Fun things to do in Hong Kong

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Rivaling the views from Tsim Sha Tsui, the views of Hong Kong’s skyline from the Peak Tower are nothing short of magnificent. Again, to be fully appreciated, the skyline should be viewed both during the day and at night.

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There are few cityscapes as impressive as Hong Kong’s. Perhaps the best views are from Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon looking out over Victoria Harbour. To be fully appreciated, the city skyline should be viewed both during the day and at night.

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The Temple street night market starts around 7pm onwards. There's lots of thing to be bought there, but please haggle. you can get big discounts if you buy by bulk. Be careful of some "moody" salesperson. Don't touch the merchandise if you don't want to buy. This street extends up to the jade market. You'll lose track of time.

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The latest addition to the Disney theme parks. There's lots of restaurants and also rides for the kids. Explore the whole place. Take the train to move around if you want. Take pictures and lots of pictures. There are designated places as smoking areas - please observe it.

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This excellent tour is run by the HK Tourism Board and saves you the hassle of finding your way around by public transport! I recommend the tour if time is short and certainly as an introduction to historic Hong Kong. The itinerary includes Tai Fu Tai Mandarin's Mansion, Fan Tin Village, Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, Lo Wai Walled Village, Man Mo Temple, Tai Po Market, and the Lam Tsuen Wishing Trees. You can always visit the places later by yourself, spend more time at the places you particularly enjoyed and even explore further afield. Try the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail if this tour whets your appetite for the history of Hong Kong!

Tai Fu Tai's Mandarin's Mansion doesn't look very interesting on the outside but it's a different story once you enter inside. There are figures on the rooftop outside but they are quite damaged. The entrance courtyard has beautiful ceramic figures on the inside.
Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall was built in the early 16th century. It has been very well restored and has fine wood carvings and murals of auspicious motifs.

Lo Wai Walled Village was the first walled village built by the Tang clan. The original village entrance was moved to face the east for better fung-shui.

The tour stops off at Tai Po and there's time to visit the local Man Mo temple and have a look at the local market stalls. Then on to the Lam Tsuen Wishing Trees. You can buy special papers with wishes written on them - they're attached to oranges and you throw them up into the Wishing Trees. If they stay up in the trees, your wishes are supposed to come true!

The whole tour takes about 5 hours. Remember to book a place on the tour beforehand as you can't just turn up! You can buy tickets at the HK Tourism Board information offices.

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If you are interested in history and want to see a different side of Hong Kong, consider walking the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail. This heritage trail, in the northeast of Luen Wo Hui in Fanling, New Territories, was set up by the Hong Kong government in December 1999. The name Lung Yeuk Tau, aka Lung Ku Tau, comes from the mountain range nearby called Lung Yeuk Ling (Mountain of the Leaping Dragon). There is a legend that there was once a dragon jumping round this area.

The Tangs in Leung Yeuk Tau are one of the "Five Great Clans" in the New Territories. They came originally from Jishui of Jiangxi province. The eldest son of the princess of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) and Tang Wai-kap moved to Lung Yeuk Tau at the end of the Yuan dynasty. The clan prospered and within a few hundred years built the "Five Wais and Six Tsuens". The "Five Wais (walled villages)" include Lo Wai, Ma Wat Wai, Wing Ning Wai, Tung Kok Wai (aka Kun Lung Wai), and San Wai (aka Kun Lung Wai). The "Six Tsuens (villages) are Ma Wat Tsuen, Wing Ning Tsuen (aka Tai Tang), Ysz Tong Tsuen, San Uk Tsuen, Siu Hang Tsuen and Kun Lung Tsuen.

The Tangs of the area still practise traditional village customs. On the Heritage Trail you can see many traditional Chinese buildings and structures such as the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall and the Tin Hau Temple, together with the walls, entrance gates and even the residences of some of the walled villages such as Lo Wai and San Wai. Remember that some of the buildings are not open to the public.

It's quite easy to get to. Take the KCR East Rail train from Tsim Sha Tsui and get out at Fanling. You can then get local buses (details given below)

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Hong Kong has some interesting temples but this is perhaps one of the most interesting. It's a living temple and the locals visit it regularly to ask the gods for answers to questions and thank them for good results etc. It's always smoky from all the incense they offer to the gods. They also go to consult fortune tellers who are resident at the temple. There are two floors full of about 100 booths with fortune tellers - each of them vying for customers! Many of them speak English and you can choose how you get your fortune told - Chinese fortune sticks, face reading or palm reading! It's worth trying to get a good price - a friend of mine went in September 2006 and had a full reading for 200 HK$. He read her palm and also her face and took about 20 minutes but I'm not sure how accurate the reading was! It's certainly worth visiting even if you don't believe in fortune telling! The locals obviously do.

The temple itself is quite new - it was opened in 1921 when a Taoist priest brought a portrait of Huang to HK. Huang was born in 328 and it is said that he could see into the future and could make wishes come true. The temple has brightly coloured pillars and is located in the middle of residential skyscrapers in Kowloon. It's easy to find your way there on the MTR.

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I decided that I wanted to try and find somewhere that not many people would find, so went to a MTR station about as far as I could get from Central! Knew there was a bay down there, so jumped in a cab and got dropped down to it.

As you can see, if the weather was sunny it would be an absolutely gorgeous spot. The beach was sandy, the water was warm. Kind of weird being inside an enclosed beach, but with shark warnings that kind of makes sense!! There were a couple of locals there, but absolutely no tourists. My own little haven. And I may even share if you ask me nicely!!