“Why do you want to stay here?” he said, eyeing my large and frustratingly-heavy suitcase.

I wasn’t too sure how to reply and, before I was able to get any words out at all, he followed up: “This place is dirty and noisy. It’s not safe. It may be cheap but there are plenty of other places you could be staying.”

Mirador Mansion is right in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, or TST has it is more commonly known.

“Er,” I mumbled non-committedly. “I don’t know.”

Only I did know. It wasn’t just that the accommodation where I was staying (Celltronik Hotel) was cheap – although, with the room costing me more than HK$700 a night, I slightly questioned this assertion. It was that TST has soul. It has character. And it has some great local food options.

Mind you, it was only the following day that I was relaxed enough to reflect on all the good points about staying in TST. I had had a bit of an ordeal to get here, to be honest, before I finally hauled my weary body into bed at nearly 1am.

My ordeal started around 8.30pm, when I turned up at another local hotel (Hang Ho Hostel), which was located slightly further along Nathan Road.

It took me more than hour to locate anyone that could help me check in, and when I eventually did, I found that they had given my room to someone else. Some frantic toing and froing with Booking.com ensued, with me getting more and more concerned about the lateness of the hour and the fact that there didn’t seem to be any single hotel nearby within my budget that had availability.

Booking.com eventually found me Celltronik Hotel, which I have to stay was quite a nice place to stay. It wasn’t dirty. It wasn’t particularly noisy. And I certainly didn’t find it unsafe.

Admittedly, when I did eventually turn up at Celltronik, I wasn’t feeling all that warm towards TST, but to be fair this wasn’t really TST’s fault. When I woke up the following morning, I had that electric buzz of being a traveller in a new place. Even though I had spent eight years living in Hong Kong, and knew TST extremely well.

Yes, I could have stayed in a fancier hotel somewhere else, but I wouldn’t have felt the same rush of excitement as I did staying somewhere more local.

So here are 10 reasons why you might want to consider going local in TST:

1. A great local vibe.
2. Feel less like a tourist, more like an explorer.
3. This is where many of the best museums are located: The Science Museum, The Museum of History, The Space Museum.
4. Ride the iconic Star Ferry, between Hong Kong Island and TST, to your heart’s content.
5. Amazing local restaurants, with some of the best chili crab that you will find anywhere in Hong Kong.
6. Some decent international restaurants here, too. Just head along nearby Mody Road. Well-known British chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay both used to have good restaurants here, but they have both since closed down.
7. There is also arguably the best ice-cream place in the whole of Hong Kong in TST. We wrote a review about it.
8. So many interesting back streets to explore.
9. Kowloon Park is a great place to get away from the hustle-and-bustle of city life. It has flamingos, too.
10. So many interesting markets to explore: Goldfish Market, Flower Market, Bird Garden, Night Market, Ladies Market…

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Mindful that Chinese New Year is just around the corner – with all the family socialising that this entails – the Hong Kong government has wasted no time in slapping society with a fresh range of restrictions.

Here are the key ones that you should know about:

1. All large events will be cancelled.
2. Dining inside restaurants will be banned from 5:59pm until 4.59am each day.
3. There will be a limited number of diners on each table at restaurants, based on the category level that the restaurant has been assigned:
   1. At type B restaurants (where all staff are tested every 14 days): no more than two diners per table
   2. At type C restaurants (where all staff have had at least one does of vaccine): no more than four diners per table
   3. At type D restaurants (where all staff are fully vaccinated): no more than six diners per table
4. The following venues will all be closed: bars, karaoke spots, saunas, game centres, beauty clinics, mahjong parlours, swimming pools.
5. Cruise to No-where will be suspended.
6. Visits to hospitals and care homes will not be allowed.

These restrictions will be in place for two weeks, and will then be reassessed.

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For a grown-up Lego enthusiast, and aficionado of all things Hong Kong, this has to be the highlight of the museum. For the kids, though, there is more; although perhaps not quite as much as the ticket price might suggest.

