| |
 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in Hong Kong
Know the most popular landmarks in Hong Kong. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
Hong Kong city guide.
Pages (4 of 135):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 More »
| H Lin (2nd call) |
18 November 2004 |
Stayed at Wesley, The - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
From the airport on Lantau Island, we took the Airport Express (expensive but a terrific ride) to to Central district on Hong Kong Island and then took the taxi to the Wesley hotel on Wanchai district. During the five day's stay, we walked around the Wanchai district, having breakfast around the corners every morning. In the evening, we visited the markets in the side streets and had fun being bargain hunters. Sometimes, we walked from the hotel to Pacific place for lunch in a nice restarant and then walked around the shopping Mall. By public transportation, We went to Time Square in Causeway Bay, another bustling district for dinner and shopping. We also took a one-day bus tour to Lantau Island to see the big Buddha on the top of a mountain and had delicious vegetarian lunch in the Bao Lan Temple. The place was far away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Quite a change of pace. A terrific trip.
|
| P Young |
13 November 2004 |
Stayed at Shamrock Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
The Octopus card is a pretty valuable card to have while in HK. You can purchase one at any MTR (train) station. An adult Octopus card cost $150HKD with a refundable $50 deposit. It can give you a reduced-rate travel on the MTR (subway), most buses and some ferries. It also acts like an debit card to buy goods and services in 7-eleven stores and other places. When your card is running low, you can simply add more money to it at 7-eleven stores and the MTR.
Upon returning the Octopus card to any MTR, you will get back your $50 deposit and any money remaining on the card. HOWEVER, a $7 service charge is added if you returned it with less than 3 month of usage since initial purchase.
The LADIES' MARKET located on Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok is like a big garage sale!!!! Usually runs from 2 pm to past midnight.....daily. If you like to bargain for goods, this is the place to be. You can haggle the prices for anything. My tip for you.....bargain HARD and be prepare to walk away if you don't get the item at the price you want. Ask yourself this question: how badly do you want that item or how badly do they want to get rid of it and make a sale? The weaker the buyer is, the more they will get rip off!
|
| A Ortiz |
09 November 2004 |
Stayed at BP International House - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
With the use of the Octopus card, one can travel the MTR, KCRC (both train lines), buses and ferries all over Hong Kong as long as you have sufficient amount of money in the Octopus card. The fare is based on how far you are traveling so if you enjoy doing lots of sightseeing this may be a cheap way of traveling. I myself have traveled this way to Hong Kong Island to see Victoria Peak and Ocean Park; Lantau Island to see the Giant Buddha Statue & Po Lin Montastery; Northern Territories to see the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery at Sha Tin and Yuen Yuen Institute & the Western Monastery at Tsuen Wan; and Chi Lin Nunnery in New Kowloon at the MTR station of Diamond Hill. All these places should not be missed if you are really interested in doing some wonderful sightseeing. Besides these places, the Bird Market should not be missed neither.
|
| V Heyden |
08 November 2004 |
Stayed at Charterhouse, The - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
Baci - very nice, sleek, quite expensive Italian restaurant in the night-life area. Be careful as they tend to top up your glass to make you spend more. MTR is great and bus to Stanley is perfect but taxis are cheap too.
|
| N Yuen |
31 October 2004 |
Stayed at Pruton Prudential Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
If you are planning to go during the period of july-oct, just make sure you pack a snug windbreaker, because the winds are pretty well...windy (22-24 degrees Celsius)! Do take the public transport system in HK, as it is really very efficient, not to mention cost-effective. Buy the Octopus Card for 150HKD & zip around HK using the MTR & buses, they will take you almost everywhere. A little tip though, when going up and down escalators on the stations, keep to your right, as the left side is for people hurrying like crazy. Kowloon is THE place to stay, if you wana see the real Hong Kong. HK Island is too full of skyscrapers with almost everyone and anyone wearing business suits running all over the place for their appointments. Kowloon itself is a nice mish-mash of neon lights on old buildings with loads of character, side-to-side with spanking new buildings that seem to have an ethereal sheen to their facades.
Eats: Very authentic Hong Kong Dai-Pai Dongs for food where the waiters still have pencils stucked on their ears when taking orders. The food portions served at this local-style food houses are frightfully big, enough for at least 2 hearty or 3 light diners. The “Yam Char” culture is very prevalent here where one dines on Dim Sum around the clock. For about 120-200 HKD for 2-4 diners, one gets a smorgasbord of dim sum from crispy yam balls filled with meat and vegetable cubes, stir fried noodles, spring rolls, HK’s ever-popular tasty roasted pork-filled and sweet sesame paste buns, to the internationally acclaimed succulent prawn filled “Har Gow & Siew Mai”.
Try the area around Jordan or Mong Kok MTR for these Dim Sum Restaurants, they are all over the place. Most of these restaurants may look a little upmarket or expensive or are actually quite affordable. When in doubt, ask for the menu and check the prices before sitting down, you will not go far wrong.
Shopping places: Unless you are going for branded stuff, you can forget about the big commercial shopping centres, you can probably get whatever Gucci or Prada items back home, at almost the same prices. If you are in for the local and oriental stuff, I strongly suggest an open-air bazaar. Take the MTR to Mong Kok, and try the well known “Ladies Market”, which opens for most of the day, closing at night. They are many great finds to be had, just make sure you bargain hard for it. Alternatively, you could try “Temple Street Market” after dark, where they will open till the wee hours of the morning. This is located in very close proximity to Jordan MTR.
