Hong Kong -- Some City Sights

Here's an overview of some of Hong Kong's highlights.

HONG KONG ISLAND

A few frail old men half-heartedly selling rickshaw rides languish on the docks where the ferries arrive from Kowloon, but otherwise the forest of towering commercial buildings seems like almost any modern city.

It's when you get a few streets back from the harbor in this main business district, called Central, that you begin to feel you're not in the 20th century anymore.

Walk west on Queen's Road beyond the banking hub, and you'll come to several alleys jammed with bolts of cloth, inexpensive clothes, jewelry, belts, watches and other fashion odds and ends.

A little farther along are block after block of open-front Chinese medicine shops.

As you zigzag along Queen's Road West you'll see on your left what looks like a stairway to the sky. That is Ladder Street, a mile-long series of steps and landings too steep for vehicles. As you slowly climb, you pass more shops, peddlers and an outdoor barber or two.

About halfway to the top, Ladder Street crosses Lascar Road, known as Cat Street.

Once full of hideouts for criminals, it later became an antiques center. Now it is lined with secondhand shops; the antiques dealers are all in Cat Street Galleries building on Lok Ku Road, one more level down the hill, or on Hollywood Road, one level up.

Stroll toward the ferry along Hollywood Road, browsing in some of the many antiques dealers and shops selling Oriental carpets.

At Wyndham Street you'll enter the tiny area called Lan Kwai Fong, night-life center for Chinese yuppies and Western expatriates - everything from English pubs to American-style restaurants such as the Beverly Hills Deli.

East of Hong Kong Island's Central district is Wanchai, heart of harder-core night life.

This area of topless bars and hostess clubs was made famous in the 1950s as "The World of Suzie Wong."

It has been spruced up considerably by the presence of the new waterfront Hong Kong Arts Centre, Academy for Performing Arts and Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Just inland looms "The Peak," Hong Kong's favorite scenic overlook and most prestigious address.

Thousands of Hong Kong residents spend their lives on the water, and the island's biggest sampan colony is a few miles farther around the island in Aberdeen. Once a quiet fishing village, Aberdeen has become another high-rise suburb, sprawling on land increasingly being reclaimed from the harbor.

The houseboat-like sampans, anchored almost gunwale-to-gunwale, sport a jarring mix of everything from satellite dishes to clothes lines filled with neatly pinned baby octopuses hanging out to dry like socks.

For the equivalent of $5 you can take a 20-minute tour along the narrow water lanes in a sampan.

KOWLOON

Only a fraction the size of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon packs twice as many people (2.2 million) into its four square miles. Thus you needn't wander far to lose yourself in local crowds.

Lavish hotels crowd the waterfront, where the only vestiges of Old Hong Kong are a clock tower that once marked the terminus of the Orient Express and the grande dame Peninsula Hotel, where the famous train's wealthy passengers stayed.

The Peninsula's harbor view now is mostly blocked by the Hong Kong Space Museum and adjoining Hong Kong Cultural Center, a new entertainment complex.

Harbour City, an upscale mall that overwhelmed me on my first day in Hong Kong, runs northwest from the Star Ferry.

You'll get more local flavor - and more for your shopping dollar - if you walk inland along Kowloon's main drag, Nathan Road, dipping into side streets as you go.

Beyond Kowloon in the areas of Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok (a couple of subway stops if you get tired of walking) are several typically Chinese markets. The Jade Market is good for small souvenirs but risky for more expensive purchases unless you have an expert eye.

Chirps and trills will lead you to the nearby alley called Hong Lok Street, known as Bird Street, where thousands of small caged birds are for sale along with hand-crafted wooden cages and bird hors d'oeuvres such as live grasshoppers and worms.

Teahouses on the street have special poles on which bird owners hang their cages when they stop for breakfast while taking their pets for an early morning airing.

One of Hong Kong's best outdoor markets for inexpensive clothing, jewelry and "copy watches" that look like designer originals is the Temple Street Night Market, also nearby. Go from 6 to 11 p.m. and bargain hard.

OUTLYING ISLANDS

The three main ones, Lantau, Lamma and Cheung Chau, are easily reached in an hour or so by regular ferry service. The boat ride alone is a treat on a sunny day.

On all three islands you can stroll the hills and sample quiet beaches and small villages.

A major attraction on Lantau is Po Lin Monastery, where monks have put the finishing touches on what may be the world's tallest outdoor bronze Buddha, who watches over Hong Kong from a height of 7 stories. ------------------------------

CRUISING IN ASIA

The opening in October of the new Singapore Cruise Centre - and the crowding in other cruise destinations - is expected to boost interest in luxury cruising in the Asia-Pacific region.

Distance and uncertain political situations have contributed to keeping the region to less than 3 percent of the cruise volume from North America, says Cruise Lines International Association, an industry group.

In addition to passenger-carrying freighters and several liners on extended voyages, fewer than 12 luxury liners connected with North America now cruise Asia. Another half-dozen cruise Asia but don't stop in North America.

Cruise lines serving the Asia Pacific region include Seven Seas Cruises, Cunard Line, Pearl Cruises, Princess Cruises, Royal Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, Royal Viking Line, International Cruise Center and Renaissance Cruises.