Collecting moments in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's iconic skyline lights up with the Symphony of Lights show

By Uditha Jayasinghe  

Hong Kong is exactly what it promises to be, larger than life, and it revels in this fact. It is a place that operates on contrasts - the glossy modern monuments of materialism sit next to simple temples, awe-inspiring vistas lie near cramped dwellings, serene parks rest atop what were once slums riddled with the bubonic plague and sleek designer stores taper into chaotic umbrella-shaded markets. The layers have been added for centuries by waves of traders, immigrants, invasions, Opium Wars and pirates. Hong Kong has not just seen change, it has managed to assimilate and absorb it. The evidence is everywhere. 

A swift exit from the airport and serene drive to Cordis Hong Kong, part of the international chain Cordis Hotels and Resorts, is done amidst smoothly flowing morning traffic. The balmy weather is fondly similar to Colombo’s and in a few minutes we were pulling up to the hotel. 

Cordis Hong Kong rises 42 storeys into the air and is known for its 1,500-odd unique pieces of art that dot the lobby, corridors and restaurants. Visitors are encouraged to pick up a stack of information cards and wander around the hotel having a gallery experience in their spare time. 

Unmatched Cordis hospitality 

So meticulous is the attention at Cordis Hong Kong that we stored our baggage temporarily and arrived at the breakfast area in almost no time. The recently refurbished private Club Lounge has motifs of bird cages and ropey stuffed swing chairs guests can sit on as they have breakfast, tea, light meals, snacks or cocktails and gaze at miniature people and cars scurrying about below them. A glass of champagne with friends while the sun sets and the city lights up is highly recommended. 

The hotel’s 664 rooms are spacious with large bathrooms and super comfy beds. One of the most useful and distinctive services is the smartphone lodged on every bedside table that guests can take about with them, as a Wi-Fi hotspot, tour guide and use to make toll-free local calls. 

The staff is genuinely nice and will sprinkle your stay with pleasant surprises like complimentary chilled drinks and strawberries in your room when you return tired from sightseeing, thoughtful bookmarks, surprise ice cream for your kids or soft toys as part of the turndown service. 

Each day brings an extra unexpected touch, showing how well Cordis Hong Kong understands the finer points of hospitality. The hotel even has its own curated perfume based on citrus notes that wafts over guests to relax them. 

A short elevator ride brought us to the impressive wine cellar at Ming Court, the hotel’s two-Michelin star restaurant, specialising in couture Chinese cuisine. Though wine may not be the first thing that springs to your mind when you think of Chinese food, a new generation of chefs are joining global trends by pairing wine with it for a very fine dining experience. 

Technically, Hong Kong’s cuisine is Cantonese and you should fit some dim sum into your dining. But what really distinguishes this electrifying city is its almost unrivalled culinary internationalism. It’s not just a global crossroads for business. It’s a global crossroads for food, one of a handful of commercial capitals, like New York and London, which has no particular concentration of ambitious, accomplished restaurants in any one genre. The most appealing and important places cut across all traditions.

That’s the case in Hong Kong partly because it’s a setting where many of the best-known chefs from other countries establish outposts, sometimes even exporting versions of the enterprises that made them famous. It is the place where ambitious chefs come to make their mark and so it is at the Ming Court where Executive Chef Mango Tsang and his team have made Cantonese food cosmopolitan - complete with gold leaf.  

Shopping Shangri-La 

Several delicious courses later it’s time to get a mild workout on a walking tour of Mongkok. The street market fringing Cordis Hong Kong is thronged in the afternoon as people heading home from work buy ingredients to make dinner. The best produce flows through these markets, depositing their wondrous bounty; the ginger is bigger, the fruit zestier and vegetables greener. 

The senses are almost assaulted with the clothes, shoes, knickknacks, jewellery, furniture, pots, handbags, toys and everything else on sale. 

There are entire streets dedicated to flowers, jade, goldfish and dogs, entire buildings to electronics and smart phone spare parts. Tulips and proud orchids from the Netherlands sit next to red-leafed croton found in typical Sri Lankan gardens. The familiar and the exotic sit side by side and it’s easy to understand why Hong Kong is world famous as a shopping Shangri-La.      

Contrasting with the street markets are the massive malls. Cordis Hong Kong opens out to Langham Mall with over 200 shops and has its own metro station. The corkscrew-style glass building features beanstalk escalators of impressive height connecting designer shops and of course has even more food options. Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui is a sea of shops that feeds into even more streets of designer dwellings, just the window shopping could eat up weeks.                

