 70 per cent of Hong Kong. Mountain ascents are at your fingertips; queue for the rickety tram up Victoria Peak and you will be rewarded with a view of futuristic towers rising from the greenery.
Pound the rusty-red dirt of the Dragon’s Back trail near To Tei Wan village for a more ambitious climb (from one to six hours, depending on route).
At Nan Lian Garden in Diamond Hill, Chinese zither music sets a sedate pace on paths around laurel, koi ponds and pagodas.
DINING OUT
DIM SUM cafe chain Tim Ho Wan serves the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred food. Two venues have this mark of quality — but avoid their queues by tucking in at the Hong Kong station branch. Bottomless tea is 30p and the pork buns are £2 for three.
Or join the refined crowd at gallery-restaurant Duddell’s, which merges Cantonese food with a modern atmosphere.
An old ping-pong hall in sai Ying Pun is now the trendy tapas-and-gin hangout Ping Pong Gintoneria, while Japanese yakitori restaurant Yardbird, in Tai Ping shan, is the place to be seen.
COCKTAIL O’CLOCK
SEEK out the speakeasies around lively Hollywood Road; Mrs Pound’s chop-shop facade is a world away from the neon glamour inside, while stockton is down a hidden alley. Newly opened Kwoon, which seats about ten, cans its cocktails to order.
in Kowloon, Aqua — the Asian counterpart to London’s Aqua shard — comes alive after dark. Or embrace Japanese minimalism at Butler, where classic cocktails are served in glasses with impossibly thin stems.
SPENDING POWER
WITH no sales tax, designer stores are a magnet for serious shoppers. For labels you can’t find at home, the white concrete policemen’s quarters in Old Town Central have been converted into independent boutiques.
spend half a day in Mong Kok. The Ladies’ Market, selling chopsticks and silk garments, is close to the Goldfish Market and the Bird Market.
TEMPLE TIME
PULLING favours from the spirits is big business. Fortune tellers tucked between market stalls help with life’s major decisions and Taoist temples inhabit the unholiest of alleyways, their incense burning like beacons in the dark.
Hollywood Road’s Man Mo Temple is the oldest and most revered.
SLEEP WELL
A FOOTBRIDGE from the Prince’s Building mall means wealthy shoppers can bag a quick entry into the Mandarin Oriental. The group’s original hotel is a pinnacle of Oriental opulence, down to the fragrance pumped in through the air-con.
Three of its restaurants are Michelin- starred, including Man Wah on the 25th floor, where golden lanterns frame the skyline. Doubles from £343, mandarin-oriental.com.
On the other side of Victoria Harbour is four- star option The salisbury YMCA.
Watching the nightly skyscraper light show from your Harbour View suite, you would never expect that this fantastic hotel uses its takings to fund charity projects.
Doubles from £121, B&B, ymcahk.org.hk/thesalisbury.
GET THERE
VIRGIN Atlantic ( virgin atlantic. com) flies from Heathrow to Hong Kong from £477 return. More information at discoverhongkong.com.