Frommer's Hong Kong
Chapter One
The Best of Hong Kong
Every time I come to Hong Kong, I feel as though I've wandered onto a movie set.
Maybe I'm an incurable romantic, but when I stand at the railing of the famous Star
Ferry as it glides across the harbor, ride a rickety old tram as it winds its way across Hong
Kong Island, or marvel anew at the stunning views afforded from atop Victoria Peak, I
can't help but think I must have somehow landed in the middle of an epic drama where
the past has melted into the present. So many images float by-wooden boats bobbing
up and down in the harbor beside huge ocean liners; crumbling tenements next to ultra-modern
high-rises; squalid alleys behind luxury hotels; old Chinese people pushing
wheelbarrows as Rolls-Royces glide by; market vendors selling chicken feet and dried
squid while talking on cellular phones.
In fact, one of the most striking characteristics of Hong Kong is this interweaving
of seeming contradictions and the interplay of the exotic and the technically
advanced. There are as many skyscrapers here as you're likely to see anywhere, but ... read full excerpt from Frommer's Hong Kong ebook
