When we were looking for places to visit during the Labor Day week, Hong Kong wasn’t at the top of our list as we were mainly interested in summer-y places with beaches or taking a cruise in the Caribbean. But we are so glad we decided to visit Hong Kong.

If you are looking for delicious food, panoramic views, fast paced city life as well as laid back vibes, Hong Kong should definitely be on your list of places to visit. We got a great package from Cathay Pacific with non-stop flight from Newark and a deluxe room at Hotel Jen by Shangri-La. We spent almost a week in Hong Kong and fell in love with the city by the end of our trip.

 

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Places to Visit

Victoria Peak

Victoria Peak or “the peak” as it is called by the locals is a must-visit spot in Hong Kong. Best time to visit is late afternoon so that you can take in the expansive skyline of the city in daylight as well as when city lights adorn it after the sunset. You can take the historic tram to go up the peak. The ride up on the tram is interesting as you get a unique perspective of the surrounding buildings and hills on your way up.

Once you get off the tram, you can buy additional tickets to the sky terrace where you can get a 360 degree view of the city beneath or you can choose to hike nearby trails and experience the city view for free.

When we visited the peak, it was raining so we decided against hiking the trails and went to the sky terrace for the views.

Things to remember

• We visited the peak on a Sunday evening so it wasn’t too crowded and we got seats in the tram immediately but there have been reports that the tram can get crowded and you may have to wait over an hour just to get on the tram. In that case, it’s best to just take a cab to the top of the peak from central district.
• If you are taking the tram and interested in sky terrace, you can buy the peak pass which is a bit cheaper than getting separate tickets for the tram and sky terrace.

Tian Tan Buddha (Big Buddha)

Another major attraction in Hong Kong is the Tian Tan Buddha – a giant statue of peaceful meditating Buddha atop a hill overlooking the Po Lin Monastery. It’s a surreal experience visiting the statue and the surrounding area. The path leading up to the steps of the statue has small cafes, souvenir stores and a couple of attractions that you can visit for a small fee.

Getting there

Ngong Ping Village is on Lantau Island to the north-west of the Hong Kong Island and the best way to get there is taking MTR from the Hong Kong station to Tung Chung and then a 25 minute scenic cable car ride up the hills until you reach the Ngong Ping village. From there it’s a short 10 minute walk to the steps leading to Buddha statue and Po Lin Monastery.

Instagram Pier

Behind the large shipping containers and warehouses on the western side of the Hong Kong island, there is a pier synonymous with the still-hip social media phenomenon. It is officially called Western District Public Cargo Working Area (WDPCWA) because it is used primarily for cargo handling and freighting but nowadays locals and tourists alike use it for taking Instagram-worthy pictures of colorful buildings in the background, beautiful bridges connecting various islands, the Kowloon waterfront and sunsets.

Private Cooking class

When we are in a new country we always try do do or learn something that’s unique to that place. One of the motivations to visit Hong Kong was that we both LOVE dumplings and wanted to learn making them along with other Cantonese dishes from a local.

We found an excellent instructor Edith Lam who has a cooking class called “Local Cooking Experience” in the South Horizons region of Hong Kong. We selected Edith’s class because she has a maximum of 4 people in one session so you can get more hands-on experience and you can select your own menu.

Edith took us to a local wet market for shopping for fresh ingredients across the river in Aberdeen which was a wonderful experience in itself. Wet market is a multi-level indoor market that sells fresh meat, fish and produce. If you want to experience “real” Hong Kong, you must visit one to see how a large number of locals still do their day-to-day shopping.

We decided to go with all the vegetarian options: Vegetable dumplings (duh), Saute Tofu with Green Beans & Olive Vegetable and Bitter Melon Omelet.

 

It was one of the highlights of our trip and would definitely recommend everyone to take a cooking class while in Hong Kong.

