Times Square
The retail plaza to top them all, Times Square is an enormous temple to Hong Kong's number one deity, Mammon. The vast complex houses nine floors of shops and has a spectacular exterior with a huge display screen and electronic clock - the venue for the big millennium countdown in 2000. At the weekend, devotees ascend the escalator to be swallowed up in the belly of this huge idol, demonstrating exactly what the Asian economic miracle was all about. Recession has not visibly blunted the shopping frenzy and there are ever more shops and restaurants under this huge pile.

Times Square, Causeway Bay
Tel: 2118 8900.
Website: www.timessquare.com.hk
Opening hours: Daily 1000-2200.
Free admission.

Yuen Po Street Bird Garden
Rearing caged songbirds is a time-honoured 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, with ornate cages and cage furniture providing 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. Just north of the Bird Garden, there is also a fine flower market and a goldfish market, closer to the MTR station in Tung Choi Street.

Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon
Tel: 2302 1762.
Website: www.lcsd.gov.hk/parks/ypsbg/en/index.php
Opening hours: Daily 0700-2000.
Free admission.

Noonday Gun
Yes, there still is a noonday gun (as immortalised by Noel Coward) and it is still ceremoniously fired daily at noon. Actually a Hotchkiss three-pounder, the gun is mounted in its own miniature, park-like enclosure overlooking the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter, off Gloucester Road and opposite the Excelsior Hotel. It is reached by an underpass near the World Trade Centre.

221 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
Operating hours: Noon (of course).
Free admission. 

Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade
Offering another great view of the spectacular Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island waterfront, this esplanade is where Hong Kong couples go in the evenings for a romantic backdrop while canoodling. However, day or night, the view is superb. The colonial-era Clock Tower at the western end of the promenade, by the Star Ferry piers, makes an attractive historic terminus, while Harbour City with the huge cruise liners is another attractive prospect just to the west. Stretching along the promenade, the Avenue of Stars features hand prints and commemorative plaques honouring the greatest stars of Hong Kong's celebrated film industry.

Star Ferry Terminal to Hung Hom
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Free admission.