Is Hong Kong worth a quick trip?? Well one of our members recently travelled to Hong Kong and here is what they have to say….. I recently had the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong with our six year old daughter as my wife was working there for a week. I nearly decided not to go but as I have not been there before I decided to go and I am glad I did.
What a fantastic City! It has a stack of fun things to do and plenty of delicious places to eat so here is a rundown of some things to do and places to go.
First stop was to find a coffee shop with nice coffee, we had a little help with this one as my wife’s Hong Kong work colleagues suggested Maison Eric Kayser in Wan Chai and this coffee shop was perfect. Great coffee, lovely selections of fresh pastries and since the shop is on a corner it was a wonderful place to watch the morning rush whilst having a coffee and deciding the plan for the day.
After grabbing all the tourist brochures we could from the hotel and over a coffee and a bagel we decided to buy a 48 hour Big Bus Deluxe Tour - 48 Hours to explore 3 different routes and hop on and hop off at our whim.
The Hong Kong Island Tour (red route) spans the north of Hong Kong Island, looping along the harbour from Causeway Bay to Sheung Wan The Kowloon Tour (blue route) travels through the centre of Kowloon, covering Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui and the place to be for markets and retail shopping.
The Stanley Tour (green route) seeks out popular sights on the south side of Hong Kong Island, including Aberdeen, Ocean Park, Repulse Bay and Stanley Market.
The Tour also Includes
3 x Free Star Ferry trips.
Peak Tram ride.
Sampan ride.
Harbour cruise.
Sky100 Hong Kong Observation Deck entry
This was a fantastic package which enabled to see a lot in a short time, get around Hong Kong whilst learning a bit about it along the way. The multi-lingual channels, headsets and added tickets for the Peak tram and sampan are a bonus as these are well worth doing.
Another fun thing was the Central – Mid-Levels Escalator system, it is the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system, stretching for over 800-metres and rising 135-metres through the streets of a steep hillside linking these districts of Hong Kong Island. To ride the complete length of the escalator system one-way takes about 20 minutes and then you have to use your legs for the journey down, although we cheated and jumped in a taxi!
For the Dumpling lovers check out the Cuisine Royale Hopewell Centre, 7/F, 183 Queen's Rd E in Wan Chai, it was that nice we ate here twice, also check out the Tim Ho Wan we went to the one that is just past the ladies markets G/F,, 9-11 Fuk Wing St. For a great dining experience check out Hutong Restaurant for traditional Chinese food and warm setting with sweeping harbor & skyline views of Hong Kong Island. It’s located at 1 Peking Road Shopping Arcade, 28/F, 1 Peking Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Take the Star Ferry and enjoy a short walk through the high-end brand stores.. Cartier, Tiffany & Co etc.
We spent our last day in Kowloon shopping; it can defiantly match Hong Kong Island for quality brands shops and beats it when it comes to discount fashion and jewellery from the markets. And don’t forget to check out all the markets they are everywhere. The big ones are Temple Street and the Ladies markets over in Kowloon. My favourite was the Temple street night markets; we found this a little less crowded and a fantastic variety of things to buy the family back home.
So if you get the chance I would definitely recommend Hong Kong for a fun stopover…