Emily’s and Stuart’s Top Ten things to see and do in Hong Kong. Well, at least the things we did on our short stay there on our way down under.
1) Victoria Harbour
Every night at 8pm there is a light show across Victoria Harbour. We just stumbled across this obviously popular event with tourists. The Tsim Sha Tsui East Promenade was packed when we arrived there on our first night at 7:45pm. The show is no more than 10 minutes long and involves a number of the skyscrapers lightening up with colours of the rainbow and laser search lights from the roofs. It is to music but difficult to hear the music over the chatter of tourists. It is difficult to get a clear view over the water with all the iPads used for cameras – ridiculous!
The next morning we went back the promenade and it was blissfully quiet before 8am (we had our Tiachi lesson) only the odd person out for a stroll or Tiachi enthusiast.
It is an impressive view whether by day or by night, just sky rise after sky rise from the waters edge up the mountains behind. The only shame for us was the haze, pollution haze really, that seemed to linger all day.
2) Big Buddha
Get there early is the best advice I can give you. The early bird catches the worm an
d all that! We decided to head off on the MTR (highly efficient and clean metro system) to the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island straight after our Taichi lesson. If you buy a tourist day pass for the metro, just a mere HKN $55, you get your moneys worth in just the trip there. From the metro station you board a cable car to go up to the Big Buddha on Ngong Ping Plateau. It is the purchasing of a ticket and boarding the cable car that involves all the wait. Even for us at 9:30am it took us some 45 minutes to finally be seated in a cable car up the mountain. A nice man takes your photo as you sit in the cable car and by the time you get to the top they have already printed the cheesy p
hoto and put in a snow globe for you to purchase! Feeling a little guilty we politely declined (both going up version and down!). You can actually walk to the Big Buddha from sea level if you are keen although it is a fair distance and quite a lot of steps. Our route via cable car was both comfortable and with good views over the Lantau Island. Nearing the end of the ascent the Buddha, a 34m high bronze statue (biggest seated bronze Buddha in the world, BTW), silhouettes against the sky line.
Weirdly there is nothing but bush on the way up and suddenly at the cable car station there is a small village of shops, restaurants, and yes wait for it Starbucks! Once you enter the Po Lin Monastery you think you would have escape the tourist commercialism, but not really I think they are reaping the rewards of having a Big Buddha on their doorstep!
Finally you have to walk the 268 steps up to the Big Buddha sitting on his plinth. Apparently he weighs 202 tonnes!
We had a cable car to ourselves on the way down and Stuart managed to do some local photo posing. Once down at the bottom, probably about 11:30am the lines were hours long, snaking around the cable car station – eek!
3) The Peak
Ok so this is another one to hit early if you don’t want to stand in line, except none of the ticky tak shops will be open at the top if you go as early as us – 8:30am! The Lower Peak Tram station has some relics of its former days (125 years old) and the tram itself, although not the original looks to be of an old style.
The tram goes up an extremely step incline that you just hope the wires are holding and the conductor has a handbrake if it all goes wrong. At the top there is a
smart modern building with shops and, guess what, Starbucks! The views across Hong Kong and Victoria Harbour are lovely from the highest point, some 552m. If it wasn’t for the haze the view would be even better, however still worth the journey. Some lucky soles even live up there with that amazing view and based on the cars
we saw coming in and out of the apartments complex the view does not come cheap (it would be my choice location if I was based in Hong Kong!).
So I thought the way up was steep, however the way down felt even worse. When we stopped at one of the four stations on the way down I didn't know, one how we were going to stop, and two how the elderly couple were actually going to be able to disembark with out falling on their bottoms. However they managed it. Stuart’s rucksack ended up at the front of the tram all by itself, so a lesson don’t leave anything unattended on the floor otherwise it will move with gravity.
4) Great food
All the food we had was great. We had everything from noodle dishes, to soups to dumplings. Stuart made sure we ate at the top rated establishments and it was amazing the quality for such little money you can get. However, in picking food and drink there are some things to note. Poultry is butchered with a cleaver, therefore you are served with bones, sometime chards of bones, and have to process in the mouth then spit out the bits, this also includes fish that is not filleted and finally hot coffee is served with condensed milk. In the States all restaurants serve water, here everywhere gives you tea.
