Hong Kong: fragrant harbour where my heart remains moored. (Hong Kong)

Member Name: edindave

Product:	Hong Kong
Date:	09/06/09 (9 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Something to do at all times for all people. Friendly people and fantastically historic city.

Disadvantages: Because of its situation, there is a lot of humidity in Hong Kong at certain times of the year.

I am going to declare a bias, first of all: Hong Kong is my all-time favourite place in the entire world. You can see where this review is going.

I went to Hong Kong for the first time for a ten-day period. It is clear that this is not long enough to see the whole of any city - that is especially true of somewhere like Hong Kong. There are a few cities in the world that truly never sleep and Hong Kong is one of them.

It comes from a unique standpoint, historically. Clearly Hong Kong is now part of China but for a long time, it was a British colony; in fact, it was only handed back to China in 1997. The culture is therefore a strange mixture of East and West and the culture shock for a European tourist is immense when one first steps off the aeroplane.

Most of the signage is in both Chinese and English so there should not be a huge problem with finding one's way around the city. My advice would be to make sure to see the night markets in Kowloon while you are there, make sure to take a trip on the Star Ferry across the harbour at night to take in the lights and feel of it all, make sure to see the light show from the Kowloon side of the harbour if it is on while you are there, make sure to go to Lan Kwai Fong to take in the ex-pat community bars and try to take the tram to the top of the Peak to see the unbeatable view from the top.

Once of my favourite experiences was cocktails at the Peninsula Hotel bar. The hotel sits right on the harbour, looking out at Hong Kong Island. The cocktail bar is toward the very top of the skyscraping hotel and so the view from there is breath-taking. The drinks are a little pricey, given that you'll be in one of the best hotels in the world, but it is so worth going, even if you only have one!

I cannot explain in words how much I recommend everyone goes and visits Hong Kong. It is the city holiday of a lifetime and, if you are anything like me, you will spend all of the time that you are not there, wishing that you were.

Summary: Hong Kong is the best city in the world - book your trip there now.