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Hong Kong is one of the most fascinating and beautiful place on earth. With the architectural boom of 1980s and 1990s, shipping bustle, folksy urban charm, old colonial monuments, Hong Kong’s beauty allures visitors for an endless sightseeing expedition to involve in and discover its spells and charms. |
There are many must visit places in Hong Kong, here’s a list of a few places not to be missed;
1: Statue Square
Statue Square is 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.
2: Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building
Opening in 1986, the building exemplified the fashion for atriums in the architecture world. The 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.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1630, Sat 0900-1230
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3: Bank of China Tower Deliberately planned to dwarf the neighboring Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building, the Bank of China Tower is now Hong Kong's national monument. The Chinese-American architect I M Pei developed it 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. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0930-2130, Sat and Sun 0930-2330 |
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3: 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 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
4: 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
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1900.
6: 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.
Tel: 21 18 89 00
Fax: 25 06 20 22
Opening hours: Daily 1000-2200.
7: 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 tea ware, seals and other ceramics.
Tel: 28 69 06 90
Opening hours: Thurs-Tues 1000-1700.
8: Hong Kong Museum of History
It is somehow fitting that this go-ahead territory has its history commemorated in a dazzling new building. Opened 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.
Opening hours: Mon-Thurs and Sat 1000-1800, Sun 1300-1800.
9: 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 marvelous cure-all, and his statue in the main building was brought from the mainland in 1921. The building is spectacularly colorful with its red pillars, golden ceiling and decorated latticework, but not particularly distinguished.
Tai Sin Road, Kowloon
Tel: 23 27 81 41
Fax: 23 51 56 40.
Opening hours: Daily 0700-1730.
10: Yuen Po Street Bird Garden
Rearing caged songbirds is a time-honored 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.
Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon
Opening hours: Daily 0700-2000.
Source: www.explore-hongkong.com
