alcook2

My wife, 14 year daughter and I spent 5 nights 4 1/2 days in Hong Kong 3/23/07 to 3/28/07. This was a "standalone" trip...our first Asia travel experience. Information gained from postings on Fodor's helped us so much and we thank everyone!!

We did the standard tourist list...the Peak, Star Ferry, Stanley Market, "The Escalators", and shopping, of course. But I wanted to mention two special highlights: (1) the new NP360 Skyrail on Lantau was an incredible and spectacular experience and (2) we enjoyed the Grey Line "Land Between" half-day minibus tour of New Territories.

As reported by others, we found the city to be clean, safe, tourist-friendly, scenic, and very easy to get around using prepaid Octopus Cards and public transportation.

Before the trip we narrowed our hotel choices to YMCA Salisbury and the Holiday Inn Express at Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island. We were very happy with our choice of Holiday Inn Express and would recommend it highly. The MTR station, beautiful Times Square Mall, and even a 7-11 are all right there just a 30 second walk from the hotel entrance.

Our flight was a USAir/United codeshare from Tampa thru Chicago.

Thanks again for all the advice! It was a great trip!!!!!

TracyB

Sounds like a great little holiday to HKG, and I agree on the NP360, it was fab!!

Tim_and_Liz

Thanks for posting! Approximately how much time did you spend going to/from Lantau?

alcook2

We took MTR from the Causeway Bay station to Central, then the Tung Chung line to its end station which is right at at the new Skyrail Terminal. I think the MTR trip itself was about 25 minutes. The Skyrail trip to the village/Big Buddha is an additional 20 minutes. For some Skyrail views mixed in with other HK photos, feel free to check Webshots under my same screen name. Thanks!

rkkwan

MTR Hong Kong station to Tung Chung is 28 minutes. More if you have a connection from other parts of town. The cable car is about 25 minutes each way.

You need to spend at least an hour at Po Lin Monastery and to hike up to the Big Buddha.

If you want to visit the fishing village of Tai O, add another 1.5 hours minimum.

More if you want to take the bus/ferry route back to city.

Here's my photo journey:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p123996629/

I took the 9am ferry from Central to Mui Wo. Bus to Tai O. Bus to Ngong Ping. Lunch at Po Lin Monastery. Cable car down to Tung Chung. It was just before 3pm. Back to Kowloon around 3:30pm.

rhkkmk

ray---i loved your pics....it was interesting to see how the area at the monestary has changed....we were there the first year it opened...

from where to where does the cable car go? that looks favulous and if on a clear day it would be magnificent...

rkkwan

Bob - the year WHAT opened? Po Lin Monastery has been around for about 80 years I believe. Before, like when my dad was a kid, there was no road and people have to hike up from Tai O or Tung Chung to get there.

I think you mean the Big Buddha was completed.

The cable car goes from the Tung Chung MTR to the Ngong Ping Marketplace - a new totally crass and cultural insensitive/ignorant complex - about 5 minutes walk from the monastery.

Tim_and_Liz

Thanks for the information. Do you think it would be possible to visit the monastery (and big buddha) prior to a flight at 2:30pm? We would be coming from the Salisbury YMCA in Kowloon (not sure what to do with luggage) and would be flying on Dragon Air/ Cathay Pacific.

Liz

ms_go

Thanks for the report. How did your daughter like it? We're considering something similar (with our then-15 y/o daughter) for next year's spring break.

rkkwan

Tim and Liz - I answered a similar question just a few days ago. It wasn't from you guys, I guess.

Anyways, you can get rid of your luggage by doing in-town check-in at the Kowloon Airport Express station. But you have to have a valid AE ticket.

Either take the AE to the airport, then take the S1 bus (HK$5) for the short trip back to Tung Chung. Or get off the AE train at Tsing Yi and then switch over to the MTR (HK$14) to Tung Chung directly. The latter seems like a waste, but will be faster.

[What I do not know if you can just buy one AE ticket, and check-in for both of you. That'd save some money, and then two of you just then take the MTR from Kowloon to Tung Chung.]

