a variety of seafood for reasonable (in Hong Kong, at least) prices. Don’t dally though; unless you’re eating, drinking or waiting for an order, you’ll be asked to give up the table for the next hungry customer.
Opening Times 4 pm–midnight
Address Temple Street, Jordan-Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon
Getting There Yau Ma Tei MTR Station, Exit C: turn on to Temple Street at Man Ming Lane. Jordan MTR Station, Exit A: turn right on to Jordan Road and then take another right on to Temple Street
Contact Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Hotline: +852 2508 1234 (9 am–6 pm, daily); www.discoverhongkong.com
Admission Fee Free
6 Happy Valley Horse Racing
Join in the fun at the track—a true local obsession
It’s no exaggeration to say that Hong Kongers are obsessed with horse racing. Ever since the first race was run in December 1846, citizens of all classes have come together to place bets and cheer on their chosen combination of rider and steed. The attraction, as with the city at large, is the opportunity to make big money. Racing in Hong Kong is run under the auspices of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, or HKJC (the former Royal prefix was dropped prior to the city’s 1997 handover to China), a non-profit organization that donates the majority of its proceeds to charitable causes. On average, more than HK$1 billion per year is given to the areas of sports and culture, education and training, community services, and medicine and health, with the HKJC also the largest taxpayer in the territory. As well as clubhouses and other facilities for its 20,000 or so members, The Jockey Club has two racecourses. The newer of the two is Shatin, a state-of-the-art track in the eastern New Territories with capacity for 85,000 punters. At its centre sits Penfold Park, a public space for residents of the surrounding town. However, the true home of Hong Kong racing is Happy Valley. Founded in 1845 (a mere three years after the island had been ceded to the British in perpetuity by the Chinese), it was quickly embraced as the heart of the new colony’s social life, although the local rice farmers moved to make way would probably disagree. Once surrounded by barren hillside, today the racecourse has been hemmed in by the ever-growing city, making for a stunning setting when the regular Wednesday night races take place. Best approached by tram, which has a branch line that runs around the track delivering punters to the entrance, a cacophony of cheers and curses envelops ‘The Valley’ during race time, the betting a mere part of the carnival atmosphere that includes beer stands, outlandish costumes and a whole lot of fun.
See: www.hkjc.com
Opening Times Wednesday evenings (see web-site for schedule)
Address 2 Sports Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Getting There Walk from Causeway Bay Station, Exit A; catch a taxi or hop on a tram marked Happy Valley
Contact +852 1818; [email protected]; www.hkjc.com
Admission Fee $10 (you must be 18 or above to enter the racecourse)
7 Stanley Village
Soak up the seaside charm at this former pirate lair
Here there be pirates. Set on a peninsula along Hong Kong Island’s southeast coast, Stanley is known in Cantonese as Chek Chue, or Bandit’s Post. Though the origins of the name are debated, legend has it that Hong Kong’s most famous pirate, Cheung Po Tsai (the island of Cheung Chau is named after him) once had a secret lair here, a cave that was closed up in the 1950s. The English name comes from a 19th-century British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. Today, the area is a rich residential district, with a famous tourist attraction at its heart. With its narrow alleyways and dozens of small shops selling clothing, souvenirs, art and jewelry, Stanley Market doesn’t have much that you can’t find elsewhere in the city. However, the difference here is that when you have finished shopping, you are just steps away from glorious yellow sand beaches and a restaurant-lined boardwalk that curves around a scenic crescent-shaped bay. On weekends, locals and visitors alike flock here to relax under the sun and enjoy a variety of international dining. At the end of the bay stands an imposing three-storey colonial-era building—Murray House. Built in 1846 as British Officers’ Quarters, it was later used as government offices and—for a dark period during WWII—as a detention centre by the Japanese military police (kempeitai). Though it seems like it may have stood here for more than a century, it was actually originally located in Central. One of Hong Kong’s oldest buildings, in 1982 it was carefully dismantled brick by brick to make way for the Bank of China building, and stored for 20 years before being reassembled in Stanley in 2002. It now houses several restaurants as well as a Maritime Museum (www.hkmaritime-museum.org) on the ground floor. Next to it stands the Victorian-era Blake Pier, also formerly located in Central and subsequently moved, from which visitors can catch ferries south to the small island of Po Toi. On the other side lies an old Tin Hau Temple built in 1767, which honours the goddess of the sea. This was supposedly built by none other than the pirate Cheung Po Tsai himself.
Opening Times Daily 10.30 am–6. 30pm (Stanley Market)
Address Stanley, Hong Kong
Getting There Bus 6, 6A, 6X, 66 or 260 from Exchange Square bus terminus (MTR Hong Kong Station Exit D), or MTR Causeway Bay Station Exit B, cross Hennessy Road, turn right, walk one block to Tang Lung Street and take green minibus 40
Contact Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Hotline: +852 2508 1234 (9 am–6 pm, daily); www.discoverhongkong.com
Admission Fee Free
8 The Ping Shan Heritage Trail
Discover a slice of traditional and rural Hong Kong
The New Territories was founded by the ‘Five Great Clans’—Man, Hau, Pang, Liu and Tang—whose ancestors were the first to move into the area from Mainland China. The Tangs have inhabited the area since at least the 11th century, living in what is now Hong Kong for more than 900 years. Many of the city’s most prominent people share the surname, including Sir David Tang, founder of the famed Shanghai Tang chain of stores and the exclusive China Club; and Henry Tang, the former Chief Secretary for Adminis tration (the second highest position in the Hong Kong government), who lost the 2012 Chief Executive race to Leung Chun-ying. One of the oldest group of Tang villages can be visited along the Ping Shan Heritage Trail, a government cultural initiative launched in 1993. Located in a formerly rural area in the northwestern New Territories, the walking trail is approximately 1 km long and passes traditional Chinese buildings in the villages of Hang Mei Tsuen, Hang Tau Tsuen and
