Hemispheres Magazine

DAY ONE / You’re visiting the new China but staying in what can only be described as colonial luxury at The Peninsula, Hong Kong’s grand dame hotel since 1928.

Enjoy breakfast in your deluxe harbour-view suite before taking a brisk 15-minute walk in the morning sunshine to the Hong Kong Museum of History. Allow an hour to get your historical bearings via a series of imaginative displays that tell the Hong Kong story from the Stone Age to the 1997 handover.

Then, head along Austin Road, past the colonists’ Gun Club Barracks, now guarded by the unsmiling sentries of the People’s Liberation Army, to Nathan Road, the Kowloon area’s “Golden Mile.” You’re going to Burlington Arcade to be fitted for a suit by a Hong Kong legend at Sam’s Tailor.

At first glance, the tiny space might leave you wondering whether you’ve come to the right shop, but a wall full of pictures of famous clients quickly reassures you. Sam—whose real name is Manu Melwani—has made clothes for Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and presidents Reagan, Ford, Clinton, and George H.W. Bush. Also on the wall: Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Jackson, and Richard Gere. Choose your material, have the first set of measurements taken, and make an appointment to return for a second fitting.

It’s lunchtime, and you’re ready to cross the harbour to Hong Kong Island. Fortunately, you’re close to the Tsimshatsui station of the highly efficient Mass Transit Railway, or MTR subway system. Board the train and within 10 minutes you’re at the Central Station and the famous Mandarin Oriental Hotel, another of the great institutions of Far Eastern hospitality.

You are lunching at Man Wah, now restored to the original design that earned it the accolade “most beautiful Chinese restaurant in the world” in the 1960s. Take the chef’s advice and order the set lunch for two. This is Cantonese cuisine at its finest, from the opening Boston-lobster salad rolls and drunken chicken with green-ginger dressing to the concluding selection of Chinese sweet delicacies, all accompanied with a connoisseur’s selection of Chinese teas. Try the Hangzhou pearl chrysanthemum.

Walk off lunch with a stroll past the neoclassical Legislative Council Building and English architect Norman Foster’s contrastingly modernist HSBC headquarters and uphill to the terminus of the Peak Tram. Actually an improbably steep funicular railway, the tram since 1888 has connected Central District to the 552-metre (1,811-foot) summit, commanding the best views of Hong Kong Island.

An hour later you’re back where you started. Take the tram back to Central, direct your steps to the Man Mo Temple, on Hollywood Road, and prepare to step into another world. The red lantern–lit temple, dedicated to Man, the god of literature, and Mo, the god of war, is wreathed in smoke from huge incense coils, paper money, and other ritually burned offerings.

This also is the area where those in the know shop for art and antiques. You’ll find old jade, precious porcelain, contemporary Chinese art, and much more, including a fair amount of junk.

Remember, “Buyer beware.” Works by modern artists from the mainland have recently been fetching record-breaking prices at auction. Drop in at the Schoeni Art Gallery to bring yourself up to date on contemporary Chinese oils.

Hurry back to “The Pen,” as everybody calls The Peninsula, to change for an evening concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre featuring the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of resident conductor Edo de Waart. The orchestra is one of the finest in Asia, and the acoustics of the Cultural Centre’s concert hall are excellent.

Follow the concert with a late dinner. Fortunately for you, you’re only a five-minute walk from the Intercontinental Hong Kong, where Nobu opened its first branch in Asia outside Japan this past January. Nobu Matsuhisa’s South American–influenced Japanese cuisine is served with a floor-to-ceiling view of the lights of Hong Kong Island. Order the fresh yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño and black-cod saiko yaki, both specialties of the house.

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