There is a tussle going on between Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing as they are all keenly vying for the title of most exciting city in Asia, the destination for shopping, dining and style. But these cities still have a way to go before they steal Hong Kong’s limelight. Hong Kong has managed to bounce back from the upheaval of the handover, the Asian economic crisis and the SARS health scare an today, the city is more vibrant and successful than ever. I think if anything has changed in the last 10 years, it’s the fact that Hong Kong is finally transforming itself into a metropolis that cares, most crucially, about its heritage and about the pollution, which is its biggest blight.

My colleague who was accompanying me said that to truly experience Hong Kong you have to get out amongst the old wooden junks and huge container ships straining out towards the South China Sea. And the best way to do this is aboard the star ferry. This is no less than one of the world’s great ferry rides, particularly at night when the island glints and winks with the lights of hundreds of buildings. The trip takes just 6 minutes, thanks to the land reclamation that is bringing the two sides of the harbour constantly closer together. For something little more leisurely, we book a trip on the Aqua Luna which is a chicly renovated wooden junk which plies the harbour playing party music and pouring wine for its patrons reclining amid cushions and tea lights drinking in the stunning vista plus it was Saturday morning so we also climbed on board possibly the most famous icon of Hong Kong, the Duk Ling Junk, whose beautiful batwing red sails grace hundreds of tourist brochures, thankfully every Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning the Honk Kong tourism board hires it and tourists ride for free.

Hong Kong has awesome feats of engineering claw the skyline when I saw the International Finance Building which has giant claws on the top of it, boldly proclaimed the wealth and influence of this city. But to truly appreciate the towering monuments, we saw the vista at night. Every evening at 8 pm, s symphony of lights beams into action, laser beams, searchlights and spotlights bounce off the buildings towards the stars in time to music and narration. The best vantage point is along Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront on the Kowloon side between the Avenue of Stars and the Hong Kong Cultural centre, when we took the Star Ferry acroos.