We have guests in town. They constantly request to see Hong Kong's Chinatown. What's worrying is they are semi-serious. Last night, exhausted by two days of solid shopping, they asked to go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We took them to Wan Chai. After stepping over a drunk and walking past three hookers we made it to the entrance of the American Chinese Restaurant. With lino floors, fluro lights and well used menus we knew it was authentic. Rapid fire ordering of old favourites was met with equally rapid delivery of the food in no particular order (note to the waiter - spring rolls tend to be a starter, not a dessert). The food was good traditional Pekingese style and despite the place being mostly full of expats I can heartily recommend it.

Tourist guides have much to answer for when it comes to HK. Our guests pestered us to see the escalator from Central to Mid-levels. Happily XTC ice-cream is located below said escalator, so one chocolate/honey melon later, we were ascending to the heavens on the escalator. For those not familiar with it, it is actually a series of escalators joined together with concrete paths full of gaudy advertising. You can stand and look into various houses and businesses as you pass within centremeters of their windows. You can have your shoulder dislocated by barging citizens of HK. You can climb stairs because an escalator is being repaired. It may be a novelty to tourists but otherwise it's really an eyesore that doesn't stick out because it's surrounded by similar eyesores, being various apartment and office buildings in varying states of disrepair.

We caught a cab and found ourselves winding along Stubbs Road and looking at the vista of the Island and Kowloon. The haze had lifted and it was an awesome sight. We got the taxi to stop at the Stubbs Rd Lookout, which was mercifully empty of mainland tourists and their massive busses. The taxi driver was thankful to use the facilities while we enjoyed the view. Of course the stand with bright fluro lights, full working PC, crew of 4 and a camera were an interesting sideshow. For HK$20 we had a photo with Hong Kong as a background, instantly printed and a promise of an email with said photo. So our friends got to see the view and a great example of HK's entrepreneurial spirit all at the same time.

Only in Hong Kong. That's the kind of thing they need in the guidebooks.