Sights in Hong Kong
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Tung Lung Fort
Tung Lung Fort, on the northeastern corner of the island of Tung Lung Chau, was built in the late 17th or early 18th century and was attacked a number of times by pirate bands before being abandoned in 1810. The fort once consisted of 15 guardhouses and was armed with eight cannons, but little of it remains today except for the outline of the exterior walls. There’s an information centre (9am-4pm Wed-Mon) here.
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Cheung Chau Typhoon Shelter
A great way to see the harbour and soak up the fishing village atmosphere is to charter a sampan for half an hour (expect to pay around HK$50 to around HK$80 depending on the day, the season and the demand). Most sampans congregate around the cargo pier, but virtually any small boat you see in the harbour can be hired as a water taxi. Just wave and two or three will come forward. Be sure to agree on the fare first.
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Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre
Two IFC was until recently Hong Kong’s tallest (though not prettiest) building. You can’t get to the top, but you can get pretty high up by visiting the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre, which contains a research library and exhibition areas related to Hong Kong’s currency, fiscal policy and banking history. There are guided tours at 2.30pm Monday to Friday, and 10.30am Saturday.
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Old Bank of China (BOC) Building
To the east of the HSBC building is the old Bank of China (BOC) building, built in 1950, which now houses the bank’s Central branch and, on the top three (13th to 15th) floors, the exclusive China Club, which evokes the atmosphere of old Shanghai. The BOC is now headquartered in the awesome Bank of China Tower (1 Garden Rd) to the southeast, designed by Chinese-born American architect IM Pei and completed in 1990.
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Wan Chai Livelihood Museum
Established by local residents and cultural enthusiasts, this small museum in the historic Blue House (so known as it is a house and it’s blue) celebrates local life over the decades in the tenement buildings around here, particularly the local handicrafts and small-scale factories once busy in the area (and in some cases still clinging on). There’s also a small selection of local souvenirs.
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Murray House
Across the bay from Stanley Main St stands this three-storey colonnaded affair. Built in 1848 as officers’ quarters, it took pride of place in Central, on the spot where the Bank of China Tower now stands, for almost 150 years until 1982. It was re-erected here stone by stone and opened in 2001.
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Former KCR Clock Tower
This 44m-high clock tower (1915) was once part of the southern terminus of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR). Operations moved to the modern train station at Hung Hom in late 1975. The station was demolished in 1978, though you can see a scale model of what it looked like at the Hong Kong Railway Museum in Tai Po in the New Territories.
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Big Wave Bay
This fine and often deserted beach is located 2km to the north of Shek O. To get to Big Wave Bay follow the road north out of town, travel past the 18-hole Shek O Golf & Country Club (2809 4458; Shek O Rd), then turn east at the roundabout and keep going until the road ends. One of eight prehistoric rock carvings discovered in Hong Kong is located on the headland above Big Wave Bay.
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Hongkong & Shanghai Bank
This 179m-tall glass-and- aluminium building is an innovative masterpiece. Locals call it the ‘Robot Building’ because you can see the chains and motors of the escalators and other moving parts whirring away inside. Structurally, the building is equally as radical, built on a ‘coat-hanger’ frame and boasts some wonderful feng shui according to master geomancers.
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Ohel Leah Synagogue
This Moorish Romantic temple, completed in 1902, is named after Leah Gubbay Sassoon, the matriarch of a wealthy and philanthropic Sephardic Jewish family that traces its roots back to the beginning of the colony. Be sure to bring ID if you plan to visit the sumptuous interior.
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Para/Site Artspace
In addition to the commercial galleries, nonprofit exhibition spaces include Para/Site Artspace, the most consistent and promising of the local artists’ cooperatives. This adventurous, artist-run space knows no boundaries when it comes to mixing media. Most art on display is local but there are occasional exhibitions by international artists as well.
