The Hong Kong National Geopark (香港地質公園) opened in November 2009. As the name indicates, this "park" features sites with interesting geology. Rather than being a single area, the geopark includes eight sites (and combinations of sites) in eastern Hong Kong.

Here, there are Hong Kong's oldest and youngest rocks, ranging from 400 million to 65 million years old, as well as Hong Kong's star rock formation - the columnar jointed volcanic rocks, of a kind known as tuff. 

Though elsewhere in the world there are columnar jointed basalt lavas - famously including the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and Devil's Tower in the US, nowhere else has such extensive or spectacular columnar-jointed tuff. The rock indeed appears to be in columns, with hexagonal cross sections and up to a metre or more across. Other rocks include highly contorted sediments with fossils such as ancient fish, and the finely layered mudstones of Tung Ping Chau.

Hoi Ha Wan (海下灣) - the Bay Beneath the Sea - in the north of the Sai Kung Peninsula, is one of Hong Kong's best places for hard corals, with around 60 species. The bay below the high tideline has been designated a country park; and I've just visited, including joining an eco-tour by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

 The sky has cleared by the time Charlie Frew and I set off for our ascent of Buffalo Hill (well, to me it's an ascent; to Charlie a slow stroll to a peak he runs up and down for a bit of fun before breakfast). Ma On Shan looks impressive as we walk through villages near Sai Kung, before following a country trail uphill.

So you've just arrived in Asia's World City, the City of Life (well, that's what the Hong Kong Government and the Hong Kong Tourism Board say anyway), this place where it used to be said that East Meets West. What to do?

Well, there's shopping! There are shops, stalls and shopping malls everywhere you look in the city, packed to the gunwales with designer goods, foodstuffs, arts and crafts, luxury brand handbags, watches, cameras. Whew! - could lead to credit card meltdown, so let's go.

Now, weighed down with carrier bags (designer brand bags, of course), what next? Let's eat! There are so many restaurants and cafes, with menus to tempt the tastebuds, pamper the palate, to send even the most ardent gourmets into paroxysms of delight.

Waddling out of the restaurant, clutching all these heavy bags, does Hong Kong tourism have more to offer? But of course: there's sightseeing! You can join a Hong Kong tour - during which the guide may kindly take you to another shop, or a factory outlet, so we can do more shopping. Or, tour independently, check out some Hong Kong tourist attractions.