Hong Kong Recap
- Only A Plane Away
- Oct 6, 2018
- 8 min read
Updated: Oct 12, 2018
Luckily we had a direct flight from Seattle to Hong Kong. That meant only a 13 hour flight, but by the time you add in getting to and from the airports it was close to 20 hours of total traveling time. When we arrived into Hong Kong, we purchased Octopus Cards at the Airport and hopped on the Airport Express which took us from Lantau Island, where the airport is located, into Kowloon where our hotel was. We didn't stay on Hong Kong Island, because it can be quite pricey. Transportation is relatively cheap and easy to use in Hong Kong, and our hotel offered a free shuttle to several spots around Kowloon. Pro-Tip: Many cities have cards similar to Octopus Cards that have a preloaded value to be used for multiple forms of public transportation. Staying a bit outside of the traditional tourist areas can often save a ton of money.
Once we checked into the hotel, we took advantage of the free shuttle and headed over to the Temple Street Night Market. It was a bit of sensory overload after our long day of travel. There were vendors calling out to you to check out their wares mixed with the sounds of street karaoke performers and people chatting at outdoor restaurants.
We stopped into a little noodle shop for some dinner and to enjoy their AC. (Even though it was going on 10:00pm, it was still quite hot and very humid). We tried lots of small plates of chicken wings, pork neck, dumplings and a giant bowl of noodle soup. Pro-Tip: Bring your own napkins/tissue when traveling in Southeast Asia. Many restaurants do not provide napkins, especially when you're talking about street food, so the tissue we brought doubled as napkins for us several times. After dinner, we decided to walk back to our hotel to explore the city a bit more. The walk was a bit longer than we expected so we were ready to crash after a long day.
We woke up super early the next day, most likely due the time change, but we were sure the long day before and jet lag would catch up with us. It worked out well because it gave us plenty of time to grab breakfast before we headed out for an excursion that we had booked through Viator.
Our excursion would take us back to Lantau Island which is actually where the Hong Kong Airport is. It is home to the Tian Tan Buddha (also known as the Big or Giant Buddha). Our excursion included hotel pick up which then took us to the the ferry pier where we caught a ferry from Hong Kong Island to Lantau Island. The ferry ride to Lantau Island was pretty quick and relaxing. Once we made it to Lantau Island, we were picked up by another bus and our first stop was Cheung Sha Beach. It was a nice little scenic spot and had restroom facilities for those on the tour that needed to use them.
From there we headed on to Tai O fishing village. It was one those villages you imagine with homes on stilts over the water. We also walked through their market and were able to check out one of the temples there before we took a quick boat ride through the town.
Next we headed to the main attraction, the Tian Tan Buddha. Once of the nice things about the tour we booked is that the bus took us up to the top of the hill and we were able to enter at the back of the Buddha instead of having to take the hundreds of stairs up from the front. It was a very, very hot and humid day so we were very glad to get to skip the workout. There is a small museum inside the Buddha, but they do not allow photography inside which is fine because all the great shots are outside anyway.
The Tian Tan Buddha is a large bronze statue of Buddha and was completed in 1993. THe statue is near Po Lin Monastery and symbolizes the harmonious relationship between humans and nature, people and faith.
After we explored around the Buddha a bit, we headed down to the Po Lin Monastery for a family-style vegetarian lunch. Our group was seated at a large round table. They then brought out tons of dishes and placed them on the lazy suzan in the center of the table for everyone to dish up and share.
After lunch, we had a bit of time to explore the little village nearby. It was definitely less authentic than the Tai O fishing village and had more restaurants and shops targeted toward tourists. It was nice to check out some souvenirs, enjoy some AC, and grab a iced matcha green tea latte from Starbucks.
Next we headed to hop on our cable car back down to the bottom of the hill, actually a series of hills. The cable car ride is actually quite long, definitely the longest one we've been on. There were some great views of Lantau Island from there including some views of the airport that really gave an idea of just how large it is.
After the cable car ride, we were greeted by another bus that dropped us off at our hotel. We showered and changed clothes because we had been out in the heat all day. Once we were freshened up, we decided to grab some food and headed to Tim Ho Wan. It is the world's cheapest Michelin star restaurant and we had heard great things about it. It is a dim sum restaurant so we ordered lots of small plates. Our favorites were the shrimp dumplings and the BBQ pork buns that were surprisingly sweet.
