Railways once formed the arteries through which trade and industry flowed to new frontiers during many a pioneering era - and now Hong Kong is seeing a journey west of its own as expanding MTR links and other infrastructure offer homebuyers a route to opportunity.
With space for luxury accommodation on Hong Kong Island and central parts of Kowloon exacting a premium, the 'out of town' option appears to be proving more attractive for those seeking upmarket accommodation.
Pivotal to the success of this vision is the expanding area on the western part of Kowloon. In the eyes of developers and planners, the concept starts with the iconic ICC Tower taking shape in West Kowloon - an area designated to form a cultural hub - past Nam Cheong, on to the district of Tsuen Wan and even further into New Territories West.
It is in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong's first new town, where one developer at least sees prestige residential projects forming the backbone of this trend.
Apartments at Sino Land's Vision City project in the heart of the town have been mostly sold to a solid mix of expat and local tenants who have put their faith in the area.
'When we prepared for the Vision City project we also studied the area of Tsuen Wan,' said Salenda Lau, Sino Group's general manager of sales and marketing. 'It's a very mature district and the first big [urban] centre you view when coming from the airport. Geographically, it's quite central in location to Hong Kong as a whole with the expanding MTR links.