Mid-Levels
Mid-levels is a residential area in Hong Kong. Located halfway up the mountain, between the Peak and Central, it is one of the most popular and high-class residential areas for both local folks and expatriates. Precisely, Mid-levels include the area between Queen's Road Central and The Peak, from Caine Road and Robinson Road in the west to Conduit Road in the east. It is mainly separated into East Mid-levels, Central Mid-levels and West Mid-levels.
One of the reasons for its attraction is that it provides a lot of choices of housing from the very luxurious to small and compact apartments, and of course, the cost of these apartments varies considerably according to their sizes and locations. The cost ranges from a few million dollars to about twenty hundreds million dollars. Mid-levels is located at the superior region, apart from having a bird's eye view of the mesmerizing view of the Victoria Harbor from Mid-Levels, it is close to Central and Admiralty which is a significant intense business area, so it provides easy and convenient access for the businessmen living in Mid-levels.
Mid-levels is surrounded by nature and thus have the fresh air thathas almost entirely dissipated in Hong Kong. These account for the extremely high price of all the residential buildings in Mid-levels. As everyone knows that health is equivalent to wealth, many famous people are convinced that it is worthwhile to pay such a high price for a house or apartment in this area. Therefore, it is easy to spot many well known people in this precious district.
Also, the Mid Levels West provides both traditional and historical features. For example, the old buildings in Sheung Wan fall into one of the many traditional and historical features. Moreover, many prestigious schools can be found in Mid-Levels, with the most historical and famous one being The University of Hong Kong.
One other characteristic we can find in Mid-Levels is the naming of roads after a myriad of former Governors of Hong Kong, such as Bonham Road (after George Bonham, 1848-1854) and Kennedy Road (after Arthur E. Kennedy, 1872-1877). Many of the roads in this area are within walking distance of the Central Business District, which is accessible by a long escalator from Central. The escalator links Central district with Conduit Road in the Mid-Levels, starting from Queen's Road Central, along Cochrane Street, Shelley Street and then to the Conduit Road. This escalator was opened to the public in 1994. Being 800 metres long, it is the longest escalator in the world.
Entertainment
1. Eating and Drinking
Lan Kwai Fong as Soho can be found in Central.
a) Lan Kwai Fong
Lan Kwai Fong is a good place for the brilliance nightlife, because you can find a lot of bars, discos and coffee shops around this area, in addition to many large functions held during public holidays and festive occasions. So it is a nice place for gatherings with friends, having a drink at leisure after work. It also attracts a lot of foreigners to have a drink there. During the daytime, bars in Lan Kwai Fong are nearly all closed as people inside are probably preparing for nighttime to dawn. In stark contrast, at night, Lan Kwai Fong is so full of life that you can see a multitude of cultures that exists in Hong Kong. In some special occasions such as Halloween and New Year's Eve, it becomes the ideal area for celebrations.
However, a tragedy happened there on New Year's Eve in 1992 when 21 people were tramped to death by a huge crowd of people celebrating. This disaster was contributed by some undesirable elements of the location namely the narrow streets, a steep gradient, poor police planning and bad weather. However, the situation in Lan Kwai Fong has been improved a lot nowadays. No matter how tragic and griefing that incident was, Lan Kwai Fong still remains a very famous spot of tourist attraction in Hong Kong up till today.
b) Soho
Soho(named after its location "South of Hollywood Road"), is another hot spot in Hong Kong. It is further west from Lan Kwai Fong, around Staunton Street and Elgin Street. Soho offers a compact, fashionable area of bars and restaurants with food from the Himalayas to the Louisiana Bayou, and from Malaysia to the Mediterranean. It becomes well-known due to the fact that this tiny area serves a very wide range of international cuisine, for example: Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.
2. Shopping malls
In the Mid-levels, there are so many far-farmed shopping malls, such as Pacific Place and the Lanmark. Owing to their proximity to the MTR station, it is convenient for people from all parts of Hong Kong. The Lanmark is famous for the brand name shops there, including Chanel as well as Louis Vuitton. This of course attracts tourists from all over the world.
Pacific PlacePacific Place
Shopping Highlight----Western Market
The four-storey, red brick building is a lofty historic monument declared by the Hong Kong Government in 1990 after it was built in 1906. It is now a centre permeating with Chinese arts and crafts.
3. Recreation
Recreational parks such as Hong Kong Park can be found in this area. The Peak is also a famous place for recreation and sightseeing. If you want to walk in some more conservational areas in Mid-levels, country parks such as Tai Tam Country Park and Aberdeen Country Park are some perfect choices for both Hong Kong people and visitors to savor the unpolluted realms far away from the "concrete forest".
a) Hong Kong Park
Hong Kong Park is located next to Cotton Tree Drive in Central and can be easily reached by walking through the Pacific Place and its nearby escalator. Hong Kong Park was open to public in May 1991. It covers an area of 8 hectares and is an outstanding example of modern design and facilities blending with the natural landscape.
