Sightseeing in China
Pity the poor locals who never lift their eyes from the streets: Hong Kong 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 nights it just gets better. Any backstreet market provides folksy urban charm by the barrowload. Old colonial Hong Kong may have been short on grand monuments, but the now famous Bank of China and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank give the place a 21st-century buzz suited to one of the Pacific Rim's most important economic hubs. These buildings are sharing the limelight with the rainbow-coloured lightshow of The Center skyscraper, the waterside steel wings of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and a host of lesser marvels. Die-hard colonialists can content themselves with Government House, the Former French Mission Building, the Former Gate Lodge on the peak, the Former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower, the Former Kowloon British School and a host of other Olds and Formers. There are far older relics of the region's past still surviving its relentless forward drive, especially out in the New Territories: the Causeway Bay Tin Hau Temple, the Law Uk Hakka House, the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb, the Sam Tung Uk Village, the Liu Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall, the Kun Lung Wai Gate Tower, the Yeung Hau Temple and so on. Hong Kong is pinning much of its hopes as a future tourist centre on the Hong Kong Disneyland projected for Lamma Island, but this is still years, away from completion. In the meantime, visitors can ignore the government's ambitions, and focus on the plethora of sights already on offer now.
Tourist Information
Hong Kong Tourist Association
Street address: Hong Kong Tourist Association Visitor Information and Services Centre G/F, The Center, 99 Queen's Road Central, Central
Postal address: 9-11th Floor, Citicorp Centre, 18 Whitfield Road, North Point
Tel: 28 07 65 43 or 25 08 12 34 (tourist information). Fax: 28 06 03 03. E-mail: info@hkta.org
Web site: www.hkta.org
Opening hours: 0800-1800 daily
Passes
The HKTA Museum Pass gives unlimited admission to the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Hong Kong Space Museum and the Hong Kong Museum of History, as well as some discounts in the museum shops. Valid for one month, it costs HK$50 and is available from HKTA offices and participating museums.
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