All stories about "Hong Kong"

Some crazy Frenchman was seen climbing up the 59th floor at Hong Kong's Four Seasons hotel yesterday. Ok, so he's not exactly just any senile Spiderman-wannabe. In fact, he's Alain Robert, a renowned environmentalist with phenomenal building scaling skills and a penchant for risk-taking. He's completed more than 80 climbs in hopes of raising eco-awareness -- he also likes candle-lit macrobiotic meals and measuring his carbon footprint every night before hitting the hay. Video of the awe-inspiring climb after the jump. [via]

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After losing nearly 1 billion Hong Kong dollars since its launch in October 2006, Oasis, a Hong Kong-based budget airline, has closed. The flying money pit, which operated daily flights from Hong Kong to Vancouver and London, applied for liquidation Wednesday. The airline has suspended all flights and is seeking new investors. [CNN]

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Yesterday we posted part one of an email from "Spike," whose now-defunct blog covered the goings-on in the vice-filled Hong Kong neighborhood of Wan Chai. Yesterday's entry was about the "freelance" prostitutes who approach you in bars and try to get you to buy them a drink -- today's Spike looks at the flashier go-go bars, where "model dancers" sell hundred dollar handjobs.

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A while back, I wrote about the go-go bar scene in Hong Kong's Wan Chai red light district. These palaces of neon and sex are seen by the locals as tourist traps rather than reliable places to score. After I published the post, I heard from a blogger named "Spike." His site, Spike In Hong Kong, chronicled his journeys through Hong Kong's underbelly. The blog's gone now, but Spike sent me some of the information from his archives describing exactly what happens inside these gaudy brothels -- and also information on the more hidden "freelance" hooker scene in Wan Chai. After the jump, hear an expert's view of the Hong Kong sex scene. (photo)

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Not far from central Hong Kong, the Wan Chai neighborhood has earned a reputation as one of the world's best red light districts. The area is much tamer today than it was in its heyday during the Vietnam War, when visiting American servicemen spurred a boom in Wan Chai's brothels and massage parlors. Although the area these days is far from the den of sin it was when it was immortalized in print with the 1957 novel (and later movie) The World of Suzy Wong, if you walk along the stretch of Lockhart Road just South of the Star Ferry pier at night, you'll see loads of ladyboy streetwalkers and semi-legal girlie bars. I visited Wan Chai to take pictures, check out the clubs, and meet the people who buy and sell sex in Hong Kong.

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Look at how different other cultures are! In Hong Kong, singer and movie star Edison Chen stupidly brought his computer into a store to be fixed, at which point all the thousands of naughty pictures he took of himself bumpin' uglies with Hong Kong lady stars were leaked to the public. And said public is titillated, but also highly, highly outraged. Police have arrested some civilians for possessing/distributing (via camerphone) the pictures, and Chen has had to announce he'll put his career on ice "indefinitely." [LA Times]

[Photo]

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Nice bit in the New York Times on the tradition of Hong Kong's cha chaan teng, or coffee shop diner. Cheap and fast comfort food, this is hardly fine dining or even novel/authentic cuisine. But it will stick to your ribs and keep you alive, one peppered pork chop at a time. [NYT]

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Autumn is smog season in Hong Kong, where environmental groups say air pollution is responsible for the deaths of 2,000 people each year. On Monday, it was widely reported that for the past several days, the city's Air Pollution Index had risen far above dangerous levels. The Hong Kong haze is not only visible in casualty lists and particle counts. Dramatic photographic evidence of this deadly phenomenon that the United Nations Environment Programme calls the "Asian Brown Cloud" can be seen in satellite images visible on Google Maps. The shots that are combined to make up the maps in the program are sometimes taken from different days, and these Google-generated pictures of Hong Kong and the nearby island of Macau that we grabbed demonstrate the dramatic difference between a clear day and a smoggy one in the region.

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On Mondays, Debriefer presents a map of city picks from the previous Friday's interview. Here's a range of Hong Kong recommendations from iloho.com's Andrea Hancock.

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Andrea Hancock is the CEO of iloho.com, a travel site that collects and collates worldwide travel stories from readers, then knits them together with itinerary organizers and a comprehensive voting system. As a result of all that sifting, Andrea has pretty definite ideas about what makes a great trip. Where would she personally like to go? Hiking through Hong Kong, it turns out.

