It's funny that I went to a uncrowded countdown last year. Well, it was also very cold by Hong Kong standard for 12/31/2005.
Anyways, there was a small countdown party run by a radio station in front of the City Hall next to Star Ferry on the HK side. Couple friends and I took the tramway at around 11:00pm from Tin Hau, past the crowds in Causeway Bay (they blocked some roads and all the tram stations in that area) and got to Central at around 11:30. It was so freaking cold that by 12:02, the whole crowd had disappeared.