Hongkong
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Overview : Hong Kong, the city at the "fragrant harbor", is the latest city skyscrapers and ancient temples, the local markets and fine shops, fortune tellers and stock market gurus. It is also the gloomy concrete canyons and green parks, the elegant restaurants and snack stalls simple, gamers and art lovers, Chinese and British - a meeting point. It is the melting pot of East and West, with European and Chinese culture and tradition. This thrilling and exciting city is for everyone, no matter whether the first time here, the twentieth lands.
Hong Kong lies on the southeastern coast of China, on the northern edge of the Pearl River Delta (Zhujiang chin), and has about 6.6 million peoples. Since July 1997 the former British colony convert to as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. The special status is the result of the history of this region in the last 150 years. Mid-19th century British, like other European powers, is a secure base for ships and goods. Since the imperial China only allowed limited trade, the British smuggled as a replacement facility for tea, silk and porcelain in India obtained opium to China, the trigger for the two Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60). At the same time, they occupied one of the coasts only by a narrow strip of water Separate Island. The harbor was an ideal, as the waterway was deep enough for large ships, and the island protected from the tropical storms.
Neither the Chinese nor the British government were with the local convention satisfied, so more trains war followed, which the weak Chinese empire had little substance. They proposed neither the new British colony nor a peninsula across from Hong Kong called Kowloon. Great Britain leased the land between the peninsula and the mountain range as well as 234 large and small islands in addition, which were called since then simply new Territories (new areas) on 30 June 1898. This lease ran out on June 30, 1997 and made the agreement over the return of Hong Kong necessary for China.
Sightseeing : Many visitors come for shopping, but one of the best reasons to ride to Hong Kong is the tremendous variety of Asian cuisine. Therefore, - do you ever been with the chopsticks! With the old histories as a British colony there have many stories relates to many places. When colonial power time, only few dealer families from Europe lived here and found malaria wanted to settle Happy Valley. Today there is the horse racing track. Therefore, they settled Europeans on the slopes of Hill House (554 m), which it designated after Queen Victoria, but now simply called The Peak. From here you have the best view of the port and city. On the bank, now called the Central District, they created warehouses and bridges. Behind it, even on a slope, was a small garrison, from which only the house of the commander was retained, the rest was used for relaxing Hong Kong park turns.
Further west area the increasingly numerous incoming Chinese from the past. To date, the Western District not only the Chinese craftsmen and merchants, which offer goods and foods everyday, but also the traditional pharmacies and small temples such as the Man Mo Temple. A modern zone is the numerous antique shops in the Hollywood street but there will indeed eventually with the Chinese heritage trade.
Kowloon, however, is regarded as a paradise for shoppers. As a backbone runs for the miles of Nathan Rd, named after a governor, the peninsula lined, as its side roads, tourist shops of all kinds: Hong Kong's "golden mile". A little relaxation can be found on the benches in Kowloon Park next to the mosque, which is also a sculpture garden, flamingo ponds, playgrounds and the Hong Kong Museum of History.
Indispensable for bird lovers is entirely located in the north Kowloon, bird market, where there is fresh fodder for singers and the best opportunity to discuss. A considerable contrast to this contemplative everyday life atmosphere is the point of the peninsula, because of which once the station was, which connected the colony with native London. From the beautiful station remained only in the watch tower. Behind the promenade with fantastic views, Hong Kong Island is now spreading the Cultural Center. Its concert hall, the best orchestras in the world hosts, been involved with the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Space Museum.
Most of Hong Kong's Taoists worship the goddess Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven, at the same time patron of fishermen and sailors. In each district is a temple dedicated her that once stood on the bank directly.
The three most important temples of Hong Kong are not the sailor's goddess. North of Kowloon, where the gigantic walls cut of the living social housing the city, has a lively Wong Tai Sin Temple. Its garden has many fortunes tellers, which interpret the destiny from hand and reads face. In substantially more exposed position on a hill, The Temple of 10,000 Buddhas on the satellite town Shatin in the New Territories. A high pagoda improved its position, while in the main hall of the great gilded altar figure of about 12,800 donated small Buddha surrounded. Monks from the mainland beginning of the century founded the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. For several years a 23 meter of large, freely standing is Bronze Buddha on the very secular activities of the monks.
A trip to the green Hong Kong should be the large island of Lantau, offers hikes and the long beach at Cheung Sha. On the smaller islands such as Cheung Chau and Peng Chau can be found still cozy village life, on Cheung Chau and Lamma is also in many small restaurants sit on the water and freshly prepared fishes or seafood. However, even on the island of Hong Kong worth a bus ride to the south coast, on the beach in the Repulse Bay or at the daily clothes market in Stanley.
When the evening starts, the fire ignited under the woks a large dinner party just begin. Hong Kong not only offers all the variations of Chinese cuisine, but also the best from neighboring countries and even Western cuisine highest quality. Then the lights of the city, for example, a tram ride from a western side after Causeway Bay or even heard of the Peak. Then one can start the night trip to the city, for example during a streetcar travel from Western to Causeway Bay or again from the peak. Druben on the Kowloon side is the retailer at this time in the Temple Street stalls with their long textiles and electronic equipment for the daily night market.
Who has thereafter still thirst on a beer, in the side streets Kowloons will approximately find or around LOCK-HARD the Road in Wanchai considerable selection. The most well-known Nightspot of the city is however Lan Kwai Fong, slightly above two streets of the Central District, where pubs, bars, restaurants and snack stalls in a confined space push. No wonder that every taxi driver knows the area.
Late in the night one will bed its tired head to the peace, the first-class hotels in the city in the Pearl River will also be an experience. Houses like the historic Colonial hotel, Peninsula and the Regent, and the Mandarin Oriental have been repeatedly identified as the best hotels in the world awards, but even at the cheaper alternatives can be quality in equipment and service. A best condition for another exciting day in Hong Kong.
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City Guide
