Where to Walk in Hong Kong
Hong Kong may not seem like the most walkable city, given all the hills and the crazy drivers—not to mention the lack of crosswalks and the corresponding preponderance of over- and underpasses. But the city is a trove of hidden gems.
Leading the Way
You’ve put on your walking shoes and are all set to explore… but where to go? These tour guides take you on journeys laden with history, on photography excursions along nature trails and on trips to uncover hidden corners of the city.
Jason’s Walks
Jason Wordie calls his walking tours “lectures on legs”—and since the local historian has written several books and pens a regular column at the South China Morning Post about local history and culture, it’s no surprise that his tours are packed to the brim with little-known facts.
Wordie was roped into doing his first walking tour in 1996 by the University of Hong Kong’s Women’s Association. He gave a tour of the Western District, and has been doing this tour—along with a wealth of others—for about 15 years now, following the city’s constant evolution along the way. “The venue is a constantly-shifting one, rather than a static situation as in a lecture hall or classroom,” says Wordie. “And the external stimuli, which can lead to questions, vary with each walk, and over time, even in the same location.”
Wordie’s Western District tour begins at Western Market, a wholesale market building built in 1906. From there, the tour proceeds to Possession Point, where the British flag was raised in 1841. There the tour stops for a brief talk about the colonial founding of Hong Kong before continuing along well-known Hollywood Road to Man Mo Temple, which was an important site for the development of Chinese representation groups seeking rights during early colonial Hong Kong. Next up is Tai Ping Shan, where the bubonic plague broke out in 1894. Here, Wordie covers the impact of the outbreak on Hong Kong’s public health and sanitation. Finally, the tour covers a number of shrines to earth gods and ends at the University of Hong Kong in Sai Ying Pun, where Wordie talks about the development of education in Hong Kong and HKU’s role in the Asia-Pacific segment of World War II.
Besides covering well-known areas such as Central, Tsim Sha Tsui and Stanley, Wordie has also taken groups to university buildings in Sai Ying Pun, hospitals and typhoon shelters in Yau Ma Tei and cemeteries in Happy Valley.
People who sign up for his walks learn about the same amount as they would if they holed up in their room reading a bunch of books, and they end up coming away from the walk with a new understanding of the teeming city in which they live.