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When my mum was my age, she spent some time in Hong Kong. As I was growing up, I was fascinated by the intricate hand-held fans, beautiful maps and 1970s sepia-toned, round-edged photographs that she brought back with her to decorate our family home with. The city seemed so incredibly exotic and far away; a compelling place of intriguing food, industrious people and tropical humidity. I had to see it.
I experienced Hong Kong for the first time, spending a week there on my way to Australia. I wasn’t quite prepared for all the new sights, sounds, even smells, that I was bombarded with! There was certainly lots of intriguing food (some more palatable than others), there were certainly thousands of industrious and friendly people, and boy, was there tropical humidity. The city is exhilarating to walk through and there are new and unusual things to see on every corner. When I showed my photographs to mum afterwards she claimed, ‘It looks just the same, only taller.’ And that’s one of the most interesting things about Hong Kong; one day you can be standing at the Peak, looking down at the glittering skyscrapers, the next day you can be lost amongst the pungent and colourful fruit stands along a road in Kowloon. The traditional dim sum restaurants, bamboo scaffolding, and smiling, wizened faces that you see everywhere really do ensure that the heart and soul of Hong Kong is preserved amid the continual expansion of this Asian megacity.
Here are some of my favourite photographs from my trip.
The Peak
Lots of sights within cities are lauded as ‘must-sees’, to varying degrees of validity, but Hong Kong’s Peak has got to be one of the most justifiable. The views are simply incredible. The tram that takes you to the top is an experience in itself – I hadn’t realised just how steep it was going to be! Try and get a seat or you’ll be hanging on for dear life like I was.
Here’s the most famous view. You can see just how built up Hong Kong Island is in comparison to Kowloon, over the harbour. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this view.
This is the view from the other side of the viewing platform. I didn’t know that there would be such a contrast between the bustling city on one side and this gorgeously green vista on the other. You can just about see some of Hong Kong’s outlying islands in the distance. This will be Best Hong Kong Travel Guide Blogs
And the futuristic city view by night. The similarities with Ridley Scott’s 1980s film ‘Bladerunner’ were hard to ignore!
After my trip to Hong Kong in September, I wasn’t expecting to see the vibrant city so soon, at least not within this year. But things always happen when you are least expecting them, so when an invitation came from the Novotel Group to gather a few bloggers from all over Asia for a short holiday in the land of dim sum and roast goose — my answer was short and sweet: YES! I want to eat egg tarts!
On my previous trip, we were scrambling around Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and Lautau Island and it was more of a touch-and-go as we wanted to see as many places we could. This time round, I did a lot more eating and shopping at a much relaxed pace — so to add on to my earlier guide, here’s another
I was there during the Halloween week in end October, and the notable difference was the change in weather. Back in September, it was warm and slightly humid, but this time round, the weather was good great fantastic. It was windy, and starting to get cold. Everyone was out in their semi-winter clothing: coats, scarfs and boots. It’s a nice change to be able to dress up without having stares as though I’m a weirdo. I love Hong Kong!
Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival 2010
If you are planning a holiday to Hong Kong next year, why not go during the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Month during November? With a diverse assortment of unique traditional Chinese festivals and Western cultural celebrations, there will be plenty to see and EAT.
We got passes for the opening Gala of the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival, and it was a magnificent event with wine and food from all over the world. The picture of the burger you see above, is the best burger in the world, only because it was the first proper food that I had for that day. Imagine being surrounded by crates of wine when you are on an empty stomach.
The Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival was held at Kowloon and the venue had a brilliant view of Victoria Harbour. The yearly festival is organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, with more than 160 wine booths and another 60 food booths participating for the event.
I must have like what, five, or six samplings of dessert wine. Minh and Boo were amused by my sweet tooth as they opted for glasses of white wine instead. After many glasses of wine (priced at 1-2 voucher tickets, 10HKD each voucher), nibbles of cheese, and a few bites here and there, we decided to call it a day to prepare for the next day.
Visit during the Halloween week and watch Lang Kwai Fong comes alive
It was so much fun looking at all the people who dressed up for Halloween! Everyone was in their crazy outfits, and I swear all of them flocked to Lang Kwai Fong – the most happening nightlife place in Asia. The Hong Kong police was there to cordon the area and we had to take a huge detour just to get to Lang Kwai Fong.
Queue up for the World’s cheapest Michelin-Star restaurant
Is Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum Restaurant worth queuing up for? Yes. Is it true that they are the cheapest Michelin-Star restaurant? Yes. Are their dim sum really so good? Yes.
