Hong Kong – Woke and Awake Travel

To & From:

Honk Kong sits in the South China Sea off China’s southern coast and is a strategic gateway for World commerce and travel connecting Asia with Europe, the Americas and Australia.

It may only be 420 square miles or so in area, but has one of the densest populations on Earth, the highest number of Skyscrapers in any City of the World and boasts the second highest number of Billionaires amongst its residents.

The climate is humid Sub-Tropical, Spring and Autumn are more temperate, winters are mild, and probably the best time to visit.

As a major Far Eastern travel hub, flight options are plentiful, and it is a personal choice whether you do one short one long flight via Europe or two mid distance via the Middle East from Dublin.

Either way you will arrive next day as HK is 7 hours ahead of GMT, we chose a one stop via Heathrow with BA as they do a mid afternoon flight, and overnight back combination.

Coming into land at Hong Kong International (HKG) is spectacular with Skyscrapers clearly visible, the airport is serviced by a highly efficient express that will have you into Hong Kong Central within 30 minutes, easily navigable.

See Useful Link 1.

We had chosen to stay in Lan Kwai Fong/ Soho District a lively dining and nightlife area, at the aptly named Lan Kwai Fong Hotel, a 10 minutes taxi ride from Central station. The hotel is in a great location to explore all Honk Kong has to offer. Of course no break away is complete without visit to Four Season Hotel also!

Figure 1 Harbour View from Hotel

Awake Tip: Take a taxi from Central as the steep packed streets are no pleasure to navigate with suitcases.

Woke Tip: HK is compact so if you stay one or two blocks back from the main hotels that directly overlook the harbour you will not miss out on anything other than the expense.

See Useful Link 2

Day 1.

Number one on most visitors lists is a visit to The Peak, so we headed off on foot, ensure you have your route planned as the streets are full of people and the hustle and bustle of commerce, some street animal markets are not for every European palate, so don’t stumble on them by accident, unless you are not squeamish, generally you will smell or hear them before you see them.

Figure 2 Hustel and Bustle around Soho.

A good landmark is St John’s Cathedral in the financial district close to Central, and where you will find the Peak Tram that will take you in under 10 minutes to Victoria Peak.

Awake Tip : Buy the tickets on-line and pick your time, like so many top attractions queues form early and there is no alternative to reach the peak that via the tramway.

See Useful Link 3.

Figure 3 Views from The Peak of Victoria Island.

Plenty to do and see atop Victoria peak, so bit of shopping and lunch is worthwhile before you ascend via the funicular railway back to Victoria Island.

Figure 4 Observation Deck and Shopping

On the other side of St John’s Cathedral you will come across Statue Square now encircled by the Bank of China Tower and HSBC HQ, not to mention two of the Islands up-market shopping centres, head over to the Mandarin Oriental for a cocktail before heading back to Soho.

The advantage of the Soho areas is that it is full of dining options even pubs, so within a few hundred yards of the hotel is Frites a Belgian brew house offering best of Belgian ales and cuisine worth a visit.

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Day 2.

Honk Kong has many small parks, but probably the most impressive plays host to the Zoo and Botanical gardens, overseen by George VI, tricky to find anywhere in HK without a reminder of the past colonial history.

Figure 5 George VI keeping an eye.

In the afternoon head to Wan Chai its in the general direction of the Conrad hotel, and more particularly aim for Lockhart street, plenty of home comforts for drinks and late lunch Churchills or the Queen Victoria look after your craving for HP sauce, and dodgy Guinness.

Day 3.

Connecting Victoria Island to Kowloon, are the ultra-efficient road and rail tunnels, but they cannot compete with the nostalgic Star Ferry, that have plied between the two since 1888.

Kowloon or Tsim Sha Tsui is home to two outstanding museums, the Space and History, there is also a Science and Art museum.

See Useful Link 5

Figure 6 Aboard the Star Ferry.

Alighting from the Star ferry terminal head along the public promenade to the avenue of the stars, this runs in front of the Intercontinental Hotel, and celebrates Honk Kong’s actors, with handprints and plaques, there is also a Bruce Lee statue.

Heading up Nathan Road, you will pass the up-market shopping courts and hotels,

Figure 7 Up- Market Shopping District on the Golden Mile.

We kept going and headed for Delaney’s Irish Bar for lunch, bit of a trek after up Nathan Road as far as Prince Edward Road West, will bring you to the Flower and Bird Markets, well worth the exercise.

See Useful links 6 & 7.

After all the walking we opted to take the Metro back from Prince Edward to East TST and into the Intercontinental Hotel for dinner and a view across to Victoria island to watch the evening Symphony of lights performance.

Figure 8 Symphony of Lights

We took a second day on Kowloon as there is masses to see and do, straight to Prince Edward Metro station and wander up to Boundary Street, the old Chinese border, all around Nathan Street/Argyle Street cheap shops and market stall abound, but likewise so do shoppers.

We headed for the Old Chinese district around Shanghai street, dropping into the Yaumatei Tin Hau Temple on the way for some culture.

Just below is the Jade Market and the Temple Street Night market, we headed into West Kowloon which is full of up market stores and shopping centres in complete contrast to the market stalls

The sky 100 observation deck is worth a visit.

See Useful Link 8.

Day 5.

Time to unwind and escape the hustle and bustle of downtown Hong Kong with a visit to Stanley, originally a sleepy fishing haven, but now a modern town hugging the south coast of the island.

Figure 9 Traditional Fishing in Stanley

It is an experience getting out to Stanley, jumping on an old double decker bus from Central station, the most interesting and longest trip goes over the hill and is very scenic, there are more direct routes to Stanley via the Aberdeen tunnel, but bus 6 or 66 gets you there after about 30 stops passing some of the most desirable residences and best sea views in Honk Kong.

Figure 10 Stanley Market

Stanley has some great bars and restaurants along the waterfront, and we had time to visit the Honk Kong Museum of Correctional Services, take lunch in the Boathouse and visit the Tin Hau Temple.

Figure 11 The Tin Hau Temple

See Useful links 9 /10.

Awake Tip: Plan your visit to Stanley on a weekday, it gets crowded at weekends, make sure to get out at Stanley Village,

Day 6.

We saved possibly the best until last and walked down the now familiar route to Central Station to catch a bus out to the Ocean Park also on the South side of the Island.

The Park is superb and you arrive in style:

Figure 12 Cable Cars to Ocean Park