Hong Kong To Remember
Feb 9th, 2010 | 08:12 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
Hong Kong To Remember
For those of you who know Hong Kong and love it -
How would you approach 4 introductory days next November?
What would have made a perfect first trip there for you?
Hong Kong is our last stop on a 4 week trip, posted "(Your) Dream Trip to Asia", a 25th annirversary celebration. Several months ago, I asked you for your own dream trip, got some wonderful ideas, made my bookings - and now I am filling in the itinerary. Along those lines, your thoughts for Hong Kong will be much appreciated.
We arrive Sunday HKG (8:00p), from Siem Reap; booked into the Peninsula for 5 nights. Take it from there.
Oceanrockview
.
How would you approach 4 introductory days next November?
What would have made a perfect first trip there for you?
Hong Kong is our last stop on a 4 week trip, posted "(Your) Dream Trip to Asia", a 25th annirversary celebration. Several months ago, I asked you for your own dream trip, got some wonderful ideas, made my bookings - and now I am filling in the itinerary. Along those lines, your thoughts for Hong Kong will be much appreciated.
We arrive Sunday HKG (8:00p), from Siem Reap; booked into the Peninsula for 5 nights. Take it from there.
Oceanrockview
.
Feb 9th, 2010 | 09:03 PM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 29,053
Likes: 0
#1 make sure that you visit the bathrooms outside the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel---at least your husband will have a tale to tell!!
plan to walk walk and walk...hollywood road area is interesting... the escalator is fun--watch the time for up and down...
wander the streets of kowloon, the area of the hotel...
have dim sum often..
ride the star ferry...
get a basic guidebook on HK
plan to walk walk and walk...hollywood road area is interesting... the escalator is fun--watch the time for up and down...
wander the streets of kowloon, the area of the hotel...
have dim sum often..
ride the star ferry...
get a basic guidebook on HK
Feb 9th, 2010 | 10:39 PM
#5
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,689
Likes: 0
Well, you have a good start with a room at the Penn. (Please tell me it is a harbour view. If not, rebook for one.) My personal dream 4 days are probably different from others, as they do not involve shopping (except possibly for hand made shoes and bags and a peak at the antique map/print shops). In November, which is our very best weather, each day would more likely than not involve a walk or a more substantial hike. A boat trip or two would be on the list as well, which can often be combined with a hike or walk.
The Peak Tram, a ramble around the Peak area (day and night or sunset/dusk) a ride on the Star Ferry, the great double-decker bus ride over to Stanley, a poke around the Wan Chai or Peel Street markets, a walk along the esplanade on the Kowloon side (not so necessary for you as you already have that View from your room) are all pretty much givens and are in all the guidebooks. Go to the bird market and flower market early in the morning, with a stop at the Jade Market and then a visit to the Wong Tai Sin temple to get your fortune told and that is the morning in Kowloon. There are several good museums, some walkable from your hotel. The Cultural Centre is across the street from your hotel and probably will have something worth seeing one night during your stay.
I have to note that the Penn has quite a nice spa, so you might want to book yourself in for something like a massage, or be sure to use the steam and facilities there for guests. Possibly a spa treatment on your first night, as you may arrive at the hotel too late to want to do much, and then room service with that View could be quite special.
It would also be helpful to know <i>your</i> interests. Do you like architecture, or want to take cooking lessons, or want to play mah jongg or want to go scuba diving. Are you interested in WW history or modern art? When you think of Hong Kong, what do you see in your mind's eue? Many options are available here, but why should you waste your time doing something that does not interest you?
Please search this board for my very long list of reccos called “Cicerone’s Reccos for What the Locals Do for Fun in Hong Kong (Hint: We DON’T Go to those Awful Night Markets....)” at http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...l-night-ma.cfm this should give you some ideas for what to do, including a list of walks and some sources for more walks. For a description of another of my favourite very easy walks on Hong Kong Island, see my posting called “Cicerone’s Favourite Hong Kong Walks II: Paradise Found! From Happy Valley to Stanley in High Heels! (Almost) The Tsz Lo Lan Shan Path” and “Cicerone's Favourite Hong Kong Walks III: The Dragon's Back”. At http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...eels-alm-1.cfm
and http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...agons-back.cfm. Also check the Hong Kong Tourism Board website at discoverhongkong.com for other ideas as well as the Leisure and Cultural Services Department website at http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/home.php to see all events and museums offered by the government.
