Hong Kong - Places to See and Things to Do!

We reached Hong Kong (HK) through the Hong Kong Ferry Terminal since we had taken a boat from Macau. The ride was long and a little rough because of the weather but in all it took about an hour to reach Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Ferry Terminal is close to the Hong Kong - Central MTR station and also close to the Sheung Wan station where our hotel was. We took a small, very comfy hotel in the middle of Sheung Wan, walking distance from the MTR station and close to all the tourist places in HK.

The problem with HK hotels is that because of scarcity of space, the hotels are very expensive and the rooms very small. We came from Macau were we had a huge room and equally big bathroom in Venetian. But the hotels in HK have very small rooms. So be prepared for it. They will be smaller than your imagination. So much on the hotels...

Once you are settled in your hotel, get a MTR map and get going. MTR is fast and best way to negotiate HK. You dont want to waste your precious time stuck in slow moving Hong Kong traffic. You can go in for Octopus card as well as we did its very convenient as you dont need to buy tickets at different stations. It works very well every where and you can also pick up stuff at the various convenient stores and bakeries at the stations. You are always on the go with the Octopus card.

As an option in local travel taxis are inexpensive and easily available in HK also because distances are not much. So if you are not a metro person do oblige yourself and move in a taxi.

Now as you are settled with your Octopus card, where to go and what to do? right... so here I go with my list of Top 5 must see places in HK:

1) The Peak - The view from The Peak is amazing specially at night. You have to be there. Best is to take the tram and get to the peak by evening. Return you can take a cab or still take a tram back. Note that you may have to wait a long time for the tram though on weekends. Thrill loving guys can also trek their way up to the tram. Here's a pic (though not very good).

The Peak Tram station: on Garden Road. Closest MTR: Central. It is short walk away from Central. It operates 7 am to midnight and leaves every 10-15 mins. The peak tram return ticket along with the sky terrace ticket is HK$56 for adults. Peak Tram return + Sky Terrace + Madame Tussauds is HK$200 per adult. So take your pick. My recommendation, you can skip the Sky Terrace. Madam Tussauds on its own is HK$160.

2) Ocean Park - You must do Ocean Park when in HK. Ocean Park is Bird Sanctuary + Thrill Rides + Kids Amusement Park + Panda Conservation + Dolphin Show all rolled into one. It is extreme fun and you need full one day to cover it. And I haven't even started on the long escalators which are difficult to find anywhere else, the train from one park to another and the beautiful cable car ride. Yes you can get all this and more at ocean park. Here are a few pics of the ocean park:

Park Timings are 10 am to 6 pm on most days. The ticket is HK$250 per adult. The Best route is to take Bus no. 629 from outside of Admirality MTR station. There are buses from Tsim Sha Tsui (City Bus no. 973) and Kowloon (KMB no. 107).

Remember: Do find out the the timings of Dolphin show as soon as you reach ocean park. Also you must reach the amphitheater for the show at least 30 mins before to get a good seat. It will be important. A good seat is close to the pool and as center as possible.

3) DisneyLand - Of course you cannot come back from HK without going to Disneyland if you have not been to one before. But more on Disneyland in a separate post.

4) Stanley Market - On the outskirts of HK. Stanley beach is one of the best beaches in HK. Stanley village is a small fishing village near HK which is now one of the prime real estate piece of land. A distinctly European style market and another Chinese flea market are the biggest attractions of Stanley. I would highly recommend you to go.










How to reach?: Closest MTR is Chai Wan. Take exit C and catch a Green Minibus 16M.

5) Lan Kwoi Fong - HK's party area is quite distinct. Its a small street with a mix of British and Asia style pubs and clubs. People come down after office hours to have a drink with friends. You must go to the place. Its quite a party on weekends when the traffic is closed on the street and people walk/sit/drink on the street itself. We went there twice and had a great time. Just take a chilled bear and sit and relax. Enjoy the atmosphere!

That was my top5 must do must see places in HK.

More on Disneyland and a lot of pictures in the next post.

Hong Kong - Macau

Long time since I have written a travel blog now. Not that I was not traveling, but it was mostly business trips - short and extremely packed. Therefore no time for being a tourist. Finally went on a trip to Hong Kong and Macau for a vacation and what time we had!

Macau, also known as Las Vegas of East is not quite there, yet! But it will soon be, if you have to believe what locals say and see it with your own eyes - the amount of construction happening in Macau. Super luxury hotels, casinos, neon lights, amazing shows and beautiful people - Macau has it all! plus it also has charm of an old Portuguese colony. But we will come to that later.

We took the Kingfisher flight from Mumbai 11:30 PM and landed at the beautiful and huge HK airport in the morning 8:00 AM. We had planned to go straight to Macau from the Airport. There is a ferry port right at the airport itself to take you to Macau or HK island or Mainland China.

We took the turbojet ferry (www.turbojet.com.hk). The first ferry to Macau was at 10:00 AM and our luggage was directly checked-in to the ferry. i.e., we did not collect our checked-in baggage at the airport. When we bought the ferry ticket at the ferry ticketing counter, we simply showed our flight checked-in baggage tickets to them which they took and issued us new check-in baggage tickets for the ferry. The baggage was directly transferred from the flight to the ferry.

The ferry reached Macau at 11:00 AM and after immigration, we collected our baggage.
We had booked into Hotel Venetian (http://www.venetianmacao.com/en/). This is a must stay if you are going to Macau. Venetian has airport and ferry pickups and drops. There was a Venetian bus waiting to pick the guests arriving by ferry. The bus took 10 mins to reach the hotel.

The check-in time at Venetian is 3 PM and we reached at 12:00 noon. But the staff was very courteous. They requested us to wait for at least 1:00 PM for check-in as room cleaning was in progress. In the meanwhile they told us to visit the Grand Canal Shopping area. Grand Canal Shopping area has been built on lines of Venice, the city of Canals in Italy, hence the name of hotel as Venetian. The staff took care of our luggage and we went ahead to visit the shopping area. Few pictures of the shopping area will give you an idea as to what I mean:




Venetian as the name suggests is a hotel based on the theme of the city of Venice in Italy. There are canals made and a fantastic shopping, activity and eat out area designed along the canals. You can even take Gondola rides in the canals.
Of course Venetian is famous for its Casino and you must play a little to experience the thrill... but only a little because very few people end up winning and if you are winning, move on, collect your money and get out fast.

You dont need to worry about food in Venetian. It has a fantastic food court which serves variety of cuisines.. from Chinese to Italian to Fast food and even Indian. You can also get plenty of vegetarian options. For those of you who are health conscious there are a couple of options as well. So the food court is well covered and serves everyone.

Useful Tip: The Four Seasons hotel and Venetian are interconnected and the Four Seasons is less expensive than the Venetian. So you can stay at the Four Seasons and yet take all the advantages of the Ventian.

Next up... Hong Kong!