All my friends and colleagues have been to Hong Kong, some went there fairly regularly. Those with kids will be there for Disneyland. The perpetual theme has always been food and shopping. Following the crowd is not what we would normally do, so for this short trip, we just want to go into the heart of Hong Kong and experience local living. We were glad we did. This was because, after so many years of increasing tourists traffic from China, Hong Kong’s infrastructure has not changed. Visiting tourist attraction places as becomes very unpleasantly crowded.
As always with simple planning, we just booked our air tickets to Hong Kong. We realized that it was cheaper to fly to Hong Kong and fly out from Guang Zhou. Hence the impromptu decision to also travel into Guang Zhou by direct train from Hong Kong. We booked an apartment in Ya Ma Tei area. Just 5 days. No particular objective. The kids also did not want to visit any theme parks. Interestingly, they prefer to spend the money on shopping.
Day 1 – Ya Ma Tei, Mong Kok
We flew with Singapore Airlines. Excellent service but also usually more expensive. However, the difference in costs was not that big for us to decide otherwise. Hong Kong and Guang Zhou are one of the busiest routes, I guess the economy of scale is there.
Arrival was hassle-free. Got ourselves an 8 seater private hire, we settled into our apartment in the middle of busy Ya Ma Tei, opposite the wholesale fruits market. The apartment was a 3 bedroom flat, typical of the Hong Kong’s shoebox houses, small, yet with fully functional kitchen and a balcony. We had local neighbours who don’t really bother us much.
It was 5 mins walk to the MTR, but we prefer to walk for the day. We had simple foods nearby, walked the vicinity and had a good evening shopping along the streets. Mong Kok and the Ladies’ market was just several blocks to the north. Of course, we got ourselves lots of fruits for snacks.
The famous neon light signboard were now replaced by LEDs?
Day 2 – Hong Kong Island
After breakfast at a traditional HK cafe serving dim sum, we headed South. We got ourselves each an Octopus card (HK’s equivalent of cash cards, for cashless transactions on MTR, buses, boats.. at 7-eleven..everthing). While we walk and move from one place to another, we have complete freedom to stop by any snacks shop to try. It was simply relaxing with no time pressures. Instead of going straight into Hong Kong island via MTR, we decided to alight at Tsim Sha Tsui and took the ferry to experience the local commute.
Past the central ferry terminal, there was this large and long overhead bridge walkway. We followed the walkway and began our stroll among the tall slim buildings. We skipped the large boulevards and headed uphill, turning right (head west) into smaller streets like Wellington and Stanley streets. Not short of foods and shops. Stopping by only to eat, drink and shop.
The random walk brought us to the SoHo area, then there was this long series of escalators along a continuous bridge, up the steep slopes waiving in-between the buildings. We followed along this route all the way up to see where it ends.
And where it ends was really nothing worth mentioning, some residential areas. We turned left and walked another 20 mins to the city’s botanic gardens and a mini zoo. We walked through some of the more interesting pathways under the roads’ flyover waiving around steep stone slopes. We never expected that in the middle of the concrete jungle, they had this little place for plants and animals.
Hong Kong park was mainly for the locals. We were pretty sure no tourist would come here, but it was quite a nice place to hang out. We met with local school children having excursions in the park.
Next, just down the hill from where we were, there was the tram station to take people to the peak. This was where we said the tourist place that was unbearably crowded, but the kids still wanted to go to the peak to take a look. Instead of purchasing the return tickets or tourist packages, we skipped the ticketing queue and used our Octopus cards instead. Then another long queue for the tram. It was frustrating having been in the queue for some time and intermittently had to allow groups of tourists who paid extra for “express” to pass. Anyway, after an hour or so, the kids enjoyed the ride up. Spectacular views.
The idea was to spend the time there until sunset and see the view at night. But everybody was obviously having the same thought, so just at about 7:30 pm after sunset, the small footprint at the top became tremendously crowded and the tram ride down was crazily packed with tourists. The queue must have been 2 hours or so. Fret not, armed with our Octopus cards, we walked a little to the bus terminal. Got up the local favorites “minibus” and was off the peak in no time. We then decided to head back to Kowloon area for dinner. This time we took the MTR from Hong Kong island back to Jordon station. Walked northwards along Temple Street market. We had a nice local style dinner where tables were set up along the streets. We shopped the markets heading northwards and that led us back to our apartment.
Day 3 – Lan Tau Island
Going out of town. We were heading to Lan Tau Island. Again, we had breakfast at another traditional eatery, The Mido Cafe. The decorations were very traditional and unchanged. Again, we took MTR to Tung Chung. At the sight of the super long queue at the cable car station supposedly to bring tourists up to the Nong Ping Big Buddha, we then save our money and time by taking a local bus. Along the way, the bus drove past some scenic roads. It was perfectly ok to miss the cable car ride.
We climbed up the steps leading to the Nong Ping Big Buddha. Magnificent sights all round.
We had a vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin Monastery. We just basically relaxed and walked around the area. Until the sun was about to set, we looked up from the Ngong Ping Piazza, and we saw this mesmerising sight. .
Back to the bus terminal and back to our apartment. Wraps up the day with Roast Goose (famous in Hong Kong) and Duck dinner.
Day 4 – Wong Tai Sin, Sam Shui Po
Mother-in-law wanted to visit the Wong Tai Sin Temple. So we made the trip down. Again, this was a tourist attraction and was very crowded,
We went to Hung Hom train station to collect our train tickets to Guang Zhou the following day. We went shopping at the shopping centres around the station. Not much different from any other cities, so we headed to Sham Shui Po station to find local foods and TOYS!! My kids loved it there as it seemed to be a wholesale place for cheap toys, clothes, and shoes.
We bought lots of street local delicacies and went back to our little apartment and have our small dinner party. We can imagine this was exactly what the locals would do after work.
Day 5 – Onward to Guangzhou
Went to Hung Hom Station for breakfast, and our onward trip into mainland China – Guang Zhou. We chose the hassle-free high-speed express train to Guang Zhou. Book through MTR intercity through trains. As we collected our tickets the day before, the check-in and customs were also very fast. The 2-hour first class ride (Surprisingly inexpensive actually) felt like taking an aircraft flight, minus the motion sickness. They had comfortable seats and friendly attendants selling refreshments and duty-free merchandise.
Next Stop Guang Zhou.
gobassky
- Air travel by Singapore Airlines.
- Accommodation by Airbnb.
- Intercity train travel by MTR intercity through trains.