Fun things to do in Hong Kong

This is the Feng Shui house in Hongkong - an it is the most expensive hole in the world.

There is a dragon living on the mountain and when they built the house they had to let him a free way to the sea - so the built a house with a big hole.

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Tai O is a village on the edge of Lantau Island. It is one of the few remaining places in Hong Kong where you can still see wooden fishing houses on stilts. You can get there from Tung Chung on bus no.11, or from Mui Wo on bus no. 1, or from Ngong Ping on bus no 21.

The village is an interesting place to walk around, there are stalls selling dried fish and several Chinese restaurants. There is also quite an interesting Chinese temple. It is possible to take boat trips around Tai O.

Expect Tai O to be busy on Sundays and public holidays.

Well worth a look. Can be combined with a trip to the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery due to the bus service Tai O - Ngong Ping.

This temple is one of the oldest and most famous in Hong Kong. The Man Mo, literally 'Civil and Military', is dedicated to the two deities of aforementioned attributes. Inside the temple are two antique chairs shaped like houses, used to carry the two gods at festival time. The smell of incense coils suspended from the roof permeates the air.

The civil deity is a Chinese statesman of the 3rd century BC called Man Cheung, who is worshipped as the god of literature and is represented holding a writing brush. The military deity is Kwan Yu (or Kwan Tai), a Han-dynasty soldier born in the 2nd century AD and now venerated as the red-cheeked god of war; he is holding a sword. Kwan Yu's popularity in Hong Kong probably has more to do with his additional status as the patron god of restaurants, pawnshops, the police force and secret societies such as the Triads.
- Text from Lonely Planet

This was my favourite activity in the reserve and it's very easy to spend half a day and more there. In the wooden buidlings upon the wetlands you can watch plenty of birds: 190 bird species have been recorded at the area of the HK wetland park. In the buildings there are few fixed binoculars so you can see birds without having your own - but it's better if you have one because sometimes the place gets crowded with visitors and you need to wait. Volunteers - biologist there are good source of information so they're worth to ask anything related to birds.

Lots of birds are migratory and winter visitors whose can be observed in spring and autumn - they come from as far as Siberia and Northeast China. HK wetlands are important part on its flyway (East Asian - Australasian flyway).

Some of the birds include:
Little Grebe
Little Egret
Eurasian Wigeon
Great Cormorant
Grey Heron
Northern Pintail
Black Kite
Common Moorhen
Black-faced Spoonbill
Great Egret
Common Teal
etc.

Ping Shan is one of the few districts in Hong Kong with a long history, which dates back to the twelfth century. Some unique structures and monuments built in those times remain today, and have been incorporated into what is known as the Ping Shan Heritage Trail.

This trail is about one 1km long, meandering through Hang Mei Tsuen, Hang Tau Tsuen and Sheung Cheung Wai, linking up a number of traditional Chinese structures. These include the Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda, Tang Ancestral Hall, a walled village, a study hall, and several temples.

It's an easy walk, with signs well indicated along the way. Quite interesting, and as this is situated within a residential area, one can observe how locals live away from where foreign tourists and expats abound. This is still the gentle, old Hong Kong, where one can still feel its soul and character.

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Mui Wo is one of the main towns on Lantau Island. It has many excellent restaurants - Chinese, Turkish, Italian and big Wellcome and Park 'n' Shop supermarkets, a McDonalds and a 7-eleven if you prefer a picnic.

Mui Wo used to be called Silvermine Bay. You can walk along the beautiful Mui wo Beach towards the Silvermine Bay Hotel.

Mui Wo is excellent for swimming, relaxing on the beach, or you can stroll around its village streets or take a walk to the waterfall and cave behind the town. there is a longer walk from here to Discovery Bay via the Trappist Monastery (maybe around one and a half hours).

You get to Mui Wo from Central via ferry. You can also get to it by bus from Tung Chung and on some of the inter-island ferries.

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Tung Chung is a residential area near to the airport. To get there from the airport it is best to use the S1 bus. The airport express does not stop in Tung Chung.

Tung Chung is not the livliest spot in Hong Kong but it is on the Tung Chung to Hong Kong Station MTR line. There is a Novotel in Tung Chung. There is also a shopping centre called Citygate which has many outlet stores. There is a large cinema complex and several restaurants (Japanese, Thai, Chinese) including a large Food Republic food court there.

Tung Chung also has a musical dancing fountain in the centre of its plaza. On hot summer days it's fun to watch the kids running through the fountain to get completely soaked.

Tung Chung is the starting point for the cable car to the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island.

One other feature of Tung Chung is that it has a brand new huge swimming pool. An Olympic sized heated indoor pool and a reasonably large outdoor pool.

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Statue Square is right in the heart of Central district. it was created at the end of the 19th century and was originally called statue square because it housed statues of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Edward VII and Sir Thomas Jackson the chief manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) from 1876 to 1902. These status together with the bronze lion statues from outside the nearby Hong Kong shankhai Bank building were all removed by the Japanese during World War 11. At the end of the war Sir Thomas Jackson was returned to the square, the lions to outside the HSBC building and Queen Victoria to Victoria Park. The other statues were lost.

Statue Square is bordered by the HSBC and Bank of China to the north, the princes Building to the west and the beautiful old Legco Building (formerlly the supreme court to the west and the cenotaph to the south.

Statue Square was once very close to Victoria harbour but is now quite far away due to land reclamation.

An interesting time to visit Statue Square is on Sundays - maids day off - the whole of the square is covered with Filipinas. Walk under the futuristic new HSBC building and the sound of the maids chatter is like the chirping of thousands of small birds.

Statue Square is also home to hong Kong Winter Fest around Christmas time and always has a huge tree.