I’m not a fan of the Travel Channel offerings. The Poker World Tours, top Hawaiian secrets and haunted hotels shows are flat offerings and do nothing but make me switch the channel. Every now and then, they’ll air Globetrekker that keeps my attention until the first commercial break.

Last night the channel aired a show called “Are We There Yet?: Hong Kong” which was geared towards the traveling American family. It suceeds in the idea, but the actual show is a dud. Unless you and your family are part of the Town and Country set, the “tips” they offer are completely useless. Do you really need to recommend high end hotels such as the Four Seasons or The Peninsula? The starring family hired nannies to babysit while the couple went out on the town each night. Apparently all the the kids need to remember about their HK experience was the Chinese nannie.

While there was the constant reminder that they didn’t want to do anything touristy, and their desire to fit in with locals was really forced. The starring mom talked up the Sampan ride, Star Ferry, HK Disney as too tourist.? No, you don’t say?! Being a local was walking through Stanley Market–the market designed with the non-Asian in mind. Not once did they even mention the Lady’s Market, the Bird Market, or Temple Street. This is a family show, so maybe Temple Street isn’t a good fit. But the Bird Market or the street lined with goldfish would certainly appeal to their little brats. There was no mention about the Teddy Bear store complete with oversized bears and video games that was down the road from the Peninsula. Rather than a public double decker bus, they recommended the sightseeing double decker as an inexpensive way to see the city. Their transport tip also fail to mention the state of the art prepaid passes they use over in Asia that allows the people to pay for their rides without using cash. Those cards also doubles as debit cards in Watsons and convenient stores all over town. Their idea of high tea is at the Peninsula. Please! Give me the real HK high tea with yingyang tea with “baw-law bao” in a “cha-tan-teng” anyday.

Someone please send the Discover folks a copy Hong Kong Rocks!