Since writing the above posts on walks, I have compiled an somewhat embarrassingly long series of notes on various walks and hikes, and photos of some of them as well, which I would be happy to e-mail it to you if you want to send me a message at [email protected]. I have a list of restaurant recommendations for Hong Kong which is about 40-pages, which I would also be happy to e-mail it to you. It is broken down by view, no view, area, price and food type/region.
Out of my own list of favourite things, I would highlight the horse races at Happy Valley as something to include, because you will be here during racing season, so you could plan that for the Wednesday night (can include dinner, probably not worth it, you don’t have to stay for all 6 races). If budget allows, I would also suggest hiring your own boat for a half day/day to really see the harbour and/or get out to some of the stunning outlying areas (e.g. the Ninepin Islands, Tai Long Wai in Sai Kung), although you could possibly use the Aqua Luna’s day trip options to accomplish a bit of these. The small pubic kaido ferries can also get you to some charming places, but some of these only run on weekends, so this may not be as feasible an option for you. (Same with some walks, as public transport to more remote areas in the New Territories is quite limited on weekdays.)
There are no major religious/cultural festivals in November, but of course make an effort to visit a temple or two as you may run into the celebration day for the temple’s deity.
You have time to consider Macau for a day trip, your days are all weekdays so any of the days would be OK. There are no public holidays in November in Hong Kong, and none in the PRC of which I am aware, so any day in Macau should be OK in terms of crowds. My dream trip there would completely skip the Cotai strip of casinos (in my dream they have in fact never been built and the lovely Bella Vista is still a hotel and not the Portuguese consulate) and would concentrate on the old town area and then the little villages down at the tip of Colane and Taipa.
My other suggestion is to just get on the MTR, the street tram or a bus, and then get off at any random stop and just walk around the local neighborhoods and see what is up. This is where you will find local markets, old ladies running around in the pajamas bargaining for the day's shopping, people burning hell money or other offerngs, old men tending their birds, a funeral on the street (if you are lucky) and cheap local restaurants. Good places for this on Hong Kong Island are North Point and Sai Wan Ho, and especially the Kennedy Town area of Western. (In Kennedy Town there is a swim club of people who swim most every day in the harbour! They are just crazy, as that water has got to be the most polluted in SA Asia and that is saying something.) The #10 bus runs from Central through to Kennedy Town making stops in very local neighborhood areas and ends at a parking lot (and city mortuary) which is not a far walk from this swim club. This is a good bus because it is double decker so you get a street view on the journey. To look for the swim club, walk along Victoria Road away from the city after the last bus stop at the mortuary; looking for a fence and two small white signs with Chinese lettering in red on the right with steps leading down to the water, it’s probably half a mile or so down. It is basically opposite the small island in the harbour here. The #10 bus also runs in the other direction to the North Point ferry pier and from there you can poke around that area of North Point, including the Sunbeam Theatre for Chinese opera and other cultural offerings. (You can also take the MTR to North Point.)
The street tram is a slower, but far more scenic, way to reach these areas as well. For Sai Wan Ho, take the MTR to that stop and walk the neighborhood (the Museum of Coastal Defense there is excellent and there are two interesting temples close to the museum). You can also take the #14 bus to or from Stanley to get to Sai Wan Ho which might be an interesting way to basically circle the island as part of a trip to Stanley.
