Assume “romantic getaway” and Paris, Prague or maybe Dubrovnik could come to thoughts. The traditional vibes of those outdated European cities are conducive for a Valentine’s Day vacation.
How about this as an alternative? Image you and your accomplice exchanging stolen kisses – or only a romantic dinner, if you’re a little bit extra conservative – in opposition to a extra Japanese backdrop that’s sultry and sensuous.
Rather less Midnight In Paris (2011) and a little bit extra In The Temper For Love, the unforgettable 2000 film by director Wong Kar-wai starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung.
You’ll be able to even gown the half, donning a conventional get-up for a photograph shoot in one of many atmospheric alleys in Hong Kong that your pals on social media will envy.
Celebrations for Chinese language New Yr and Valentine’s Day are occurring shut collectively in 2024. Valentine’s Day falls on the fifth day of the Lunar New Yr, and Hong Kong hopes to draw {couples} to spend a weekend there or longer.
In keeping with its “East-meets-West romantic getaway” marketing campaign, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (str.sg/EhMh) is highlighting a bunch of happenings.
Romance
Don a qipao and recreate a sultry scene from Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 movie, In The Temper For Love, in Central Road
Credit score: Luke Chan
Do a traditional picture shoot
Stroll across the metropolis and take some Instagram-worthy photographs of yourselves – don’t forget that tux and qipao – recreating scenes from Wong’s traditional.
For photo-shoot areas, attempt Central Market (www.centralmarket.hk/en) with its grand terrazzo staircase; the stone steps of Pottinger Road, one of many metropolis’s oldest lanes; and the stately Tai Kwun (www.taikwun.hk/en), a sprawling Victorian-era heritage complicated with shady courtyards.
Snap some Instagram-worthy photographs on the higher deck of one among Hong Kong’s iconic trams
Credit score: Luke Chan
For a extra up to date contact, pose in entrance of an area dai pai dong, or open-air meals stall, or on the higher deck of one among Hong Kong’s iconic double-decker trams.
Make rock sweet or pearl jewelry
If you’re into candy stuff, Papabubble (www.papabubble.com.hk), a confectionery store in Tai Grasp, runs a rock sweet workshop that may make for a enjoyable half-day.
Making your individual jewelry with freshly harvested pearls at a workshop in Sai Kung
Credit score: Hong Kong Pearl Cultivation Affiliation
In any other case, take a look at a pearl jewellery-making workshop in Sai Kung. The workshops can organise a go to to a pearl farm and hands-on jewellery-making session with freshly harvested pearls.
Have a romantic dinner
Save dim sum for breakfast or lunch. Within the night, gown in your greatest and take a look at Hong Kong’s fine-dining scene, and you could be delighted to find that this Asian metropolis additionally aces Western eating.
If you don’t thoughts forking out a little bit extra for the event, many eating places will likely be staging Valentine’s Day feasts. Contemplate Sabatini Ristorante Italiano (str.sg/jNgu) on the IFC mall for genuine Italian fare, full with stay music and extra IG-worthy harbour views.
Sabatini Ristorante Italiano’s most important eating corridor affords a sweeping view of Hong Kong to finish a romantic dinner.
Credit score: Sabatini Ristorante Italiano
E book the Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic (cristalroombyasp.com) on the Gloucester Tower Landmark for a spot of French meals or dine on the new Mondrian Hong Kong lodge (str.sg/CRen) in Tsim Sha Tsui, the place you possibly can sip a fusion cocktail such because the Clay Pot Negroni on the Avoca, earlier than heading upstairs for a hearty reduce at Italian steakhouse Carna by Dario Cecchini.
Fortune
In fact, Valentine’s Day isn’t the one purpose to go to Hong Kong now.
In line with the town’s long-held obsession with luck, its tourism board is looking for to pitch Hong Kong as a “metropolis of fortune” through the Chinese language New Yr season.
It’s recommending quite a few temples to go to within the Yr of the Dragon, such because the 700-year-old Tin Hau temple in Clear Water Bay and Taisui Yuanchen Corridor in Wong Tai Sin.
It’s also selling what it calls “success actions”. Ascend the town’s excessive factors resembling The Peak or Dragon Again path, or hike to a close-by waterfall to “take up nature’s optimistic vitality”.
For extra info on temples and different cultural sights, go to str.sg/E7hc
Whether or not or not you imagine in luck, this can be a superb time to offer Hong Kong a shot. After your loved ones reunion, contemplate a weekend getaway to soak up the noise and color of the Chinese language New Yr celebrations that the town is thought for.
Usher within the Yr of the Dragon with the Cathay Worldwide Chinese language New Yr Evening Parade, which returns after a five-year hiatus, on Feb 10 within the vacationer space of Tsim Sha Tsui.
Credit score: Hong Kong Tourism Board
Throughout the first few days of the Lunar New Yr, you possibly can be a part of the Cathay Worldwide Chinese language New Yr Evening Parade, which can usher within the Yr of the Dragon with a parade of vibrant floats and road performances.
A fireworks show is about to gentle up Victoria Harbour on the night of Feb 11.
Credit score: Info Providers Division
The celebration begins at 8pm on Feb 10 in the principle streets of Tsim Sha Tsui and, in the event you nonetheless have vitality, it continues into the second day of the brand new yr, with a fireworks show set to gentle up Victoria Harbour on the night of Feb 11. Go to str.sg/N5GB for particulars.
Poon choi, a conventional dish that has gained recognition of late, is meant to offer its diners prosperity and happiness by the assorted substances symbolising luck and wealth
Credit score: Alamy Inventory Picture
If you’re feeling a little bit extra conventional, pop into one of many metropolis’s rural walled villages, resembling Yuen Lengthy or Sha Tau Kok, to check out poon choi – an enormous bowl of conventional substances coated in a wealthy gravy that’s imagined to carry prosperity and happiness.
If you’re seeking to cook dinner your individual meal, attempt making a Chinese language New Yr pudding at one of many workshops run by conventional bakeries resembling Kee Wah.
You may as well store for dried seafood in Sheung Wan’s Des Voeux Street West, domestically referred to as “Dried Seafood Road”, the place you will discover countless retailers promoting preserved scallop, abalone, fish maw and shrimp.
Hong Kong offers
Moreover doling out romance and fortune, the tourism board is making a gift of a million eating vouchers. Price HK$100 (S$17) every, the vouchers can be utilized for meals and drinks at collaborating bars and eating places after 6pm.
Additionally, take a look at offers for flights and packages, and a wide range of affords citywide.
Data: Go to str.sg/KF9U
Getting there
Various airways – together with Singapore Airways, Scoot and Cathay Pacific – supply direct flights of about 4 hours from Singapore to Hong Kong.
This text was first printed in The Straits Instances.
Supply: Her World