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Police Museum
So, you’ve seen stacks of Hong Kong crime flicks, and you’re still obsessed by those mysterious gangsters? Then come to this seldom-visited museum in pretty Wan Chai Gap to satisfy your curiosity. The protagonist in this former police station is the local police force, which was formed in 1844, but the real star is the triads. The intriguing Triad Societies Gallery uncovers the beliefs and rituals they follow, and the very well-supplied Narcotics Gallery is worthwhile.
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Wholesale Fruit Market
The historic and still operating Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market, founded in 1913, is bounded by Ferry St, Waterloo Rd and Reclamation St with Shek Lung St running through it. This charming cluster of one- or two-storey brick and stone buildings with pre-WWII signboards is a hive of activity from 4am to 6am. You’ll see trucks loading and offloading fresh fruit, and bare-backed workers manoeuvring piles of boxes under the moon.
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Pao Sui Loong & Pao Yue Kong Galleries
Due east of the Academy for the Performing Arts is the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Along with theatres, including the important Agnès B Cinema, you’ll also find here the Pao Sui Loong & Pao Yue Kong Galleries. Extending over floors Nanshan four and five, there’s room to host retrospectives and group shows in all visual media.
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Hanart TZ Gallery
Hanart is la crème de la crème of art galleries in Hong Kong, and was instrumental in introducing contemporary Chinese art to the world. One of the most influential and innovative galleries, Hanart shows a thoroughbred stable of figurative and conceptual painters, sculptors and video artists, many of them based in Hong Kong.
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Hung Shing Temple
Nestled in a nook on the southern side of Queen’s Rd East, this narrow, dark and rather forbidding temple is built atop huge boulders. It was erected in honour of a deified Tang-dynasty official who was known for his virtue (important) and ability to make predictions of great value to traders (ultra-important).
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Hong Kong Arts Centre
Due east of the Academy for the Performing Arts is the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Along with theatres, including the Agnès B Cinema, you’ll also find here the two-floor Pao Sui Loong & Pao Yue Kong Galleries, which hosts retrospectives and group shows in all visual media. The new Daydream Nation shop is also here.
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Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre
Over 150 artists have moved into these factory premises that used to churn out shoes and watches. Many studios are closed on weekdays, but you can visit the breezy communal areas and G.O.D. Street Culture Museum & Store, which has an attractive ‘old Hong Kong’ display and regular opening hours.
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Sai Kung Country Park Visitor Centre
While you’re in Pak Tam Chung, visit the Sai Kung Country Park Visitor Centre, which is to the south of the village, just by the road from Sai Kung. It has excellent maps, photographs and displays of the area’s geology, fauna and flora, as well as its traditional villages and Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park.
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Old Tai Po District Office
Another large residential and industrial New Town, Tai Po is the springboard for excursions into Plover Cove Country Park and Pat Sin Leng Country Park. The Old Tai Po District Office was built in 1907 and is one of the oldest examples of Western architecture in the New Territories.
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Good Wish Gardens
Behind the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple and to the right are the Good Wish Gardens, replete with colourful pavilions (the hexagonal Unicorn Hall, with carved doors and windows, is the most beautiful), zigzag bridges, waterfalls and carp ponds.
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Noah’s Ark
Looking like it has beached beneath the Tsing Ma Bridge, this peculiar mini–theme park is loosely dedicated to the biblical story of Noah, and has plenty of fun interactive games and distractions for younger kids as well as plenty of refreshment options.
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Tak Wah Park
Tak Wah Park in the centre of Tsuen Wan has ancient trees, footbridges over ponds and ornamental stone mountains. It’s a peaceful place and an ideal spot to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the town around it.
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Hong Kong Club Building
The new Hong Kong Club building, a reincarnation of Hong Kong’s first gentlemen’s club, was designed by Australian Harry Siedler in the ’80s and features opposing concave and convex curves reminiscent of a swimming stingray.
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Hebe Haven Yacht Club
The very small bay of Hebe Haven, which Cantonese speakers call Pak Sha Wan (White Sand Bay), is home to the Hebe Haven Yacht Club, which has a large fleet of yachts and other pleasure craft all but choking Marina Cove.
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