Virgin's guide to Hong Kong

Voyeur (Virgin Blue) inflight magazine, Dec 2011

The dense streets, the screaming neon, the waves of humankind – Hong Kong’s pulse races at fever pitch. There’s nothing staid about this waterfront jewel of Asia; it balances its past as a British colony with its present as Asia’s hippest leader of the pack.

Hong Kong embraces its split personality: a Buddhist monastery shares an island with Disneyworld, stately homes bunker down with Chinese chophouses, and streets named after old Scottish towns and even older Chinese geographic features. Old-world prestige and maintaining ‘face’ collide with killer cars and killer heels: it’s old school versus 2 kool 4 skool.

Hong Kong’s also got a taste for the dramatic: world’s highest bar, longest covered escalator, most outrageous real estate prices, stupendous bonuses. It’s got glitz and polish, where nightclubs are open till noon, yet you’ll still find the locals poking through street markets or traditional Chinese medicine shops and comparing bargains while queuing at their favourite noodle maker. 

To read more about fabulous Hong Kong, click here