After a full days travelling from YongDing to Shenzhen, a night in a hotel and a nice meal, the following day we were ready to cross the border into Hong Kong.
A short train ride later and after passing through border security we were finally in Hong Kong arriving at our hotel just before lunch time. We were staying in the West Hotel in the Jordan area of Kowloon. It was a lively area with plenty going on. Our first stop was lunch at a restaurant across from our hotel. We had rice, fried vegetables, chicken and pork. The first thing we all noticed was how much more expensive the food was compared to mainland China. I knew it was going to be more expensive but the average meal in China cost us £5 with a drink whereas in Hong Kong it was £21. Once we had finished lunch we headed down to Victoria harbour for the group to go our separate ways. After taking a whole group photo in front of the harbour, we said goodbye to our guide who was flying back to Beijing to start his next tour and to most of the group as people were leaving to catch their flights home or to continue their travels. Some of us stayed together for the rest of the day.
We looked around the harbour area for a short while. One of the most famous shopping malls is 1881 Heritage which is set in a former Police HQ. This is just one of the historical sites in Hong Kong.
Check-in was open at our hotel so we went back to unpack our luggage and have some free time before meeting for dinner.
Dinner was at a great little restaurant on the same road as our hotel called Funky monkey (would certainly recommend if in the Jordan area). The place had a great little menu and I thoroughly enjoyed my pizza. Temple Street Market was our next stop of the night. The Market sells lots of trinkets, clothing, bags, electronics, jewellery and food. It is a great place to do some haggling with the stall keepers and you can get a good selection of stuff. There are lots of markets in Hong Kong with this being one of the main ones. After leaving the market we all said our final goodbyes and returned to the hotel. It was hard saying bye to people as they were such a nice bunch!
The following morning I woke up early and checked out then headed towards my new hotel on Hong Kong Island. I moved to the Island Pacific hotel as I was by myself so wanted to be in a quieter location. I was really pleased with my choice of accommodation as it was nice to have a little bit of luxury after the tour! I caught the MTR (Hong Kong's underground) from Jordan to Sai Ying Pun station. The first thing I noticed about the underground was how huge some of the stations were. Sai Ying Pun station had several different exits and it was around a 15 minute walk from leaving the train to the exit. After dropping my luggage off and charging my phone, I was keen to get out and explore. By the time I had reached the harbour area by MTR it was lunch time. Being a solo traveller I always feel you can't go wrong with a shopping centre food court for eating. However Harbour City is a seriously impressive shopping mall that you could spend hours in! I first found a Starbucks to charge my phone and to upload some photos onto Facebook as I hadn't been able to do this in mainland China. After building up some hunger walking through the huge mall which had every single shop you could possibly want, I settled down for lunch at a burger restaurant called BLT. The food was so so good but that might have been because I had eaten mediocre Chinese food for the past week. It was pricey but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I had paid up at BLT, I made my way back to the hotel as check-in was open. I got to my hotel room which was on the 16th floor and had great views of the nearby skyscrapers. I unpacked then travelled over to Kowloon to visit the Hong Kong museum of History. When I was visiting there was a History of Toys temporary exhibition on so the museum entrance
was lined with Stormtroopers. The museum was free to enter and was really interesting. I loved how the exhibition started at the very beginning of time and went through the years till the modern day. There were also models of wedding rituals, boats, the original settlers of Hong Kong, traditional costumes, a mini-cinema showing a documentary and much more. One of the most impressive models was a replica of a festival they hold in Hong Kong where they create mountains of buns. During the 7 day celebration they also have parades and a bun-climbing race. Unfortunately my time was cut short as the museum was closing just as I was reaching the 1930's! I had spent a good 2 hours in the museum and still had plenty more to see. Tsim Sha Tsui was the area surrounding the museum and it seemed like a relaxed place for a wander. I loved how when the sun set, those well-known Hong Kong city lights start to appear. By now it was 7pm and I was ready for some more food. There was a small shopping mall with a dessert restaurant where I healthily had a strawberry waffle with peach tea. A short trip back to my hotel to fetch my coat and then I met with another tour guide for a night tour of Kowloon. First we walked down Nathan road taking in all the bright lights, walking past a casino where our guide described to us the locals love of gambling. Gambling in Hong Kong is restricted and only certain activities are allowed, the most popular being horse racing. Past the brightly lit casino and we re-visited Temple Street Market for a quick scoot around. Next stop was Kowloon Park which is a large green public area where locals come to relax. The park has gardens, sculptures, a lake with several flamingos!, an aviary, and a swimming complex with 4 pools. There were also people 
participating in some late night Tai Chi when we were there. On my return to Hong Kong I will try to visit the park during the daytime! The other side of the park led down to Canton Road which is one of the main shopping streets in Hong Kong. It has many high end stores and important buildings and is often filled with people. We walked down the road till we came to the waterfront. Our guide had brought us to a quieter area of the waterfront so we could admire the buildings in their night-time glory.