Either way, you want to ride the cable car as early as possible, which is 10am, from Tung Chung. You'll get there at 10:30a, walk around for up to 2 hours, come back down by 1pm; then take S1 bus over to airport. You may want to order the Skyrail ticket online to make sure you get the 10am ride, especially on weekends and holiday.

I'll ask around about the in-town check-in procedure and report back.

Tim_and_Liz

rkkwan--

Thank you very much. I may have asked this question earlier, but my previous posts and search function are not working correctly-- I can't find anything written after March 26th using the search function ?!?

So sorry if you had to rewrite this but I do appreciate it

Liz

ms_go

Oh, and rkkwan, I will be showing mr_go all of your great photos to assist in the decision-making process (other contender may be Tokyo/Kyoto). Thanks for sharing.

rkkwan

Tim and Liz - How much luggage do you have? The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to give you the easiest and cheapest way to do this.

Since there's a huge difference in cost between the AE to airport (HK$140 for 2) and MTR to Tung Chung (HK$17 each), maybe only one of you can drop all luggage if fits within allowance with one AE ticket. Then just forfeit the AE ticket and both take the MTR direct from Kowloon to Tung Chung.

I am trying to find some answers for you now, so give me some time.

Tim_and_Liz

rkkwan--

We aren't going until March 2008 so that should be plenty of time

I think we will probably have one medium rolling suitcase and one backpack or similar each. We can pack pretty light but want to have room for shopping!

We would really like to visit the Monastery and Big Buddha if possible, but we are only in HK for two full days plus one day until 2:30pm, so I thought it would make the most sense to go that morning before our flight out.

We would gladly pay HK$140 (US$20, correct?) to get rid of the luggage in Kowloon.

But like I said, our trip is very far off. I will be posting a detailed itinerary closer to our travel date, so maybe you can help me then.

Thanks again! Liz

Liz

alcook2

Hi ms_go - I asked our daughter about her impressions. She said "just walking around the city is nice...seeing the shops, etc. It gives you a good sense of the city". She also said, overall, she found the city to be "indecsribable". From the moment our family arrived at the airport there was a comfort level with Hong Kong that is hard to explain and has to be experienced! And my daughter is right - "just walking around" is the best part. You don't need to race from one thing to another even if you just have a few days.

darna

Dear rkkwan, I am interested in your discussion about the In-town lugguage check-in at the AE. Our stay will be for 4 days and 3 nights, arriving HK airport at about 10am on the first day. I would like to explore Lantau Island via Ngong Ping 360 on our 4th day prior to departing at 7:45pm. We will have AE tickets c/o Asiamiles, from HK Station to Airport Station. My family will be checking in at Alisan Hostel for the first 2 nights. I have not yet decided whether to transfer to Novotel Citygate on our 3rd night or stay another night at Alisan Hostel. My considerations are, transfering to Novotel will give us a chance to check-out the Citygate at night. On the other hand, if we stay another night at Alisan, we will be able to explore whatever we haven't visited yet at HK Island on that last night. If we stay at Alisan, I estimate that we will check-out at around 10am, do in-town check-in at AEHK Station to get rid of the lugguage then can just get-off at Tsing-Yi station. We will probably be at Tung Chung by 11am. Is that right?

rkkwan

Tim_and_Liz & darna:

I asked around a little, and now believe you cannot exit the Airport Express towards the airport at the Tsing Yi station. Even if you could, you still have to buy another MTR ticket from Tsing Yi to Tung Chung.

So, your choices after checking in and dropping off bags are:

- Take the AE to the airport, then the S1 bus back to Tung Chung; or

- Forfeit the AE ticket and ride the MTR at normal fare to Tung Chung.

Option 2 sounds like wasteful, but it's easier and faster.

rkkwan

darna - If I were you, I'd just stay at the guesthouse for the whole stay. You can go to Lantau either on the day of departure, or earlier.

darna

Thanks!