On the Kowloon side, I would go someplace like Kwun Tong which is completely untouristed, go to Yue Man Square and the Hip Wo Street area where there are local markets. (You can even take a ferry from North Point to Kwun Tong, which may be a good way to combine visits to both sides and get a little ferry ride into the bargain.) Tsuen Wan is also interesting, it was farmers’ fields not so long ago and now is a mini-city of like a million people. (Lots of PRC tourists, but ‘nary a Western one. The PRC tourists go for jewelry and pharmaceuticals.) It also has a nice little walled village museum very close to the MTR station. These neighborhoods are high-rise ones, with some enormous housing estates in some places (which are sites in themselves IMO); if you want small villages, then head to the New Territories, the area around Fanling is good, but even Lamma offers small villages on its back side, as do Lantau and parts of Sai Kung. For Fanling, there are several ways to do this. One is to take the MTR/West Rail to Fanling and hop a #78K bus out along Sha Tau Kok Road and just get out at some point along the road once you leave the town of Fanling and hit rural areas, which will be after a mile or so. There are many small villages along this road and down the side roads here. You could also do a historical walking tour of the walled villages and clan halls of Fanling, this is quite an interesting self-guided tour, take a look at http://www.hktrampers.com/FactFile/L...uHeritageTrail for info and maps. It takes under 2 hours. You could also do the Trappist Monastery Walk on Lantau Island which includes some tiny villages. (Please bear in mind that when I say “villages” I do not mean a village with a charming church, cobble-stone streets and trim gabled houses featuring red geraniums in window boxes like you find in Switzerland. I mean dirty, falling-down-around-your ears and featuring lots of barking dogs, and is some places wild cows, with the village temple more than likely tricked out in shiny pink bathroom tile. The word <i>ramshackle</i> is an apt description. But I am in love with these villages none the less.)
The Peak Tram, a ramble around the Peak area (day and night or sunset/dusk) a ride on the Star Ferry, the great double-decker bus ride over to Stanley, a poke around the Wan Chai or Peel Street markets, a walk along the esplanade on the Kowloon side (not so necessary for you as you already have that View from your room) are all pretty much givens and are in all the guidebooks. Go to the bird market and flower market early in the morning, with a stop at the Jade Market and then a visit to the Wong Tai Sin temple to get your fortune told and that is the morning in Kowloon. There are several good museums, some walkable from your hotel. The Cultural Centre is across the street from your hotel and probably will have something worth seeing one night during your stay.
I have to note that the Penn has quite a nice spa, so you might want to book yourself in for something like a massage, or be sure to use the steam and facilities there for guests. Possibly a spa treatment on your first night, as you may arrive at the hotel too late to want to do much, and then room service with that View could be quite special.
It would also be helpful to know <i>your</i> interests. Do you like architecture, or want to take cooking lessons, or want to play mah jongg or want to go scuba diving. Are you interested in WW history or modern art? When you think of Hong Kong, what do you see in your mind's eue? Many options are available here, but why should you waste your time doing something that does not interest you?
Please search this board for my very long list of reccos called “Cicerone’s Reccos for What the Locals Do for Fun in Hong Kong (Hint: We DON’T Go to those Awful Night Markets....)” at http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...l-night-ma.cfm this should give you some ideas for what to do, including a list of walks and some sources for more walks. For a description of another of my favourite very easy walks on Hong Kong Island, see my posting called “Cicerone’s Favourite Hong Kong Walks II: Paradise Found! From Happy Valley to Stanley in High Heels! (Almost) The Tsz Lo Lan Shan Path” and “Cicerone's Favourite Hong Kong Walks III: The Dragon's Back”. At http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...eels-alm-1.cfm
and http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...agons-back.cfm. Also check the Hong Kong Tourism Board website at discoverhongkong.com for other ideas as well as the Leisure and Cultural Services Department website at http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/home.php to see all events and museums offered by the government.
Since writing the above posts on walks, I have compiled an somewhat embarrassingly long series of notes on various walks and hikes, and photos of some of them as well, which I would be happy to e-mail it to you if you want to send me a message at [email protected]. I have a list of restaurant recommendations for Hong Kong which is about 40-pages, which I would also be happy to e-mail it to you. It is broken down by view, no view, area, price and food type/region.
