Our Trip
We visited Hong Kong, on one of the most crowded, hot and rainy weekends of the year during October holiday in 2008. Our first impression of Hong Kong was how western it appeared in food, language (English is much more prevalent) and the diversity of the people. Hong Kong is a beautiful mountainous city with the main mode of transportation being taxis and escalators which were everywhere.
We stayed at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong. By far this hotel was fantastic. The rooms were gorgeous with beautiful views, the breakfast superb and the perfect location for seeing the city.
When we arrived we decided to go for a walk and find a place to eat lunch. It turned out our hotel was attached to a huge mall (Pacific Place Mall) not that surprising as there are malls everywhere, but also with easy access to Hong Kong Park. In the mall we found a restaurant called Dan Ryan’s Chicago Grill which after living in Shanghai, tasted just like we were back in the States. We ended up eating here two more times before our trip was over. I guess if you’re coming from the U.S. you can skip this restaurant but for us, it was a taste of home. After lunch we headed to Hong Kong Park.
This is a large park on the HK island side. It runs from Pacific Place Mall to the area where the bottom station of the Peak Tram is located. The park has flowers, ponds, fountains, a large bird aviary, and a fun playground for the kids. We had a really good time here as the weather was extremely humid but it had not started to rain yet.
From here you can catch a tram at Peak Tram Station and take it to Victoria Peak which at the top offers great views of the city and Victoria Harbor. This tram is the steepest railway in the world. We really wanted to do this but the lines were way too long at the time.
Fun Facts & Tips
When you hear Hong Kong you often hear East meets West. This Special Administrative Region is a part of China but self-governing in all aspects except defense and foreign affairs which are the responsibility of the P.R.C. After the handover of Hong Kong from British rule in 1997, a policy called the “one country, two systems policy” was enacted to ensure that for the next 50 years the region can maintain it’s capitalist economic system and also guarantee the same rights and freedoms of it’s people.
Things we’d do next time:
Victoria Peak (The Peak to the locals), the views of Kowloon and Hong Kong are supposed to be breathtaking. Once you’ve made it to the top, eat at Café Deco and ask for 2nd floor by the window. They have a kids menu too!
Disney Land, need I say more?
Stanley Market for shopping and you don’t have to bargain!
Take the NGong Ping Skyrail to the world’s largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha statue and museum. The skyrial offers great views of Lantau and the South China Sea.
Welcome to Hong Kong
We took this picture from Kowloon looking at Hong Kong
That night we all had a great time exploring the Mid-Levels Escalator, a one kilometer long escalator that was constructed to handle the extremely hilly terrain that makes driving difficult in Hong Kong. The Mid-Levels consist of 20 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks that pass great markets, little restaurants and bars. You can hop on or off the escalator if you see something worth exploring. We ended up hoping off for some good Mexican food for dinner. It was a short taxi ride from our hotel and definitely worth experiencing.
The next day we visited Ocean Park which is an amusement park on the HK island side. There is nothing like going to an amusement park and waiting 2 hours in line for a 2 minute ride with Chinese locals preferring to be packed like sardines while using our backs to read their maps. Combine that with the lovely aromas from the fried squid take-out restaurant and we just had to laugh. As always poor Sophie was always a topic of confusion and interest. She’s a trooper with that now, mastering the art of ignorance. This was obviously the place all the Chinese went for the holiday. We felt like we were right back in Shanghai. Our other option was Hong Kong Disney but we wanted to try something different. This was a very long day….
The next day we woke up to rain. We had decided we were going to take the Star Ferry over to Kowloon and see the Space Museum and do some shopping. We were really hoping it’d stop raining but it never did. The Space Museum was good and the shopping was amazing. Every store imaginable is located in the Hong Kong area.
Our last day was short so once again we trekked over to the tram station to see Victoria Peak. The line was so long we’d surely miss our flight. That is one attraction I’m sorry we missed.
There are many more things to do in Hong Kong but we lacked the time and the patience (with all the Chinese tourists) and the weather was definitely not cooperating. Hopefully, we can go back again sometime.
Sean and Sophie at Hong Kong Park