Hong Kong / Macau Travel

One of Hong Kong's most enjoyable fishing villages - mixing a laid back attitude but enough bars and restaurants to make it worth a visit - Sai Kung should be on your itinerary list.

Set in the New Territories, but just a short bus ride from northern Kowloon, Sai Kung in an enjoyable mix of low rise, ramshackle village homes, boat filled waters and a seafront promenade. As it's become an increasingly popular tourist spot over the past few years, budget restaurants and bars have sprung up, yet Sai Kung has retained much of its village appeal - especially if you visit on a week day. It's great base to explore the leaft green countryside that surrounds it and the jumping off point for visits to Kai Sai Chau golf course.

The village's blockbuster attraction is the string of seafood restaurants that line the waterfront. Little more than plastic chairs and paper napkin restaurants, the food here isn't fancy but it is good. The fish are freshly caught and kept in tanks for you to choose your victim - you can even grab your dinner from the boats in the harbour and take it directly to the restaurant for cooking. Prices are modest and offer much better value than eating in the high rise fish restaurants on Hong Kong Island.

Photo: Sai Kung fishing boats. Copyright Rory Boland

The year of the dragon is upon us and in between the fireworks and food it's time to sit down and look what your Chinese New year horoscopes have to say for the year ahead. The Year of the Dragon is considered a lucky year so there should be good news for most.

Chinese zodiac signs are determined by the year you were born and you can find out which of the twelve animals you are in our Chinese zodiac guide. We've also been digging around the birth dates of the rich and famous and discovered a host of great names born in the year of the dragon - from the great - Martin Luther King - to the slightly ghoulish - Vladimir Putin - as well as a host of Hollywood stars. Find out who you share your sign with and if you share their characteristics.

Photo: Dragon dance. Copyright Getty

Flower markets are a Chinese New Year tradition and in Hong Kong there will be a number running around the clock to satisfy the city's demand for bountiful bouquets.

Flowers are popular both to give as a gift and to decorate your own home - brightly colored arrangements - especially those in red - are considered good luck. Many Chinese families are superstitious about Chinese New Year, believing actions over the holiday can impact life over the next 12 months.  You'll hear the words auspicious and inauspicious a lot.

The Chinese New Year equivalent of the Christmas Tree is a kumquat tree, with the bright orange fruits believed to bring luck and the tree itself believed to be auspicious for wealth in the new year. Flower markets are stacked with them.

Even if you aren't planning to buy a bouquet it's worth heading to  a Chinese New year flower market just to soak up the atmosphere. After work, usually from 8pm onwards, markets buzz beneath neon lights with brightly colored stalls and families wobbling around their hands filled with flowers and candy.

The biggest flower market in Hong Kong is in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. Here you'll find hundreds of stalls open from every day from mid January until Chinese New year's eve on the 22^nd.

More on Chinese New Year

• Guide to Chinese New Year in Hong Kong
• Chinese New Year Horoscopes
• Top 10 Chinese New Year Superstitions

Photo: Chinese New Year Flower Markets. Copyright Theirry Grun/Getty

Now the warm up New Year is out the way - December 31^st - Macau can start focussing on the real celebration - Chinese New Year. The biggest holiday of the year and an annual excuse to eat too much, argue with family and blow up a factories worth of fireworks offers some great events for visitors.

The blockbuster events are the fireworks display and the Chinese New year parade - this year featuring a 250 metre plus dragon winding through the streets - but there's much more going on that doesn't always make it into the tourist guides. Particularly enjoyable are the night flower markets where families waddle around laden with kumquat trees other 'lucky' flowers and the temples where revellers go to ply dieties with goodies.

Scheduled in for January 23^rd, you can find out about all of these events and more in our Chinese New Year in Macau guide.

Photo: Dragon for Chinese New Year. Copyright Getty

The Peninsula Hong Kong is up against increasingly palatial properties in its bid to stay the city's number 1 luxury hotel. iPod docks rather than trouser presses and cocktail lounges not tearooms seem to be the order of the day. So how does The Peninsula Hong Kong measure up?

Built in 1928 - an absolute lifetime in Hong Kong terms - the Peninsula - or Pen as it's known locally - has been the swankiest hotel in town since men wore frilly moustaches and the Game wasn't a rapper but show of brinkmanship between Russia and England in the Northwest frontier. Cucumber sandwiches and cream teas were the order of the day and the Governor's Ball was the hottest ticket in town.

