dive:
I bought the tix thru UA on the phone. They were upgradable to bus class so I had to buy the full fare tix at 1105.00 ea. Included HNL-BKK BKK-HKG HKG-NRT NRT-HNL I see prices in the Sunday ads that run between 700-980,but don't know what airlines they are with. Kuranosuke is right we are trapped with UA here in HNL. I have Elite status with them so it is hard to give them up. We got the hotels also from united vacations on their site on the web. I won't be using them next trip as there are a lot of cheaper way to get the Pen and S La hotels from info gleaned from this site. No, sorry did not see that play. Aloha!

rhkkmk:

We are planning a trip back to BKK and Angkor and Japan next Feb thru March. Liked the weather at that time of year and gives us time to plan. Are you going to make it to the Bed for dinner this time around?

i think roberto will go to the bed to rest up, after he cycles around bkk all day. right? :-).

ht; going to japan and bkk in feb. will mean you need to pack warm clothing for japan. feb still cold in japan. might mean another suitcase for your winter gear. just a thought.

Kuranosuke:
plan to be in Japan by mid March after a couple of weeks in BKK area. I know still colder but rather have that than the heat, we got enough of that here :)

Day 8

We had an early 6:15 breakfast at the Pen as our driver was to pick us up at 7:30 for our 10:30 flight to Hong Kong. We lingered a while by the riverside watching the river traffic saying our silent goodbye to Bangkok :(. We’ll be back. Went up to our beautiful room and said goodbye to it. Closed the curtains by remote one last time and called for the bell boy to help us with the luggage. Our driver from Tour East was right on time. It only took us 35 minutes to make it to the airport. Check in was a breeze as we were flying Thai Air on this leg as United doesn’t have a BKK to HKG flight, they code share with Thai. The flight left 1 hour late but we made up time in the air due to 179 mph tailwind. It was an uneventful 2 hr 50 minute flight. The food was ok. It was raining and 42 F as we arrived in Hong Kong. Breezed thru customs and was met by our driver from Travel Advisors who took us and our bags to his Mercedes limo for our short ride to The Kowloon Shangri La Hotel. We had requested a harbor view room but were told that the rate we were paying was not the Harbor view rate. It would be an extra 600 HK for the view. I tried to bargain but the hotel was pretty full and the front desk guy politely stuck to his guns so I ended up giving in as I was not about to come all the way to Hong Kong and not have a view of the harbor. He gave us a recently renovated corner room #1229, which was a very nice and large room with an unobstructed beautiful million dollar view of the harbor but nothing like the room we had just left at the Pen :(. Linda unpacked as I just sat there for about ½ hour sipping the tea that the room butler had brought to us two minutes after we walked into the room along with a welcome bowl of fresh fruit. We freshened up and went downstairs to explore our new home for the next four days. While exploring we noticed the happy hour sign at the Tapa Bar in the lobby and decided to have some tapas and drinks as the drinks were 2 for 1. Well, 3 hours later and it was dark outside so we went for a walk on the waterfront promenade across the street from the hotel to see the lights on Hong Kong Island. What a beautiful sight. It started raining and we were pretty hungry so decided to get some dinner. Walked around the block and found a small Chinese restaurant just as the rain really started to come down. I had wor won ton mein while Linda had pork chops and rice with brown gravy. It was a very cheap meal (about 8 dollars US). We went back to the hotel to turn in for the night as we were tired from the plane and drinks at Tapas.

