going to hong kong
Sep 14th, 2003 | 12:11 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Sep 2003
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going to hong kong
we want to travel to hong kong over Christmas, AND take a small dog with us to his owners. any packages we should look at or suggestions on airfare or lodging for 2 adults and 2 teens. thanks much
Sep 16th, 2003 | 08:29 AM
#2
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,689
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December is such a great time in Hong Kong, weather-wise and otherwise!
Be sure to head out onto Salisbury Road on Christmas Eve, literally tens of thousands of people just strolling around and having fun. Christmas Day and the day after (Boxing Day) are public holidays so people are in a vacation mood. It is great weather for hiking on Hong Kong Island or the New Territories, run a search here for advice on hiking posted by myself and others.
I am clueless about airfares, as they change every 5 minutes. As for hotels, you might want to give us a range so people can suggest hotels. Perennial 5 Star favourites of mine include:
Peninsula
Mandarin Oriental
Intercontinental (formerly Regent)
Ritz-Carlton
JW Marriott
Conrad
Grand Hyatt (not crazy about the location though)
All the chains have at least one hotel here, so if you have any points, consider using them for a stay, as Hong Kong hotels are fairly expensive.
A package that gives you airfare and hotels would be good ('cause they get the cheapest airfares!); however you don't need a full tour package in Hong Kong as it is very small, easy to get around, has great and cheap public transport, and signs, etc are in English. Very fun city to do on your own.
Much more inexpensive hotels include:
Bishop Lei International House. The hotel is in midlevels which makes it very convenient. The rooms are small but very nice, and the location is good, in a residential neighborhood near the top of the escalator and on a bus route. Many of the rooms have great views over the city and the harbor. Their website is bishopleihtl.com. Their phone and fax are phone : 852-2868-0828 fax: 852-2525-1551.
YMCA Salisbury Road, 41 Salisbury Road Tsim Sha Tsui. This is a great place, fantastic location, it gets good reviews on this site. It is more like a 4 star hotel. They are quoting from US$51 dollars, very good rate for this hotel, although the room is probably a smallish one. Website for YMCA hotels in Asia is /www.ymca-hotels.com/
YMCA Garden View International House. Very-well located in midlevels at 1 Macdonnell Road.
New World Renaissance hotel. A nice hotel in a very good location. 22 Salisbury Road Tsim Sha Tsui (W), Kowloon, Hong Kong. Phone: 852 2-3694111, Fax: 852 2-3699387.
Also take a look at asia-hotels.com; a good source for hotels in Asia. You can search Hong Kong and then sort by price. I have never booked with them, so can't comment on their service, but if you aren't comfortable booking with them, get a quote from them, and then can contact the hotel directly and ask them to match or beat the price.
As for the dog, I assume you know that Hong Kong has extremely strict rules about importing pets. The dog will have to be placed in quarantine for a few weeks; I am not aware of any exceptions to this rule, but your friends would surely know.
Be sure to head out onto Salisbury Road on Christmas Eve, literally tens of thousands of people just strolling around and having fun. Christmas Day and the day after (Boxing Day) are public holidays so people are in a vacation mood. It is great weather for hiking on Hong Kong Island or the New Territories, run a search here for advice on hiking posted by myself and others.
I am clueless about airfares, as they change every 5 minutes. As for hotels, you might want to give us a range so people can suggest hotels. Perennial 5 Star favourites of mine include:
Peninsula
Mandarin Oriental
Intercontinental (formerly Regent)
Ritz-Carlton
JW Marriott
Conrad
Grand Hyatt (not crazy about the location though)
All the chains have at least one hotel here, so if you have any points, consider using them for a stay, as Hong Kong hotels are fairly expensive.
A package that gives you airfare and hotels would be good ('cause they get the cheapest airfares!); however you don't need a full tour package in Hong Kong as it is very small, easy to get around, has great and cheap public transport, and signs, etc are in English. Very fun city to do on your own.
Much more inexpensive hotels include:
Bishop Lei International House. The hotel is in midlevels which makes it very convenient. The rooms are small but very nice, and the location is good, in a residential neighborhood near the top of the escalator and on a bus route. Many of the rooms have great views over the city and the harbor. Their website is bishopleihtl.com. Their phone and fax are phone : 852-2868-0828 fax: 852-2525-1551.
YMCA Salisbury Road, 41 Salisbury Road Tsim Sha Tsui. This is a great place, fantastic location, it gets good reviews on this site. It is more like a 4 star hotel. They are quoting from US$51 dollars, very good rate for this hotel, although the room is probably a smallish one. Website for YMCA hotels in Asia is /www.ymca-hotels.com/
YMCA Garden View International House. Very-well located in midlevels at 1 Macdonnell Road.
