48 hours in Hong Kong

James Donald explores a city that combines modern elegance with traditional charm, a place where even the tea is served with ceremony

Saturday, 16 February 2002

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The best way to the centre of Hong Kong from the airport is by the Airport Express Train. It takes around 20 minutes to get to Kowloon and only 23 minutes to get to Central on Hong Kong island.

Beam down

The best way to the centre of Hong Kong from the airport is by the Airport Express Train. It takes around 20 minutes to get to Kowloon and only 23 minutes to get to Central on Hong Kong island. Tickets cost HK$100 (£9.40) single, HK$180 (£16.90) return, 5.50am-1.15am daily, at 10 minute intervals. Take time first to admire the Norman Foster designed airport on Chek Lap Kok, a reclaimed island off Lantau. The train connects to the MTR (Mass Transit Railway), Hong Kong's underground, remarkable for the fact that mobile phones work on it.

Get your bearings

The best place to get a feeling for the scale of Hong Kong is in the middle of the harbour. Take the Star Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui on Kowloon to Central on Hong Kong Island HK$2.20 (20p) upstairs, HK$1.70 (16p) downstairs). The trip takes just eight minutes. There is a Hong Kong Tourism Board office at Tsim Sha Tsui terminal.

Check in

On Hong Kong Island, go for luxury at the Mandarin Oriental, 5 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong (00 852 2522 0111, www.mandarinoriental.com). Prices start at HK$1,799 (£170) and rise to HK$25,000 (£2,360) for the Mandarin Suite. Dedicated shoppers should try the Metro Park Hotel, 148 Tung Lo Wan Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (00 852 2600 1000, www.metroparkhotel.com), which is near the shopping centres of Causeway Bay. Rooms from HK$900-$5,500 (£85-£520). Alternatively, in the heart of Kowloon, and handy for the Airport Express, is the Nathan Hotel, 378 Nathan Road, Kowloon, (00 852 2388 5141, www.nathanhotel.com). Doubles from HK$680 (£65).

Take a hike

Hiking along the Dragon's Back is reasonably strenuous. The excursion takes in Hong Kong Island's grand coastal settings, with superb views over the inshore channels. At the end you are a short walk from the beach village at Shek O, with its bohemian bars and restaurants. Take the MTR to Shau Kei Wan, and go to Exit A3. From the nearby bus depot take Bus 9 (Shek O). Ask to get off 700 metres before Windy Gap, by the Country Parks display map for the Dragon's Back. The journey from Central takes about 50 minutes.

Lunch on the run

Have a main course from Leung Hing Seafood Restaurant, 32 Bonham Strand West, 00 852 2850 6666 in Sheung Wan to the west of Central, then head off for mango pudding – bird's nest soup in coconut or syrup. The nests come from Borneo and Java, made by sea swallows out of their own saliva. Yummy. Hong Kong is the biggest consumer of this delicacy, and you can sample them around the streets of Nam Pak Hong.

Take a ride

To get a sense of the fact that Hong Kong is far more than highrise blocks, take the ferry from Pier 6 at Central to the island of Cheung Chau. It is small enough to explore on foot – in fact there is no motorised transportation, except for a very small ambulance and a fire engine. Highlights of the island include Tung Wan beach, a favourite for windsurfers; Cheung Po Tsai cave where pirates and smugglers used to hide; and Tin Hau temple. The island is also home to the annual Bun Festival of Tai Ping Ching Chiu, when there is a procession including "floating children" from the Pak Tai Temple.

Window shopping

For antiques, go to Hollywood Road, but make sure you ask for a certificate of authenticity with any purchase. David Tang has a great store in Hong Kong, called Shanghai Tang, Pedder Store, 12 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong (00 852 2525 7333, or in the Peninsula Hotel (00 852 2537 2888). Inside you can buy beautiful black velvet smoking jackets with different coloured silk ties to do it up with. One chain of electronic shops which can be relied on, and which is found throughout Hong Kong is Fortress.

