Photos are here.

Hong Kong has long been a favourite destination for shoppers but to my relief Hong Kong is also so much more than that. For a place so small geographically there was still plenty to do during our 9-10 days stay there. We had so much to do that we didn’t even make it across the border to mainland China where we were told there was even cheaper shopping and fantastic massage/beauty halls.

Summary of the trip by Area

Hong Kong Island	On Hong Kong Island there are quite a few districts that you can spend your time in. First and foremost are the Central and Westerns Districts which collectively is considered the real centre of Hong Kong. Here there is a mix of the traditional (from the temples and historical buildings) and the new (with the multitude of skyscrapers.) On your first clear day in Hong Kong you will no doubt find yourself taking the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak for the panaromic views of Hong Kong. On an especially clear day you can see all the way to Disneyland on Lantau Island. However touristy it seems you should definitely take the Tram up and/or down the Peak where you will find yourself travelling at a nearly 45 degree angle. A tip for once you get up to the Peak is instead of heading to your left once you exit the tram, head right and find the Circle walk around the top for clear and less crowded views. It is a nice leisurely 1-2km walk. Once you come down from the Peak you can take advantage of the plethora of shopping opportunities in Central (department stores and markets) and Admiralty (known more for the designer gear and Pacific Place mall.) We didn’t get the chance to ride them but the Central to Mid-Levels Escalator (linked to Hong Kong MTR Station) is reportedly the world’s longest outdoor covered escalator and will not only deliver you to some of the finest shopping but also delivers some nice city views. Or you can go on to the Eastern District. In the East District we visited the Causeway Bay shopping district, dropped in for the firing of a one-shot salvo at the Noonday Gun and took a side trip to North Point to check out the hawker stalls on Marble Road. If you can you should definitely ride the tram from Central to Causeway Bay. Get on as close to the beginning of the line as possible so that you can choose to sit at the top. Its probably best to ride in the middle of the day when trams are less crowded. Again it is a touristy thing to do but at $HK2 it’s a cheap form of transport (though if I were an everyday traveller I wouldn’t use it as the open windows sure let in a lot of Hong Kong’s polluted air!) I’m told that Victoria Park is also worth spending some time in but unfortunately on that day we were rushing around and didn’t have time to do so as we had to make it back to the hotel for our Come Racing Tour of Happy Valley. Happy Valley is a must-do experience if you’re in Hong Kong on a Wednesday night. They don’t talk of losing when you don’t win your bet at Happy Valley but of donating to The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (as all surplus funds are allocated it to it at year end)! There are a couple of options to getting there. The first and expensive option is the Come Racing Tour ($HK550 which gives you transport to and from the track leaving before the last race, a buffet meal in a Visitors’ Box (unlimited beer, wine, soft drinks and juice throughout the meet), access to the Members’ Enclosure and Visitors’ Box, guides/programmes and two-three free “donations” – minimum “donations” are $HK10 per race). The second option is doing it yourself by taking a tram there and either entering as a member of the public or buying a tourist badge for between $HK100-150 to give you access to the Members’ Enclosure. Its actually pretty fun to be down by the track as the atmosphere is really buzzing and you get to see the horse flesh and judge for yourself the best horse to put your donation on. The Southern District held a little bit of interest for us for Stanley and Ocean Park. In Stanley you will find the Stanley Markets, Murray House (one of the oldest buildings in Hong Kong), the Maritime Museum and seaside dining. The Stanley Markets are nothing outstanding but seemed to have some items not available at other markets. However, the bus ride up to Stanley is nice and scenic and when you’re at the Markets you may want to take advantage of the open-air restaurants in the area. Also, if you’re organised enough you can find a nice quiet beach to have a Hong Kong style barbecue. In warmer temperatures I would also imagine that nearby Repulse Bay would be nice for such a thing. We’d left Ocean Park for a whole day (note the 10% discount given if you produce your SingAir Boarding Card). Ocean Park is billed as the largest entertainment centre in Southeast Asia and I guess I would liken it most to Seaworld with its a mix of rides, carnival entertainment, sea life and other creatures. The Park is actually split into two areas (lowlands and headlands) by a huge mountain. The two areas are accessible by riding a cable car or taking the free bus from the entries. The park opened at 10am and by 11am there were announcements saying that you should consider taking the bus as the lines for the cable car were very very long. Hmmm. So, on weekends the Park provides an extra insider’s tour (extra money of course) of certain animal habitats. We went on one for the dolphins, pandas and butterflies (substituted for birds.) I’m not convinced that it was the best value for money but we did have an excellent (and hilarious) tour guide named Stone and we did get to visit behind the enclosures of the respective animal habitats. The rides at Ocean Park were only so-so (though note the warning sign on the Log Ride that You Should Not Open Your Umbrella