AN INSIDERS GUIDE TO HONGKONG

Honkers is the sort of place that you have a love hate relationship with. Just like a New Yorker, you hate it while you’re there but as soon as you move anywhere else you start missing every annoying little thing about it!
If you had to choose four of the worlds most cosmopolitan cities with a melting pot of cultures, you can only think of NYC, London, Sydney and Hong Kong… the rest are all posers!

We moved here almost 8 years ago as a young couple for “just one year”, and the love affair is still going strong. This place (as recently discovered) has something for everyone; from the dizzying heights of Midlevels and Soho (for the young and the young hearted), to the suburban resortesque islands (for parents with young kids, or even people who like life to slowlycruise by) . Imagine uber futuristic sky scrapers, preppy and hip uptown brunch spots, rustic beaches comber dens and white sand surf spots all within a 20 minute taxi ride!

The place serves every taste in the book. Once solely the domain of bankers, head hunters and China traders, now the economy boasts upcoming international fashion designers, tech entrepreneurs, service industry gurus and even the token extreme sport professionals. All of whom now base themselves in HK and call this mega-city their east Asian home.

For the well travelled who yet haven’t explored this great city let me put a picture in your mind… imagine if Vancouver and San Francisco had a bastard child and that child married the tropical beaches of Thailand on steroids… they would have a child called Hong Kong which would encompass the high mountains and beautiful harbors and bridges of the grandparents and the tropical weather and beautiful waters (and low taxes) of the Asian domain. The place is a sensory kaleidoscope!

Where do I start!
For the city slicker:  Soho Brunches and Central district night prowling
For the outdoorsies:  Sai Kung trek and Tai Long wan beach over night trek (winter offers massive breaks for surfing. Plus no sharks as they’ve all been eaten in the shark fin soups). Lantau peak moon trekking ( midnight trek that ends with a sunrise display). 
For the arty farties:  Hollywood road art galleries and Shueng Wan district hipster cafes and boutiques. Tin Hau art streets. 
For the culture buffs:  Temple of the 1000 Buddhas, Lantau Island Big Buddha trek (take the cable car), Lamma Island bun festival (check for dates). 
For the foodies:  The place will blow your mind (or your taste buds). Cheung Chau Island seafood, Lamma Island seafood, soho Michelin starred restaurants,  local delicacies on every street corner,  hairy crab under the bridge, famous Hong Kong hot pot,  Korean BBQ joints, egg tarts, dim sum. Entrecote style meat places! …somebody stop me!
For parents and kids:  Hong Kong Disneyland is fantastic. Don’t let anyone tell you parents don’t have fun. Its fun for both kids and parents. For older kids (and parents) there is also Ocean Park with its fantastic roller coaster right on the cliff face with a 300 foot drop below into churning waters. Park Island also has Noah’s Ark kids theme park, though it’s a bit under whelming. Plus there are mini parks and courtyards in Hong Kong park, Kowloon park, Stanley beach/market, Queen Victoria Park, the Peak Park, Shek O beach, Strawberry picking farms with horse riding and petting zoos in the New territories.
For extreme sports:  HK offers every one of these with multiple options if you google it: Paint balling, Surfing, Wind Surfing, Kite surfing, cliff jumping, extreme hiking, rock climbing, Airsoft warzones (jungle and urban), roller blade hockey, Wake boarding, Paddle boarding, scuba diving (though the waters are mrkier than Thailand), Para Gliding, Jet Skiing, Dragon boating, Open sea kayaking… to name a few. Oh and almost forgot,   as recently discovered, open water sailing is massive in HK.