Symphony of Lights

Symphony of Lights is a laser show on the skyscrapers on the Hong Kong Island that is best viewed from the Kowloon waterfront. The announcer introduces each building that’s part of the skyline and then there is a laser light show to the tune of music. Having seen the New York skyline countless number of times, we weren’t so keen on this but the light show definitely adds a new dimension to the view.

Getting there

• Take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui station take exit D and walk a few blocks south to the Kowloon waterfront.

Man Mo Temple

Right in the heart of Hong Kong Island, is a 170 year old Cantonese Temple called Man-Mo Temple. It is for the god of literature and Martial god and scholars from Ming and Qing dynasties used to worship these gods.

Colorful buildings in Hong Kong

A lot of residents of Hong Kong live in public housing managed by the city and they are like rent stabilized apartments in NYC that have been passed down from one generation to other in order to not lose possession of a cheap flat in the heart of the city. These public housing buildings all over Hong Kong are painted in varied and bright colors and are points of interest for photographers and bloggers. One such building we visited was Yick Fat Building in Tai Koo.

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Shopping in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a lot like India when it comes to shopping. While there a lot of huge shopping malls with high-end brands all across Hong Kong, the highlight is numerous street markets where vendors literally setup shops on the streets in front of actual storefronts and is only accessible to pedestrians. We visited such markets every day we were there and couldn’t get enough of them.

Ladies’ Market

Spanning over multiple city blocks, Ladies’ Market is a street market in Mong Kok with rows and rows of small shops selling everything from handbags to teapots to electronic gadgets to clothes.

Sham Shui Po Electronics Market

Everyone has seen electronic goods made in China but if you want to see how the electronic goods are sold in China, you need to visit one of the electronic markets in Sham Shui Po. We visited Golden Computer Arcade and it was the center of all the action. You can buy everything from a tiny USB drive to hardcore gaming computers in one place, that’s if you are brave enough to navigate the crowd.

Temple Street Night Market

The night market also has street shops like the Ladies’ Market, but a relatively smaller scale and as the name suggests it opens after sun down and the shops are open well beyond midnight.

Times Square

Unlike the Times Square in NY that’s known for droves of crowd and flashy advertisement boards, the Hong Kong Times Square is a multi-storied building in Causeway Bay where you can indulge in high-end shopping. Here you can find hundreds of designer showrooms and two levels of restaurants.

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What to eat in Hong Kong

Reading through the post you must’ve been thinking where’s that “paradise” I mentioned in the title. Well, I certainly kept the best for last. The food in Hong Kong is definitely something that made this an unforgettable trip. We found so many wonderful places to eat and so much variety of dishes that I could have written an entire post about the food. Initially we were a bit concerned about finding vegetarian food in Hong Kong but were pleasantly surprised when we found that most places had a lot of veg options and a few places were purely vegetarian.

Pure Veggie House

We couldn’t wait to have veggie dumplings so on the first day before visiting the Peak we went to Pure veggie house. It’s a short walk from the peak tram – short is a relative term as the whole path is hilly so you are walking uphill the entire time.

 

Fujiyama Mama

After taking in the 360 degree view of Hong Kong from Sky Terrace, we had dinner at Fujiyama Mama, a Japanese restaurant among multiple high-end restaurants at the Peak.

Po Lin Monastery Cafe

While visiting the Tian Tan Buddha, definitely check out the cafe adjacent to the Po Lin Monastery. This again offers a pure veg menu and we loved the vegetarian noodles, spring rolls and mango bubble milkshake.

Green Cottage

Like I said earlier, there were a lot of vegetarian options in Hong Kong. This time on Lamma Island. Just a 30 min ferry ride from Central Pier takes you to Yung Shue Wan Pier and a short walk from the ferry terminal is a gem on the Island called Green Cottage. They have an extensive vegetarian menu with daily specials and delicious drinks.

