HONG KONG

THE place for shoppers, and Chinese New Year

By Chris Potter

February 17, 2007 will be a crazy day and night in Hong Kong. It’s New Year’s Eve on the Chinese lunar calendar, ushering in the Year of the Pig. (Or boar¬—boar sounds better if you happen to be born under this astrological sign. Famous boars include Bryan Adams, Elton John, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, so you’d be in elevated company. Attributes include “tremendous fortitude and great honesty.”)

If you happen to be staying at the elegant 490-room Langham Hotel, you’ll likely see hotel director Nigel Roberts greet the “dragon” before it winds its raucous, noisy way through the property, eating its lettuce-wrapped red envelopes. The dragon—cleverly manipulated by a couple of dancers—spits out the lettuce, but keeps the money-filled envelopes. It’s all in the cause of good luck and good Feng Shui, to drive off any lingering negative chi and give the new year a clean start. If you happen to be single, you might claim a red envelope for yourself—tradition dictates that bosses give the money-stuffed packages to employees, and married people give them to the unmarried, including children.

Hong Kong is a delightful place to spend Chinese New Year. A colourful, vibrant destination at any time, it dons an extra dimension of joyful exuberance during the celebrations. The flower market is jam-packed with buyers and with blooms of all description, temples are filled with aromatic smoke from joss sticks lit in prayer for good luck, and it seems the entire population turns out, dressed in vivid colours and lots of silk, to cheer on the parade. Canada has, for several years, been well represented in the parade with an RCMP contingent in full dress uniform.

There are so many bargains to be had in Hong Kong, and you don’t have to wait for New Year’s to take advantage of them.

Several hotels have packages that include great shopping, like the Langham’s Tailor Made offering, valid through December 31. The three-day, two-night package includes a superior room on the Club Floor, three tailor-made shirts (for a male or female), and many other goodies. We took advantage of the offer last New Year’s and loved the quality of our garments, which would cost about $75 each in Canada.

Hong Kong’s markets delight shoppers and photographers alike. It would be hard to find more colourful venues¬—the jade market, the night market, ladies’ market, markets specializing in live koi and goldfish (very lucky!), the bird market (a must-see), the flower market, and dozens more. Take the trip out to Stanley and Repulse Bay to see more street markets, but also to check out some good restaurants.

Hong Kong people love to eat, and the variety of places to do so is unsurpassed. The Langham alone has five restaurants, including the award-winning T’ang Court serving Cantonese dishes, and the popular Main St. Deli, patterned after its famous New York namesake.

While you’re in this fascinating area of China, with its 150 years of British heritage, don’t miss a trip on The Peak Tram, operating since 1888, a stroll along Hollywood Road with its intriguing stores and side-streets, and a trip on the famous Star Ferries, still the best little cruise bargain going. A priority is to pick up brochures that interest you from Visitor Information Services, at the airport arrivals level or the Star Ferry Concourse (Kowloon side). You’ll find a mountain of information, most of it free, including detailed walking maps.

Your travel counsellor can tell you more about Hong Kong and its varied packages.

HONG KONG EVENTS

New Year’s Eve, February 17, 2007
Ushering in the Year of the Pig.

Hong Kong Arts Festival, February 27 to March 24, 2007
Performing and visual artists arrive from 13 countries for a spectrum of events ranging from jazz to opera, drama to comedy, ballet to flamenco, and more.

Hong Kong Marathon, March 4, 2007
Traffic stops for the annual marathon, beginning Kowloon side, and finishing across the harbour in Wan Chai.

The Cheung Chau Bun Festival, May 24, 2007
Enormous bamboo towers studded with white buns and effigies of deities dominate the week-long festivities on Hong Kong’s island of Cheung Chau. The event ends with a colourful parade featuring costumed children balanced on stilt-like structures. For festival-lovers, this is a must-see.