Dhanya Damodaran

Jan 11, 20203 min read

Hangout In Hong Kong

Updated: Feb 12, 2020

Visited in December 2014

Huānyíng lái dào xiānggǎng!!

Small place, lots to explore and that's Hong Kong. Skyscrapers, shopping malls, city escapes, harbors and peaks, markets, islands and temples - Hong Kong has several variations of activities and entertainments for is visitors.

We covered Hong Kong and Macau in our 6 days trip, and used public transport throughout the entire trip. We stayed in Kowloon and commuted to Hong Kong for site seeing.

Itinerary was

1) Victoria Peak

2) Lantau Island and Tai O fishing village

3) Macau

4) Disney Land

5) Chi Lin and Nan Lian

On Day 1 we visited the wet markets of Hong Kong to have a look at the varieties of sea food options enjoyed by the locals. Though we wouldn't taste any of those, it was exciting to see the countless fish fresh and alive, ready to be bought in the market.

The Peak Tram - easiest way to reach the observatory on the peak to catch the spectacular views of The Victoria Harbor. It would be a good idea to reach here by the evening to have nice views of the harbor in day light as well as the amazing night views lit up in a million lights.

The Victoria Harbor by night

The Bruce Lee encounter at the wax museum on the peak

We also walked around the trails to get nice views of the surroundings and the beautiful sunset

Since it was the Christmas - New Year time, the city was beautifully decorated and the night ride on the tram was interesting to catch a glimpse of the never sleeping city

Day 2 was to the island of Lantau where one of the largest statues of seated Buddha is present. It is in the Po Lin monastery on the Ngong Ping plateau. We took metro until the island and then a cable car to reach the monastery. The prayer hall inside the monastery with golden statues of Buddha will make you spellbound by its grandeur.

We then left to the Tai O fishing village in a coach tour bus from the monastery. The stilt houses of the fishermen, fish markets and a boat ride are the main attractions in the village.

After leaving the Lantau Island, we left to the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront by night to watch the Symphony of Lights - a beautiful laser show of light and sound on the sky scrappers in the city. The Avenue of Stars where the palm prints of world famous actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li are preserved.

We also had a quick look at the Hong Kong Space Museum

We bought our ferry tickets to Macau island, for our expedition to the island of Casinos the next day. You can read about it in Macau blog.

On Day 4, we visited the Hong Kong Disney Land - This time our son was interested in the Toy Story characters, and he was superbly happy to see his favorite Buzz.

Day 5 - we visited the Chi Lin Nunnery and the Nan Lian Garden. Beautiful and well maintained garden and serene place amidst the city. We enjoyed the vegetarian cuisine in the restaurant at the nunnery and the food was indeed very tasty.