Hong Kong

A working one-day Hong Kong plan, written from the perspective of a Saturday-morning regular on the Shenzhen-to-Hong Kong run. Three border-crossing variants up front (Shenzhen overland, ferry from Macau or Shekou, HKIA layover), then an hour-by-hour spine from 8am breakfast at a cha chaan teng through dim sum at a real tea house, the Mid-Levels Escalator, Victoria Peak, and a Star Ferry crossing at blue hour, finishing with wonton noodles in Mong Kok and the last train back at 10pm. Prices in HK$, MTR exits, named restaurants, what to skip.

Dim sum is the meal Hong Kong defines itself by , the Saturday family gathering, the Sunday-morning ritual, the long slow breakfast-through-lunch that takes a morning because it is supposed to take a morning. This is a proper guide: the tea pouring and the finger-tap thank you, the stamp card, the canon of ten dishes you actually need to know, and where to eat them , Luk Yu, Lin Heung, Tim Ho Wan, Maxim Palace, and the Sham Shui Po cheap-and-good end.

Cha chaan teng , 茶餐廳, Hong Kong’s mid-century tea-cafe, now intangible cultural heritage. Silk-stocking milk tea, pineapple buns with a slab of butter, baked pork chop rice, and the specific joy of being efficiently shouted at by a waiter who has thirty other tables to turn over.