Hong Kong travel tales and tips

Hong Kong travel tales

Our customers share their travelling experiences in Hong Kong. Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation. Also, you might want to read our Hong Kong city guide.

A Cheung	20 February 2004
Stayed at Hyatt Regency Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Recommend you visit Lo Wu, it costs $150 hk visa to visit Shenzhen for a day. Try to go for a foot massage whilst there. You'll be walking on air for the next few days. I can't remember the names of the restaurants I visited in HK but did go to an all you can eat japanese restaurant for aprx. $100 each a throw away from jordan mtr exit a. Sample thai food in the kowloon city area, don't go to the White Elephant, not authentic and expensive. This is situated on Canton road. Visit ladies market for bargains especially children's clothes and blankets. Venture into the new territories. The scenery is beautiful. Stop over at Tai Po market and sample village life in hong kong. Visit Maxims chain for dim sum there one next door at the shopping mall at mong kok kcr station.
J Ky	17 February 2004
Stayed at Anne Black Guest House (YWCA) - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Was able to book the hotel room on the same day that I flew to HK, well done asia-hotels.com. HK is a great place to shop for clothing, electronics and souvenirs. Food is cheap and plentiful. Good clothing stores - Bossini, U2, Giordano, Baleno (you can find them everywhere). Electronics - Golden computer city in Sham Shui Po, three floors of computer/electronic gear, just make sure to compare prices. Travel by MTR subway is dead easy and cheap. Please note that baggage limit for check in may only be 20kg depending on where you live. Posting items back home may be the way to go.
H Lee	16 February 2004
Stayed at Nikko Hong Kong, Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Hong Kong City Hall-You will have wonderful Dim Sums in the Hong Kong City Hall Restaurant.
D Whelton	14 February 2004
Stayed at Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
If you intend to stay in Hong Kong for more than a few days buy an "Octopus" card for getting around on the MTR subway system. They can be purchased at all MTR stations and are very convenient as they can also be used on most buses and even for purchases at many convenience stores, McDonald's restaurants, etc.
S Fukuda	11 February 2004
Stayed at Rosedale on the Park Hotel Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Lamma island (Yung Shue Wan) is good for short trip. You can have reasonable seafood meal and tasty cakes and coffee near ferry terminal. Temple of ten thousand buddha (Sha Tin) is also a nice place to visit. You can laugh!
W Pan	10 February 2004
Stayed at Wesley, The - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
The No 6, 6A, 6X buses to Stanley market runs past the rear of the hotel (bus stop is at the nearby corner near coffee shop) and costs only HK$6 - HK$7.90.
M Meacham	09 February 2004
Stayed at Harbour Plaza Hotel Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
My trip to Hong Kong was a spur of the moment thing, but the nice thing about visiting Hong Kong is I could do things without much planning. The concierge desk had brochures describing 4-hr and 8-hr tours that cost between $280 HKD and $450HKD per person (the more expensive tour includes a meal). Being that this was the first time I had spent any time in Hong Kong, I tried the Hong Kong Island tour for $280 HKD. This provided a good way for me to see where things were and ask the tour guide about getting around in the city. The next day, I decided to familiarize myself with the MTR (Hong Kong's subway) and the very busy Nathan Road area, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Their subway looks more like an underground shopping mall than a train stop. It is well lighted at all times and lined with shops. Littering carries a steep fine, so you won't find a speck of trash or a discarded cigarette butt anywhere. The MTR system itself is pretty easy to figure out with map in-hand. Ideally, your map of Hong Kong would be small but detailed enough to show you where the MTR stops fall throughout the city. Your hotel concierge can probably provide you with just such a map. Just walk up to a vending machine, touch your destination stop, and the computer screen will tell you how much money you need to deposit to get to where you're going (yes, it's that easy). The machine will spit out a credit card size piece of paper that grant access to the train area. And from there you will wait about 3 minutes before a train arrives. At some point, you must use a taxi, and my first experience with this wasn't so good. The driver didn't speak English and this is not uncommon. As a consequence of this, we ended up travelling everywhere in Hong Kong except my intended destination which was the Harbour Plaza Hotel. I ended up in several conversations with his dispatcher before I finally got deposited at the right spot (to be fair, I wasn't charged for the "tour"). To avoid running into this little nightmare I would again suggest you acquire a map of the Island that clearly shows the city on both sides of Victoria Harbour, popular destinations in both English and Chinese, and the location of most of the major hotels. This will make life simple for both you and your driver. Another caveat about using the taxis: Don't use them to get across Victoria Bay. I say this for two reasons: (1) you can get stuck in the cross-harbour tunnel traffic and incur a charge for just sitting in a parked taxi; and (2) there's a $20 HKD toll that will be added to your fair. For about half the cost of the toll, you can take the MTR to either side in about half the time. The Star Ferry service will also get you from one side to the other for even less money, but it will take about 15 or 20 minutes depending on your final destination. The additional time spent on the ferry, however, is more than balanced out by the fact that you get to stretch your legs and walk around the deck while viewing Victoria Harbour. Once you get to either side of the harbour, then take a taxi if you still need one. Besides educating myself on how to get around, I had some clothes custom made. This was fun, but if you're even toying with the idea of doing this I would recommend doing it on your first day. They can finish your stuff in 1 or 2 days. If you can wear it a few days before you leave, then you'll get to see how it really fits and have any additional alterations made for no charge. Also negotiate shipping costs into the final sale if you can. Its much easier for them to ship it to you than it will be to carry an extra suitcase back through customs. On a different note, I learned something about gratuities that usually goes unsaid. There is this 10% service charge attached to many purchases that seems to negate the need for it. Well, think again. My server at the Lux Cafe informed me that the "service" charge didn't go to him. That money was just an additional cost of the meal that would never work its way into his pocket (surprise!). Some places do pass it along, but its a good idea to ask the person serving you exactly how it works. Otherwise, they'll never get a tip for their great efforts.
R Hirsch	07 February 2004
Stayed at Hyatt Regency Hong Kong - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
For those who are interested in shopping for electronics hardware, a trip up the MTR to Sham Shui Po or Mong Kok is worth the time.
A Cheng	03 February 2004
Stayed at Kowloon Hotel, The - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Overall, HK is a great place for shopping!! If you are a bargain hunter, then you must go to the Ladies market in Mong Kok, you will shop till you drop there. If you are a bit upper-class shopper, then the shopping centres are definitely your hangout places! On Kowloon side, there is Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, Ocean Centre in Tsimshatsui. On HK Island, there is IFC, Pacific Place, Time Square...the choices are endless!!
L Chan	03 February 2004
Stayed at Stanford Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Stanford Hotel has a restaurant that serves very good quality dim sum at reasonable prices.

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