So, give me the low-down

Hong Kong’s Legoland Discovery Centre is a nice place to spend a few hours with the kid. You probably won’t need much more than that. There are some excellent models of Hong Kong, a couple of rides to try out, a small play area, some Lego pits to get creative, a cafeteria and of course the obligatory gift shop.

A single entry ticket, for both adults and children, costs HK$240 – or you can go for an annual pass (HK$799 for unlimited entry during the weekdays, or HK$1099 for unlimited entry at any time). Given the size of the place – not terribly big – these prices are a little on the high side. All of this said, though, the place is still a big hit with the kids: after more than 80 years, Lego still has the power to capture children’s imagination.

What are the highlights?

For this particular researcher, the favourite part of the Legoland experience were the very life-like replicas of areas of Hong Kong. But kids are likely to prefer other parts of the Discovery Centre.

There are two theme park-style rides that are likely to captivate any kid’s imagination. One is a small ride through a mythical kingdom, where passengers are armed with a gun to zap skeletons and trolls, and rescue the kidnapped princess. The other is a merry-go-round through the magical chamber of legendary wizard Merlin; the harder you pedal the higher the magic will take you! Both are fairly simplistic rides – but kids tend to enjoy them.

Another top highlight is a 4D-cinema featuring a Lego cartoon, where the special glasses that everyone wears really brings the film to life!

Other highlights include a soft-play area, a craft workshop where instructors explain how to build certain Lego models and Lego pits where kids can just play.

Check out our best-selling guidebook to Hong Kong for more 100% independent reviews!

What about food?

There is a small cafeteria in the Discovery Centre, which serves passable food (though nothing particularly great). A basic spaghetti Bolognese costs HK$68, a pizza HK$89. At peak times it can be fairly hard to find a seat here.

Note that everything is served in plastic, and the eating utensils are all plastic – so if you are on a mission to save the environment, this is certainly not the place to come!

What do the kids say?

We went to the Legoland Discovery Centre with Flavio and Ken.

Asked what his favourite ride was, Ken said, without a moment’s hesitation, “The shooting game because it’s dangerous!”

Flavio nodded emphatically in agreement, and suggested it was on the par with the one at Disneyland. The rides are very different. At Disneyland it’s all about shooting the targets, whereas with the one at Legoland Discovery Centre is much slower and you get the chance to shoot animated monsters on the television screen (in much the same way as you would play a video game).

The other point that Flavio made, a little later, about the centre was that “it’s a bit on the small side”. That is certain something that is difficult to disagree with.

So what is the verdict?

Legoland Discovery Centre a nice place to entertain the kids for two or three hours, but very over-priced for what it is. Do not expect anything even close to what you might get in Legoland in the UK or in Malaysia. The place is more like a glorified playroom than a bona fide theme park, which is why the prices seem so eye-wateringly high.

Think hard about whether it is worth investing in the annual pass. As already noted the place is not terribly big and families are unlikely to want to visit too many times in a year – although Ken did point out that he has already been eight times in the past six months, so this might depend on the kid too!

If you enjoy Lego – as we certainly do – you’ll probably want to check this place out at least once. And the kids really love it. But, once you’ve seen everything that the place has to offer, it might be a little while before you think about returning.

Give me a fun fact

Lego comes from the Danish word leg godt, which means “play well”.

Where is it?

Just next to the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, inside the K11 Mall.

You can find more details about the Legoland Discovery Centre here.

Reviews that you can trust. Unlike many other online media that write reviews about attractions in Hong Kong, our reviews are always 100% independent. We never accept any payment whatsoever for favourable coverage. We simply tell things as they are. The only thing that we care about is providing value to our readers.

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This would mean that any visitors from the country will now have to spend their first week of quarantine in a special government isolation facility known as Penny Bay before being spending their remaining 14 days of quarantine in a designated hotel. The government has not yet made an announcement on this but the SCMP says that one is expected “soon”.

