A small, rather dingy old temple reeking of incense may seem an odd place for me to start a tour of Wanchai on northern Hong Kong Island. But this Hung Shing Temple is one of few places where you can still glimpse Wanchai's distant past.

Dedicated to a man who was perhaps a virtuous official, it was built in the 1860s - just two decades after the island was ceded to Britain. Sited amongst boulders at the foot of the steep hillside, the temple was then by the coast, facing across the harbour towards the Kowloon Peninsula, only newly ceded to Britain (in 1860).

Look only at the temple and the boulders and you might just imagine yourself transported back in time. But either side are modern buildings, and just in front traffic rushes past on Queen's Road, which closely follows the old coastline. Above and behind the temple are trees - most of them in the green space where tycoon Gordon Wu plans to construct a Mega Tower hotel complex; for my part, I hope the mega plans falter, and fancifully hope for a park that's steeped in history.

During the early years of British rule, Wanchai was designated as a Chinese bazaar, and today it remains a thriving shopping district, especially along narrow streets packed with stores and market stalls. Opposite the lower entrance to the Hopwell Centre - which was built by Gordon Wu, and somehow stays aloof from Wanchai proper - is the once-bustling Lee Tung Street.

Lee Tung Street is best known by its local nickname - "Wedding Card Street" - and I stroll down, finding a few shops that still sell traditional wedding cards, coloured gaudy red for luck. But after valiant struggles to save buildings from demolition and replacement, many proprietors have shut up shop and moved out; the closed stores have official looking signs on them, saying, "This is an Urban Renewal Authority Property". Yes, the buildings above look in poor shape, but it's still sad as Hong Kong looses a little more of its character.

Just to the west is Spring Garden Lane, which doesn't look as pleasant as its name suggests - there's a tiny sitting out area with tiny trees, near an ugly government building holding a refuse collection depot. Regular Hong Kongers amble along, checking shops, or stopping by the Jockey Club for a crack at becoming instantly rich. Yet in the late 1840s, there was an area known as Spring Gardens here.

Then, Spring Gardens was right by the harbour, with a promenade where well-heeled ladies strolled, and there were some grand houses, including a residence for a governor or two. Later, as governors moved off to higher places, the area clearly became less respectable: I've noticed a Spring Garden (Lane) photo in the Museum of History, showing rows of bordellos.

Turning off Spring Garden Lane, I walk past market stalls with cheap clothes, jewellery, handbags, flowers, occasional bits and pieces for tourists - who else, these days, wants a green "Mao cap" complete with red star badge? There are some Thai shops here, with spices and other ingredients for cooking up some fiery, fragrant dishes. This seems a laidback area, with people apparently content to amble by the stalls - quite different to my impression in many a mall, where I often find people are intent on zipping through (myself included).

Then, I cross Johnston Road, where trams are queued at the traffic lights, and head for the pedestrian footbridge towards the Convention Centre. I cross Hennessy Road, then eyes right to check out the fitness freaks jogging on the spot in California ("Hey, you can run outside you know - and it's free!"), and over the six lanes of traffic belting along Gloucester Road. All the land here has been reclaimed from our incredible shrinking harbour, much of it since the late 1960s, when the nearby polic station stood on the waterfront.

I drop to ground level beside Central Plaza ("Err, Hell-lohh! - Central is over that way; this is Wanchai"), where there's almost a small park - a few people sit on benches; it's peaceful if you can ignore traffic noise. Then, another walkway, and to the path alongside the harbour, out alongside the Convention Centre.

At the tip of the Convention Centre headland, I arrive at Golden Bauhina Square - which marks the rain-soaked ceremony on the night of 30 June 1997, when Hong Kong was handed back to China. There are mainland tourists, taking photos of each other in front of the Golden Bauhinia statue. But really, this place as a tourist attraction?

We go to the mainland, touring places like the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Terracotta Army - and mainlanders come here and see this. The former Government House would surely be far better as a tourist attraction; but it's mostly closed to visitors. (I've heard tourists found this Goiden Bauhinia "Square" so boring that a flag raising ceremony was introduced.)

There are, admittedly, grand harbour views here. Yet for all it's imposing up close, the Convention Centre is characterless, with expanses of concrete beneath that might make North Korean leaders proud. I almost shiver, and walk on, as the sun sets over Hong Kong.

Briefly, I stroll along Lockhart Road, past the gaudy lights of girlie bars that hail from Wanchai's era as a district for R n R - dating back to early last century, but spawning bars like these mainly during the Vietnam War. The fictional Suzy Wong worked here, but today the girls are mainly not locals, but hail from southeast Asia.

I linger, taking a couple of photos, and two kindly ladies suggest I pop in for a drink - they have cheap beer, and dancers. But my wife has just joined me, though is a little in front, and maybe doesn't want to hang about while I drink beer and watch partly-clad young women wiggling around, so I walk on by.

A quick drink in a regular bar - Wanchai has plenty of these - and, at last, it's time for pizza.