Day 9

I awoke early as usual and watched for an hour as the harbor came to life as the sun was rising. It was pretty overcast but the weather channel said it would clear by mid afternoon. We went downstairs to have breakfast at Café Kool on the mez floor which serves up a wonderful buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. They did not give us complimentary breakfast like in Bangkok but charged us 50% off for my Golden Circle membership. The buffet here though is a lot larger than in BKK with a lot more selections of everything and a lot of dim sum. Anyway after stuffing ourselves again we needed that daily walk so of we went down the street to Nathan Road. We walked up one side of the street for roughly 4 miles and crossed and came back on the other side as the bags of stuff we bought started to get real heavy. What an interesting place. There are a lot of jewelry shops on Nathan Road and everywhere people seem to be selling 24 karat gold chains, jade, etc. Prices were more expensive than in BKK but not as expensive as at home so we bought a lot of little presents and stuff for our relatives and friends back home that day. We got back to the hotel after little after lunch, which we ate at a Chinese restaurant on one of the side streets off of Nathan Rd. Cheap food, sorry I did not write the name down but this restaurant is very popular with the locals as they were lining up outside. We just waited in line with them. It didn’t take too long (about 15 minutes) before we were seated. This time we ate” family” style as we ordered some beef broccoli, rice and sam se mein cake noodles and honey walnuts shrimp. Delicious! We rested a while at the hotel and got our laundry together as we had spotted the Sunshine Laundry about two blocks from our hotel. 7 pounds of clothes washed, dried and folded for 28 HK and done in 2 hours, alright. They have like 39 locations throughout HK. We had nine pounds which cost 35HK. Dropped off the wash and headed for the night market on Temple street. We were just taking pictures of everything and all the lights and signs on the streets when I noticed that a local HK lady was buying fake Louis Vuitton bags from a vendor. The vendor had these hidden under the tables in bags. These looked real as the others on the tables out for sale had obvious flaws and wrong markings. I know that these weren’t real LV’s but they looked real i.e. correct logos and all the right markings. When the lady left with 4 bags I asked the vendor if she had any Gucci’s. She asked me if I was HK police to which I laughed. She then told me to wait as she instructed her teenage daughter to go to the car and get the Gucci bags. About 5 minutes later we had bargained and bought 2 bags. I don’t know why I did this but I guess I just got caught up in the moment. But for 300HK I had 2 really nice looking Gucci purses. Linda was happy.
We shopped around a little more and went back to pick up our laundry which was still warm from just coming out of the dryer (they even used bounce in the dryer). We dropped the clothes off at the room and went across the street to eat dinner. We found what I am calling the best noodles that we had in Hong Kong. The Restaurant is called Dragon Noodles and Dumplings on Mody Rd. in the Intercontinental Plaza Square on the ground floor. They have a cook whose job is just to make noodles by hand it seems constantly. He stands where everyone can see stretching and pounding the dough to make the perfect noodles that this place serves. The place was packed as it was every time we went there (3). The dumplings were out of this world. They had shrimp, shrimp with pork and pork and shrimp with vegetables dumplings that were so full of juice that when you bit into them they would squirt allover the place. If you are ever in the area you got to try this place. We had 2 fried noodles dishes,6 shrimp and 6 shrimp and pork and 4 vegetables dumplings, tea and 2 cokes for 180HK. Highly recommended by the hawaiiantraveler. Back to the hotel to sleep at 10:30. Tomorrow the Peak and Luk Yu Tea House.

not convinced that bed is for me....i really don't have any meals not accounted for...we (I) did a schedule last year and it worked out well....if we are tired we just skip that and mark it as a reason to return soon...

i can't believe the food is that good...if i have bad luck at harmonique it will free up a couple of nites...

make sure you go into the peninsula for tea one afternoon...often a long line...also go up top to the felix restaurant at nite time....have a drink at the bar if not for dinner....BUT MAKE SURE YOU BOTH GO TO THE BATHROOMS...MEN TO THE URINALS...unbelievable...go up just for the bathrooms also...they are near the elavators as i remember...

as you walk along the streets in TST look up at the signs over doorways...some advertise factory outlets...go in and upstairs for fantastic buys....
the tourist agency office at the star ferry terminal has a pamphlet for factory outlets some of which are worth while...

the peddler building on the HK side is a good shopping experience as well...ask in the hotel...its not far from the star ferry on HK

the chinese restaurant in the basement of the kowloon hotel, directly behind the penn, has very good dim sum....

keep the report coming...