Out of my own list of favourite things, I would highlight the horse races at Happy Valley as something to include, because you will be here during racing season, so you could plan that for the Wednesday night (can include dinner, probably not worth it, you don’t have to stay for all 6 races). If budget allows, I would also suggest hiring your own boat for a half day/day to really see the harbour and/or get out to some of the stunning outlying areas (e.g. the Ninepin Islands, Tai Long Wai in Sai Kung), although you could possibly use the Aqua Luna’s day trip options to accomplish a bit of these. The small pubic kaido ferries can also get you to some charming places, but some of these only run on weekends, so this may not be as feasible an option for you. (Same with some walks, as public transport to more remote areas in the New Territories is quite limited on weekdays.)
There are no major religious/cultural festivals in November, but of course make an effort to visit a temple or two as you may run into the celebration day for the temple’s deity.
You have time to consider Macau for a day trip, your days are all weekdays so any of the days would be OK. There are no public holidays in November in Hong Kong, and none in the PRC of which I am aware, so any day in Macau should be OK in terms of crowds. My dream trip there would completely skip the Cotai strip of casinos (in my dream they have in fact never been built and the lovely Bella Vista is still a hotel and not the Portuguese consulate) and would concentrate on the old town area and then the little villages down at the tip of Colane and Taipa.
My other suggestion is to just get on the MTR, the street tram or a bus, and then get off at any random stop and just walk around the local neighborhoods and see what is up. This is where you will find local markets, old ladies running around in the pajamas bargaining for the day's shopping, people burning hell money or other offerngs, old men tending their birds, a funeral on the street (if you are lucky) and cheap local restaurants. Good places for this on Hong Kong Island are North Point and Sai Wan Ho, and especially the Kennedy Town area of Western. (In Kennedy Town there is a swim club of people who swim most every day in the harbour! They are just crazy, as that water has got to be the most polluted in SA Asia and that is saying something.) The #10 bus runs from Central through to Kennedy Town making stops in very local neighborhood areas and ends at a parking lot (and city mortuary) which is not a far walk from this swim club. This is a good bus because it is double decker so you get a street view on the journey. To look for the swim club, walk along Victoria Road away from the city after the last bus stop at the mortuary; looking for a fence and two small white signs with Chinese lettering in red on the right with steps leading down to the water, it’s probably half a mile or so down. It is basically opposite the small island in the harbour here. The #10 bus also runs in the other direction to the North Point ferry pier and from there you can poke around that area of North Point, including the Sunbeam Theatre for Chinese opera and other cultural offerings. (You can also take the MTR to North Point.)
The street tram is a slower, but far more scenic, way to reach these areas as well. For Sai Wan Ho, take the MTR to that stop and walk the neighborhood (the Museum of Coastal Defense there is excellent and there are two interesting temples close to the museum). You can also take the #14 bus to or from Stanley to get to Sai Wan Ho which might be an interesting way to basically circle the island as part of a trip to Stanley.
On the Kowloon side, I would go someplace like Kwun Tong which is completely untouristed, go to Yue Man Square and the Hip Wo Street area where there are local markets. (You can even take a ferry from North Point to Kwun Tong, which may be a good way to combine visits to both sides and get a little ferry ride into the bargain.) Tsuen Wan is also interesting, it was farmers’ fields not so long ago and now is a mini-city of like a million people. (Lots of PRC tourists, but ‘nary a Western one. The PRC tourists go for jewelry and pharmaceuticals.) It also has a nice little walled village museum very close to the MTR station. These neighborhoods are high-rise ones, with some enormous housing estates in some places (which are sites in themselves IMO); if you want small villages, then head to the New Territories, the area around Fanling is good, but even Lamma offers small villages on its back side, as do Lantau and parts of Sai Kung. For Fanling, there are several ways to do this. One is to take the MTR/West Rail to Fanling and hop a #78K bus out along Sha Tau Kok Road and just get out at some point along the road once you leave the town of Fanling and hit rural areas, which will be after a mile or so. There are many small villages along this road and down the side roads here. You could also do a historical walking tour of the walled villages and clan halls of Fanling, this is quite an interesting self-guided tour, take a look at http://www.hktrampers.com/FactFile/L...uHeritageTrail for info and maps. It takes under 2 hours. You could also do the Trappist Monastery Walk on Lantau Island which includes some tiny villages. (Please bear in mind that when I say “villages” I do not mean a village with a charming church, cobble-stone streets and trim gabled houses featuring red geraniums in window boxes like you find in Switzerland. I mean dirty, falling-down-around-your ears and featuring lots of barking dogs, and is some places wild cows, with the village temple more than likely tricked out in shiny pink bathroom tile. The word <i>ramshackle</i> is an apt description. But I am in love with these villages none the less.)