Whilst On the Ride) and really did seem to be an afterthought to the park’s billing as an oceanarium. The Dolphin University is pretty cool as it allows you to get up close to the dolphins, the fish aquarium was amazing and seemed to go on forever (Too bad for all the pushy people though – I could have done without them!), Pacific Pier which had the seals (seal lions?) was cool, and the Atoll Reef (sharks etc.) was interesting. An An and Jia Jia (the pandas) were extremely cute but when we visited they were doing what they did best … lazing about! so not much action from them. Oh – the dolphin and seal show was okay but definitely not as good as Seaworld’s. Overall I would rate the park as just okay and I definitely wouldn’t go for the rides but mainly for the sea life and of course the opportunity to see An An and Jia Jia doing more than lying on their backs! Oh and make sure that if you are in the headlands you leave the park before the big rush at closing because it took us simply ages to get to the closest exit from where we were at the rides.
Kowloon	Kowloon is located just across the bay from Hong Kong Island with the main districts being Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, and Yau Ma Tei. It seemed that a lot of Hong Kong’s best shopping could be found here with the presence of the “Golden Mile” of Nathan Road, the designer Canton Road and the outlet stores at Granville Road for the more budget conscious, not to mention all the department stores including Harbour City, New World Centre, Miramar Shopping Centre, (and on and on and on) and even a little bit further out Worlds of Whampoa (Kowloon City). Yau Ma Tei also seemed to house the biggest street markets with the Temple Street Night Market, the Jade Market, the Flower Market, the Goldfish Market, and the Ladies’ Market (don’t be mislead by the name – this was by far the best market to go to for buying goods). If the Central and Western District is the centre of Hong Kong I would say that Tsim Sha Tsui is the tourist centre of Hong Kong. It felt like there was a hotel on every street for further than the eye can see! One of the favourite attractions here is the Promenade where you will find the Star Ferry Pier, the Avenue of Stars (think Hong Kong’s answer to the Hollywood Stars) though I note there was no star for William Hung of American Idol (Season 3) “She Bangs” fame and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. You will also get great views of Victoria Harbour, the Hong Kong Island skyline and the Symphony of Lights show. Mong Kong is a very crazy place. Busy and alive it seemed it never slept. Of course there is also a red-light district where you are advised not to go to but there are so many people about you never really feel unsafe. On this side of town we also did a whirlwind tour of four museums – the Space, Art, History and Science. Its amazing what you can do on a restricted time line. In order of most impressive to least impressive I would place them as Science, History/Art, and Space. The Science Museum was one of the most interactive science museums I’ve been to and was definitely worth a good few hours. A tip also for the museums – you can buy a Museum Pass that allows you into these four museums plus the Heritage Museum and the Museum of Coastal Defence (valid for a whole week) for the extremely great value-for-money price of $HK30 as the price also included entry into special exhibitions (but not the Imax movies at the Space Museum.)
New Territories	Sha Tin in the New Territories is definitely worth dedicating a whole day to, especially if you plan to ride to Tai Po. In Sha Tin we visited the the Che Kung Temple, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Sha Tin Park, Snoopy’s World, the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery and rode a bike along the Shing Mun River. As you can imagine Snoopy’s World was fairly fun (and free) though not very big. The walk up to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monaster was not as hard as I’d imagine (400 steps taking about 25-30 minutes) and we were entertained by the monkeys who would do anything to grab any white plastic bag. So if you’re carrying make sure to hide the bags away! The ride along the River was very nice and I’m just wishing we had left more time to allow us to ride to Tai Po (another district in the New Territories.)
Lantau Island	There are three main attractions on Lantau Island – the Tien Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, the Lantau Trail and Disneyland! A whole day could easily be spent going to Lantau Island to visit the Buddha and Monastery (and surrounds) at Ngong Ping, another separate day going to Disneyland and for those who are so inclined several days could be spent exploring the hiking trials and greenery of Lantau Island – something I’d like to do next time I go back. For the Buddha and Monastery the journey can be quite lengthy no matter the options that you take so I would recommend you combine a visit there with a visit to Tai-O, a fishing village a little further on from the Buddha and Monastery. The options for getting to Ngong Pin are taking the ferry from the Outlying Islands Pier in Central (Hong Kong Island) to Mui Wo, which can take between 30-45 minutes depending on whether you catch the express or normal ferry, or taking the MTR to Tung Chung, which takes about 25 minutes. Once you get to Lantau you then will have to take a bus (#2 from Mui Wo if you took the ferry and #23 from the MTR Tung Chung station) which is another 30-40 minutes ride through the twists and turns on the mountain. To ensure that you leave time for Tai-O, make sure that when you first get off the bus that you find the timetable for the bus leaving Ngong Pin for Tai-O as they seemed to come maybe every 