The dim sum at Tim Ho Wan are so good that they deserve a post on its own, but I’m too lazy to blog a few separate posts. I shall attempt the impossible and try to squeeze everything within my list of 10 things to eat in Hong Kong.
My fellow food bloggers Minh and Boo went early at 9.30am to queue up for a table. By the time I got there at 9.50am (don’t judge me, my hotel was much further away), and lo and behold — a long queue forming outside the restaurant. There was a sense of relief as the restaurant opened its doors at 10am and we were the first batch of 29 people to get into Tim Ho Wan that day.
Baskets and baskets of dim sum started to arrive on our table, and there was “ooh” and “whoa” all around. I’m not going to go into details of everything that we had, but some of the must-try dim sum at Tim Ho Wan are:
The Baked bun with BBQ pork(Char Siu Bau). How can something so simple taste so good? The char siew filling was perfect, it hit the right tones for savoury and sweet, and the deep-fried bun was crisp around the edges but not too oily. I actually exclaimed “oh my god” aloud. The Steamed Prawn Dumpling was very well executed with thin and translucent skin, and fresh crunchy prawn. I managed to grab a Siew Mai from the folks who shared a table with us. It had the right proportion of lean meat, I put the whole thing into my mouth and swallowed it. Oh the tasty little thing!
I’m not a fan of ham siu kok, but very few dim sum restaurants serve this nowadays, so you may want to try it at Tim Ho Wan. It was also my first attempt on Chicken Feet as I always thought that it’s disgusting. But since I’m already at Tim Ho Wan, there’s nothing to lose so I decided to give it a shot. I hate to say this, but it was surprisingly delicious.
I was having one of the best meals of my life, and somehow I managed to eat so much dim sum even though my stomach was protesting. “Just one more, just one more dim sum. I promise to eat less for dinner.”
Between the three of us, we had 15 dim sum dishes and paid only HKD 210 (SGD$37)! Can you imagine paying just SGD$12 for top quality dim sum? It’s dirt cheap! Is Tim Ho Wan really worth the hype? Yes, I’ll willingly queue up for their dim sum every time I’m in Hong Kong.
I recommend going to Tim Ho Wan early in the morning. They open at 10am so you decide what time you want to be there. If you are there after 10am, they will give you a queue number so you can walk around the area and come back later.
Getting there: From Mong Kok Station, find Tung Choi Street/Women Street, turn right and walk all the way to the end of the street and turn left. If you get lost, scream for help get directions from the locals.
Tim Ho Wan
2-8 Kwong Wah St
Mong Kok, Hong Kong, China
Eat at many Michelin Star Restaurants if you have the money to splurge
Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t particularly enjoyed the Michelin Star experience. Well, I mean they are great, in the sense that you are feeling: “whoa, I just ate at this Michelin Star Restaurant!” But other than that, there’s really nothing to shout about. My first michelin star restaurant was Yung Kee during my previous trip to Hong Kong earlier in September this year. The Roast Goose was good, but I wouldn’t pay that kind of money or queue up half an hour for it.
After eating at Tim Ho Wan, we went to Island Tang Restaurant the next day to have lunch with the folks from the Hong Kong Tourism board. To be fair, the dining experience at the Michelin Star restaurant is pretty good: impeccable service, good food – but it wasn’t really out-of-this-world. Maybe it’s just me.
Island Tang Restaurant
Shop 222, The Galleria,
9 Queen’s Rd, Central
Tel: 2526 8798
Take the Cable Car and visit Ngong Ping 360
If you have some time to spare after shopping at Citygate outlets, take the 25 minutes cable car ride to Ngong Ping 360 — one of Hong Kong’s must-visit tourist attractions on Lantau island. There, you get to see the spectacular Giant Buddha, and visit the Po Lin Monastery. The Ngong Ping village has a couple of interesting eateries and it incorporates two major themed attractions: Walking with Buddha and Monkey’s Tale Theatre.
Getting there: Tung Chung Station, and go to the Ngong Ping cable car station (round trip tickets for standard cabin is 107HKD)
Temple Street Night Market
I didn’t get to visit Temple Street during my previous trip to Hong Kong, which was a shame since there’s so much to see at the famous night market. Temple Street is known as one of the busiest flea markets in Hong Kong, it’s interesting to walk around and see the different stalls that sell cheap & random merchandise, and there’s also food stalls along the way.