New World Renaissance hotel. A nice hotel in a very good location. 22 Salisbury Road Tsim Sha Tsui (W), Kowloon, Hong Kong. Phone: 852 2-3694111, Fax: 852 2-3699387.
Also take a look at asia-hotels.com; a good source for hotels in Asia. You can search Hong Kong and then sort by price. I have never booked with them, so can't comment on their service, but if you aren't comfortable booking with them, get a quote from them, and then can contact the hotel directly and ask them to match or beat the price.
As for the dog, I assume you know that Hong Kong has extremely strict rules about importing pets. The dog will have to be placed in quarantine for a few weeks; I am not aware of any exceptions to this rule, but your friends would surely know.
Sep 16th, 2003 | 01:53 PM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 184
Likes: 0
Go to Hong Kong Government official site <www.discoverhongkong.com/usa/> and you should still find special promotional packages. A month ago, Aberdeen Tours (listed by the website) advertised r/t plane tickets on UA + 3 nites hotel (Kowloon Hotel) for 2 persons for a total of $1000 + tax from west coast or NY city departure ! You can add hotel nites ($75 per nite total for 2 persons at Kowloon Hotel) and extend your stay up to 30 days w/o extra charge from airline.
Sep 16th, 2003 | 03:53 PM
#4
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,759
Likes: 0
I booked an air+hotel package with United Vacations (www.unitedvacations.com) to Hong Kong. The package includes 3 nights hotel, and even though I am travelling solo it turns out to be a good deal. I chose the mid-range hotel, the Holiday Inn Golden Mile.
They offered additional nights there at $130/nite. Pretty good, compared with the $170 to $180 rate that the HI phone reservation
Sep 16th, 2003 | 04:14 PM
#6
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 218
Likes: 0
You will have a great time in HK in December! There are many packages available on www.discoverhongkong.com. We got a 5-night "hosted" package inc. air, hotel, transfers, tours, etc...through Pacific Delight Tours for about $800/pp and it was perfect. Have also used United Vacations (Pacific Bestours) and that was fine too. Highly recommend the Marco Polo HK Hotel - very convenient to the Star Ferry, Kowloon shopping and subway. Do check www.asia-hotels.com - I have not used them but they have a lot of information on the hotels. You can easily get around by yourself and people were very helpful. http://www.marcopolohotels.com/theho...tel/index.html
www.pacificdelighttours.com
www.pacificbestours.com
www.pacificdelighttours.com
www.pacificbestours.com
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Sep 20th, 2003 | 05:02 AM
#8
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,085
Likes: 0
Hi My family (2adults 2 teens) stayed at the Holiday inn Golden Mile. It was a great reasonably priced hotel as mrwunrfl has said.
Location was pretty good too.
I would recommend it.
Wouldn't recommend some of the taxi drivers though !!
Have fun, Honk Kong is a nice place I just wish the touts on the street that try to sell everything and anything were kept under tighter control.
I am not sure exactly which part of the word "NO" they have difficulty with ...lol
Muck
Location was pretty good too.
I would recommend it.
Wouldn't recommend some of the taxi drivers though !!
Have fun, Honk Kong is a nice place I just wish the touts on the street that try to sell everything and anything were kept under tighter control.
I am not sure exactly which part of the word "NO" they have difficulty with ...lol
Muck
Sep 20th, 2003 | 05:29 AM
#9
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,759
Likes: 0
Mucky, please tell more about the Holiday Inn. I have not been there but am booked for three nights and then have three more nights in H.K. My current plan is to stay put for night 4-6, but that YMCA looks pretty good.
For the original poster, 2kb, the YMCA (www.ymcahk.org.hk) has something called a family suite at $840 USD.
My impression is that the Holiday Inn rooms are larger than the harbor view room pictured at the YMCA site.
Sep 20th, 2003 | 11:58 AM
#11
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,085
Likes: 0
Hi mrwunrfl,
The Golden mile Holiday inn (as are most HK hotels) is in the center of a built up area, the rooms are modern standard and 'typical' hotel rooms. Quite comfortable and clean and give you everything you need.
The view from the hotel room was not so good, we stayed on the 10th floor and we had a block of really tatty old domestic apartments behind us. The area next to these apts was being re developed and I suspect some kind of skyscraper was going there. I would not be surprised if the apts were gone now they were really quite ugly but we were only there for a one night stop over and we certainly were not going to spend the time looking out of the hotel window.
Hotel food was quite expensive as is the case in most hotels. It has a large lobby and plenty of porters around.
We left our bags there whilst we went to see what we could of HK after checking out.
There was a number of shops and I remember a great shop there selling Chinese dresses these were situated at the back of the reception, at the rear entrance.
It was an easy walk to most places and the bus stop to Vic Heights and the star ferry were not very far away.
