Globalista

Landing in Hong Kong today isn't the thrill ride it was before the old airport Kai Tak closed in 1998: jets threaded their way through mountains and apartment buildings in Kowloon so closely that you could practically see what the residents were having for lunch. The new airport is modern and further out of the city but it's still worth grabbing a window seat for the approach and snatching a view of the gleaming skyscrapers, dramatic mountain peaks and lush outlying islands that are dotted around the surrounding South China Sea. Hong Kong is the kind of city that makes you want to pack your bags and move in. Even with a shift of energy towards Shanghai, there is something irresistible about the synthesis of fading-fast British colonialism and brash Canto-cool which ensures Hong Kong is still the traveller's epicentre in Asia. And wonderfully, amid the committed consumerism and sky-high construction, an unhurried antiquated Hong Kong remains. Locals gather at dawn in Victoria Park to practise slow-motion t'ai chi, and make a traditional prayer to their ancestors for good fortune in the swirling incense of Man Mo temple. The contrasts are disorienting - like watching clouds drift past towering skyscrapers - and this blend of the old and the new, the natural and the manmade, is what makes the city unforgettable.

Useful Feedback

I had a few jackets made at Sam's Tailor, they were really good. I'd recommend taking something to have copied or show them the cut/ buttons you want. (I took a piece of tweed with me.) I went to Aqua Spirit which was great - although I wouldn't take anyone with vertigo - and had tea at the Peninsula hotel. There's also an excellent jeweller there called Michelle Ong, who has a boutique, Carnet, in Prince's Building. She makes the most surprising, beautiful, feminine jewels and this is her only boutique in the world so it's really worth visiting.

Carol Woolton, Jewellery Editor, British Vogue

Globalista's Pick of the Press

13 September 2009 - The Observer - Hong Kong for kids
15 March 2009 - The Independent - The ever evolving Hong Kong
5 January 2009 - The Guardian - Hong Kong's rural retreats
14 December 2008 - The New York Times - A New W Hotel in a Hong Kong Skyscraper
12 April 2008 - The Times - Ian Fleming and... Hong Kong
27 September 2008 - The Times - Our Woman in: Hong Kong

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