bob

Day 10

Breakfast then out the door to catch the Star Ferry to HK side. Go out the front door of the Shangri La and across the street to the subway tube and walk towards the Peninsula exit using the movable walkways. Cuts down a lot of the walk and we make it to the ferry entrance in 4 minutes. Took the un crowded ferry to Stanley and caught the bus up to the tram that takes you to The Peak. Not that nice a day as the fog had set in a little but you can still see all the way to the New Territories. We hiked around a bit and shopped at the mall up there. They had a Hard Rock Café store way up there so we bought our usual supply of souvenirs. Headed down after 2 ½ hrs and went to see of we could get into Luk Yu Tea House for some dim sum. After hunting around we found it only to go inside and see that the first floor was packed. Up the stairs to the 2nd floor. “No more room here” said the waiter. Up the stairs to the 3rd and last floor and lo and behold one last table in the corner. We snag the table as they are just clearing it from someone who just left. Har gau, siu mai,bean curd, char siu bao,deep fried taro, shrimp in fun I just love dim sum. I eat it here in Honolulu at least twice a month and could eat it everyday if I could. This place has one of the best IMHO. I’m sure some will disagree but the place got and A+ by my standards. We had 8 dishes(didn’t want to have that unlucky 7) 3 diet cokes and tea for 320 HK. We then decided to walk around the immediate area and shop, which we did and caught the subway back to Kowloon about 4:30. Rested up a bit in our room, freshened up and went down to Tapas’ for their wine tasting night which was another 2 for 1 deal. Tapa Bar has a real nice selection of international wines but the wines in HK are just like BKK, very expensive. Had dinner at King’s Lodge on 67-71 Chatham Rd. We again had to wait 15 minutes in line but this is a very big place and it was already about 9:45 when we finally made it there. Great Cantonese food. We really liked this place. In bed by 12:00.

I've been following your exchanges abt. cheap airfares and BKK arrival times. Can't speak about the fares as I ma using my ff miles, but I did ask to arrive in BKK during the day time. Cathay Pacific flight leaves Toronto around 10 pm refuels in Anchorage and lands in HK 22 hours later. Two hour layover and arriving in BKK at 10:30 am, so you may want to check out flights from Canada as opposed to O'Hare or JFK.?

ht; sounds like you had a great trip, and ate plenty ono kaukau. put jimmy's kitchen in hong kong central on your restaurant list for next time. have the roasted pig knuckles with a glass of good portugese rose. fabulous.

great report.

Great trip report...SO glad u enjoyed Chatichak - I love it and have bought amazing stuff there but seems is not everyone's cup of tea...could not agree with u more re Bed - one of my fav places in Bkk - fusions well described by Gloria (I have never had Thai there on 5 trips)...

Day 11

Our last full day in Hong Kong begins with breakfast at Café Kool. They change their buffet menu every day so you don’t get bored with what they are serving. If we were paying the full price I wouldn’t eat here every day but at 50% off it’s a deal. We were planning to go to see the Buddha and monastery on Lantau Island today but are just too tired of playing the tourist thing that we just decide to cruise the subway, get off on a stop and explore that neighborhood. That lucky neighborhood ended up being Causeway Bay. Wow, couldn’t have picked a better place. The subway stop leads up into the mall at Times Square. They have the coolest deli market in the mall called City Super Market. You can find anything imported in this deli from Africa to Hawaii and all that’s in between. Ostrich eggs, caviar, salami, pineapples, thai lemongrass, you get the picture. There are a lot of locals shopping here. We then venture out onto the streets and visit Jardine St bazaar where we pick up a few things. There are a myriad of little jewelry and boutique shops in this area. We then stumble onto a huge Fish and seafood market in full swing with all the live everything crawling all over the place. Crab, fish. Clams, oysters, sea slugs, etc. Real interesting. Down the next street is the live meat market with all kinds of meats being sold. The live chicken, pigeon store is very odd. You pick a live bird from the cages and the guys takes it around to the corner tables and chop, well let’s just say instant chicken dinner, real fresh. Okay so after a few hours its back to Kowloon to Dragon Noodles for a late lunch (can’t get enough of this place) then off to the Harbor City Shopping Center. This place is huge(I think they said 7 city blocks). If they don’t have it here it’s not in HK. After a few hours we go back to pack up and off to bed early for our flight to Tokyo tomorrow. We eat dinner at Margau French restaurant in the hotel. The food here is fantastic .Great food with a million dollar view of the harbor at night. The bill also reflects the million dollar view as it is the largest we have paid on this trip yet. Notice I say yet as we have not gotten to Tokyo yet. Into bed by 10:30. Tomorrow Tokyo!

