First impressions are everything, and I Asia's golden city pulls out all the stops to say hello. Hong Kong has no patience for subtleties like Thai smiles and red carpets. It doesn't so much welcome unsuspecting first-timers as literally blows them off their feet with a display of what's best about Hong Kong its very own combination of Western technological might and Chinese efficiency. Once out of your plane at Hong Kong International .Airport, if you've arrived at one of the distant gates, a driver-less train pulls up in greeting just to carry you to Customs and immigration at breakneck speed. Welcome to the largest, most expensive airport on Earth. Another high-speed train waits right outside the Customs Hall to take you again, at breakneck speed out to the city. Speeding below the deep blue of the South China Sea and across the longest road and rail suspension bridge on Earth, it deposits you at the heart of Hong Kong Island, a breathless 23 minutes later. Welcome to the most famous square mile in Asia.

Shaking off the daze from travelling over a mile a minute, you think you can now allow first impressions to form. Then you look up towards the sun. Hong Kong's overawing welcome hasn't ended. Open-mouthed, you crane your neck to gaze up at buildings for which the term skyscraper was coined. Six of these mammoths are among the 10 tallest on Earth. Welcome to the Manhattan of Asia. Turn around to grab your first sight of Hong Kong's legendary Victoria Harbour, amongst the most beautiful ports on the planet. Pleasure boats, sampans, junks, grand cross-harbour bridges and, beneath that deep blue, trains and cars carrying millions in this eternally frantic city. Just beyond are the throbbing markets of the Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong's beautiful Asian face.