First night we selected a street place at the end of Temple Street market. Nothing special to look at but it served beer and we had clams and our first poultry experience. Other than that the food was fab.
Stuart made sure we visited the dumpling place with a Michelin star called Tim Ho
Wan (note the sign was only in Chinese). You have to queue since it is a popular place, however it didn't take too long before we were seated. And wow, it was good and yes we ordered and ate way too much but it was worth it. Our dumplings included, steamed shrimp dumpling, pork and rice steamed in a lotus leaf, fried pork bbq dumpling, eggplant dumpling and pork (meat) ball.
For lunch one day we went to a Szechuan noodle place, Yu, in Causeway Bay and that was yummy. Rated as Stuart’s number one food we ate while in Hong Kong. You could pick the heat you wanted, so Stuart of course went for the mouth numbing noodles! His was not actually too hot. We had a marinated egg plant to accompany our noodles and it was spectacular.
Empire City for some Peking duck was a must, we also managed a bit of duck tongue to try (in jelly)!
Now you don’t!
On the last day we had breakfast out. Breakfast was included with our hotel
booking at The Luxe Manor, which was good but thought we should try a more traditional breakfast at least once. So everything was pretty normal – rice or noodle meat dish, except we added the Chinese dumpling, cardiac on a plate, and chicken feet. The chicken feet was a mistake since it was not what we ordered but we tried it all the same – when in Rome!
5) Star Ferry
A very cheap (and quick) sightseeing alternative across Victoria Harbour (Hong Kong Island to Kowloon). It is actually so quick don’t blink but fun all the same and more to see than on the metro.
6) Temples and Nunnery's
The Man Mo Temple is one you can smell before you see it. Burning incense sticks 24/7, as you walk up Ladder Street (lots of steps) the smell of incense wafts down. The temple is sandwiched between old and new apartments on the slopes of Victoria Peak. Free to go in and look around, which doesn’t take long since the smell of incense smoke is almost suffocating burning from coils suspended from the roof. This is the oldest temple in Hong Kong and it is said parents come to pray for their children’s good health and grades.
Nested in between high rise apartment blocks is Chi Lin Nunnery in Kowloon.
Originally built in the 1930’s, this totally wooded complex was rebuilt in 1998 with no nails in the style of the Tang-dynasty monastery. Connected to the monastery is the Nan Lian Gardens. Again free to walk around and enjoy the tranquillity.
7) Happy Valley Races
Every Wednesday during the winter months you can go to the races. For a tourist it costs a mere HKN$10 to get in. The atmosphere is fun. There is beer, food and betting and you get to either stand next to the track or up in the public stands. The minimum bet is HKN$10 (approx. £1) so there is no need to break the bank if you are as unlucky as Stuart and I!
I ended up taking part in a painting event they had there. I was given an apron and a palette, well I thought the palette was my painting canvas at first and so started to paint on it, meanwhile Stuart was shouting at me from the side lines telling me it was my palette and not my canvas! Stubborn as ever I chose not to believe him until he showed me what everyone else was doing! Anyway with my wonderful artistic skills I drew a St Andrews cross and used the horse paper template to paint on my yellow horse. Not sure if I won best painting since we left before the end.
8) See the Markets
Of course there are markets, there is so much stuff to sell. Where as the shopping malls (which there are many) are filled with high end stores, the markets sell the other range of goods from clothing, to electronics to stuff you wouldn't even know what to do with when get home. At the markets no one seems to push you to buy anything meaning you can browse at your own pace, make comments and move on.
Temple Street Market by Night
Bird Market – early start to watch the old men taking their budgies for a morning walk
Flower Street Market – wonderful smell of flowers as the shops lay out their bunches on the street edge
Goldfish Street – all the aquariums are situated here selling a selection of fish in plastic bags. Don't want to think what the fish are like by the end of the day, luckily we saw them as the shops were opening!
