Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [49]
If you know nothing about horse racing but would like to attend, consider joining the Come Horseracing Tour available through Splendid Tours & Travel (Click here) during the racing season. The tour includes admission to the Visitors’ Box of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Members’ Enclosures and a buffet lunch. Tours scheduled at night last about 5½ hours, while daytime tours are about seven hours long.
Though probably one for racing buffs only, you can also visit the Hong Kong Racing Museum (Map Click here; 2966 8065; www.hkjc.com/english/museum/mu02 _index.htm; 2nd fl, Happy Valley Stand, Wong Nai Chung Rd; admission free; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun, 10am-12.30pm on racing days), which has eight galleries and a cinema showcasing celebrated trainers, jockeys and horseflesh, and key races over the past 150 years. The most important event in the history of the Happy Valley Racecourse – individual winnings notwithstanding – was the huge fire in 1918 that killed hundreds of people. Many of the victims were buried in the cemeteries surrounding the track.
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ISLAND EAST
Eating Click here; Drinking Click here; The Arts Click here; Sleeping Click here
Eastern ( Map) is a large, primarily residential district, with some of Hong Kong Island’s largest housing estates (eg Tai Koo Shing in Quarry Bay). As elsewhere on the island, however, office towers stand cheek by jowl with residential areas. There are not as many restaurants and nightspots in this area to lure you onto the MTR’s Central line, but there are a handful of top-class museums.
The Eastern District runs from Causeway Bay to Siu Sai Wan, at the eastern end of Hong Kong Island’s north coast. Major settlements are North Point, Quarry Bay, Sai Wan Ho, Shau Kei Wan and Chai Wan.
North Point & Quarry Bay
North Point, settled largely by Shanghainese after WWII, is a somewhat down-at-heel district with a couple of interesting markets, and the Sunbeam Theatre (Click here), one of the best places to see and hear Chinese opera. Tong Chong St opposite the Quarry Bay MTR station has had a facelift in recent years and is something of a restaurant and nightlife strip. The main attraction at Quarry Bay is Cityplaza (Click here).
Sai Wan Ho
HONG KONG FILM ARCHIVE Map
2739 2139, bookings 2734 9009, 2119 7383; www.filmarchive.gov.hk; 50 Lei King Rd; admission free; main foyer 10am-8pm Mon-Wed & Fri-Sun, box office noon-8pm daily, resource centre 10am-7pm Mon-Wed & Fri, 10am-5pm Sat, 1-5pm Sun; MTR Sai Wan Ho
The archive is well worth a visit, even if you know nothing about Hong Kong films and film-making. It preserves, catalogues and studies the fruit of the local film and TV industries – there are more than 6300 reels and tapes in the vaults – and related material such as magazines, posters, records and scripts; there’s a small exhibition hall with themed exhibits (opening hours vary), including videos with subtitles, and a 127-seat cinema ( 2119 7383) that shows Hong Kong and other films here throughout the year for $30 to $50. It’s well worth checking out the program of temporary exhibitions online.
To reach the film archive from the Sai Wan Ho MTR station, follow exit A, walk north on Tai On St and west on Lei King Rd.
Shau Kei Wan
HONG KONG MUSEUM OF COASTAL DEFENCE Map
2569 1500; http://hk.coastaldefence.museum; 175 Tung Hei Rd; adult/concession $10/5, admission free Wed; 10am-5pm Fri-Wed; MTR Shau Kei Wan
This museum doesn’t exactly sound like a crowd pleaser, but its displays are as much about peace as war. It also occupies a knockout location in the Lei Yue Mun Fort (1887), which took quite a beating during WWII, and has sweeping views down to the Lei Yue Mun Channel and southeastern Kowloon.
Exhibitions in the old redoubt, which you reach by elevator from street level, cover Hong Kong’s coastal defence over six centuries, from the Ming and Qing dynasties, through the colonial years and Japan-ese invasion,