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Traveling Conde Nast blogger Mark Schatzker describes the Luxe Manor as "haute Liberace," and he ain't wrong. This maximalist crazyquilt of a hotel describes itself as "surreal yet oddly comforting," and given the eclectic and somewhat clashy decor, they're at least half right. Set in Kowloon's central Tsim Tsa Shui area, it's convenient to plenty of restaurants, shops, and nightlife, though there's an onsite restaurant called "Aspaia" (a historical figure, not a medical condition). Rates begin at HK$988 per night.

Luxe Manor [via 80 Days or Bust]

-- Chris Mohney

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As much as I find vegans distasteful--preening self-righteous subverters of the food chain--I understand they exist and need to. And as embarrassing as it was to walk out of the bookstore having purchased Herbivore magazine, I had to after seeing the Hong Kong Travel Guide listed on the cover. The article helpfully divides Hong Kong's veggie options by neighborhood. The list is extensive so I've focussed on the Central area. Here are authors Erika Lawson's and Pranjal Tawari's picks.

Fragrance Vegetarian Restaurant: A small stall on Pottinger Street near Wellington, they sell lunchboxes for $2 full of bean curd, dumplings and soup.

Life Cafe: A western style restaurant that also includes a deli and an organic bar, the cafe offers predictable veggie fare: veggie burgers, salads etc. At night, the place becomes slightly more lively though, without the sustenance of animal flesh, I'm not sure how riled up things get.

Beyrouth Cafe Run by four Lebanese brothers, the falafels are $5 and the stall is open all night on weekends. There's a sit-down version called Assam next door.

Tung Fong Siu Kee Yuen: Sit-down on the second floor, takeaway on the ground floor this restaurant has a sizeable dim sum full of reasonably priced, fresh ingredients.

Khana Khanaza: A "tasty but pricey" all-vegetarian Northern India restaurant that also, bizarrely, offers a few Mexican dishes as well.

Fantasy Vegetarian: Herbivore's "favorite Chinese restaurant ever" the super cheap joint serves beer and sweet and sour spareribs and broccoli with ham sausage all for under $10.

Fragrance Vegetarian Restaurant
98-102 Wellington Street, Central. Ph: 2887-5866
Life Cafe
Beyrouth Cafe
Tung Fong Siu Kee Yuen
241 Hennessey Road, Wan Chai, Ph: 2507-4839
Khana Khazanahk
Fantasy Vegetarian
66 Electric Road, Tin Hau Ph: 2887-3886

Previously: $100 in Hong Kong, Chicken Bike, Oasis Airlines Update, Hong Kong Gets Grossed Out, Oasis Airlines: Thou Shalt Fly Cheaply, Plaza Premium AIrport Lounges, Yiu Wa Street Shoppy & Drinky, Hk Lightshow, 100x100 HK Photos, Delirious China Photoblog

As part of our ongoing effort to bestow upon our readers great globs of happiness (and three complete sets of Wallpaper* City Guides), we've asked for your best $100 a day itinerary for any one of the 20 cities covered in the guides. Today's entry comes to us straight outta HK. With no further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Anne Heuer. Oh wait, a little more ado, for full details visit our original and send itineraries to tips@gridskipper.com.

Start your day sleeping like an angel. If HK's noise pollution doesn't tear you out of bed first thing in the morning, I suggest hopping out of the sheets around noon.

Head over to Central on Hong Kong Island, and bring an empty stomach with you. Just off the mid-level escalators you'll find the traditional eatery Wang- Fu. Located on a small side street, it's usually packed with the local lunch crowd. Try the pork dumplings and a Beijing pancake--fill your belly for just $5.

It's pretty damn hot outside, so stop into XTC on Ice just a few blocks away for Hong Kong's very own gelato. Gelato in Hong Kong? Don't ask, just lick. Spend $2.50 on a scoop and feast your eyes on their sumptuous advertising campaign, featuring imagery of gelato melting over a nude bodies. Scandalous, but delicious.