We were having beef brisket by the roadside during the evening, and it’s amazing to see how the street slowly came alive as the vendors started to set up their stalls. Anyway, if you are in the Temple Street area, there’s a pretty famous Claypot rice place at Arthur Street.
Getting there: Yau Ma Tei MTR in Kowloon.
Gong Zai Mian – Hong Kong Style Instant Noodle
“You must have the Gong Zai Mian!” my friend repeatedly emphasized this when I told her I was going Hong Kong for the second time this year. I refused to go to any Hong Kong Cafes in Singapore because of this dish. I thought it’s ridiculous to pay $6 for a bowl of instant noodle with sunny side up and luncheon meat.
Mr Gadget and I had breakfast at a random place near Temple Street, and we ordered Gong Zai Mian. I swear it’s so yummy! And the best part? They are so much cheaper than the Hong Kong Cafes in Singapore.
Gong Zai Mian – Hong Kong Style Instant Noodle
“You must have the Gong Zai Mian!” my friend repeatedly emphasized this when I told her I was going Hong Kong for the second time this year. I refused to go to any Hong Kong Cafes in Singapore because of this dish. I thought it’s ridiculous to pay $6 for a bowl of instant noodle with sunny side up and luncheon meat.
Mr Gadget and I had breakfast at a random place near Temple Street, and we ordered Gong Zai Mian. I swear it’s so yummy! And the best part? They are so much cheaper than the Hong Kong Cafes in Singapore.
You are in Hong Kong! There’s only eating, and shopping, and eating, and more shopping on the agenda. I had my favorite Mango ice from Hui Lao Shan, feasted on Beef Brisket by the roadside, ate countless Egg Tarts and Po Luo Bao in random bakeries, enjoyed a leisure afternoon tea after a whole day of shopping, tasted some of the famous Hong Kong street food like Curry Fish Balls and Siew Mai while having Gong Cha bubble tea.
Travelling is just another excuse for me to eat more.
Stay in Novotel Hotel Hong Kong
I stayed in the Novotel Citygate at Tung Chung during this trip. If you are in Hong Kong mainly for shopping at the Citigate factory outlets, it makes sense to stay at Novotel Citygate since they are just located within the shopping mall. Otherwise, the Novotel Group has another two hotels – Novotel Nathan road in Kowloon, and Novotel Century at Wanchai. All three Novotel hotels are conveniently located within walking distance to the MTR stations.
Novotel is extending an offer to readers of my food blog: Simply quote ‘Novotel blgr’ when you make a direct booking with any of Novotel hotels in Hong Kong, and get a free upgrade to the next room category. Valid until end of August 2011. (Novotel Century Hong Kong: booking@novotelcenturyhk.com; Novotel Nathan Road Kowloon: h6771-re1@accor.com; Novotel Citygate Hong Kong: H6239-RE1@accor.com).
// Many thanks to the team at Novotel Hotel Hong Kong and PRDA who hosted us for this trip. No payment was received, only the air-ticket and accommodation were sponsored.
He results of Hong Kong Trip Advisor annual hotel popularity contest are out today, and internationally, Italy leads the pack with 152 winning hotels, followed by the United Kingdom with 145. The USA and France each has 144 lodgings on the list.
The wide-ranging Travelers’ Choice Awards crown 7,123 winners (we’ll spare you the full list), including overall top-rated hotels, along with bests in these six categories: bargain, This is the 12 th year the website, which posts millions of user-generated hotel reviews, has crunched the numbers to compile overall rankings based on intangibles such as service, quality and value.
But a scan of current accolades compared with last year’s winners highlights the mercurial nature of online reviews. Only one of 2013’s worldwide top-rated hotels made the 2014 list. And last year’s worldwide and U.S. overall winner, the Four Seasons Resort Hualapai at Hong Kong Trip Advisor, Kailua-Kona Hawaii, not only didn’t make the worldwide list, it plummeted to ninth place among U.S. hotels. Only three hotels on 2013’s U.S. list are back in 2014. And no U.S. hotel made it to the top 10 on the worldwide list.
Other results: The average nightly rate of the top-hotel award winners is $366; bargain is $91; B&Bs and inns is $138; family is $237; luxury is $467; romance is $356; and small hotels is $301.