Activities: Loads of cool stuff to do here.. A good 1st stop would be to visit Victoria Harbour, located in the Tsim Sha Tsui area, Kowloon waterfront. Loosely translated to mean “Sharp Sandy Mouth”, the geological shape does indeed look like that. Go in the afternoon and soak in the nice harbourview, making sure that you book a 1-hour Harbour Ferry Cruise (about 50 HKD) 1st, at the Star Ferry Pier located beside it. Do book the ferry cruise before 4pm as they would close the ticketing booth for day harbour cruises by then. After enjoying the cruise, come back to the harbour to catch a spectacular sunset, before moving further down to “The Avenue of Stars” for a nice leisurely stroll. End your perfect day with a good late dinner at the waterfront at any of the myriad of cafes or restaurants there.
Take the MTR, or a normal ferry ride over to Central at Hong Kong Island early the next day, and a short 15 min stroll up to the “Peak Tram Station”, where you can catch an electric tram up the peak. The views there are nothing short of jaw-dropping (make sure you bring those cameras). Enjoy a hot cuppa at any of the cafes there while taking in the clean and crisp mountain air, it feels as if your lungs are being cleansed thoroughly in the process.
After that, take a short trip to SOHO which is located near Central, taking the Mid-Levels escalator up in the process. It is regarded as the world’s longest escalator and there are many things to see. Drop at any of the shops or restaurants that take your fancy at have a hearty meal there, before walking off those excess calories by walking down the hill. (Yes, the escalator only goes 1 way, so be warned!).
End your day partying the night away or just people-watching at Lan Kwai Fong, also conveniently located nearby. This stretch of pubs, clubs, bistros and cafes are where the hippiest and most fashionable hang out during the night, so dress to kill, enjoy your drinks and feast your eyes on a great party scene. Groovy Baby!
|
| M Thomas |
15 October 2004 |
Stayed at Silvermine Beach Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
A 45 min bus ride from HK Airport for HK$14 to Mui Wo offers quiet base at commuting distance by hourly fast ferry (30 mins) to central HK. Walking paths or local buses offer opportunities to see Lantau Island. Simple, good and very cheap eating is available by the sea a few steps from ferry at Mui Wo
|
| M Valesova |
09 October 2004 |
Stayed at Guangdong Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
Even for business travellers, I highly recommend to go to The Peak on Hong Kong Island, as well as Stanley market with really nice restaurants. From Guangdong Hotel very convenient to get there. Just take Star Ferry to Central and then bus No. 6 or 260 to Stanley, or bus No. 15 to The Peak. I recommend you to buy Octopus Card, which allows you to travel within Hong Kong, and you don´t need to have small change.
|
| J Mcknight |
07 October 2004 |
Stayed at Concourse, Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
Using the subway was best to get around. Saw the sky tram(?) view couple of times. Visited the IFC buildings & Bank of China. No rides to the top, only observation rooms. IFC buildings allow no picture taking outside of it or inside except for the observation room. Went to HK Park & Botanical/Zoo area. Some brochures explained to me that the Art museum
in Tsim Tsha Tsui stayed open late but it actually closes around 5-6pm. My advise is to get there early. On my last day, it was closed so I didn't get to see it. Saw the Avenue of Lights & the City of Lights event. I got there early to City of Lights & sat on the rail. This is important to get there early as the light show draws a crowd, which will block the view of your camcorder recording, so you want to get a good position so it isn't interrupted by people's heads.
HK ppl don't like having their picture taken. When I got in the subway, I'd pan around my camcorder & they didn't seem to like that. But nobody ever complains, they just kind of stair away. Occasionally, I'd ask a few people for
shots & they didn't have a problem.
Nobody speaks a lick of English, I had a tough time conveying ideas to locals. They know about as much English as I do Mandarin or Cantonese: a couple words & phrases. Bubble gum tastes kind of medicine-like & Viagra costs $40 US for a 4 pack (for those that are curious :). I spent late nights 2-4am wandering the streets of Kowloon alone near the hotel since I couldn't sleep & nobody bothered me. A pretty peaceful & polite city considering the number of people that live there.
No problems with food. Be careful picking your fish. My friend's wife picked out a $100 US sea bass that we ate & didn't know the price of it until after we ate it. The price wasn't a big concern for my friends who picked up
the tab. Pretty good fish over all. It would've been nice to receive some kind of 1-hour orientation on how to get around in HK. For 3 days, you don't have much time to navigate & you're still recovering from jet lag. I had bad jet lag & it felt like the city was having an earthquake when I walked around but it was just me remembering turbulence from the flight.
|
| R Jackson |
05 October 2004 |
Stayed at BP International House - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
Public transport probably the best in the world. If you buy an 'octopus ticket' it goes for 3 days and allows you to use uses, trains and ferries. You can hop on and off buses and trains to save legs at no extra cost.
|
| M Lam |
25 September 2004 |
Stayed at BP International House - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
|
Hong Kong by far is the most exciting place I've ever visited! I enjoyed every minute of Hong Kong from the street foods to the endless shopping and the beautiful night views. For me, the best foods were from the street hawkers. Another great place to eat is the food court on the third floor of the China Hong Kong City building on Canton Road. That's the building where you board to go to Macau. It's easy to get lost in Hong Kong if you're not paying attention to the street names. The transportion system is fairly easy to use. Extremely convenient too! The best way to get around Hong Kong is by Taxi because they drop you off right at your destination but it is also the most expensive (starting at $15 hk - meter). The KMB bus is what I took most of the time. They have stops at most streets but you really have to study the maps and make sure you're getting on the right bus. Walking is a great way to get around too... Hong Kong is not THAT big so if you're up to it, walking is the best way. You get to see a lot more too. There's also the MTR subway. The subway is cheap and easy to use. But you miss out on a lot of sight seeing. If you want to get to a place fast then MTR is your solution. The one place that everyone should visit in Hong Kong is the Peak! The view from there is absolutely gorgeous!
|
|
Pages (4 of 135):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 More »
Book a hotel in Hong Kong
|