Britain is already listed as a Group A high-risk country for Covid-19, which means that travellers from the country are subjected to a 21-day period of hotel quarantine in any case. They must also be fully vaccinated before they are allowed to enter Hong Kong.

But they do not currently have to spend any time at Penny Bay – unless there is a Covid-19 outbreak whilst they are staying at their hotel, and the government considers that additional isolation measures are needed.

On December 13, the UK reported the first official death caused by the omicron variant of Covid-19. Omicron has been rapidly spreading in the UK, and is set to completely displace the delta variant, which had previously been the dominant strain.

In response to the omicron crisis, British prime minister Boris Johnson has offered a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot to every adult over the age of 18, and imposed some new work-from-home measures. However he has stopped short of the kind of lockdown restrictions that were seen earlier in the year.

This is not the first time that Hong Kong has imposed an elevated risk status on the UK. Over the summer, Hong Kong banned anyone who had spent the last 21 days in the UK from entering Hong Kong. These restrictions lasted six weeks.

At the moment nearly 50,000 new cases of Covid-19 are being reported in the UK each day. Around 50 people per day are reported as dying from the virus.

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Here then are the top 10 cultural tips worth knowing for living in Hong Kong:

1. Chopstick etiquette. When eating in a group you will usually be given two sets of chopsticks — one for serving from the communal dishes and a personal set of chopsticks for putting food in your mouth. Make sure you know which is which and do not confuse the two. Serving chopsticks tend to be slightly larger than personal ones and are often beige or ivory. Personal chopsticks are typically black. Never — and I repeat, never — stick your chopsticks pointing upwards in a dish. This makes the chopsticks look like a marker for a grave, and therefore symbolises death or misfortune.
2. Birthdays. It is usual to throw a party for a baby after the first month of his birth, in celebration of the fact that he or she has survived these early critical weeks. Guests will receive brightly coloured eggs, painted red for good luck. Guests should bring presents or red lai see envelopes containing money for the newly-born. A persons sixtieth birthday is also very important, and usually occasion for a grand celebration. Every birthday after that takes on a renewed significance.
3. Weddings and funerals. Money is usually given at both weddings and funerals, but with an important difference. At a wedding make sure that you enclose an even number of notes in the envelope, since this signifies togetherness. But at a funeral make sure that the number of notes in the envelope is odd. At either event you should make sure that the amount of money that you give does not add up to a number that is considered unlucky. Do not give 400 dollars, for example — better to give 300 or 500 instead; the word ‘four’ in Cantonese (‘si’) signifies ‘death’.
4. Gifts. Always give and receive gifts with both hands. Pay attention to the colour of the wrapping paper. Red is a lucky colour. Pink and yellow are symbols of happiness and prosperity. Grey and black, on the other hand, must be avoided at all costs since they are the colours used during funerals. There are also some gifts that you should avoid giving. White or yellow flowers, especially chrysanthemums, are a bad idea since these are used at funerals. Clocks also make poor gifts, since they suggest you are counting down the hours until the death of the recipient. Don’t give a green hat, especially to a married man, since this indicates that his wife will be unfaithful or that she is already. In Cantonese, the Chinese characters for ‘cuckold’ sound a lot like ‘wearing a green hat’ (‘dai mao‘).
5. Numbers and symbols. In Hong Kong words and numbers take on special significance when they sound like something else. For example, the number ‘four’ (‘si’) sounds like the word for ‘death’ in Cantonese and therefore Hong Kongers try to avoid things that have this number in: buildings will not generally have a floor ‘four’ or ‘fourteen’, for example. Conversely, the word for ‘bat’ (‘fu’) is a homonym for ‘good luck’, so you will often find bats printed on clothing and decorating houses.
6. Office hierarchy. The office structure in Hong Kong is, like its society, hierarchical. If you are working in a Hong Kong office environment make sure that you pay attention to the hierarchy. Do not ask a junior clerk to give a message to the department head especially if that message could be construed as an order. Do not ask a secretary to go down to the post office or to change a light bulb. If there is someone whose job it is to make a cup of tea, do not do so yourself. This hierarchical structure explains why Hong Kong people will often not clear away their tray in a fast food restaurant, as might be the norm in other societies. The assumption is that this is not their job, and someone else has that particular role in the hierarchy.
7. Tipping. Tipping is not traditionally part of the culture in Hong Kong and you will rarely see locals tip. However, it is becoming more and more common among the expat community. Many restaurants, especially high-end ones, already include a 10% service charge in the bill — so tipping is not really necessary.
8. Feng shui. Literally meaning ‘wind and water’, feng shui is perhaps the single most important Chinese concept that is universally embraced in Hong Kong. Feng shui is a major factor to think about before any plans to erect new buildings are put into action. It looks at things such as the selection of the site, orientation of the building, alignment of the doors and windows and placing of furniture. If you work in an office that also employs local Hong Kong staff, make sure that you ask before you move any of the interior plants — locals take feng shui extremely seriously! Feng shui is considered no less important for choosing a burial site, in order to give the departed a peaceful rest and to make sure that their descendents enjoy wealth and longevity in this life.
9. Religion. Food is put on tombs in the belief that it will reach those in the afterlife. Copies of fake things — such as money and cars — are often burnt in the belief that they will reach the spirit world. Offerings to the gods are also burnt to appease them, for forgiveness or to bring good luck (before a wedding takes place, for example). You can see this practice in many of the temples around Hong Kong, particularly during religious celebrations. If you want a quirky look at how ancestor worship has gripped the Hong Kong populace, walk along Lockhart Road in Wan Chai just before nightfall. This is where many of the strip joints and unofficial houses of ill repute are located. Each evening, just before they get into full swing, the working girls can be found outside, burning bucket-loads of coloured paper in order to appease the gods for the business that they conduct.
10. Food and health. The Cantonese table reveals a lot about Hong Kong culture, particularly their strong belief in staying healthy. Many of the traditional dishes that are widely available in Hong Kong have some perceived health or cosmetic benefit associated with them. For example, women especially like to dine on fish eyes because it is believed to be good for the beauty of their own eyes. Similarly, the local delicacy of chicken feet is held to be good for both skin and bone. Turtle jelly — an acrid black dessert, which certainly benefits from a good dousing in honey or sugar — is also highly valued for its healing properties. Similar beliefs and traditions exist for many other dishes.