Around unexpected corners Hong Kong also has lovely parks. Traditionally older people in Hong Kong kept birds for pets so they would take their birds along when they gathered to play mahjong and hold friendly contests on whose bird sang the sweetest. The Bird Park still holds true to these customs and large numbers of them are stocked here for sale. The trilling of the birds will reach you even before you enter the park and after a walk, low tables under overarching trees are inviting even if you haven’t the foggiest idea about mahjong.         

We returned to Cordis Hotel to have dinner at the Alibi. This restaurant has a welcome cosmopolitan vibe that is restrained enough to let you be yourself. For me that meant eating copious amounts of seafood with my fingers and having the bartender whip up a cocktail infusing the favourite flavours of mint, sparkling wine, citrus and passionfruit. 

The confit pigeon is a must try and unlikely to leave your mind for months, if not ever. The menu also has excellent options of beef, chicken and lamb, light salads and decadent desserts that are nothing short of delightful. Our meal was wrapped up with a sesame cake that looked like a grey Ostrich egg but proved to be airy and delicately balanced. In fact it is safe to say that this restaurant provided the most memorable meal of the tour. 

The next day began with a leisurely breakfast that spiralled into a sprint to Level 41. Chuan Spa is gently lit, with calming music and cascading noise of a waterfall as one enters through the arched Moon Gate. 

Enveloped in a cosy bathrobe, guests are asked to tap answers to a series of questions on an iPad to determine whether they are earth, water, air or wood. I ended up with the latter and once the right oils are picked I was whisked away to a relaxing hour-long massage that ended too soon and left me feeling as if I was walking on air. Newcomers and spa-addicts alike will love this pampering session and it’s an idyllic way to unwind, literally suspended above Hong Kong. 

Then it was time for lunch. The Place is the all-day dining restaurant at Cordis with a three-meter seafood bar at the entrance. It has an alfresco dining area that is routinely jazzed up for corporate events and weddings. Inside speciality stations dishing out Japanese, Indian, Thai and Mediterranean cuisine rub shoulders and the choice is supplemented by a cheese selection and dessert bar that deserves to have space saved for. 

The Place is popular with locals and it was easy to understand why seeing the array of chocolate desserts on display. When in doubt  always remember no one is ever too grown up for a Swiss chocolate ice cream cone.  

Walking the talk  

Despite its frenetic appearance Hong Kong is a great city to explore on foot but be warned, the hilly nature of the terrain can be challenging. One excellent way is to sign up for a walking tour at ‘Walk Hong Kong’ at www.walkin.hk. 

We were taken along the historic landmarks of Hong Kong by a guide starting at the Central, which in many ways is the historic and financial heart of Hong Kong. 

The Central was created by early British settlers in 1841 to house major military facilities and an administrative centre. Westerners and the Chinese made the area the focal point of their business. Tram lines, still active today, connected the financial powerhouse to residential areas. The rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood has a hotchpotch of old and new buildings, chaotic street markets and artisan shops. 

Land reclamation that started in the early part of the 20th Century filled in the Victoria Harbour to an impressive extent and helped establish Hong Kong’s place as a top international financial centre.    

HSBC is headquartered here and is Hong Kong’s de-facto Central Bank, even printing its currency. The Bank of China sits next to HSBC and the two monolithic glass towers use feng shui to subtly announce their antagonism. 

British settlers in Hong Kong had an interest in feng shui and most of the earliest buildings in Hong Kong, and many buildings constructed thereafter, were built with the philosophies of feng shui in mind. The Chinese believe that those who have a direct view of a body of water—whether it is a river, a sea, or an ocean—are more likely to prosper than those who do not, since water is strongly associated with wealth in feng shui. The HSBC building has a wide open area called the Statue Square in front of it, with no other buildings blocking its view of Victoria Harbour to increase its chances of prosperity. 

All this good fortune was bought at a pretty penny. When the current HSBC building was declared open in November 1985 it was the most expensive construction in the world at the time, about $ 668 million in value. 

When Bank of China set up their building the facade was dressed with sharp angles of a triangle pattern directed at HSBC. Miffed by this aggression, HSBC responded by mounting two cannon-like additions onto their roof directed at Bank of China. Standard Chartered Bank flanked HSBC on the opposite end but failed to be galvanised by the feng shui and eventually had to sell the building, though it still occupies several floors. 

A few streets away is Hollywood Road, which links Sheung Wan with Central, and the nearby Upper Lascar Row (often referred to as Cat Street), both of which are best known for their curio and antiques shops. They are well worth a stroll even if the items are slightly above the average budget. Along this road is Man Mo Temple, one of the first traditional-style temples built during Hong Kong’s colonial era.

