World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Hong Kong  - Excursions
Excursions

For a Half Day

Stanley Market:
Stanley is a small seaside settlement on the south side of Hong Kong Island, with some fine beaches and waterfront restaurants enjoyed by its well-heeled citizens. Visitors flock to Stanley Market (open daily 1000-1900), a covered area full of stalls selling clothes, souvenirs, sporting goods, art and many other products of Hong Kong and mainland sweatshops. Other attractions include Tin Hau Temple, Kuan Yin Temple, St Stephen's Beach, the Old Stanley Fort, the Old Police Station, the military cemetery with its graves of wartime internees, and fine walks along Wong Ma Kok Road. The market in particular is a zoo at weekends; weekdays make more sense for a visit. Stanley Market can be reached by bus (numbers 6, 6A, 6X or 260X) from Exchange Square Bus Terminal, Central, or by green minibus (number 40) from Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay, or by minibus number 14 from Shau Kei Wan.

Lantau Island:
The new Chek Lap Kok Airport has thankfully not ruined Lantau, twice the size of Hong Kong Island itself with more than half of its territory designated country parkland. Residents at Discovery (a.k.a. Disco) Bay enjoy the tranquillity all year round; many others visit for a sample. Walking tours and hikes are popular here, but the principal attractions are the Po Lin Big Buddha, claimed to be the world's largest seated outdoor Buddha effigy at 26m (85ft) tall, and the Po Lin Buddhist Monastery, definitely Hong Kong's largest. The monastery itself has some fine buildings and has been used as the set for numerous kung fu films. There is a tea gardens nearby. To get to Lantau Island, the visitor should take either the MTR Airport Railway link to Tung Chung, followed by bus 23 to Po Lin, or the ferry to Mui Wo from Central, followed by bus 2. The steps up to the Big Buddha are open to visitors 1000-1800 daily.

For a Whole Day

Shek O:
A small village and beach resort on the southeast coast of Hong Kong Island, Shek O is secluded enough to be safe from the worst weekend crowds, although weekdays are still the best times to visit. It is also highly exclusive, but has some of Hong Kong's best beach space. The further legs of the two-hour trip out have some scenic merits, and there are more bluffs and bays within hiking or bicycle distance of the village with its open-air restaurants. Shek O is at the very end of the bus route number 9, which goes from Shau Kei Wan MTR station.

Lamma Island
: Hong Kong's third largest island, Lamma is also a green oasis popular with more laid-back ex-pats. Its scenery is beautiful and its beaches are fabulous. Some great pubs, bars and restaurants complement these; best of all, it has no cars (and only one ambulance). The main residential village, Yung Shue Wan, is the ferry terminus; Sok Kwu Wan, the second largest, specialises in open-air seafood restaurants. Hung Shing Ye is the largest beach, Lo So Shing is arguably the nicest, and Sek Pai Wan and Sham Wan are perhaps best reached by rented junk. Hikes between the two main villages are popular, as is the climb to Mount Stenhouse. Ferries go to Yung Shue Wan or Sok Kwu Wan on Lamma Island, from Central.

Macau:
The quintessential Hong Kong excursion is almost an entirely separate destination. The last piece of China in foreign hands, reverting from Portuguese rule in December 1999, Macau is an utterly different community: relaxed, hedonistic and even Mediterranean. Its fine colonial monuments give it far more of a nostalgic air than its big brother territory only an hour away by jetfoil, adding their southern-style plasterwork to the Latin ambience typified by its restaurants and bars. Macau's most important industry is gambling, and the Triad warfare associated with it has thankfully diminished with the return of Chinese sovereignty: cheering crowds welcomed the new PLA garrison as deliverers from years of lawlessness. The pocket-sized territory boasts some fine churches - St Augustine's Church and St Dominic's, the seventeenth-century cathedral church, and, most famous of all, the façade of St Paul's Cathedral - that all survived a fire in 1835. Its Kun Lam and A-Ma Temples are also seventeenth-century foundations. The Monte Fort, which still has its cannons, was built by the Jesuits just after 1600. A historic site of enormous interest to Chinese and Sinophiles, the Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Home marks where the creator of China's first Republican government practised medicine in his early days. There are also many other lesser gems; sad, then, that so many Hong Kong and native Chinese visitors keep their eyes firmly glued to the card table or roulette wheel. Macau can be reached by jetfoil or jet boat from Macau ferry terminal near Shun Tak Centre, or from China Hong Kong City terminal at Tsim Sha Tsui.



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