Discover Hong Kong after dark

China Travel News Posted in China Travel News，
16 June 2012
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Hong Kong Escape

Central Hong Kong at dusk. Picture: Getty
Source: National Features

I’D BE the first to admit that Hong Kong can’t rival Bangkok or Tokyo for night revelry and wild goings-on.

Its inhabitants are more into restaurants than bars, the live-music scene is almost non-existent and expatriates create much of the drinking scene.

But I reckon anyone wanting a fun night out in safe surrounds could hardly be in a better place.

Start at the party epicentre, Lan Kwai Fong in Central, and you won’t be disappointed. Confusingly, Lan Kwai Fong is both a street and a whole district packed with more than 100 venues, from funky gay dance spots to elegant champagne bars and noisy beer halls.

On the corner of two of the district’s most happening streets, Stormies is chiefly a beer-guzzling men’s bar, just the place to swap sports news and sway to good-time 1980s and ’90s music.

Nearby, retro Al’s is a popular hangout for after-office workers and lovers of 1950s diner fare, old-time music and a sociable atmosphere. Later at night, Al’s gets a lot rowdier, especially when its infamous jelly vodka does the rounds and people start dancing on the tabletops.

The choice for the more ladylike should be Italian cafe La Dolce Vita, whose beautiful wooden bar is the place for champagne or cocktails.

Meanwhile, Di Vino has a wider selection of wines by the glass than just about anywhere in Hong Kong. This small venue is probably best in the early evening.

Italian-inspired bars are a little predictable, but Lan Kwai Fong can be weird as well as wonderful.

Balalaika is a Russian-themed hoot. Decked out like a hunting lodge, the fun and sociable restaurant comes with folk art, antlers and occasional balalaika players. If you can afford it, the VIP room looks like a mad tsar’s palace and is your chance to try outrageously expensive caviar.

Across Hong Kong harbour, Knutsford Tce is Kowloon’s answer to Lan Kwai Fong, though not as out-of-control. Restaurant and bar tables spill across the street, which is closed to traffic, making it easy to bar hop.

I have a soft spot for the endearingly kitschy Bahama Mama’s, the nearest thing to a beach bar in Hong Kong.

Twinkling fairy lights drape faux palm trees. A rowboat and surfboard hang from the ceiling, and old hurricane lamps and diving helmets add to the Caribbean theme.

Elsewhere in the city, bars are more scattered, so chat to locals or obtain recommendations from your concierge.One of my new favourites is 1/5 Nuevo, a classy cocktail lounge in Wan Chai with a sophisticated and romantic decor of suede sofas and subdued lighting. It’s more relaxed than some venues, with good chill-out music and a Friday night DJ spinning RB tracks. Enjoy fruit mojitos, sangria and wine by the glass.

Signature cocktails are unusual, such as apple vodka with gingerbread syrup. Accompanying Spanish-influenced bar snacks are outstanding. Admittedly, 1/5 Nuevo is a little pricey, so aim for the 5pm to 9pm happy hour, on every day except Sundays.

I reckon if you’re going to splurge, best save yourself for one of Hong Kong’s spectacularly glamorous, up-market bars that capture those famous neon-shimmering, money-flaunting harbour views.

Many of these such as the legendary Felix Bar are in top hotels, which are very much part of the scene in Hong Kong.

Recently, several newcomers have refreshed the scene. Eye Bar on the 30th floor above a chic new retail centre features huge wrap-around windows and that Hong Kong rarity, an outdoor deck.

If you get peckish, Eye Bar is part of Nanhai No.1, a restaurant that has earned a Michelin star for its contemporary Chinese, seafood-focused cuisine.

Another hot scenic spot is Ozone. Perched on the 118th floor of the newly opened ICC Building, it’s one of the world’s highest bars, unless you travel in the pointy end of an A380.

It, too, has an outdoor terrace, though screened by large panels of glass to keep you from being blown into the harbour along with your plates of Asian tapas.

Ozone is roughly at the same altitude as The Peak across the water, which has always been the classic Hong Kong viewing point, reached by rack railway.

The best bar view in Hong Kong isn’t from above but rather from across at the Lobby Bar of the InterContinental in Kowloon.

The city’s only waterfront hotel takes advantage of its location by draping its lobby in glass looking right over Victoria Harbour towards the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island.

The writer was a guest of Qantas and the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

** Go2

HONG KONG

- Getting there

Qantas has A380 flights from Sydney to Hong Kong four times a week. First-class suites have flat Skybeds. Visit qantas.com.au, ph 13 13 13.

- Drinking there

1/5 Nuevo, 9 Star St, Wan Chai. Visit www.elite-concepts.com, ph +852 2529 2300.

Al’s, 27-39 D’Aguilar St, Central. Ph +852 2521 8714.