The Victoria Harbour was close by so we walked through the 1881 Heritage building once again, although it looked much more sophisticated at night-time. Finally we had made it to the harbour front and it really is a must-see sight in Hong Kong, even more spectacular at night. There is a light show daily called 'Symphony of the Lights' which I've been told is worth seeing although I didn't have time on this particular visit! All the more reason to return.
The next day I woke and went to the starting point of the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. In hindsight I think the tour was a waste of money as the timetables were unclear and the queues for the buses were very long. It is much easier just to get the MTR, as it goes everywhere on the island, is cheap and efficient. I did the Hong Kong Island bus tour which took us past the Bank of China, Golden Bauhinia Square and then Causeway Bay. The traffic was pretty bad so by the time we got to Causeway Bay (only the 3rd stop on the tour) it was already past lunchtime so I left the bus and went to find some food. Causeway Bay is a good area for high street brand shopping and I found a mall called Windsor House which I spent some time looking around before going to the top-floor food court. One of my favourite restaurants in Japan was called Coco Curry House and I was very pleased to find one in Hong Kong! One plate of curry with pork cutlet and cheese later, I got back on the bus and headed towards the Peak. The bus tour includes an entrance ticket. Firstly you queue to get on the Peak Tram and after the quick journey you are on the top. I absolutely hated it up there. It was one of the most tackiest, over-commercialised places I have ever been to (and I've been to Niagara Falls). Don't get me wrong, the view was decent, it just kills me that instea
d of appreciating the view they've built a shopping mall, a dozen restaurants and a Madame Tussauds. Truly awful. I only spent around an hour and a half up at the top before choosing to walk instead of queue for the advertised time of three hours to make it back down. It was a pleasant walk as I was mostly alone and the sun was setting so I had some good views looking down. It was a fairly steep descent and my knees were sore the next day! It was just over 2 miles to get to the botanical gardens back on flat land. The gardens were very peaceful (I'm a fan of gardens anyway), and it was great to see the locals just hanging around. After a stroll through the gardens, it was almost 7pm so I made my way back to the hotel, for a shower and to generally just have a rest from my long day. At 9pm I went out back to the food court in Causeway Bay for a late tea. I managed to have a quick bowl of ramen before the restaurant closed for the night. At 10:30 I was back at the hotel, ready for a good nights sleep.
My last day in Hong Kong, and I decided to go back to the Hong Kong museum of history to finish my visit where I had left off the other day. As I had the Star Ferry ride included in the bus tour I decided to see what all the fuss was about and caught it over to Kowloon. It was really quiet at the time so I sat right at the front so I could see the approaching view. I did enjoy the journey as you get a great landscape of Kowloon's Skyline. Once back in the museum I could finish off the years from 1930's to present day that I hadn't previously had time to complete. I learnt about the position of Hong Kong during World war II, the many governors of the territory, royal visits and eventually the handover from Britain. I also enjoyed walking through a street exhibit which depicted shops from years gone by. The museum next door was the science museum so I had a quick mooch around before deciding it was very hands on and more kid than adult-friendly! A short walk and I was at the Avenue of the Stars. As a Brit unfortunately I only knew one of the 'Stars' in statue form, which was of course, Bruce Lee.
Back on the Star Ferry to the Island as I hadn't yet visited the Hard Rock Café. Burger and fries later and I walked my final few miles around Hong Kong before checking out of my hotel and going to the airport. I met with a few people who had been on my tour in China so looked around the shops with them before they flew off to Bangkok. A majority of people on my tour were travelling for months, while I was going home, jealous!
After pizza and dough balls, I finally boarded my flight to Zurich then onwards to Manchester.
