Nightlife

The "City of Life" lives by night: most hot in-town venues don't even get going until midnight, and the pace at night is more frantic than by day. Enterprising Sinophiles can try to get invited along to a local karaoke evening and warble into a mike over buckets of beer to Cantonese pop videos. Others seeking ex-pat drinking at its most intense should head for Lan Kwai Fong, a tiny area of Central with a vast concentration of bars and restaurants. Soho ("South of Hollywood Road") is a slightly more chic and relaxed concentration of leisure spots just off the Mid-Levels escalator. Chinese locals tend to favour Tsim Sha Tsui, riddled with bars and clubs. And anyone seeking such things will be pleased to hear that they can get all the action they want in the girlie bars and joints of Wan Chai, destination of many a poor Filipina or Thai peasant maiden. Despite the ludicrously strict noise restrictions on open-air events, proof that well-connected residents can swing huge clout with city hall, live music is also hugely popular and well catered for. Check the free listings in BC Magazine and HK Magazine for the latest details, as well as `for updates on raves, which average at least one per weekend.Located east of Central district, the Wanchai District, famed for its nightlife, is the perfect place for a night on the town.

Bars: Escalator riders can rub elbows congenially with prominent ex-pats and a good few Hong Kongers in the friendly wood-and-marble bar The Bayou, 9-13 Shelley Street. Margarita addicts should try Coyote, 114-120 Lockhart Road, in Wan Chai; nearby, the Horse and Groom, 161 Lockhart Road, gets a solid Cantonese drinking crowd despite its cod Brit fittings. Definitely the most popular venue in Lan Kwai Fong, Insomnia, 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, creates an air of quality with its stonework and Florentine-style loggia, then promptly contradicts it with Filipina girl bands and relentless disco. Post97, 9 Lan Kwai Fong, is comfortable and serene after the madness outside. Over in Kowloon, Rick's Café, 4 Hart Avenue, has some of the longest queues on Saturday night, which must count for something.

Casinos: Hong Kong does not have any casionos; instead they are all a 50-minute jetfoil ride away in Macau, which is famous as a gambler's paradise. Jetfoils run all night just to service the Chinese love of gambling. Macau boasts nine casinos in all, with dress code ranging from smart casual to formal; passports should always be carried. The best casinos include the Hotel Lisboa and Casino, 2-4 Avenida de Lisboa, Macao City, the Mandarin Oriental Macao, 956-1110 Avenida da Amizade, Macao City, and the Hyatt Regency and Taipa Island Resort, 2 Estrat Almirante Amrquesa, Taipa Island.

Clubs: Hong Kong clubs are almost invariably cramped, but the DJ action can be world class. For constantly changing multi-storey action in Central, fall through a hole in the wall and shoot up in the lift for CE Top, 37-43 Cochrane Street; check the flyers in the hall for the night's theme on each level. The faint of heart should avoid Joe Bananas, 23 Luard Road, pick-up joint par excellence and venue for cheesy model nights, where leggy Suzie Wongs stalk fat cats in three-piece suits. Vying for the "So unhip it hurts" crown are Club 97, 9 Lan Kwai Fong, and Red Rock, 57-59 Wyndham Street. Star East, G/F, Bank of America Tower, 12 Harcourt Road, is Central's current favourite trance/progressive house zone. Ing, 4f, Renaissance Harbour View, 1 Harbour Road, is a slightly classier, duller version for Cantonese teenyboppers.

Live music: What passes for stadium rock in Hong Kong is usually found at HITEC or the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive. Filipina live bands from brilliant to unbearable swarm across Hong Kong Dusk Till Dawn, 76 Jaffe Road, has some of the best, while its strongest nearby competitor is The Wanch, 54 Jaffe Road. The Jazz Club, 34-36 D'Aguilar Street, plays far more than just that.

Sport

Hong Kong's favourite sports are few and fervently followed: none more so than racing. The Jockey Club even underwrites the territory's welfare state; tellingly, the government's millennium celebrations were staged at the Happy Valley Racecourse (tel: 25 72 28 81). The other main track is at Sha Tin (tel: 29 66 65 20). The Rugby Sevens are the other chief sporting fixture: competition for seats at this three-day carnival is fierce, and as with most major events internationally, corporate hospitality usually scoops the pool. Sailing and other watersports are mostly based out of Aberdeen on the southern side of Hong Kong Island.

Golf: The Asian businessperson's love of golf is catered for in several clubs, with the Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club (tel: 27 19 15 95) and the Hong Kong Golf Club (tel: 26 70 12 11) favouring those with the largest expense accounts. Others play at The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course (tel: 27 91 33 88). Green fees per person are HK$1200 at Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club, HK$1150 at Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course, HK$1400 at Hong Kong Golf Club.

Health clubs: California Fitness Centers (tel: 25 22 52 29) has a chain of clubs across the territory; New York Fitness (tel: 25 43 22 80) runs a close second. There are also numerous public facilities.

Swimming: Hong Kong has 42 officially listed bathing beaches and 13 public pools, to say nothing of the private pools at sports clubs and hotels. Furthermore, swimming is one of the most popular ways to keep cool in the sweltering summer. So the place is not exactly short on facilities for the keen swimmer. Popular (sometimes too popular) public pools include the pools at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay and Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui. Open season for sea bathing starts 1 April and ends 31 October, although the weather may be good enough to allow swimming outside these times. Pollution and overcrowding plagues the beaches closer to central Hong Kong: the best ones are in the New Territories and the outlying islands. Summer weekends are predictably busy on the beaches. The Amateur Swimming Association (tel: 25 72 85 94) may be able to provide more detailed information.

Tennis: There are public courts available at Victoria Park (tel: 25 70 61 86), the Tennis Centre (tel: 25 74 91 22) and King's Park (tel: 23 88 81 54).