Two new Travelers’ Choice categories this year are best hotels for romance and families. Gone is a shout-out for best service, which spawned some curious outcomes in 2013, such as the budget Clarion Inn in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., (No. 4) edging out the aforementioned overall top-ranked Fours Seasons Hong Kong Trip Advisor which came in fifth
Hotel Indigo’s glass-bottom infinity pool on the 29th floor has attracted a lot of attention since opening in May. Next time you’re in Hong Kong Trip Advisor, look up and you might see a person seemingly swimming in mid-air.
Hotel Indigo was awarded the Best Hotel Architecture Hong Kong prize at the 2013 Asia Pacific Hotel Awards.
The facade of this Hong Kong Trip Advisor located next to the Star Street Precinct, one of Hong Kong’s hippest districts — resembles a dragon wrapping itself around the building, with a glowing pearl (the pool) in its mouth.
Interiors and furniture were inspired by the neighborhood.
Travelling To Hong Kong Tips is the official language of China and is spoken by most of its population. While most hotels in the country employ staff who are fluent in other languages, visitors cannot count on communicating in English with people they meet outside of tourist facilities. It’s advisable to have addresses or instructions written down in Chinese to show to taxi drivers. All major streets have signposts in pinyin Travelling To Hong Kong Tips, which make it easier to get around with the help of a map. Many people in China, especially young people, study English and welcome the opportunity to practice with foreigners. Don’t be afraid to ask for directions in English from people on the street. You’ll usually be rewarded with a polite and often heroic attempt to help. Travelling To Hong Kong Tips most foreign nationals require a visa to enter Hktravelblogs Visas should be obtained from the Embassy or Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in the applicant’s country before departing to Mainland China. A standard China tourist visa is good for sightseeing and visiting friends and relatives, and can be obtained for a single entry, double entries or multiple entries. Other visas such as business visas or working visas are also available. For details, please contact your nearest Chinese embassy or consulate. Hktravelblogs for the 144-hour Convenient Visa, visitors:
Must join a tour organized by a registered Hong Kong travel agent.
Must travel in a group consisting of a minimum of two persons and a maximum of 40 persons.
Can have a choice of ports of entry or exit in Gang dong province.
Must enter and leave the areas together in their group via the ports of entry stated above.
At the ports of entry and exit in Gang dong province, immigration officers will examine passports and the list of names in the group. Group members will not need to fill in any immigration cards for passport stamping. The above policy is applicable to ordinary passport holders of nations with diplomatic relations with China. You may contact your Hktravelblogs or tour operator in Travelling To Hong Kong Tipsto find out about the application procedure and related service charges.
Hktravelblogs Chairman said: “The family is very glad to see the re-opening of the Hong Kong Chapter. Hong Kong is one of the most dynamic cities in the world and a mature tourism destination with tremendous potential to contribute in a more structured way to the Association and its goal of building a responsible development of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism. It is the dedication and engagement of local chapter members that makes Hktravelblogs a living organization and ensures its continuity as we move towards the next generation.”
Travelling to Hong Kong Tips, said “Our Executive Board of 12 from 8 different Asia Pacific countries will convene this Saturday very appropriately in Hong Kong’s leading learning centre for tourism. Hktravelblogs unique role is to represent both the private and public sides of the travel and tourism sector (770 organizations from over 50 countries at present). Private enterprise members as large and influential as VISA, Cathay Pacific and Marriott plus dozens of NTOs count on aligned advocacy, grass roots SMEs depend on Hktravelblogs research and Travel Mart events to build their business.”
“I am also delighted to welcome the revitalized Hong Kong Hktravelblogs Chapter back into the family circle. This is an important time for Hong Kong tourism as it seeks to strike the right balance and ensure tourism remains an overwhelming force for good as in the rest of the Asia Pacific region,” he added.
TheHktravelblogs Hong Kong Chapter will meld a diverse range of travel and tourism segments. These include aviation, hospitality, tourism, media, academia, and government. Activities of the Chapter include seminars, network luncheons with guest speakers and industry conferences.
Travelling to Hong Kong Tips, the Executive Director of Plaza Premium Lounge and the new Hktravelblogs Hong Kong Chapter Chair said: “Knowledge sharing is important in elevating the quality of our local tourism service industries whilst preserving cultural heritage in an environmentally sensitive way.
Travelling to Hong Kong Tips, concept was formally adopted in 1957; its purpose remains its tools to communicate change. The Travelling to Hong Kong Tips, Next Gen concept aims to continue to bring people together face to face whilst also intelligently using social media and new communications technology.
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