Feb 10th, 2010 | 12:22 PM
#6
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 612
Likes: 0
>>>Hong Kong To Remember<<<
Well, preferably flying 'suites' in/out of HKG with those sensational Singapore Girls! Yes, couldn't resist yet another shameless SIA promo; please forgive me, and yes, take that 'traitor air'! (Cathay Pacific; rumour has it, one of your airlines, and just between us: an occasional CX HKG-SIN flight for me.)
Now, very early morning greetings, warm congrats on your 25th, and would gently suggest following the fine Peninsula 'harbour view' (certain suites, if budget allows) and Rolls Royce transfer service thoughts. Should you spring for the latter, do hope you have the honour of making the acquaintance of four very fine Peninsula gentlemen : William, Tommy, Billy, and Leslie. Mind you, it's been ~ 2 months since our last, brief HK Peninsula weekend stay; at that time, those guys remained just the best, from initial airport greetings, seamless check-in/check-out, to a rather expedited HKG departure. (Via SIA, naturally.)
Have fun, and for your 30th, and on, do kindly consider SQ - thank you.
macintosh (robert)
... Singapore Airlines, You're a Great Way to Fly ...
Well, preferably flying 'suites' in/out of HKG with those sensational Singapore Girls! Yes, couldn't resist yet another shameless SIA promo; please forgive me, and yes, take that 'traitor air'! (Cathay Pacific; rumour has it, one of your airlines, and just between us: an occasional CX HKG-SIN flight for me.)
Now, very early morning greetings, warm congrats on your 25th, and would gently suggest following the fine Peninsula 'harbour view' (certain suites, if budget allows) and Rolls Royce transfer service thoughts. Should you spring for the latter, do hope you have the honour of making the acquaintance of four very fine Peninsula gentlemen : William, Tommy, Billy, and Leslie. Mind you, it's been ~ 2 months since our last, brief HK Peninsula weekend stay; at that time, those guys remained just the best, from initial airport greetings, seamless check-in/check-out, to a rather expedited HKG departure. (Via SIA, naturally.)
Have fun, and for your 30th, and on, do kindly consider SQ - thank you.
macintosh (robert)
... Singapore Airlines, You're a Great Way to Fly ...
Feb 10th, 2010 | 05:48 PM
#7
Original Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
Cicerone, we have, indeed, booked a harbor view room, thanks.
Room service on the first night sounds lovely.
Regarding the itinerary, I have sketched out day one:
Monday -
Morning at the Hong Kong Historical Museum
Lunch at the Mandarin Hotel
Afternoon on the Peak
Evening at the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
Care to take a stab at Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday?
Room service on the first night sounds lovely.
Regarding the itinerary, I have sketched out day one:
Monday -
Morning at the Hong Kong Historical Museum
Lunch at the Mandarin Hotel
Afternoon on the Peak
Evening at the Hong Kong Philharmonic.
Care to take a stab at Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday?
Trending Topics
Feb 12th, 2010 | 12:50 AM
#8
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,760
Likes: 0
On Wednesday, I would take Cicerone's advice. I would definitely take the Star Ferry to HK side and find the double decker street car that goes to Happy Valley race course. Walk round to the members entrance, show my passport, pay the entrance fee, get the tourist badge, and enter the Members Enclosure.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has offers for overseas visitors, read about them here: http://tinyurl.com/yhpsd9s
If you don't know how to handicap, then here are two tips:
1) find out who the winningest jockey is and bet on him
and/or
2) bet on the grey.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has offers for overseas visitors, read about them here: http://tinyurl.com/yhpsd9s
If you don't know how to handicap, then here are two tips:
1) find out who the winningest jockey is and bet on him
and/or
2) bet on the grey.