Tim Ho Wan

When you think about “Michelin Star” restaurant, you don’t imagine a small shop in train station with people queuing up for an hour to find a table. That’s what you get at Tim Ho Wan, world’s cheapest Michelin Star restaurant. Don’t let that deter you from eating here as the food is definitely worthy of all the accolades. They change the menu every month so even the repeat customers get a variety of dishes to choose from, however when we went there, there weren’t any good vegetarian options on the menu.

DimDimSum Dim Sum

After the appetizer course at Tim Ho Wan we went across the Victoria Harbor to a late-night hangout place in Kowloon. They have delicious Siu Mai, Rice Rolls and a lot of veggie options including vegetarian dumplings, bean curd roll and many more.

 

Teakha

We started off our last full day with brunch at Teakha – a quirky nook of a shop that you’d miss unless you are looking for it. They blew us away with their Avocado Toast and Pineapple Bun Sandwich. Bhanu couldn’t pass up an opportunity to drink Iced Masala Chai and I had Cold-Brew House Keemun Tea with Rose. We ended brunch with the most delicious and flaky ginger and fig scones. It was by far the best breakfast in a long time.

 

Megan’s Kitchen Hot Pot

We ended our stay in Hong Kong with hot pot at Megan’s Kitchen. This was my first time trying out hot pot and it was messy, tedious, curious but a delicious experience at the same time.

Various Street Food Joints

Even if you are unable to visit any of the aforementioned spots while in Hong Kong, you have to try the street food in Hong Kong. There is so much variety to try that you really have to plan your trip around covering all the favorite spots of street food – from large fried chicken to egg waffles, stinky tofu to octopus tentacles, fish rolls to egg tarts, each dish is better than the last.

 

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Some Things We Learned

Transport

• Cheap and Convenient Public Transport: Public transport in Hong Kong is probably the best around the world as even for first timers like us, it was extremely easy to navigate the city and it covers almost entire city so you don’t need to rent a car in Hong Kong.
• Airport Express Pass (Not Ticket): While traveling from the airport to your hotel, you can use airport express pass. It’s fast and cheap plus you get 3 full days of unlimited access on MTR which you have to take to go pretty much everywhere. If you buy the pass online, you get a HKD 50 discount.
• Octopus Card: Octopus card is your friend while in Hong Kong. While the unlimited access on MTR is useful for train rides, Octopus Card comes in handy for all other means of transport like “Ding Ding” trolley, ferries, buses. Also most shops accept Octopus Card as mode of payment.

Currency

• Cash Preferred over Credit Cards: Considering that Hong Kong is among world’s most advanced metropolitan cities, we assumed that our international credit card would come in handy and we won’t need to convert much cash for daily use; we were so wrong. Most establishments accept only cash even for large expenses.
• Cash to Reload Octopus Card: There is no way to reload the Octopus Card with credit card unless you have a local Hong Kong bank account.

General

• Most restaurants charge extra for table-side condiments so make sure you read and understand the menu and order only what you want. Even if you don’t use the sauces and condiments, you will be charged for them so if they are on your table even before you were seated, you can ask the waiters to remove unwanted items to avoid paying extra.
• Tipping is not required in Hong Kong. Most places add a service fee on their own to the final amount. You should still tip bellhop or anyone who personally helped you out.

Visa Requirements

• Hong Kong has very lax visa requirements especially for Indian Citizens. As long as you are an Indian passport holder and want to visit Hong Kong for upto 14 days, all you need to do is complete an online Pre-Arrival Registration (PAR) and print out the confirmation page and show it along with your passport when you arrive at the Hong Kong Airport. You can start the application here.
• If you want to visit places like Macau and then come back to Hong Kong, just make sure you hold on to the immigration receipt you receive at the port of exit when you take a flight/ferry to Macau as you will need to show it when you come back to Hong Kong.
• The validity of each PAR is 6 months and during those 6 months you can visit Hong Kong multiple times visa-free as long as each of those visits is less than 14 days.
• If you want to stay in Hong Kong for more than 14 days, you will need to apply for a visa.