Want more top cultural tips – plus a whole lot of other stuff?
Check out our best-selling guidebook to Hong Kong.

Are there any cultural tips that you would like to suggest? Why not put them in the comments below?

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Some islands were once inhabited, but have now been abandoned as the communities have moved away in search of work and a more modern style of living – relics of the past offer a ghostly echo of those that once lived in such places.

Here are some of our favourite spots if you want to go island-hopping.

Lamma Island

Long held as a get-away for hippies, Lamma has a very different feel to it than many of the other places in Hong Kong. There is a welcome vibrancy to the place, and a peculiar type of laid-back charm it is impossible not to warm to.

Swathes of green pastures and rocky outcrops cut through the island, linking the two principal towns — Yung She Wan in the north and Sok Kwu Wan in the south together. 

Some decent restaurants, quirky little shops and a few top beaches make the place all the more worth visiting.

Add to this the fact that the island is only a short hop from Central — a mere thirty minutes by ferry — and it is little wonder that so many expats end up calling this place their home.

Although Lamma has become a popular place to visit, you don’t get the sense that you have fallen into a tourist trap when you are here — restaurants have good food at decent prices.

There are nice walks all over Lamma, and many people descend on the island at weekends to do a spot of hiking. A particularly well-trodden path is the route between Yung She Wan and Sok Kwu Wan, which you can do in an hour (though put aside two if you want to take things at a more leisurely pace). Some of the best scenery lies just beyond Sok Kwu Wan in the south.

Cheung Chau

Cheung Chau is full of contrasts.

