Top 10 ways to delve into Hong Kong’s underbelly

Hong Kong is a place that provokes questions, some without answers. Those five-star hotels and soaring skyscrapers are first world, but those crumbling tenements look third world, don’t they? How do seven million people fit on this tiny speck of land? And how do they decide where to eat in The City of 10,000 Restaurants? How can a simmering tureen of tripe stock look so evil yet smell so good?

Pondering, you reach the water and stare across to Hong Kong Island. Nothing has quite prepared you for the spectacle up close: freighters and motor junks forever plying their harbour trade and, beyond them, a Futurama cityscape rising from near vertical jungle slopes.

It’s an intoxicating place – spectacular, exotic and accessible. If you’re visiting for business, you’ll find pleasure sneaks up on you. If you’re visiting for pleasure, there’s no shortage of locals who make it their business to please. Here are the top ten ways to delve into Hong Kong’s absorbing culture.