Day 12

The driver is there in the lobby to pick us up at 6:45 am for our UA flight to Tokyo. The ride to the airport takes 30 minutes with absolutely no traffic as it is Sunday morning. Checked in and then tried to find a place to cash in the rest of our Octopus cards. We are told that we should have done it before we checked in as you have to go back thru the controlled area and back to where we bought it in the arrivals area. What a rip off. You think they would make it more convenient. Oh well we now have another souvenir of HK. The flight left right on time at 9:25. Wheels down in Tokyo at 1:44pm after a 3 hr 19 minute flight. It is very cold in Narita when we arrive, 33 F. Lucky we brought our jackets and gloves with us. We catch the airport limo bus service to our hotel in Shinjuku, The Keio Plaza Hotel. The bus service is real convenient as they have a desk located right outside after you exit customs. There buses pick you up right outside the front door so you can literally get door to door service. They load and unload your bags onto and off the bus for you so it couldn’t have been any easier. Cost was 3,000 yen per person and the ride took 80 minutes. We checked into the Keio and got into our 27th floor room with a great view. The rooms in Japan are considerably smaller than those of the Shangri La and Peninsula hotels we just stayed in but are ok. The toilet seat there are worth the price of admission as they are electronic with heaters and lets just say they are very cleansing. We unpack and set out to explore the Shinjuku neighborhood. The first thing you notice about Japan is that everything is so clean compared to BKK and HKG. People are constantly cleaning and sweeping that it seems a ritual. Out the back door of the hotel and past the post office lies a myriad streets with little shops, restaurants, sushi bars, pachinko parlors, and just fascinating little places to shop in that we were out a couple of hours just taking it all in. We found a noodle shop we called 295. We called it that because that is the only thing that we could read on the sign that was in English. They did have a Picture menu though so we walked up the stairs and into the small door that opened into a very jam packed place. KONISHIWA! The waitress yells. She then spurts out a line in Japanese which we don’t understand and smiles at us. I hold up two fingers and say ni kudasai. The waitress laughs and seats us in a table with two other people. She brings us the menu which is all in Japanese but has pictures of everything they serve. I order the miso ramen with sweet pork and Linda orders the ramen with dumplings. The soup dishes also come as a combo with a bowl of rice with teriyaki meat or chicken or bonito flakes. We both order a side of gyoza (5 pieces). Cost for the meal was about 1400 yen. A very cheap dinner. We walk around awhile and go back to the hotel around 10:00 for bed. Tomorrow natto for breakfast:)

loving the descriptions...its fun to experience 3 completely different situations on one trip isn't it??

Day 13

We woke early and decided to check out the breakfast at the Super Buffet Glass Court Restaurant where everything is supposed to be fresh. Lots of selections with a lot of Japanese food selections. I walked around looking at everything before I took anything and notice a small glass bowl with a cover on it next to all the tsukemono and garnishes. I open the jar and that familiar odor permeates the air. NATTO! I quickly grab a small bowl of hot rice and scoop some on along with some pickled vegetables and go back to the table. Linda immediately leaves saying she needs to get something else and leaves me to eat the tiny morsels in peace. We go back for the other food items a couple of times then leave feeling we don’t need lunch. If you are going to stay at the Keio consider joining their Executive Club. Membership gives you special room rates along with free breakfast (saved us 55000 yen for breakfast in Super Buffet) special rooms and VIP check in. You can request a late checkout as late as 4:00 without paying which is helpful for the late flights out of Narita to the US. We then went took the free Disney shuttle to Japan Disney. I know that most of you think that there are a lot of better places to go to in Tokyo with only 3 days but well lets just say that we had to. I’m sure your not interested so we’ll leave the Disney review for another website but suffice it to say we had a great time. We caught the train back to Shinjuku about 7:00 pm and went to an Italian/Japanese restaurant on one of the backstreets behind our hotel. They have a limited English menu combined with their regular menu. Food was great and we had a bottle of Italian white wine with dinner for 2500 yen. Early to bed as we were exhausted from all the walking.

Day 14

After breakfast we walk outside to the subway for our short ride to the Roppongi district for what else Hard Rock Café Souvenirs. Weather is beautiful today as the cold front passes and temperature rises to 64 F during the day. We find the Hard Rock with little trouble and set off to see the rest of the area. Walk around for a couple of hours then duck into the subway and come up at the Imperial Place. Tour the palace area for about 2 hours then head back to Shinjuku to freshen up. We then take the subway to the Ginza. Wow what a sight at night! We stroll up and down the street looking for a place to eat. We finally settle at Valdarno Restaurant right on the main street. It’s Italian and packed but the service is excellent and so is the food. We have 1 bottle of wine with our meal along with appetizer and dessert. Price is 16100 yen our most expensive meal on this trip. Catch the subway back to Shinjuku and go up to the 45th floor of our hotel to the Sky Bar for a couple of cocktails. Beautiful views of the city but with a price of 8000 yen per drink. Sleep by 12:00.

