Fortune telling is one of many activities festival goers can take part in during Hong Kong's 18 days of festivals. -- Photos courtesy of Hong Kong Tourism

Experience the life of a Shaolin monk for a day, or join the crowds and watch costumed children "float" through the air over city streets.

It's all part of springtime in Hong Kong, when the territory plays host to no fewer than four major festivals. This year it happens between April 20 and May 7. Some of the festival dates overlap so you can easily attend more than one, even during a brief stay.

One local favourite is the Cheung Chau Bun Festival from May 1-6, when residents of the outlying island of Cheung Chau join in ceremonies to placate hungry ghosts believed to be roaming. Sweet buns are distributed to villagers and visitors after being displayed on towers outside Pak Tai temple.

The highlight of the week-long fest is a colourful parade featuring youngsters dressed as fairies and characters from Chinese legends who appear to float through streets on hidden rods and wires.

BUDDHA'S BIRTHDAY

Many Hong Kong temples, such as the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin, are major tourist attractions. During Buddha's birthday, marked from April 28 to May 7, Buddhist temples in the territory will be an extra special place to visit.

For example at the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island (home of the world's largest seated outdoor Buddha) you can watch Kung Fu performances, witness the traditional bathing of Buddha statues, or get a glimpse into the world of the Shaolin monk for a day. Visitors can learn about the monks' prayer rituals and dress code, cook a vegetarian meal, and visit the Wisdom Path.

OTHER FESTIVALS

Thousands of locals who earn their livelihood from the sea will celebrate two different one-day festivals that will include parades, lion and dragon dances and more.

The birthday of Tin Hau, Goddess of the Sea, takes place April 20 at six different locations, while the birthday of Tam Kung, patron of fisherman and boat people, happens May 5, at Tam Kung Temple, Shau Kei Wan.

During the 18-day festival period, you'll find a Temple Fair every weekend on the Central Ferry Piers in the Central distric on Hong Kong Island. Look for bun towers, floral shrines and walkways with traditional lanterns. Set among the decorations will be stalls with Chinese paper-cutting, doll making, calligraphy, fortune telling and traditional foods.

Cultural performances -- lion dances, acrobatics, martial arts, puppet shows, stilt walkers and storytelling where visitors are introduced to legends and stories behind the festivals -- will take place in the evenings.

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2006 DISCOVER HONG KONG YEAR

Hong Kong's bun festival parade.

Aside from festivals and the new Disneyland park, the territory has several other new or soon-to-be-opened attractions:

- Hong Kong Wetland Park -- a 64-hectare nature reserve in Tin Shui Wai -- is expected to open before the end of June. Billed as "one of Asia's premier wildlife hotspots," it will have a feeding ground for more than 300 species of birds, a visitor centre with exhibits on wetland ecology and interactive activities, a mangrove boardwalk and bird viewing areas.

- The Ngong Ping 360 cable car will soon carry visitors on a spectacular 5.7-km ride across the green hills of Lantau Island to a host of cultural attractions near the island's famous giant Buddha. The 25-minute ride between the Tung Chung and Ngong Ping Terminals, will offer panoramic views that take in the Buddha, the North Lantau Country Park, and Tung Chung Bay. Completion is expected before summer.

- The Hong Kong Maritime Museum, which opened in September, is the territory's first major seafaring museum. Located in Murray House at Stanley Plaza, its galleries offer a glimpse of vessels that have plied the Chinese coastal waters in the past 2,000 years and show Hong Kong's development as a major world port and leading maritime centre.

Discoverhongkong.com/canada has details.