With your gelato in tow, stroll through the window-shopping heaven of local designers and antique shops over to the entrance of the Victoria Peak tram. A $6 round-trip ride will take you up the mountain to a vista that offers stunning views of the city and bay. Enjoy the view, or lament about the smog--either way, you'll be left breathless.

Soho, Dancing, and Coked-Up Investment Bankers after the jump!

This shot, taken from the excellent Hong Kong photoblog Cloudless really begs the question why nobody has filed a patent for a motorbike that runs of chicken eggs since a) they're a replenishable food source and b) chickens are easy to transport, as evidenced by the above photograph.

Cloudless

Previous PIcs of the Day: Flash Cat, 1868, Mao Mao, Piazza Della Signoria, Les Jambes, Sheikh Sari Tomb, Twins?, Minimugging, Dream Workplace II, Where Shoes Go To Hang, Goose Down! Goose Down!, Marrakech

A while back we wrote about the good Rev. Raymond Lee and his plan to deliver souls from Hong Kong to London's Gatwick for a mere pittance. Now, Rev. Lee delivers. His airline, Oasis Airlines, is currently offering one ways from US$140 (economy) and roundtrips from US$565. No slouchers they, Oasis flies the lush Boeing 747-400 complete with all the creature comforts of much pricier carriers. Oasis even heeds the adage to feed the hungry and offers complimentary meals (something other airlines don't do).

Oasis Airlines [Official site]

Previously: Oasis Airlines: Thou Shalt Fly Cheaply, Yiu Wa Street Shoppy Drinky, Hong Kong Gets Grossed Out, 100x100 HK Photos, Luxe City Guides

Matt Gross, the NYT Frugal traveler recently paid a visit to Hong Kong, where the man shopped, ate, and drank as far as US$521 could get him. Suprisingly, it took him pretty far. Here is a sample, by no means exhaustive, of the best of Hong Kong according to Mr. Gross.

Eat:
Queen's Cafe: The Russian cafe opened in 1952 and immortalized in Wong Kar Wei's "Days of Being Wild," is a wood-paneled bastion of Russianity. The dishes that stream from the kitchen are rich and cheap at once. Borscht, Rib-eye steaks, roast chicken, and sharshlick--"garlicky and a little overcooked" just the way Matt Gross likes it.

Dim Sum: The last meal Matt Gross has before departing is a blow-out feast at Dim Sum, "a retro-traditional dumpling parlor." Unlike most dim summeries, this one served dim sum both day and night. Cheap and flavorful, the little plates of shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, chive boxes and pork buns are worth the long wait you'll most likely endure. But the milk comes sweet fried--just the way "Calvin Trillin loves it."

Shop:
Goods of Desire: A minichain of design stores that "applies Hong Kong street style to Ikea-like home decor, clothing and stationery." The chain goes by the acronym G.O.D. which sounds presumptuous but noone ever calls out the Guaranteed Overnight Delivery movers on their name either.

Oasis Airlines, straight outta Hong Kong, is a new airline preaching the Gospel of cheap fares. The husband-and-wife team of Reverend Raymond C. Lee and Priscilla Lee are planning to launch a no-frills line from Hong Kong to London-Gatwick in October. Service starts with five-a-week flight and tickets will be available in August. Other cities will be added in the months after the launch, including Cologne/Bonn , Berlin, Milan, Oakland and Chicago. While fares aren't nailed down quite yet, the official website says they'll be "year-round fares 30-50% lower than those currently offered by other airlines." In a recent article the good Reverend said, " [A]s a child born into a business family, I saw the conflict, hypocrisy and greed that resulted [from money]. So I decided to turn my back on business." So he entered the seminary, then the real-estate market and then smack dab in the middle of the lucrative discount airline industry. Still, Lee says, the airline will be ""governed by biblical principles." Amen to that.

