1. Spend a Night at the Opera

Cantonese opera might sound like discordant screeching to the untrained ear, but make no mistake, this is a fine and ancient art. It combines song, mime, dancing, martial arts and fantastic costumes and make-up and can go on for six hours or more. Call the HKTB for details of performances.

• Hong Kong Tourism Board
• HKTA Hotline 2508 1234
• Airport buffer halls and Area A2
• Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry terminal, Kowloon 8am - 6pm daily
• G/F, the Center, 99 Queen's Rd, Central
• 8am - 6pm daily
• www.discoverhongkong.com

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2. Ride on a Junk

We've all seen that iconic image of the junk, blood-red batwing sails unfurled as the sun sets over Victoria Harbour. Unfortunately, it's usually the same boat. The Duckling is one of the few masted sailing junks left. Trips can be organized through the HKTB. If you're wadded, you can hire one of the gin palaces masquerading as junks for around HK$5,000 a day. Check the classified pages in the South China Morning Post.

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3. Feast on Dim Sum

Dim sum literally translates as "touch the heart", although in some establishments it may also touch your wallet. The small steamed snacks in bamboo baskets are delivered by grumpy old ladies with trolleys.

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4. Visit a Market

Hong Kong's wet markets can bring on instant culture shock for those tourists who are more used to the orderly atmosphere of supermarkets. Tiptoe through rivers of blood, past gizzards and buzzing flies as hawkers yell and housewives bargain.

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5. Go for a Traditional Tonic

For a taste of the real China, try a tonic restaurant. Chefs whip up dishes with all sorts of herbs, spices and dangly bits, in accordance with the principles of "heating" or "cooling" foods. A tonic lunch at the Treasure Inn Seafood Restaurant includes fried snowfrog and bamboo fungi.

• 2/F Western Market, 323 Des Voeux Rd, Sheung Wan
• 2850 7780
• $$ (HK $100 - 250)*

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6. Try Foot Reflexology

Vice-like hands seek out pressure points linked to vital organs. The procedure is painful, and you might be embarrassed about your feet, but you will feel so good when they stop. Reflexologists abound in Happy Valley. Try On Wo Tong.

• 1/F Lai Shing Bldg, 13 - 19 Sing Woo Rd
• 2893 0199

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7. Aim for Everything Zen

For a modern take on ancient China, check out the Chi Lin Nunnery in Kowloon. This gorgeous replica of a seven-hall Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 907) complex took 10 years to build, using traditional techniques and materials. Bliss out as stubble-headed nuns chant to the Sakyamuni Buddha.

• Chi Lin Drive, Diamond Hill
• 9am - 3.30pm. Closed Wed
• Free

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8. Experience Unbelievable Gall

She Wong Lam in the northeast of Hong Kong Island is the place to sup on snake wine, a traditional winter tonic. The speciality is a fiery brew containing the gall bladders of five deadly snakes.

• Hillier St, Sheung Wan
• 2543 8032

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9. Watch a Lion Dance

Lions are thought to ward off evil and bring luck, which explains why the opening of a new building often features a troupe of wiry youths prancing about beneath a stylised lion's head. Common around Chinese New Year.

• Chinese New Year
• Three days from the first day of the first moon, usually late Jan or early Feb

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10. Practise Tai Chi

Turn up at the clocktower near the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui at 8am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and you can enjoy an hour's free instruction in this gentlest of martial arts.

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