Wednesday, 14 January 2009
-
Visiting Hong Kong- Any Suggestions?
Guest post submitted by RubyVivace
My college roommate is coming to Hong Kong this spring! I'm definitely excited to meet up with her and show her around.
The tricky part of it is that she has already been to Hong Kong with her family once when she was younger, so she has seen most of the major and most promoted tourist spots like the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island, Ocean Park, the Peak and Stanley Market - those you can find on the Hong Kong Tourism Board website. She definitely won't be satisfied visiting only these tourist attractions. Where else should I take her during the week?
So far I have come up with the following locations:
Yau Ma Tai and Jordan -
The area is always ignored by shopping oriented tourists heading straight for Tsim Sha Tsui or Mong Kok. Yet one should definitely not miss those long established neighbourhood restaurants serving local delicacies, and get to look at lives of the old residents in the area.
The Midlevels -
Along streets laying in the midlevels of the Hong Kong Island, it is not hard to find beautiful buildings and streets tracing back to early colonial period. The Soho district in Hong Kong, where many fine dining restaurants and bars are located, is nearby as well.
Tai O -
A nice, quiet place for a long walk, delightful traditional snacks and a touch of life in a fish village.
Tsuen Wan - a busy, dynamic area in the west side of the New Territories which is close to starting or ending points of many popular hiking spots.
Shum Shui Po -
An aged urban area with cheap flea markets, soft toy wholesale stores and the most famous computer shopping mall in the region.
I will need some more places to go than the above 5 during the week my roommate is around, though. Any suggestions?
Have you ever considered visiting Hong Kong? If you've been or are from HK, please leave your recommendations. Thanks!
-
recommend
- recs 2
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to tripcrazed's Tripcrazed Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in tripcrazed's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: RubyVivace@xanga
- Name: Ruby
- Location: Hong Kong
- About Me: i believe that there is some reason or reality, if not truth, in words
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 0 Views: 0 0 Comments: 0 0 View all posts by RubyVivace@xanga
Comments (20)
I visited HK this past summer to see a good friend and she brought me to this art studio - to art jam. Google Art Jamming and you'll find the website. Basically, you pay for the canvas and you are allowed full access to all their painting materials. Best part? You don't have to clean up after yourself - they do it for you! Oh, and you get to keep whatever you create. It was definitely something new and very memorable.
i'm from hk! i have family in tai o so we go there pretty often. it's a pretty cool place and really opens your eyes to class differences. i like going to the aviary in hk park, but then again i really like birds =P haha
HK looks so cool. A good friend of mine studied abroad there and all the places he visited looked awesome. I really hope to visit HK one day.
I would love to go to HK. Any tips like these and from others would be awesome!
I heard the malls are gigantic and the cuisine is delicious.
Personally I never been to Hong Kong. But I would love to go. People usually love it there.
malls, definately. ALL their malls are at least four stories high and much better than the ones in the US.
theres these places called liu-yun-gai (literal translation: women street) that you can find slipped into all corners of the city. They sell tons of fashions and lesser-known, discontinued designer items.
kowloon. that is the only part of hong kong that is on the actual land, connected to china. they have alot of art mesuems, history meseums, etc. everything happens to be nicer and fancier there. you ride a ferry to get across, and the sights are always unforgettable.
oh yeah, you listed ocean park and stanley market. personally, i think stanlet is pretty dumb. it is the NUMBER one place to get your wallet/purse stolen. there are probably more foreigners there than actual chinese.
ocean park is AWESOME. not as crazy as say, six flags and disney world here. they don't have like, extreme roller coasters because i'm guessing chinese aren't... adapt... to those... hahaha. but they have LOTS of food and LOTS of shows. they also have alot of fun throw-the-object-for-a-prize stuff, you know, cute date games. those are always fun. just GETTING there by bus is amazing. its on the top of a moutain and there are a million cool things to see on the way there. i passed by this one graveyard which was just SO stuffed with tombstones. like, no walking space between each one. it was such a sad but beautiful sight.
oh, and disneyland. they opened that up a few years ago. personally, i think it's dissapointing, especially if you've been to the ones in the US. there are like, seven rides max. it's tiny. and there are a BUNCH of mainland china people there. for some reason, in my numerous trips to hong kong ive seen more than twenty mainland china people helping their kids pee and poop in the streets. its disgusting.
oh, and while youre in hong kong you should also visit taiwan. that place isnt too far from hong kong and is usually REALLY cheap to get there. they have a billion travel agencies on every street of hk so they can give you a round trip deal for really cheap, including a nice hotel. taiwan is a nicer, more relaxed atomosphere. everything is more spaced out but less technological than hk, but it's totally fine. i love the late night shopping there.
oh yeah, in hk theres a thing called "the peak" which is an awesome moutain which you ride a train up. at the top is a really nice little town, with tons of bhuddist stuff (i'm not buddist but i thought all of it was so beautiful and so... culture-y? I can't think of a bett word). they have a giant mall, with a big chinese medicine store, with a game/wii/playstation kind of thing (i dont lplay games either haha) . on "the peak" you can see the entire city of hong kong there. it's beautiful. also, lots of couples go up to the peak and it's a top romantic spot. I would go there with a date, if i could! it's awesome up there. :)
just a few streets away from where you can ride up the peak is a giant city. there are ALOT of cathedrals, they are all so artcheticually - pleasing. a great place to take pictures.
next to the cathedrals, on sunday afternoons, you will find a LOT of thai, vietnamese, and philipino people. maids get sunday off so they all hang out under one bridge in hong kong. walk there and be exposed to thousands of different dialects, people, and cultures. it's fascinating. i love it.
idk, if you've never ridden a subway, train, or anything, PLEASE DO. i love the mtr. if america had that im sure itd be a coutry ten times more efficent. i love people watching and simply taking glimpses into rveryday life. it's fascinating. i love it.
oh, thers ANOTHER place where the only way you can get there is by train. it's called "sa tien" i think. i sure it's really close to hk disneyland. but that place is BEAUTIFUL and even now, still being constructed. they have a giant mall there, too. i attended a wedding there, and it was one of the most extravagant things ever.
sorry for ranting so much. haha. i just love hk and i'm so happy that you get a chance to shwo your friend.