An aperitif

If you want to drink with the expats, head to the bars around Lan Kwai Fong (11). On a Friday or Saturday night, D'Aguilar Street is the centre of the action. There are several bars with views over Hong Kong harbour, but one of the best is the Vong Bar at the Mandarin Oriental on Connaught Road, Central (00 852 2522 0111). Try the "Black Plate" of starter foods for HK$350 (£33). Alternatively, on the other side of the water in Kowloon, there is the Sky Cocktail Lounge in the Sheraton Hotel – they keep the lights very low so you can appreciate the view at night, and you can reserve a table. Kir Royale for HK$160 (£15). 20 Nathan Road, Kowloon (00 852 2369 1111).

Dining with the locals

Head for V V Skewers, Number 15 Wing Wah Lane, D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong, (00 852 2525 3528). Everything is served on a skewer – broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, eggplant, baby squid and chicken. Dinner with drinks costs HK$300 (£28). They also do a great strawberry and blackberry margarita. Otherwise, there's the French cuisine of Alibi, 73 Wyndham Street, SoHo, ( 852 2167 1676). Alibi and Blue, 43-45 Lyndhurst Terrace, SoHo, (00 852 2815 4005) are the places to be seen. For a real blow-out meal, go to T'ang Court, 8 Peking Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon (00 852 2375 1133) in the Great Eagle Hotel, for renowned Chinese cuisine.

Sunday morning: Go to church

Head for St John's Cathedral, 4-8 Garden Road, Central (00 852 2523 4157), the oldest Anglican church in the far east built in 1849. Used as a social club by the occupying Japanese force during the Second World War, it has since been restored. If you prefer to honour the gods of literature and war, go to the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road, on the corner with Ladder Street, Sheung Wan (00 852 2540 0350), open daily from 8am-6pm.

A walk in the park

Get some inner peace with a dawn walk through Victoria Park to witness groups of people doing t'ai chi. You'll have to be up early, though, at around 7am. Later, join Hong Kong's Filipino maids around Statue Square in Central. There are around 140,000 Filipino maids working in Hong Kong, and many of them come here to socialise on their day off.

Bracing brunch

If you can get an invitation, have dim sum in David Tang's China Club, (00 852 2537 5266) housed on the top floors of the old offices of the Bank of China, just behind the Legco building. The food is fantastic and very well complemented by the fantastic collection of contemporary Chinese art – make sure you go up the bar to see a great painting of Prince Charles on the stairs. After a morning's windsurfing, grab lunch at New Baccarat on the shorefront on Cheung Chau Island – lobster in chicken broth, scallops with glass noodles and garlic and breadcrumbs, steamed fish and steamed vegetables. There is an array of restaurants along the front, most with tanks outside with lunch still swimming around, getting its affairs in order.

Write a postcard

There's really only one choice: head for the top of Victoria Peak. From Central, take the 15C bus, there are open-top double decker ones, to the base of the Peak Tram and you get a great view of the new Bank of China building and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The Peak Tram, at 33 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong (00 852 2522 0922) is actually a funicular railway and has been running since 1888. It's open from 7am-midnight daily. Adult fares cost HK$30 (£2.80) return From the top you can see over the harbour to Kowloon.

Cultural afternoon

Take part in a tea ceremony at Moon Garden Tea House at 5 Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, (00 852 2882 6878). The master of teas, Vincent Li, produces a very small pot, which he then fills with leaves and covers in hot water. The cups are tiny, and it is hard not to think you are at a doll's tea party. Remember to slurp the first cup. There are many different teas on offer, and you can just have a cup with out the ceremony – but it will cost you around HK$90 (£8.50). Alternatively, if you are feeling a bit out of sorts, have some reflexology at Fr. Josef Eugster Foot Massage Centre, Unit 201, 2 Floor, Shun Hei Causeway Centre, 492 Lockhart Road (00 852 2893 3861). Their staff can diagnose illnesses from points on the soles of your feet and stimulate circulation.

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