The temple pays homage to the Taoist God of Literature (Man) and the God of War (Mo). The temple also houses statues of Pau Kung, the God of Justice, and Shing Wong, the God of the City. The plaques near the entrance offer an interesting perspective on the history of the temple and its gods. 

The God of War is worshipped by businessmen and gangsters while the God of Literature receives homage from mothers keen to see their children do well. The contrast is interesting and one key differentiation from Sri Lankan temples is the fortune telling. 

Visitors can shake a fortune stick out of a bamboo cylinder available inside the Man Mo Temple, and then read an English translation of the old sayings inscribed on the sticks in the book Man Mo Temple, which is for sale inside the temple. They can also light the giant spirals of incense dangling like super-sized mosquito coils along the roof.  

From Hollywood the meandering lanes bring visitors to SoHo with its appealing mix of funky bars and swanky restaurants. It’s a great place to wind up the walk and give your feet a well-earned break.

Every person who travels to Hong Kong will find their niche of enjoyment in the sprawling city. After three days it was time to wind up our journey but Hong Kong’s allure is that it has the ability to add value to every moment, no matter how short, spent linked to its amazing energy.

Cathay Pacific sets the standard on service

Begin your holiday even before you reach the destination with their excellent flights

Renowned airline Cathay Pacific is headquartered in Hong Kong, giving it a unique relationship with this spectacular destination. The amazing service offered by the airline ensures that jet lag does not even enter into the equation when travelling with them.

Cathay Pacific’s distinctive flights to 173 destinations in 42 countries with their superior service are a real treat to experience. Flying business class is a worthy indulgence on this airline as the services are truly impressive. Cathay Pacific is the only airline that currently offers a fully reclining flatbed in their business class section that assures the best of privacy and comfort. The latest movies are available on a large screen and the seclusion of the space means you can unwind, work or just catch up on your reading.

When travelling with Cathay Pacific guests can say goodbye to overcooked, flabby food. Cathay Pacific’s chefs put together gastronomically superior food that arrives looking as though they were pulled from the pages of a gourmet magazine. Save space for the cheese platter with a glass of port and of course the excellent desserts. Each course is a delight and guaranteed to make you feel the holiday has begun even before you reach the destination.

Ever eager to please their customers Cathay Pacific has an economy plus section that is priced between business and economy class. Here guests can enjoy roomier seats and extra leg space at a very competitive rate. In fact Cathay Pacific’s Corporate Communications Manager Tracey Kwong noted it is one of the most in-demand products offered by the airline. Economy class is also given attentive service with excellent food and entertainment options.

The longstanding relationship Cathay Pacific has with Hong Kong is evident from the point you step off the flight. An arrival lounge provides showers and luggage storage areas where guests can relax and freshen up after a long flight. They can await their next flight in comfort while catching up on the news and sampling the extensive menu available at the lounge.

Any sadness travellers might feel at departing Hong Kong is sure to be alleviated by the sumptuous First and Business Class lounges at the Hong Kong International Airport. The Pier, as it is known, incorporates a spa, reading areas, showers and a restaurant that would not be out of place in a star class establishment. The extensive menu includes fantastic burgers, comforting bowls of local soup and salads that will make the wait for your flight spin by. Cathay Pacific has also rolled out a revamped Business Class lounge that will meet the standards of their discerning travellers.

Cathay Pacific City is the heart of the airline’s operations in Hong Kong. Located just minutes from Hong Kong International Airport and accessible via complimentary shuttle buses, this HK$4.9 billion complex is one of the largest corporate head office facilities in Asia.

Cathay City is home to more than 3,000 employees who come from all over the globe. Its three open-plan office towers and surrounding buildings have been designed to foster collaboration, creativity and continual learning. The facility includes many informal meeting spaces, as well as a Training and Development Centre featuring classrooms, a large auditorium and a learning library.

The complex also offers all the comforts and conveniences of a real city, including, retail stores and a supermarket, cafes and coffee shops, and The Dakota Club – a leisure centre featuring a pool, gym, sport courts and an alfresco bar. The four-star, 23-storey Headland Hotel, which houses 501 rooms for local and visiting employees as well as a fine dining restaurant and 24-hour cafe is also part of Cathay City.

Environmentally friendly architectural design, with stunning landmarks such as the Footbridge and Central Atrium also includes the Cathay Pacific Experience – a museum chronicling the airline's proud history. Rigorously trained flight staffs check-in for their flights at Cathay City where they can go through border controls before heading to the airport, a special service allowed only to Cathay Pacific by the Hong Kong Government.

When it comes to comfort, safety and service it is clearly impossible to be in better hands and flying with Cathay Pacific is undeniably the best way to incorporate these essential elements into your journey.