The first impression of the island is that it is a typically modern place, with big supermarket chains, fast-food outlets and branded shops that are not present on many of the other Outlying Islands.

But then walk to the other side of Cheung Chau and you will see quaint little villages, pleasant country walks and some run-down houses.

Cheung Chau is the busiest of the Outlying Islands, something that is noticeable from the moment you arrive: seafood restaurants crammed with diners and the beaches near the ferry pier crowded with bathers. But start exploring the island and you will quickly discover many backstreets and country lanes that are much emptier.

Perhaps the island’s most famous tradition is the annual bun festival, which takes place in either late April or early May.

Villagers dress themselves up as gods and parade through the streets to ward off evil spirits. No one is quite sure of when this tradition started, but it is thought to have begun in the 18th century, following a plague that devastated the small island. In order to counter the plague, fishermen built an effigy of Pak Tai, the Taoist god of the sea, to ward off the evil spirits.

The highlight of the festival is a ‘bun scrambling’ contest, which starts at midnight and sees competitors scramble up a bamboo tower covered with handmade buns.

Sharp Island

Sharp island (‘Kiu Tsui Chau’ in Cantonese) is a pretty little place. But due to its popularity and proximity to Sai Kung Town (only two kilometres away) it is often crowded.

The island is strewn with quartz rocks that are endearingly shaped like the local Cantonese pineapple bun. You won’t find these tasty-looking rocks anywhere else in the territory — they have been fashioned over millennia by the particular weather patterns that are prevalent in the area.

Aside from the impressive rock formations, the most distinctive feature of the island is the natural land-bridge (or tombolo) that links Sharp Island to the small islet of Kiu Tau. The tombolo was formed over centuries by the deposit of rocks and sand. You can walk along the land-bridge at low tide when the waters have retreated enough to reveal the tombolo — but don’t get cut off! Kiu Tau isn’t terribly big. If you walk to the top of it, you will get nice views over Hap Mun Bay and on a clear day you should be able to see as far as Clearwater Bay on the mainland.

Sharp Island is also a good place to snorkel. The surrounding rocky outcrops break up the ocean waves, so waters are generally quite calm.

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Yim Tin Tsai

These days, the small island of Yim Tin Tsai, a 15-minute boat ride from Sai Kung Town, is virtually deserted. Records show that it no longer has a permanent settlement, but there are a handful of people who appear to have taken up residence here.

In its heyday, up to 1000 people may have lived on the island. The community would have survived on farming, fishing and salt-making (the island’s name, in fact, means ‘small salt field’). You can still see some of the old salt fields, which have now been converted to fish ponds.

The island comes alive during weekends, as droves of visitors and tourists flock to its shores.

There is only one main path on the island so there is no risk of getting lost.

As a reminder of the island’s Christian heritage, there are two churches here: an unnamed chapel, now in ruins, and Saint Joseph’s Chapel, which still functions as a church. Both churches are fairly close together. Just next to the ruins you will find a recent statue of Saint Joseph Freinademetz, who was an early Italian missionary to China.

It is fascinating to wander around the abandoned hakka homes and see how people used to live. The village has remained almost as it was, with houses still containing the belongings of their previous occupants (from radios, kitchen appliances and televisions to bed frames and crockery). In many of the houses, bats have now taken up residence.

Tap Mun

Tap Mun — which translates as ‘Grass Island’ — is another very picturesque island off the coast of Sai Kung, where the hundred or so people still living on the island enjoy a very laid-back way of life.

You don’t have to go back all that far to find a time when the island had a couple of thousand people dwelling within its perimeters. It even had a school — but this closed down in 2003 due to a dwindling population.

There is not all that much to the old fishing village, which is where ferries from the mainland will drop you off. Here you will find public toilet facilities and a few basic shops. Shop prices are a bit high, as is to be expected when you are in the middle of nowhere.

In the fisherman’s village, you can observe the locals hauling in their daily catch and drying out the fish and shrimp on whatever available surface they can find — a tradition that goes back hundreds of years.