Day 15

Our last day in Tokyo as we leave at 7:00 pm from Narita. Have breakfast and set off to walk around the other side of Shinjuku that we had not yet explored. We then duck into the subway for a ride back to the Ginza. We come up from underground into the Mitsukoshi Store to buy some packed foods and gifts for people back home. If you have ever been to this store in the basement is their version of a food court. You can eat for free here as every stall is offering samples of all that they sell. Made some purchases here then catch the subway back to Shinjuku. Shopped at the Keio Store, the Odkayu Store and another that I can’t remember the name of. These stores are huge 7 to 8 stories each and sell everything from soup to nuts. They are located right above the Shinjuku train station. The Shinjuku area is very convenient to travel to and from as the station is one of the main ones in Tokyo and the JR trains leave from there and you can get to virtually anywhere in the city as the subway stations almost all pass thru there. We then have a late lunch at our 295 noodle restaurant one last time and head back to the hotel to pack up and freshen up before our ride to the airport. The Airport Limo Bus is right on time and we leave the hotel at 2:55 pm. It took us 95 minutes to get to the terminal as traffic was starting to get bad and as it was a Wednesday afternoon. We had a very quick 5 hr 45 minute flight back to HNL as we were aided by a 228 mph tailwind. We hit a top speed of 789mph. All in all it was a fantastic first trip into Asia. We are already planning a return next Feb/March and I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me for all of your expert advice and recent knowledge of areas that you all travel in. Sorry for the length.
Aloha!
Peter

Peter,

LOVED your report.

We have our trip planned this summer just like yours except we are doing it in reverse; Tokyo first, Bangkok is last and we got to Beijing as well.

So I guess we'll go from clean to "dirty" instead of the reverse!

Thanks for your lovely report. We are also at the Penn in Bangkok and we are most excited. We at the Intercontinental in HKG and at the Seiyo Ginza in Tokyo ( St Regis in Beijing).

Thanks for all the wonderful insights!

Cheers!

peter; great report. seems like you had a great trip.

ahhh.. natto for breakfast..what more can you ask for.

question.. the sky bar drink was 8000 yen? thats kinda steep, maybe it was 800. is the free train to disneyland for hotel guest only, or can anyone use it? mahalo again for the great report.

coreection,drinks at the sky bar in the hotel were 800(7.60 US) yen per drink not 8000

kuranosuke:
we rode the free Disney shuttle bus going to the park. They also have a free return bus at certain times but did not want to wait for it so caught the train back to the hotel by ourselves. The Disney shuttle left the Shinjuku area that day at 6:30, 9:00 and at 10:30. They make pickups at the Hyatt, Keio Plaza Hotel and another hotel that I can't remember the name of. They(Disney) does this for alot of hotels in Tokyo as I remember seeing a schedule in the bus. Coming back to Shinjuku the shuttle buses were at 4:30, 7:50 and 10:20.
You were right the drinks were only 800 yen. Can't get use to all those zeroes. Aloha!

peter thanks so much for the wonderful report...so you liked asia???...not surprising....we all seem to love it...
some of us can't get enough...

we are here to assist with future planning as many of us will be in asia before your return so may have some updates for you...

i pick up tid bits every day on this forum and print them out or write a note to myself and then keep it all in a planning folder...anal i know but it helps, especially when the brain fails you...

welcome home...

divediva and kuranosuke:
FYI, just saw the Sunday Advertiser Travel section. R&C Travel has r/t HNL to BKK for $559.00. King's Travel has roundtrip for 560.00 and Star Tours and Travel have r/t for 469.00. Aloha!

peter; mahalo for the info. been checking narita weather as i will be there in a couple of weeks, and thanks to ua, i get a 6 hour layover.

looks kinda cold, so i guess i might have to switch from cold to hot sake with my maguro-natto donburi.:-). domo.