Those who are interested in geographical tour in HK, I recommend "Ping Chau" which is an island in the East of HK.
Shales in "Ping Chau" are famous even to the world. The only way to go to "Ping Chau" is taking ferry at "Ma Liu Shui Ferry Pier" which is near "MTR University Station"
hey man, i live in hk and def can recommend u some places which are totally gorgeous and new to u guys.
the first place is Lo Kei Wan 浪茄灣, u can find the info here , it is a super awesome and wonderful beach, white sand, blue clouds, u may not notice u are in hk when u go there.it is a must for u to travel there!!!! http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/country/cou_vis/cou_vis_cam/cou_vis_cam_cam/cou_vis_cam_cam_16.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minghong/2777386672/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minghong/2774002931/
http://hk.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=long+ke+wan&ei=UTF-8&x=drt
the second place is grass island 塔門, well, it seems that there is no eng version if its website, but u can still go there and browse the pict. it's cool!!!
http://www.tapmun.hk/tm.htm
u can leave a comment to my xanga if u can any questions
Don't listen to anyone who recommends Ocean Park. I lived in HK for a bit and Ocean Park is one of the whackest places to bring someone. Disney is no better.
I think the Kowloon side and HK side are very different. The best thing to do in HK is eat so you should take your roommate to different places around HK to eat the very best. The best eggtart is in Central. The best congee I've had is in Tsuen Wan. Sheung Wan has a lot of really interesting eats. The BEST seafood is definitely in Lau Fau Shan. It's quite a trek, but it's worth it. Sai Kung is a nice trip too.
I skimmed through the comments. Funny how no one recommended to go to Stanley.
My favorite place is LKF, but I'm sure you guys will be visiting there at least once or twice during your roommate's stay. Have fun!
Hey I never imagined HK would be on Tripcrazed ever!
You can bring her to the many museums in HK, which (please check) most of them are free for admission on Wednesdays. : )
Also refer to the comments above for other good suggestions (because I'm too lazy to research for more : P).
It depends on what a tourist is interested in.
Shopping? Experience the historical aspects of Hong Kong like historical places, old settlements, villages? View the scenery rocks, hills, islands, and seas? Experience local live in public housings, new towns.
The west end of Hong Kong Harbour are full of ships. It can be seen from highest point on Tsing Yi Peak of Tsing Yi Island, or from Mount Davis on Hong Kong Island.
The beach of Pui O is a good place to go. So do Bay Wave Bay in eastern end of Sai Kung Peninsula. The islands in North-eastern New Territories largely remains intact. The hexagonal rocks in the south eastern of Sai Kung Peninsula is very interesting. The underwater of Hoi Hai Wan is full of carols and fishers.
There are many villages in Hong Kong and the greatest ones in Yuen Long, Kam Tin, Ping Shan, San Tin, Sheung Shui and Fanling.
For activities, cycling from Tai Wai in Shatin to Tai Mei Tuk in Tai Po can enjoy the breeze of Tolo Harbour. More, we can enjoy barbecue in the Hong Kong style.
The University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The Chinese University of Hong Kong are built on spectacular places.
From Central to Western on Hong Kong Island, there are lots of old trades like rice, dried seafood, Chinese medicines.
There are too many worth a visit. It is hard to go through one by one.
IN fact,
central is one of the place which is special in hong kong!
u can see both western and chinese culture in this place.
also, while u travelling central,u can also go to Sheung Wan .its also a special place!
上面全部雞腸-_-
得我打中文-,-
mong kok is a defo go go
try discovery bay (i grew up there, it has its own very sandy and clean beach) and disneyland?
to be honest... it depends on what your frds enjoy doing..
my frd came to hk last summer and she did not like shopping or going to the giant buddha at all!! (where i thought girls normally do enjoy doing some shopping...)
though she liked the peak a lot... so even though she has been to hk long time ago, i think she will definitely likes to go to the peak once more time!
xoxo
The ferries, the boat trips to the small islands. A trip to Macau? The public library was one of my favorite spots. And Ladies Market, offff course.
Hong Kong is my homeland~
there's karaoking at Green Box in Mong Kok..
dim sum at Shatin Wai..
the racecourse in Shatin or Happy Valley..
free admission to museums on Weds (check first)..
$50 Chinese junk ride on the Harbour ("Duk Ling")..
Star Ferry at night..
MTR..
Victoria Park..
Bali Restaurant in Jordan is recommended.. owners and staff are great people.. food is much better than IR1968..
I've heard of Discovery Bay but don't know much about it..
windsurfing/renting a boat for a day?..
Tai O fishing village..
malls (if you're into shopping, eating, or even indoor ice-skating): Festival Walk, New Town Plaza, Grand Century Place, and more..
Mong Kok street food, stalls, and stores..
Fo Tan for the da pai dang (open air restaurant) right by the bus terminal..
Avenue of Stars..
Symphony Lightshow at 8PM..
wet market at Tai Po Market..
Lamma Island for seafood..
hiking on Po Toi Island (check ferry schedule -- might be weekends only)
oh yeah, for food in HK, check out openrice.com for reviews..
@rhodal296@xanga - 有點怪 xd =="
--------------------------------------------------------------
I recommended to visit Mong Kok
You can try traditional Hong Kong food there
such as Fish ball and Won-Ton noodles