Three days was fine, but with an extra day we might have been able to hit up Hong Kong Disneyland and eat at a few more places. Here’s what we managed to do in our allotted time.
Harbour Front
We stayed in Tsim Sha Tsui (more details here) and were in walking distance to the water. Victoria Harbour is pretty epic and on our first morning we headed on down. The harbour delivered and a junk appeared on the horizon right on time.
Star ferry
It’s pretty epic, reminding me of the old days. For no more than catching the metro, you can jump on the Star Ferry and head on over to central.
Mid-level escalators
You know you’re somewhere a bit special when there’s an epic set of escalators to ride which means you don’t have to climb a steep pavement or stairs. Located in central they’re in a pretty groovy part of town, don’t forget to jump off and grab some food and explore the shops on your way up (or down).
Bird market (and gold fish street)
Not a completely enjoyable experience, but an experience none the less. I guess because people live in tiny apartments, their pets need to be compact and birds fit the bill. After exploring the bird market known as Yuen Po Bird Garden, we wandered down the street known as Goldfish Street or Goldfish Market, a section of Tung Choi Street, north of Bute Street. Weird.
Causeway Bay
Causeway Bay is this crazy neighborhood that stays alive pretty much through the night I’d say, with restaurants, shopping malls and all the people. We caught the tram (or the ding dings) along to this part of town.
Stanley
A seaside village in Hong Kong, Stanley makes for a decent afternoon trip, walk the promenade, check out the old junks and watch the locals play games on the riverside. The local shopping centre isn’t worth checking out, but we enjoyed the visit none the less.
The Races
Wednesday night in Hong Kong and the expats and the wealthy locals head to the races at Happy Valley. We had a friend living in HK and he knew the ropes and how it all worked. We just enjoyed the astronomically priced drinks and were wowed by the amount of coin being bet on the night by the locals. Catch a taxi there, you can get in using your oyster card and get the tram home.
Victoria Peak
We queued for ages to make the journey up the tram to the top of Victoria peak for Sunset. You have to do it, but be prepared to wait in the queues at the bottom for a while then fight the crowds at the top. The views are pretty epic, if you can see through the haze. Again, you can use your Octopus card to get up the tram.
Lantau Island
Probably better in the height of summer when the beach is pumping, but taking a day trip over to Lantau island to enjoy the less talked about but pretty beaches of Hong Kong. Catch a ferry then ride the bus to the seaside and enjoy a little fresh air. Despite signs saying not to get your bits out, if it’s a bit quiet it’s quite likely there’ll be some locals with their wears out.
The eating
We ate lots of good food in Hong Kong, Maks Noodle is probably the clear favourite, but here’s the list to check out.