30-45 minutes with the last one leaving at about 3.30 or so. The Tien Tan Buddha (Giant Buddha, Big Buddha, Peaceful Buddha) is the largest uncovered outdoor bronze Buddha statue in the world. It wasn’t really clear what entry fees were to climb to the statue but I think it was actually free entry to the statue itself, with a fee for entering into the museum. If you pay a fee you will also get a meal ticket and depending on the value you pay you can get a snack, a full meal or deluxe meal at the Monastery’s vegetarian restaurant. To be honest the museum wasn’t all that so if you only want to see the statue and you’re not interested in eating at the restaurant see if you can go up for free as there are a couple of other eating options with cheaper restaurants or snack stalls about. Once you have finished with the Buddha and the Monastery take a short 15 minute walk (one-way) along the Wisdom Path to see the outdoor wooden inscription of the Heart Sutra carved on 38 huge wooden columns arranged to form the infinity symbol. We didn’t get to Tai-O as we made the mistake of missing the last bus leaving Ngong Ping but I have heard it is worth a visit. Someone we met during the trip recommended going there to see the pink dolphins at the very least. There are official tours you can take (expensive money-wise) or you can let yourself be picked up by the unofficial boat drivers who will do anything to get you on to their boat. This is guaranteed to be much cheaper and you will generally still see a pink dolphin. However, this unofficial method is looked down upon as they are seen as a very big threat to the dolphins and the environment (due to their aggressive nature.) Disneyland opened sometime late last year (Sept? or Oct?) and has an MTR that delivers you straight to the doors via a change at Sunny Bay station. It is this one-station journey from Sunny Bay to Disneyland Resort that has the special Disney-designed MTR trains [See photo?] with Mickey-head-shaped-windows, Mickey-head-shaped-hand-holds, and above seats bronzed Disney figures behind glass. I’ve been to Disneyland California and California Adventure Park so in terms of size there was no way this newly opened park was going to be able to compete on the same scale. However, in terms of quality they were spot on. My advice is to wait until it grows a bit more and a few more attractions and “lands” added. Currently there are four “lands” – Main Street USA (mainly shops), Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. When we visited the weather was overcast and eventually this turned to showers in the later afternoon. On the one hand this was good as it kept some crowds away (and allowed us to visit the attractions we wanted with little lining up) but on the other hand it made it too wet for us to stick around later at night for the famed “Disney in the Stars” Fireworks. The highlights of Disneyland are as follows: The Shows. Definitely see all the shows on offer which are: 1. Festival of the Lion King (Adventureland) – a spectacular pageant of music and dance inspired by the animation the “The Lion King.” Great music, costumes, set, and lighting and performance. 2. The Golden Mickeys at Disney’s Storybook Theater (Fantasyland) was another spectacular show which paid tribute to all of the Disney classics and 3. Mickey’s PhilharMagic (Fantasyland) was one of the best 3-D attractions I’ve been to in a very long time. The Rides. My three favourites were 1. Space Mountain (Tomorrowland) where you rocket through space on a roller-coaster in the dark (make sure to try and get the very first seats so you really feel like there is nothing in front of you), 2. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (Tomorrowland) which was extremely interactive. You sit in your cab (which you can spin 360 degrees) and fire with your laser cannon trying to hit all the targets to get the highest score. I’m proud to say that I kicked the boys’ butts on both times we went on the attraction and finally, 3. Mad Hatter Tea Cups (Fantasyland). I know that most people consider this a ride for the little ones but when you get three guys intent on dislodging the contents of your stomach into a tea cup with you – well – watch out! The Others. Tarzan’s Treehouse (Adventureland) does not rate too high on the adventure scale but it does provide some good vantage points for views across Disneyland. Also it allows the little child in us who always wanted a treehouse to induldge in our fantasies for a little bit. The Jungle River Cruise (Adventureland) was a little bit corny but provided the funniest joke of the day: How can you tell a male zebra from a female zebra? The male zebra has white stripes and the female black strips. Da-Dum-Dum.

Final Hong Kong Impressions

When we first got to Hong Kong there was an almost overwhelming number of people out on the streets (and a whole lot of tourists getting underfoot!) After a while we got used to the people but we never really did got over how pushy some of the tourists were. The other thing we couldn’t get over was the haze of pollution that seemed to constantly sit upon Hong Kong like a wet blanket. The pollution was so bad that B had a bleeding nose and had trouble breathing when he first got here and that took a couple of days for him to get over.

As a tourist destination you couldn’t really ask for more with plenty of sign-posts everywhere. The service at all times was quick, efficient and surprisingly friendly and I would actually rate the service we got (except for the rare occasion which no doubt would be explained by a local as being “typical mainland Chinese” behaviour.)

I liked Hong Kong but I must remember to psyche myself up next time to ensure I take full advantage of all that shopping. Make sure to bring empty suitcases with you! 🙂