Kowloon (Hong Kong) Cruise Holiday Guide

GMT + 8.

Hong Kong Dollar (HK$) = 100 cents.

Language

Chinese and English.

Hong Kong is a major tourist destination as well as being one of the world's major business centres. It is one of the most riveting and unexpectedly beautiful spectacles on earth. Two minutes' walk from the bustle of Central reveals a harbour view that the architectural boom of the 1980s and 1990s has turned into a mixture of Manhattan and San Francisco, with added shipping bustle; and at night it just gets better. The view from the Peak of Hong Kong's glittering lights by night is unforgettable; almost as dazzling are the towers of Central seen from the lovers' walk of Kowloon's Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade or the famous glass-walled ladies' toilet of Oscar's in the Peninsula Hotel. This tax-free, bustling port and commercial centre has many other places worth visiting: Tsimshatsui, with its shops, restaurants and a space museum in a vast complex; Ocean Park, with performing dolphins and killer whales; the floating restaurants; Repulse Bay, with the Tin Hau Temple overlooking the beach; Stanley Market; Miu Fat Monastery, Ching Chung Koon and many other splendid Chinese temples; fishing villages such as Aberdeen, now a thriving town with excellent floating seafood restaurants; Sea Ranch, a luxury resort and country club with beaches on Lantau Island; and the splendid Po Lin Monastery, also on Lantau Island.

Whether one is shopping in modern air-conditioned arcades or more traditional street markets, the range of goods available in Hong Kong is vast. Places that display the HKTA sign (Hong Kong Tourist Association) are the best guarantee of satisfaction. Bargaining is practised in the smaller shops and side stalls only. There are excellent markets in Stanley on Hong Kong Island, which is in a beautiful setting in a small village on the coast, and in Temple Street, Kowloon, which is a night market.

Apart from Chinese food, which is superb, there are also many Indian, Vietnamese, Filipino, Singapore/Malaysian and Thai restaurants. Hong Kong is the home of authentic Chinese food from all the regions of China, which may be sampled on a sampan (a small, traditional Chinese boat) in Causeway Bay, on a floating restaurant at Aberdeen, in a Kowloon restaurant, in a street market or at a deluxe hotel. Specialities include Dim Sum (savoury snacks, usually steamed and served in bamboo baskets on trolleys), Cha siu bao (barbecue pork bun) and Peking duck. Popular Chinese wines and spirits are Zhian Jing (a rice wine served hot like sake), Liang hua pei (potent plum brandy), Kaolian (a whisky) and Mao toi.

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