Bahama Mama’s, 4-5 Knutsford Tce, Tsim Sha Tsui. Ph +852 2368 2121.

Balalaika, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham St, Central. Ph +852 3579 2929.

Di Vino, 73 Wyndham St, Central. Ph +852 2167 8883.

Eye Bar, 30/F, 63 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui. Visit www.elite-concepts.com, ph +852 2487 3688.

La Dolce Vita, 9 Lan Kwai Fong, Central. Visit ninetyseven group.com, ph +852 2186 1888.

Ozone Bar, 118/F, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 1 Austen Rd West, Kowloon. Visit ritzcarlton.com, ph +852 2263 2263.

Stormies, 46 D’Aguilar St, Central. Visit igors.com, ph +852 2845 5533.

- Staying there

InterContinental Hong Kong is the city’s only absolute harbour-front hotel, with two Michelin-starred restaurants, swimming pool and health spa. See intercontinental.com, 18 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, ph 1800 669 562.

More Chinese Opting For “Therapeutic Tourism”

China Travel News Posted in China Travel News，Tags:
16 June 2012
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Australia Launched New Tourism Campaign In China This Month

Tourism Australia’s “There’s Nothing Like Australia” campaign includes a multi-language app

By now, it should come as no surprise that wealthier and middle-class Chinese are becoming big on travel, with trips by Chinese outbound tourists expected to grow to 80 million trips this year, according to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), up from 70 million in 2011 and 57.4 million in 2010. While many well-heeled outbound tourists hit other foreign metropolises for long-distance shopping sprees, a growing number of the more adventurous (or more seasoned) are seeking to escape the whir of urban life in pursuit of a different travel experience, from experiential tourism to eco-tourism and even wine tourism. But for others, to the list, tourism for health or medical reasons is a growing trend, while the rising popularity of therapeutic travel — absent many of the logistical kinks seen in medical tourism — is offering areas of natural beauty a huge opportunity.

One example of a destination trying to attract big-spending mainland Chinese therapeutic travelers is quite close to home: China’s Hainan Island. (A place that Jing Daily has returned to again and again.) Still in the midst of a construction and rebranding campaign, launched in 2009, aimed at recasting the island as “China’s Riviera,” a high-end getaway on par with Hawaii or Bali, amid Hainan’s typical five-star resorts and beaches lie a growing number of smaller resorts and spas aimed at enhancing the mental and physical well-being of the stressed-out Shanghainese.

But China’s tourists are venturing much further afield in the hopes of winding down. As Jing Daily wrote this past February, China has become the Maldives’s largest source of tourism, while Malaysia, Thailand, Bali and Singapore have been working to position themselves as hot spots for therapeutic travel.  Last year, Thailand’s Phuket, Koh Samui and Krabi lured around 1.4 million Chinese tourists preferring a “back-to-nature” experience to a sanitized five-star “experience.” Often, packages in Thailand and Malaysia combine therapeutic tourism with medical tourism, looking to attract more middle-aged Chinese travelers.

The Amanpuri Resort in Phuket is a popular luxury destination for Chinese tourists

Knowing that a steadily growing subset of Chinese urbanites increasingly view tourism as a chance for RR rather than intense multi-day shopping, organizations like Tourism of Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Tourism Australia are investing in marketing events and campaigns to sustain their appeal to China. Earlier this month, Tourism Australia launched their US$250 million global campaign, “There’s Nothing Like Australia” in China. Recognizing China as “Australia’s fastest-growing and most valuable overseas tourism market,” Tourism Australia’s Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said at the launch that “China was the logical location to launch the new creative,” noting that Australia ranks as one of China’s top travel preferences.

“The primary purpose of this, and indeed all our global marketing, is to drive international visitation,” McEvoy added, “and China now represents both our fastest growing and most valuable international inbound tourism market.” McEvoy further pointed out that, by decade’s end, China could account for around 900,000 annual visitors to Australia, contributing around AU$9 billion per year to the local economy. Unlike France and Britain, countries that promote their shopping and spending options and sightseeing and cultural options roughly evenly, Australia’s new campaign is focused mainly on natural beauty, environment and space — three things increasingly scarce in urban China.

The campaign features many attractions unique to Australia, including the Bungle Bungles in The Kimberley, Sydney harbor, Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef’s Lizard and Hayman Islands, Freycinet in Tasmania and South Australia’s Kangaroo Island. Starting in China, the UK and USA and also in Australia, we consider “There’s Nothing Like Australia” a smart move, as it displays an understanding of current best practices: namely, global uniformity and consistency of message. In terms of attracting more Chinese tourists in particular, the fact that the campaign will play in countries that have many Chinese overseas students means that many will see the campaign (as may their parents) and some will convince family members to travel to Australia.