Page 8 - Hong Kong Destination Guide PRINT

NORTHEAST KOWLOON OUTLYING ISLANDS Here you will find the Wong Tai Sin Temple. The Although Hong Kong takes its name from one Temple complex is a gloriously colorful spectacle, island, the territory as a whole contains 235 Outlying founded on the lower slopes of the Kowloon Hills Islands dotted throughout the South China Sea.. more than a half century ago. Crucial family They provide a scenic contrast to the hustle and decisions are often resolved by reference to the deity, bustle of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and the temple's host of fortune-tellers have helped presenting a more peaceful and traditional village PAGE 3 Population | Time | Visas to make this the territory's most popular temple. environment in which beaches, mountains and Insurance | History harbors offer a soothing respite from downtown life. A short bus or taxi ride beyond Kwun Tong M.T.R. PAGE 4 History & Government station, the village of Lei Yue Mun perches beside the Many of the Outlying Islands are tiny, unpopulated narrow channel separating Hong Kong Island and or inaccessible by public transport. But one of them, PAGE 5-9 mainland Kowloon. Partly built on harbor side stilts, Lantau, is twice as large as Hong Kong Island, and Island Areas the old village - a former lair of pirates and another three- Cheung Chau, Lamma and Peng Chau PAGE 9 smugglers - is a seafood-lover's offbeat destination. are also major sightseeing attractions. Language Visitors can wander at will along covered plank ways, purchase their own live seafood from the many CHEUNG CHAU PAGE 10 market stalls, and take it to nearby restaurants to be Climate & Weather Chau means "island" in Chinese and Chueng means cooked according to their own specifications. "long", but this very popular island is actually PAGE 11 dumbbell-shaped and relatively small, at just 2.4 The Land TSUEN WAN AREA square kilometers. Over the centuries, the sandbar An ancient harbor settlement, now a major township between its two hilly ends has become the PAGE 12 Currency | Credit Cards residential and industrial center, Tsuen Wan is the most densely populated of all the island Changing Money | Tipping terminus for one M.T.R. line. The area's historical communities. Charming and picturesque, the treasures have been preserved splendidly in a narrow lanes township is home to most of Cheung PAGE 13 restored, two-centuries-old walled village. SamTung Chau's 40,000 inhabitants. Etiquette | Health & Vaccinations Uk ("Three-Beam Dwelling") was a prosperous Hakka farmer's family compound comprising 12 The island's western bay has a magnificent typhoon PAGE 14 houses set within defensive walls. It has been turned shelter, in which hundreds of fishing junks lie at Communications | What to Pack into a folk museum illustrating Hakka lifestyles. anchor, festooned with colorful bunting at festival PAGE 15 Tsuen Wan is also the preferred starting point for a times. The communal heart of Cheung Chau is the Shopping | Customs fine side trip into Hong Kong's "medieval" past. The Pak Tai Temple. Built in 1783, the temple is Bartering walled villages of Kam Tin are impressive evidence dedicated to Pak Tai, the Taoist "Supreme Emperor of of the centuries-long prosperity and power of the the Dark Heaven". The temple is a gloriously PAGE 16-17 Food & Drinks Tang clan, the New Territories' major landowners. Of colorful antiquity whose inner treasures include a the six villages, the grandest is Kat Hing Wai, a large Sung Dynasty sword and an antique sedan chair. PAGE 18 moated settlement strongly fortified more than 200 Culture & The Arts | Religion years ago. PENG CHAU Highlights of Peng Chau include an attractive fishing harbor, a two-century old Tin Hau Temple, a morning fish market and a small township whose warren of lanes reveals many aspects of traditional rural life. Hand-painted porcelain is a true cottage industry here.