If this is your first visit to Hong Kong, you will be spending most of it split between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. Central, where the Airport Express dropped you off, is at the heart of Hong Kong Island and holds the ferry terminals that'll take you to Kowloon. Just west of the station is the Shun Tak Ferry Terminal where launches and turbo-jets leave for Macau , Shenzhen and Canton. Central also holds most of Hong Kong Island's legendary skyscrapers. The Peak rising up behind the skyscrapers is one of the most exciting places you'll visit. An open-air escalator takes you almost to the top, through the entertainment districts of SoHo to the residential heights of Mid-Levels. The old Chinese shopping streets of Sheung Wan, which also holds the entertainment district of Lan Kwai Fong, are to the west of Central. To the east, Central's neighbouring precincts of Admiralty, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay form an unbroken expanse of nightlife, entertainment, dining and shopping opps beyond measure. Further south of Causeway Bay, on the other side of the island, are the harbours of Aberdeen, Ocean Park, the Happy Valley Race Course and Stanley.
Just east of the Airport Express Station in Central is the Star Ferry pier for connections to Kowloon's night markets, walled city and ancient Hakka enclaves. The New Territories lie north of Kowloon and are bigger than both the island and peninsula put together. Just north of the Airport Express Station are the ferry piers for connections to HK's Outlying Islands. If that orientation left you wondering at the size of this territory, it may help to think of Hong Kong as an inverted layered cake. The sturdy base is the New Territories, hugging the border with China. The moist top layer is the Kowloon Peninsula. Separating Kowloon from the rich icing Hong Kong Island is the thin strip of Victoria Harbour. And the glowing candles? the outlying islands!
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