DK Travel : Hong Kong

“A dream of Manhattan, arising from the South China Sea.” For succinctness, modern travel writer Pico Iyer’s description of Hong Kong has yet to be bettered. From opium port to Cold War enclave to frenetic financial capital, Hong Kong has never been boring. This is the hedonistic engine room of cultural fusion: East meets West in high style, and the results astonish and delight. Prepare to experience one of the most dramatic urban environments ever conceived.

Rosedale on the Park

One of Hong Kong’s newest hotels, this self-styled “cyber boutique hotel” offers reasonable value. The look is sleek and modern, and the technology up to the minute. Small but well laid out rooms include broadband connection.
Royal Garden Hotel

The 20-year-old Royal Garden is ageing beautifully, partly due to a recent facelift. Elegant rooms with cable TV sit round the bright atrium lobby. The rooftop gym, pool and tennis court impress, as does the world-class Italian restaurant.
Royal Park Chinese

Classy Cantonese cooking – not an easy thing to find in Sha Tin. Specialities include shark’s fin soup and crispy chicken.
Rua da Felicidade

The “street of happiness” once teemed with brothels, hence its somewhat ironically bestowed name. It’s now a quaint, cobbled thoroughfare full of cheap eateries.
Rubbed the Right Way

Go for a deep-tissue Chinese massage and get the blood circulating.
Rugby 10s

Beer-swilling mayhem and fast and furious rugby.
Rugby Sevens

More of the above.
Ruinas do São Paulo

The façade and intricate mosaic floor are all that remain of Macau’s grandest church, perched atop a steep flight of stone steps and propped up by a viewing platform at the rear. In its heyday, the Jesuit-designed Cathedral was hailed as the greatest monument to Christian-ity in the East. It caught fire during a massive typhoon in 1835, and only extensive structural work in the early 1990s stopped the façade from crumbling to rubble.
Russian

A few now elderly descendants are all that is left of the former émigré community. Hong Kong’s White Russians were once numerous, and you still find borsch on the menu of every takeaway and coffee shop.
Sai Kung

Quaint fishing village turned expatriate haunt. Pubs with names like Steamers and the Duke of York, offset by old Chinese men click-clacking mahjong tiles in tiny cafés.

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Restaurant price categories

For a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine (or equivalent meal) and extra charges.
- under HK$100
- HK$100-250
- HK$250-450
- HK$450-600
- over HK$600
Hotel price categories

For a standard, double room per night (with breakfast if included), taxes and extra charges.
- under HK$500
- HK$500-$1,000
- HK$1,000-$2000
- HK$2000-$2,500
- over HK$2,500