Hong Kong’s Top 10 : Ways to Experience the Real China

1. Spend a Night at the Opera

   Cantonese
   opera might sound like discordant screeching to the untrained ear, but
   make no mistake, this is a fine and ancient art. It combines song, mime,
   dancing, martial arts and fantastic costumes and make-up and can go on
   for six hours or more. 

2. Ride on a Junk

   We’ve
   all seen that iconic image of the junk, blood-red bat wing sails
   unfurled as the sun sets over Victoria Harbour. Unfortunately, it’s
   usually the same boat. The Duk Ling is one of the few masted sailing junks left.

   • Tours
     depart from Central Pier 9, Hong Kong Island 3pm & 5pm Thu, 11am
     & 1pm Sat; and from Kowloon Public Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2pm &
     4pm Thu, 10am & noon Sat

   • Advance booking advisable

   • 2508 1234

   • Adm

   
   

   
   
   

   Junk

3. Feast on Dim Sum

   
   Dim sum is
   commonly translated as “touch the heart”, although in some
   establishments it may also touch your wallet. The small steamed snacks
   in bamboo baskets are delivered by grumpy old ladies with trolleys.

   
   

   
   
   

   Dim sum

4. Visit a Market

   Hong
   Kong’s wet markets can bring on instant culture shock for those
   tourists who are more used to the orderly atmosphere of supermarkets.
   Tiptoe through rivers of blood, past gizzards and buzzing flies as
   hawkers yell and housewives bargain.

   
   

   
   
   

   Market produce

5. Go for a Traditional Tonic

   For
   a taste of the real China, try a tonic restaurant. Chefs whip up dishes
   with all sorts of herbs and spices, in accordance with the principles
   of “heating” or “cooling” foods. A tonic lunch at the Treasure Inn
   Seafood Restaurant includes fried snowfrog and bamboo fungi.

   • 2/F Western Market, 323 Des Voeux Rd, Sheung Wan

   • 2850 7780

   
   

   
   
   

   Traditional tonics

6. Try Foot Reflexology

   Vice-like
   hands seek out pressure points linked to vital organs. The procedure is
   painful, and you might be embarrassed about your feet, but you will
   feel so good when they stop. Reflexologists abound in Happy Valley. Try
   On Wo Tong.

   • 1/F Lai Shing Bldg, 13–19 Sing Woo Rd (and three other branches)

   • 2893 0199

7. Aim for Everything Zen

   For
   a modern take on ancient China, check out the Chi Lin Nunnery in
   Kowloon. This gorgeous replica of a seven-hall Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907)
   complex took 10 years to build, using traditional techniques and
   materials. Bliss out as stubble-headed nuns chant to the Sakyamuni
   Buddha .

8. Experience Unbelievable Gall

   She
   Wong Lam in the northeast of Hong Kong Island is the best place to sup
   on snake wine, a traditional winter tonic. The speciality is a fiery
   brew containing the gall bladders of five deadly snakes.

   • Hillier St, Sheung Wan

   • 2543 8032

9. Watch a Lion Dance

   Lions
   are thought to ward off evil and bring luck, which explains why the
   opening of a new building often features a troupe of wiry youths
   prancing about beneath a stylised lion’s head. These performances are
   also common around Chinese New Year.

   
   

   
   
   

   Chinese New Year

10. Practise Tai Chi

    Turn up at the Sculpture Court in front of the Museum of Art
    in Tsim Sha Tsui at 8am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
    to enjoy an hour’s free instruction in this gentlest of martial arts.
    

    
    

    
    
    

    Tai chi

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