With full bellies, we decided to hop on the subway and head over to Hong Kong Island and check out Victoria Peak which is known for its stunning views. We wanted to try to make it to the peak for sunset but the lines for the Peak Tram that takes you to the top were incredibly long. Pro Tip: The Peak Tram probably isn't worth it if you're pressed for time. You can take a cab, Uber, or bus to the top of Victoria Peak and get a one way tram ticket down from the top if you really want to ride on the iconic tram.
There is a huge shopping center with lots of restaurants and a look-out area at the top of Victoria Peak. We had tickets to the very top level sky terrace which was quite crowded and made it difficult to get good shots. We stayed up there for about 30 minutes and then caught part of the light show at 8:00pm. It probably would have been more impressive from the harbor since we were looking at the backside of many of the iconic buildings.
We decided to stop in one of the restaurants at the peak for a drink. We chose one named WildFire and shared a bottle of white wine with a view of Hong Kong. We met some really interesting men at the table next to ours including one local and two farmers from Zimbabwe. We chatted with them a bit about food (the squid ink pasta they had looked really good) and world travels (one of them had even been to Kansas). Once we finished our wine, we headed back to our hotel to rest up for our trip to Macau the next day. We'll do a separate post for Macau since it is its own SAR (Special Administrative Region) and has its own culture.
After we got back from Macau we decided to take the Star Ferry from Kowloon (where our hotel was) to Hong Kong Island. The Star Ferry is probably the most iconic form of transportation in Hong Kong (or maybe second to the Ding Ding).
It is super cheap and our octopus cards worked for the star ferry in addition to the subway system. We got some of the best views and photos of Hong Kong Island from the Star Ferry (like the one that started out the blog)
Once we made it to Hong Kong Island, we decided to check out the Central Mid Level Escalators. We had a little trouble finding them initially because we were having problems understanding Google Maps' walking directions. We realized it was because Google would sometimes have trouble telling what "level" we were on. There are underground walkways near many of the MTR stations, elevated pathways over roadways, as well as regular street level sidewalks. Once we understood that, it made getting around much easier.
The Central Mid Level Escalators are kind of a weird tourist destination, but also pretty cool. They are just what they sound like, escalators that take you up the massive hill that is Hong Kong Island. They claim that they're the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world and span 800 meters while elevating 135 meters. There are also lots of cool bars and restaurants along the escalator. We decided to stop in one and grab a drink and a little bite to eat before heading back to Kowloon and calling it a night. You may have seen these escalators on a recent episode of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown.
For our last day in Hong Kong, we decided to start the day with a big American breakfast. It's kind of interesting to see other cultures' take on American food. This meal was actually one of the closest things we've had to a real American breakfast while traveling abroad, so we left pretty happy. We decided to walk down the hill to hop on the Ding Ding (the iconic double decker streetcars) and passed through some random street markets along the way. The Ding Ding also accepted the Octopus Card as payment.
We hopped on the Ding Ding and made sure to head up to the top level for the best views. We headed toward Hong Kong Park which was actually only a few stops away and hopped off to take in some nature in the middle of the city.
The park is really beautiful and has lots of fountains, and large aviary, and a waterfall you can walk behind. It was very hot so we decided to pop into the restaurant int he middle of the park for some refreshing beverages before we headed back down to the Star Ferry Pier to take the ferry back over to Kowloon.
Once back on the Kowloon side, we got some photos at the look-out near the Avenue of Stars which was actually closed for construction. Then it was time to swing back by our hotel to grab our luggage and head to our reservation for High Tea at the Lion Rock in the Royal Plaza Hotel. We were able to leave our bags with the bellman at the hotel which was a nice convenience.
We were a bit early for tea service so we decided to have a glass of wine first. (We really sound like winos huh?) Afternoon tea service consisted of lots of little dishes both savory and sweet along with a pot of tea of choice for each of us. Basically it was lots of delicious bites but probably a little too much sugar for us. After tea, it was time to head to the airport for our flight to Thailand. We got on the free shuttle to the Airport Express station and then took the Airport Express from there (again using our octopus card). We checked in for our flight three hours ahead like they always say to and realized it probably wasn't necessary. We also learned a hard lesson that some airlines not only have size restrictions for carry-ons but also weight restrictions. Pro-tip: Check luggage restrictions on your airline's website in advance to avoid any surprises at check-in.
Check out a video recap of our first day in Hong Kong on our Youtube page.
Stay tuned for more posts on Asia!
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