The Taxi's are a big worry the drivers are lunatics and I don't think its possible to find a good Taxi driver.
Ours back to the airport even wound down his window and spat out of it. My wife and daughter were nearly sick !
They will jam as many bags in to the boot (trunk) and then tie the lid down with a belt.
As I said; the hotel was good value really, clean and comfortable it was about 3* by UK standards.
Of course its possible you may want to consider something else for the 2nd part of your stay. But decide once your there, Its an ok hotel really.
I can't remember how much we paid but it was quite reasonable.
If I think of anything else specific I will let you know.
Have fun
Muck
The Golden mile Holiday inn (as are most HK hotels) is in the center of a built up area, the rooms are modern standard and 'typical' hotel rooms. Quite comfortable and clean and give you everything you need.
The view from the hotel room was not so good, we stayed on the 10th floor and we had a block of really tatty old domestic apartments behind us. The area next to these apts was being re developed and I suspect some kind of skyscraper was going there. I would not be surprised if the apts were gone now they were really quite ugly but we were only there for a one night stop over and we certainly were not going to spend the time looking out of the hotel window.
Hotel food was quite expensive as is the case in most hotels. It has a large lobby and plenty of porters around.
We left our bags there whilst we went to see what we could of HK after checking out.
There was a number of shops and I remember a great shop there selling Chinese dresses these were situated at the back of the reception, at the rear entrance.
It was an easy walk to most places and the bus stop to Vic Heights and the star ferry were not very far away.
The Taxi's are a big worry the drivers are lunatics and I don't think its possible to find a good Taxi driver.
Ours back to the airport even wound down his window and spat out of it. My wife and daughter were nearly sick !
They will jam as many bags in to the boot (trunk) and then tie the lid down with a belt.
As I said; the hotel was good value really, clean and comfortable it was about 3* by UK standards.
Of course its possible you may want to consider something else for the 2nd part of your stay. But decide once your there, Its an ok hotel really.
I can't remember how much we paid but it was quite reasonable.
If I think of anything else specific I will let you know.
Have fun
Muck
Sep 22nd, 2003 | 08:27 AM
#14
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,689
Likes: 0
The US is a class II country and quarantine is required unless certain requirements are met. Take a look at the HK government website at http://www.afcd.gov.hk/quarantine/te...ort/dogcat.htm. It says to be able to import from the US without quarantine, the minimum requirement is:
?¤Rabies Vaccination: fully vaccinated not less than 30 days
and not more than 1 year prior to arrival
?¤Other Vaccination (distemper, hepatitis) : fully vaccinated not less than 14 days
and not more than 1 year prior to arrival
Certificate from a vet re:clean bill of health not older than 14 days prior to arrival
Also, even if you don't need to quarantine the animal, dogs and cats cannot be brought into Hong Kong unless a Special Permit is obtained in advance from the HK government. The website gives info on obtaining a Special Permit.
If the dog is coming from the US, but not the continental US (like Hawaii or US possessions), other restrictions apply.
My personnal experience with this is that they are very strict about it; my friend imported a cat from the US about 3 years ago, and had to quarantine the cat for a month, even though on paper she met all the requirments.
?¤Rabies Vaccination: fully vaccinated not less than 30 days
and not more than 1 year prior to arrival
?¤Other Vaccination (distemper, hepatitis) : fully vaccinated not less than 14 days
and not more than 1 year prior to arrival
Certificate from a vet re:clean bill of health not older than 14 days prior to arrival
Also, even if you don't need to quarantine the animal, dogs and cats cannot be brought into Hong Kong unless a Special Permit is obtained in advance from the HK government. The website gives info on obtaining a Special Permit.
If the dog is coming from the US, but not the continental US (like Hawaii or US possessions), other restrictions apply.
My personnal experience with this is that they are very strict about it; my friend imported a cat from the US about 3 years ago, and had to quarantine the cat for a month, even though on paper she met all the requirments.
Sep 23rd, 2003 | 05:24 PM
#15
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
The permit to bring a pet in can take awhile, so plan accordingly.
In addition to the vet certification, we also had to provide documentation that the vet was authorized to make such an assessment. So, the form had to go through our state vet licensing board.
Cats had to have rabies shots a certain number of days before traveling, and, despite that, received additional rabies shots when entering HK.
Flying to HK, we were told that the trip duration was greater than allowed by US guidelines. So, the cats ended up staying overnight at a kennel in SFO.
Good luck!
In addition to the vet certification, we also had to provide documentation that the vet was authorized to make such an assessment. So, the form had to go through our state vet licensing board.
Cats had to have rabies shots a certain number of days before traveling, and, despite that, received additional rabies shots when entering HK.
Flying to HK, we were told that the trip duration was greater than allowed by US guidelines. So, the cats ended up staying overnight at a kennel in SFO.
Good luck!