Tap Mun is a popular place to come for camping, even though there is no designated campsite on the island.

The most iconic thing to see on the island is the balanced rock. The rock can be clearly seen from a distance as you approach and is so-called because it resembles two neatly stacked rocks. Some believe that these rocks gave the island its name, since they look like a stupa, balanced rocks that are used to mark the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. Over the years, ‘stupa’ could have become ‘tap’.

There are three beaches on the island. Two of them are fairly rocky and not for everyone, whilst the third, located at the fishing village, is sandy. It’s not a great beach — small and often with some rubbish in the water — but its good enough for a quick cool down.

Tap Mun is also home to a trio of temples. These temples date back to the 18th century.

Something else worth visiting is the abandoned King Lam School on the hill above the village. It was built in 1957 and, when it closed in 2003, famously had only one pupil. 

Tung Ping Chau

Tung Ping Chau is a remote and rather striking island in the far north-east of Hong Kong. It is actually closer to mainland China than to the rest of Hong Kong, so your mobile may switch to roaming and jump onto a network from the mainland (pay particular attention to any charges this might incur from your provider).

The island is formed from new sedimentary rock, resulting in a brightly coloured, multi-layered and exceptionally photogenic landscape. The island is in a protected marine park.

Ferries to the island only run during weekends and public holidays. There tend to be fewer people on the island on Saturdays.

The island is excellent for hiking, because it brings together both rocky and sandy beaches, some excellent Cantonese eateries and stunning geological beauty. Walking conditions around the island are relatively easy. There are no major climbs and you can choose whether to walk on the beach or through the forest. There are public toilets scattered throughout the island, although they are less clean than those found in other spots in Hong Kong.

There are no shops on the island, although you will encounter the occasional vendor selling soft drinks, homemade bitter tea and homemade aloe vera juice (between 10 and 13 HKD each).

The island is a popular spot for birdwatching. You will be able to see a variety of migratory species and a number of native seabirds.

Some of the best-preserved coral in the whole of Hong Kong is also found here, so it’s a good spot for diving or snorkelling. The waters are generally crystal clear at most times of the year.

On the south-eastern tip of the island, at a place known as ‘Kang Lau Shek’, sit two vertical columns that resemble stacked slate. The columns are unique and have been formed over centuries of weather and sea erosion.

Lan Kwo Shui, also located in the southern part of the island, is a spectacular vertical cliff that runs along the coast. There are many caves carved into the cliff, but not all of them are easy to reach. The low-lying ones can only be reached on foot at low tide and when the sea is calm — but pay very careful attention to how fast the sea can come in!

To the south-west of the island is a bed of long thick rock with a triangular edge that some suggest looks like a dragon’s back extending into the sea. This area is called Lung Lok Shui.

A six-kilometre country trail loops around the island.

There are a handful of restaurants on the island, although most only open at weekends or during public holidays.

Po Toi

Just ten kilometres from Stanley is the small yet picturesque island of Po Toi.

It used to be home to more than 1000 people, but it’s population is declining and is now home to less than 200. The many aboandoned houses on the island give many of the neighbourhoods a rather eerie feel.

The island has become a popular day-trip destination, so expect it to get quite crowded at weekends, particularly when the sun is shining.

The island is a great place for a day’s walking. It is only 3.7 square kilometres in size and there is just a single path that loops around it in a figure-of-eight.

The full length of the walk takes about three hours, past Po Toi’s photogenic lighthouse, some dramatic and unusual rock formations and a few Bronze Age rock carvings. There is also a pagoda on a hilltop, offering some rewarding views of surrounding countryside.

Much of the walk is cross-country rather than on marked paths, with some of the time spent clambering over large rocks. When it rains, parts of the route can get fairly slippery, but at such spots there are ropes or railings to hold on to.

The walk is a circular route and well-signposted so it is difficult to get lost.

There is a famous seafood restaurant — Ming Kee — that is well-worth trying. Sometimes people come to the island just to eat here.

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