Spending Time in Hong Kong - Without messing about with maps!

Four days in Hong Kong. Just right!

I'm not going to preach about what's best to do, just how I like to spend my time there.

The Jade Market: This is a fanastic place, full of nick-nacks and friendly stall holders who are eager to haggle over their wares. You can spend hours in this place and never get bored.

Hong Kong Park Aviary: Sounds dull - isn't!! This place is fantastic, especially if you're looking to chill out and recover a little from jet lag. It's the size of a football field, drops down some thirty feet (ten meters) from the walkways, is chock-a-block with fully grown trees, and is entirely covered with a semi-permeable roof that allows the rain, light and breeze to pass through it. The birds flutter around the place and probably don't even realise that they're incarcerated in this huge capsule.

I love to spend a couple of hours here, just standing or sitting around while the most unbelievably gorgeous birds and small dear go about their business. It's quite usual to be stood in a spot for a quater of an hour and then notice a bright orange bird sitting a couple of feet away right in front of you.

OK, so it's possibly not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm no twitcher, and this is fab.

The Night Market: Vibrant, busy, massively interesting! The Night Market is in Kowloon (just over the bay from HK proper) and is a must to visit. It's open every night, and stretches a mile or two right up Temple Street. Even if you don't want to buy any of the fake labels or latest technology out of Japan or China, it's thriving with entertainment and food stalls. Just the atmosphere alone makes it worth a visit. I do, just about every night that I'm there!

Hong Kong Science Museum: Great fun if it rains...or doesn't actually! There's tons to do here, loads of it being interactive and not at all focused on kids, although they love it too. Rather than me bashing on about it, /www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Science/eindex.php">have a look for yourself.

Just walking around in the city is a treat. It'll take you an hour or two to walk straight through Kowloon (via a 15 minute ferry trip) and get to the other end of Hong Kong; longer if you have your eyes open and want to do things! The street markets are great; livestock, clothes, watches and jewellery for sale - everything. There's no need to catch a taxi or bus or tube, or anything if you don't want/need to - the ferries are a good idea though if you don't want to get wet!!

OK, not the usual list of things to do in Hong Kong, and not exhaustive either, but possibly something different to consider if you're lucky enough to get out there.