At first blush Hong Kong's ultramodern airport, smoothly paved highways and imposing skyline are somewhat disconcerting. If you're looking for quaint little pagodas, junks crowding the harbor and locals wearing conical hats, you won't find much of that here. Hong Kong is a modern city.

Only when the car driving my wife Diane and I from the airport to our hotel pulls into Hong Kong's Kowloon district do we get a real sense that we are in Asia. Kowloon is a lively area with crowded sidewalks and busy shops. But what catches your eye is the mélange of neon signs bursting with colorful logos and Chinese characters. Think of Times Square multiplied by 10.

Our time in Hong Kong is limited. Arriving on a Friday, we are on a day-and-a-half stopover on our way to Nanjing to adopt a baby girl (accompanying story). And since our visit will be short, we waste no time after checking into the hotel, the Hyatt Regency, to do a quick wash and change clothes. Then we hit the streets.

We are immediately drawn into shops by glittering silks, pearls, jade, silver and all manner of knock-off designer clothes. This is a shoppers' haven. After a couple of purchases, we opt for self-control in anticipation of better bargains in the Chinese mainland. Besides the shops, Kowloon hosts the Temple Street Market, consisting of blocks and blocks of stalls chockfull of bargains on anything from incense sticks and nail clippers to silk garments to small electronics to luggage. Somewhere in there is a stage where teenage girl rockers perform hits du jour by the likes of Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne.

If you feel like snacking, visit one of the shops with bins of dried scallops, shrimp and other shellfish on display. On street corners, vendors with woks serve up some of the same species, but cooked. Diane and I love seafood, but we pass. The barely digestible meals from the flight still weigh on our stomachs. We opt for a snack of cream puffs on our way back to the hotel after a couple hours of sightseeing and moderate shopping.

The next day we meet up with another parent adopting a child in Nanjing, Clare, who is traveling with her friend, Karen. After a tasty breakfast at the hotel of eggs, dim sum, bacon, toast, richly flavored coffee and fresh orange juice, we walk to Star Ferry Pier at Tsim Sha Tsui. Green ferryboats zip passengers back and forth between various points in Hong Kong Harbor, where tankers and freighters compete for room to move with cruise ships and recreational boats. Kowloon sits directly across the harbor from the Central District, Hong Kong's financial and legislative center.

Our destination is Victoria Peak, amid the hills behind Central District. We board the Peak Tramway, a funicular railway, which takes us uphill at a 45-degree angle. At 1,312 feet above sea level, we gaze down at Hong Kong and Kowloon, and beyond toward Macau on one end and mainland China on the other.

The observation deck at Victoria Peak boasts several souvenir shops and restaurants, so if you're hungry or itching to go shopping, you can satisfy either urge easily.

We take the Tramway back and walk around Hong Kong for a while before the seven-minute ferry ride back to Kowloon. While traffic in downtown Hong Kong is fairly dense, even on a Saturday, it is rarely necessary to walk on the roads. A web of overhead walkways and overpasses, some of which cut through the skyscrapers, keeps pedestrians out of the way of motorized traffic.

The women decide to take a break from the September heat in the afternoon. But I head to Kowloon Park, losing myself in the winding paths between shady trees and colorful flowerbeds. At one end of the park, there is a sports complex with indoor pool and outdoor soccer rink.

That night we ride a colorful junk decorated with Chinese lanterns to Lei Yue Mun Seafood Village for dinner. Diane, who is prone to motion sickness, feels the ride in her stomach, but even she concedes the trip through the harbor at dusk is a treat. Dodging ferries and freighters, we steam toward Lei Yue Mun just as the Hong Kong skyline comes alive with color. Specks of lights from the skyscrapers and the illuminated logos on the buildings provide a dazzling display as darkness sets in.

Dinner is a multi-course affair, a typical Chinese banquet that starts with corn chowder, followed by shrimp, scallops and other fishes that I didn't quite recognize. Platters of vegetables, sweet-and-sour chicken, vegetables and pork are topped off with rice. We sit at a large round table and make the acquaintance of visitors from Thailand, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Even as we walk past the seafood stalls in Lein Yue Mun, the cleanliness we've seen everywhere else in Hong Kong is evident. You will have to search hard to find a cigarette butt or candy wrapper on the pavement. Even spitting is prohibited in Hong Kong; since the SARS epidemic spitters and litter bugs risk fines of thousands of dollars (HK).

Sunday morning, we pack and head to the airport for the flight to Nanjing.

For more information on Hong Kong, click: http://www.discoverhongkong.com

« back to top