Thankfully the Peninsula still revels in its colonial charm with marble colonnades and polished wood furnishings. You still need to wear a jacket for dinner and a string quartet accompanies the high tea in the lobby. It's got character and it's got class.

Find out what we thought of the hotel in our full Peninsula Hong Kong Hotel review and share your opinion.

Photo: Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong lit up at night. Copyright: Peninsula Hotel

Ok, so we might not do many movie reviews here at About Hong Kong and Ip Man might have been released in 2008 and but we were so impressed by this film in our first watch we wanted to share the news.

Ip Man was Bruce Lee's master and mentor, one of the most respected masters of Wing Chun - a form of martial arts - and is widely revered in Hong Kong. The film doesn't feature much historical truth about Ip Man's life but it is cracking martial art film and sparkling story to boot.

Watch a superb Donnie Yen as Ip Man mix it up with the Japanese occupiers, bulldoze his way through a gang of robbers and generally look moody showing off his masterful understanding of Wing Chun. There are whispers that this might be one of the greatest martial arts movies ever made and we are certainly considering putting it into our Top 10 Hong Kong Movies List.

Read our full Ip Man movie review and let us know what you think.

Photo: Ip Man movie. Copyright Mandarin Films

The Ritz Carlton Hong Kong is the highest hotel in the world. Fact. It's also the owner of the highest bar, restaurant and swimming pool - and on and on and on -  but is it any good? In a city that revels in its five star luxury hotels newcomers need to pull off something special to truly turn heads.With nearly a year under its belt we went to find out if the Ritz Hong Kong has more than height to boast about.

Eschewing the grand old grace of the original Hong Kong Ritz Carlton, the new design is contemporary, upbeat and hip. Bold colors and smooth curves set the scene while in room gadgets, such as a Nespresso coffee machine and a Telescope to take in the harbour view - confirm that the Ritz is pitching itself as the city's cutting edge property.

Find out what we thought of the hotel in our Ritz Carlton Hong Kong Hotel review and share your opinion.

Photo: Ritz Carlton Hong Kong and the skyline. Copyright the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong

In an announcement that will surprise no one who's stepped foot in the city, the Hong Kong skyline has been named best in the world by real estate and property gurus Emporis.

In a survey of the world's most impressive skylines Emporis calculated the city with the highest number of high rises. Hong Kong won hands down. The city has 7,688 buildings classed as high rise (meaning 12 floors or more) - leaving number 2 - New York on 5,937 looking a little small. The top five was filled out by Chicago, Singapore and Sao Paulo.

Competitors are already griping and groaning over the title, claiming lots of skyscrapers doesn't make a fantastic cityscape. They're right. It's the lights and the composition; how the buildings sit together, which is why one look at the Hong Kong skyline confirms that this is the runaway winner. Simply jaw dropping.

Photo: Hong Kong Skyline. Copyright: Martyna Szmytkowska

It's been a while but our Hong Kong hotel hot deals are back - and better than ever. With fewer tourists travelling to the city, hotels are more generous than ever in trying to catch your eye. They want you to plump for their pillow rather than their rivals.

Our absolute steal of the week is the Dorsett Regency hotel. The sleepy suburban location in Kennedy Town is just minutes from Central but keeps prices at the Dorsett honest and now they are offering 35% off stays of more than 3 nights - they'll even throw in breakfast. Genuine bargain.  Elsewhere, the Hong Kong Gold Coast hotel is Hong Kong's only resort hotel and has 25% off stays booked 21 days in advance.

For all the promotions check out our Hong Kong hotel deals page.

Photo: Dorsett Regency Hotel Hong Kong. Copyright Dorsett Regency Hotel

Eager to jump on the run away steam train that is Hong Kong's increasing embrace of Christmas- also known as the shopping frenzy festival - Ngong Ping 360 is trailing its "Snowy Chocolate Christmas".

With the Ngong Ping village itself bedecked in christmas trees, tinsel and lights, the highlight here is the free chocolate tastings - held daily and featuring premium Belgian chocolate and even a chocolate fountain. At weekends there are free chocolate workshops, where you can create your own Christmassy chocolate with one of Hong Kong's most acclaimed pastry chefs.

The event is also hosting carol singers and something enigmatically named 'romantic natural snowfall' - one can only imagine - but I'd imagine they are stretching the interpretation of the word natural to its very limit.

You can find out more on exact timings at Ngong Ping 360 or check out our guide to find out more about Christmas in Hong Kong.

Copyright: Pastry chef at Ngong Ping. Copyright Ngong Ping 360