Oasis Airlines [Official site]

Treading Where Others Dare Not [via The Peak]

Previously: Yiu Wa Street Shoppy Drinky, HK Lightshow, Hong Kong Sky Bars, Hong Kong Escort Guide

If you're not high enough on the frequent-flyer food chain to have access to your airline's airport lounge -- or if certain airports don't have your preferred lounge flavor -- you may be in luck. Plaza Premium Lounges is an independent chain of pamperatoriums operating out of several airports (Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and in their first non-Asian location, Vancouver). Prices vary by airport, but the equivalent of about US$30 gets you all-day access to the lounge, TVs, showers, WiFi, and a free buffet. You also get one glass of complimentary wine, with other drinks and add-on services available for a fee (massages, etc.). The generically pleasant facilities are anything but swank, but when compared to the rest of the airport(s') facilities, the Plaza Premium Lounges look like veritable Shangri-Las.

Far from the madding crowd - Vancouver's airport enclave [Cheapflights]
Plaza Premium Lounges [Official site]

Previously: Smokes on a Plane, Marriott Checks You, Airline Uberluxury... On Video, The Best Airports for Business Travelers, Riding the JFK Chopper

In a nice alloy of brevity and concrete detail, the New York Times gives Hong Kong's Yiu Wa Street the service journo treatment. Behind HK's Times Square, the NYT claims Yiu Wa is a small but burgeoning avenue of upscale shopping and nightlife. Some believable examples of the former, thought not so much on the latter, and independent confirmation online seems scarce. Any HK aficionados care to weigh in? If so, do so via tips@gridskipper.com.

Hong Kong's Luxury Alley [NYT]

Previously: HK Lightshow, Mizu, Hong Kong Sky Bars, Aqua Spirit, Hey Baby, Didn't I See You at the Escalator?

The Roundup Roundup collects recent "roundup" articles or general material about cities and city travel worldwide.

Architecture
The skyscraper boom [Economist]

Baltimore
Baltimore Remains a Beehive of Kitsch Glam [WP]

Basel
Going To: Basel [NYT]

Belgrade
So ... this is Serbia? [LAT]

Berlin
A World Cup Tour Of Berlin [AskMen]

Buenos Aires
Bleary-Eyed Acclimation [Pology]

Though only a couple years old, Hong Kong's "Symphony of Lights" urban laser-light show has grown to encompass 33 buildings on both the island and Kowloon sides of the city. Lasers, floodlights, searchlights, neon, and special-occasion fireworks are choreographed with music and narration booming out of PA systems at select locations, over the radio, or via a special mobile-phone number. The show happens every night at 8 p.m., and the Times recommends a couple booze-friendly rooftop vantage points.

Hong Kong's light fantastic [Times]
A Symphony of Lights [Hong Kong Tourism]

Previously: Only So Much Disney Magic to Go Around, Hong Kong's Pink Dolphins, Your Kung Fu Is Weak, Bruce vs. Bruce, Mizu

100 x 100 is an amazing photo series by Michael Wolf. The 100 photos depict residents in Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate; each room is 100 square feet (10 x 10). Pretty amazing contrasts of spare, almost bare spaces with madly packed warrens.

100 x 100 [Michael Wolf]

[Via Kottke]

Previously: Delirious China Photoblog, Hong Kong's Pink Dolphins, Your Kung Fu Is Weak, Bruce vs. Bruce, Historic Hong Kong Pics

From the dirrrty girl to the dirty old man to a battered old man enjoying his lunch, we present more of the usual celeb dross from around the globe. Send in your own national or international sightings to tips@gridskipper.com, because nothing, nothing must go unrecorded. Let's begin with the a predictable Caribbean interlude:

Christina Aguilera spotted looking hot coming into the Atlantis resort. Came out of a limo with bodyguards. Going to the private upstairs suite???

$481 R/T JFK to Tokyo:: A dirt cheap short term deal for travelers to Japan. Purchase your tickets by Friday and depart between 4/19 and 4/21 and you get a r/t Tokyo ticket for under $500. On American Airlines.

$699 R/T JFK/LAX/SFO to Hong Kong, $24 extra for Bangkok or Singapore: Well, that's a dilly of a deal. It's $699 R/T from either Los Angeles or San Francisco to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific. $100 extra for flyers from New York. But the best part? $24 more allows flyers to continue on to Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta or Bali—with a free Hong Kong stopover included.

$111-$125 Manhattan Hotel: Rooms at the Moderne Hotel, a no-frills—but quality#151;hotel on 55th & B'way are available for $111-$125 with a three-night minimum for the month of July.