Help lots of Hong Kong Questions !!

I will be in Hong Kong for the first time at Easter with my husband and 2 children aged 10 and 12.

Lots of questions for you please...

Where are the cleanest beaches so that the children can go in the sea? Do they have changing facilities?

Is it worth visiting the floating restaurants at Aberdeen? The guide books seem to say yes, but is the food terrible?

Where can I get a sampan tour round the harbour?

How much is the right price to pay for a Jade necklace in the market? Haggling brings me out in a cold sweat !!!!

Is it worth visiting the pedder building for cheap designer clothes?

Thank you for any replies, 6 weeks and counting !!

Help lots of Hong Kong Questions !!

Beaches:

I was surprised how clean the beaches are. There is an offical website for the cleaness of beaches. epd.gov.hk/epd/鈥wq_current.html

The repulse bay is great: beautiful beach, easy to reach by bus, there are changing rooms and showers.

There are 4 ';tai long wan'; beaches. The one on Sai Kung penisula is a great expericen if you want to hike and be in the nature. To get there, take a bus / minibus to the town Sai Kung, from there a taxi to the starting point of the trail. The hike takes about 2 hours. You pass a small village, and an other beach. There is a small restaurant at the beach.

An other option is to take one of the sampans from Sai Kung to one of the small islands close by.

Help lots of Hong Kong Questions !!

On Hong Kong Island all the beaches are on the south side of the island. Repulse Bay, Stanley Main Beach, Stanley St Stephens Beach, Big Wave Bay and Shek O beaches are all good sandy beaches which are kept clean. All are easily reached by bus and there are free changing facilities and showers and lifeguards are present outside the winter season. These beaches are also protected by shark nets. I%26#39;m not sure about water quality, I wouldn%26#39;t imagine it%26#39;s too good but it doesn%26#39;t people off swimming or surfing. At Easter these beaches may be busy particularly the barbecue areas.

The outlying islands, Cheung Chau and Lamma (accessible by ferry) and Lantau (ferry, MTR or bus) have some excellent beaches, some with facilities and some without and often completely deserted.

Hong Kong%26#39;s best beaches though are out in the Sai Kung East Country Park but it takes a couple of bus rides and a hike to reach them. Tai Wan, Ham Tin Wan and Sai Wan are idyllic and virtually unspoiled. It%26#39;s a good day out but probably not suitable with young kids.

I%26#39;d say the food in the Jumbo Floating Restaurant is ';average';. Aberdeen itself is not particularly attractive but it does have a busy and interesting harbour. The sampan ride around the busy harbour amongst the junks and houseboats can be interesting but if you do decide to eat at the floating restaurants you get a free ride through the harbour anyway. If you want to take the sampan ride just walk along the promenade at Aberdeen and you%26#39;ll immediately be hunted down by numerous very persistent little old ladies plying for your trade (they watch for you coming from the bridges over the main road that divides the harbour from the town centre). Always haggle for a price and for four of you don%26#39;t pay more than HK$100 for a 30 minute trip.

There are very good seafood restuarants with outdoor tables under canopies on Lamma Island by each of the ferry piers at Sok Kwu Wan and Yung Sheu Wan and it%26#39;s only a 30 minute ferry ride to either of these villages from Central Ferry Pier 4.

Restaurants at Aberdeen are seriously over-rated as with most things found in travel brochures.

The right price for a jade necklace is as much as you%26#39;re prepared to pay for something you REALLY want. Remember, REAL jade is ALWAYS cool to the touch.

The Pedder building has the names (checkout Shanghai Tang at street level) but I don%26#39;t know about cheap .. go the knock offs and most people will never know.

Thanks all for your replies.

I always like to research somewhere thoroughly before I go, but must admit I am finding HK a challenge!!!

Am really looking forward to it and can%26#39;t wait to visit the markets so prob Pedder Building can wait for another time, but am going to Shanghai Tang as visited the one on Orchard Rd Singapore and loved it.