Ap Liu Street Market - a geeks heaven as Stuart described it with all bits of technology, electronics and cabling
There is a Ladies Market, although we were too early for this market, it doesn’t seem to get going until lunchtime.
9) Hong Kong Park
A lovely bit of greenery on Hong Kong Island, surrounded by sky rises. Inside the park there is a wonderful aviary full of beautiful coloured birds. The noise of them calling is spectacular with the stream trickling through, it makes it hard to believe you are in the heart of Hong Kong. There is also a viewing tower and ponds with terrapins and fish. All in all a pretty special place to take a stroll through.
10) Tiachi for free
Everything is better when it is free, and this was no different. A brilliantly enthusiastic elderly Chinese gentlemen and his wife with a number of regulars, taught uncoordinated westerners through the moves for an hour on the Tsim Sha Tsui East Promenade. Organised by the tourist board this is well worth the early morning rise for the class between 8-9am.
Taichi is meant to be very good for well being and blood flow. All I know is I had a cracking headache from the previous day flight and after my Taichi session it had gone, so Taichi gets the big thumbs up from me.
3) The Peak
d all that! We decided to head off on the MTR (highly efficient and clean metro system) to the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island straight after our Taichi lesson. If you buy a tourist day pass for the metro, just a mere HKN $55, you get your moneys worth in just the trip there. From the metro station you board a cable car to go up to the Big Buddha on Ngong Ping Plateau. It is the purchasing of a ticket and boarding the cable car that involves all the wait. Even for us at 9:30am it took us some 45 minutes to finally be seated in a cable car up the mountain. A nice man takes your photo as you sit in the cable car and by the time you get to the top they have already printed the cheesy p
hoto and put in a snow globe for you to purchase! Feeling a little guilty we politely declined (both going up version and down!). You can actually walk to the Big Buddha from sea level if you are keen although it is a fair distance and quite a lot of steps. Our route via cable car was both comfortable and with good views over the Lantau Island. Nearing the end of the ascent the Buddha, a 34m high bronze statue (biggest seated bronze Buddha in the world, BTW), silhouettes against the sky line. 
smart modern building with shops and, guess what, Starbucks! The views across Hong Kong and Victoria Harbour are lovely from the highest point, some 552m. If it wasn’t for the haze the view would be even better, however still worth the journey. Some lucky soles even live up there with that amazing view and based on the cars 
we saw coming in and out of the apartments complex the view does not come cheap (it would be my choice location if I was based in Hong Kong!).
All the food we had was great. We had everything from noodle dishes, to soups to dumplings. Stuart made sure we ate at the top rated establishments and it was amazing the quality for such little money you can get. However, in picking food and drink there are some things to note. Poultry is butchered with a cleaver, therefore you are served with bones, sometime chards of bones, and have to process in the mouth then spit out the bits, this also includes fish that is not filleted and finally hot coffee is served with condensed milk. In the States all restaurants serve water, here everywhere gives you tea.
Wan (note the sign was only in Chinese). You have to queue since it is a popular place, however it didn't take too long before we were seated. And wow, it was good and yes we ordered and ate way too much but it was worth it. Our dumplings included, steamed shrimp dumpling, pork and rice steamed in a lotus leaf, fried pork bbq dumpling, eggplant dumpling and pork (meat) ball. 
booking at The Luxe Manor, which was good but thought we should try a more traditional breakfast at least once. So everything was pretty normal – rice or noodle meat dish, except we added the Chinese dumpling, cardiac on a plate, and chicken feet. The chicken feet was a mistake since it was not what we ordered but we tried it all the same – when in Rome!
Of course there are markets, there is so much stuff to sell. Where as the shopping malls (which there are many) are filled with high end stores, the markets sell the other range of goods from clothing, to electronics to stuff you wouldn't even know what to do with when get home. At the markets no one seems to push you to buy anything meaning you can browse at your own pace, make comments and move on.
Everything is better when it is free, and this was no different. A brilliantly enthusiastic elderly Chinese gentlemen and his wife with a number of regulars, taught uncoordinated westerners through the moves for an hour on the Tsim Sha Tsui East Promenade. Organised by the tourist board this is well worth the early morning rise for the class between 8-9am.
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