Hong Kong Park captures the natural landscape in the busy and crowd business centre and provides a relaxing environment. Its main feature is the Hong Kong's largest aviary while the Vantage Point is another great place to see the "bird exhibition". Moreover, inside the Hong Kong Park there is a greenhouse which holds "plant exhibition" such as "Orchid Exhibition" temporarily. There are also many modern gardens, including Garden Plaza and Tai Chi Garden. In order to suit the sport-lovers, sport centre and squash centre are also built-in Hong Kong Park. By the way, for the people who are interested in art or tea ware, it is a good idea to visit the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre and the Flagstaff House Museum, beacuse Art Centre and the tea ware Museum are just situated near the Hong Kong Park.
b) The Peak
The Peak is one of the attractive tourist destinations in Hong Kong. If you want to visit the Peak, it's very convenient for you to do so, as there are so many transports take you there, but it is highly recommended to you to take the Peak tramway as it only takes 7 minutes to bring you from the bottom of the hill (admiralty) to the terminal - The Peak. Travelling in the Peak tramway is wonderful by feeling its historical importance.In 1988, it carried its first passengers and hasserved as one of the city's most vital transport links over the last century. No one will judge its contribution to Hong Kong. To conclude,for the Peak tramway you take that let you experience the different way of travelling the Peak, and Hong Kong, too! That's why it becomes one of the most popular tourist attraction in Hong Kong. Never forget the working hours of this meaningful service. The Peak Tram runs every day, even on Sundays and public holidays, between 7:00 am and 12:00 midnight. The tram departs every 15 minutes.
The Peak is a popular visiting site not only for the tourist, but also for the locals because from the Peak, the whole picture of Hong Kong will come into the view of your eyes, thanks to it's the highest spot in Hong Kong. When firework is carried out in the Victoria Habour in Lunar New Year and some special days , the Peak is usually an appreciated place to view this fantastic firework. Besides the view, a special building, Peak Tower, which has a special "wok" shape is situated in the Peak. There are seven levels in thePeak Tower, to provide different activities for the visitors, including restaurants, entertainments and some shops selling tradition stuffs. The well-known Madame Tussauds has also opened in Hong Kong, it shows you so many wax figures, such as super stars as Jackies Chan. Also, Peak Explorer Motion Simulator,Hong Kong's Historical Adventure and RiPley's Believe it or not Odditorium all are the others entertainment for you. In addition, many spectaculars are placed in the Viewing Terrances for the visitors to observe Hong Kong view.
c) Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens
The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens is one of the oldest Zoological and Botanical centres in the world. It is located on the northern slope of Victoria Peak and has been opened to the public since 1862. In 1871, the name was offically changed to Botanical Gardens, and in 1975, the name was changed again to Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. This venerable park was previously named Ping Tao Garden, as it was linked to the garden to the Government House in that day, which means Cheif Commander's Garden. In the old days, many lovers liked to go there to have dating.
4. Art and Cultures
In Mid-levels, you can able to feel the culture trait in this area, which ranging from the traditional to the modern culture. Here are some recommadtion in Mid-levels:
a) Hollywood Road
There is a very special road lay on the center of the Mid-levels area - Hollywood Road. When you walk along the road, it seemed you have entered into an art museum, because it is amazingly that there are more than 70 antique and artifact shops and galleries along the road! They mainly sell artworks and antique likes: paintings, Chinese and European artworks, India carpet and some small object that is quite rare and unusual.
b) Lascar Row
Lascar Row is situated between the Queen's Road West and Hollywood Road and is also known as "Cat Street". At the entrance, there are Twin Stone Lions of the Tang Dynasty to act as the symbol of the street. It can be separated into upper part and lower part. Similar to Hollywood Road, many handicrafts and antiquities are also avaliable there. You can find many different stuffs from Dynasty there, for example, some vases and coins. So, it attracts many collectors to find the valuables and treasure.
c) The Flagstaff House Museum
Moreover, inside the Hong Kong Park, there is the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware (茶具文物館), which is a branch museum of the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It is built in the 1840s and originally served as the office and residence of the Commander of the British Forces in Hong Kong. However, it was converted to the Museum of Tea Ware in 1984, with a new wing (the K.S. Lo Gallery) added in 1995. Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware specializes in the collection, study and display of tea ware. Except exhibitions, the museum also holds regular presentations and lecture programmes in order to promote Chinese tea drinking culture.
d) Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre
The Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre is located at the Kennedy Road in Central, the main aim of the centre is supporting the local art creation. The centre was restructured from an early 20th century building (Cassels Block, former barracks for married British officers), in order to provide an area and facilities for local artists in order to enhance their creativity. You can enjoy a lot of modern artifacts and sculptures in this centre.
e)The Main Building of the University of Hong Kong
The Main Building of the University of Hong Kong is the oldest of the university's structures. Its construction began in 1910 and was completed in 1912. It is not open to the public. However, sometimes, there are some public talks will be held by the university, so you can visit the Main Building in passing.
f)Man Mo Temple
Man Mo Temple, as one of the traditiona temples in hong Kong, is another popular tourist spot. Inside Man Mo Temple the Taoist Gods of Literature (Man)with his calligraphy brush and War (Mo) with his sword are enshrined. Tourists can shake fortune sticks out of a bamboo cylinder avaliable in the temple and get the predictions inscribed on the sticks in the book "Man Mo Temple".
5. Technology Development
Cyberport is an area for the development of the applied information technology, the invention of softwares plus media creation. Its intention is to develop and advocate the quaternary and quinary industries in order to invent some high-tech items. Also, it acts as a bridge for the co-operateion of inventions between Hong Kong and other Asian countries.