To conclude, I had a fantastic time in Hong Kong, It was an amazing place with a lot to offer. As a solo female traveller, I felt safe the whole time, people were very friendly and there is plenty to do by yourself. It is slightly on the expensive side, but If you don't eat at luxury restaurants and treat yourself for just one or two meals, it is affordable! I got a taxi to the airport and it cost around £35 for a 30 minute journey which isn't unreasonable. There is also a airport shuttle service which is about half the price. Most of the museums I visited were free and took up most of my time so it can be done on a budget if you want.
I am re-visiting Hong Kong in January and intend to do all the things I just didn't have time to do in the four days I was there this year! Watch this space for my next Hong Kong blog!
A short train ride later and after passing through border security we were finally in Hong Kong arriving at our hotel just before lunch time. We were staying in the West Hotel in the Jordan area of Kowloon. It was a lively area with plenty going on. Our first stop was lunch at a restaurant across from our hotel. We had rice, fried vegetables, chicken and pork. The first thing we all noticed was how much more expensive the food was compared to mainland China. I knew it was going to be more expensive but the average meal in China cost us £5 with a drink whereas in Hong Kong it was £21. Once we had finished lunch we headed down to Victoria harbour for the group to go our separate ways. After taking a whole group photo in front of the harbour, we said goodbye to our guide who was flying back to Beijing to start his next tour and to most of the group as people were leaving to catch their flights home or to continue their travels. Some of us stayed together for the rest of the day.
Check-in was open at our hotel so we went back to unpack our luggage and have some free time before meeting for dinner.
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| Temple Street Night Market |
The following morning I woke up early and checked out then headed towards my new hotel on Hong Kong Island. I moved to the Island Pacific hotel as I was by myself so wanted to be in a quieter location. I was really pleased with my choice of accommodation as it was nice to have a little bit of luxury after the tour! I caught the MTR (Hong Kong's underground) from Jordan to Sai Ying Pun station. The first thing I noticed about the underground was how huge some of the stations were. Sai Ying Pun station had several different exits and it was around a 15 minute walk from leaving the train to the exit. After dropping my luggage off and charging my phone, I was keen to get out and explore. By the time I had reached the harbour area by MTR it was lunch time. Being a solo traveller I always feel you can't go wrong with a shopping centre food court for eating. However Harbour City is a seriously impressive shopping mall that you could spend hours in! I first found a Starbucks to charge my phone and to upload some photos onto Facebook as I hadn't been able to do this in mainland China. After building up some hunger walking through the huge mall which had every single shop you could possibly want, I settled down for lunch at a burger restaurant called BLT. The food was so so good but that might have been because I had eaten mediocre Chinese food for the past week. It was pricey but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I had paid up at BLT, I made my way back to the hotel as check-in was open. I got to my hotel room which was on the 16th floor and had great views of the nearby skyscrapers. I unpacked then travelled over to Kowloon to visit the Hong Kong museum of History. When I was visiting there was a History of Toys temporary exhibition on so the museum entrance
 |
| Bun Towers |
participating in some late night Tai Chi when we were there. On my return to Hong Kong I will try to visit the park during the daytime! The other side of the park led down to Canton Road which is one of the main shopping streets in Hong Kong. It has many high end stores and important buildings and is often filled with people. We walked down the road till we came to the waterfront. Our guide had brought us to a quieter area of the waterfront so we could admire the buildings in their night-time glory.The Victoria Harbour was close by so we walked through the 1881 Heritage building once again, although it looked much more sophisticated at night-time. Finally we had made it to the harbour front and it really is a must-see sight in Hong Kong, even more spectacular at night. There is a light show daily called 'Symphony of the Lights' which I've been told is worth seeing although I didn't have time on this particular visit! All the more reason to return.
The traditional boats are called Junks and they sail across the Harbour with their red flags, a symbol of Hong Kong. The lights of the Island can be seen across the water with some the most recognizable landmarks being the Bank of China, Two IFC and the HSBC building. Our night tour ended at the Peninsula hotel, famous for being the location where the British surrendered Hong Kong to the Japanese during the Second World War. By this time it was almost 11pm so I caught the MTR back to my hotel and went to sleep.
d of appreciating the view they've built a shopping mall, a dozen restaurants and a Madame Tussauds. Truly awful. I only spent around an hour and a half up at the top before choosing to walk instead of queue for the advertised time of three hours to make it back down. It was a pleasant walk as I was mostly alone and the sun was setting so I had some good views looking down. It was a fairly steep descent and my knees were sore the next day! It was just over 2 miles to get to the botanical gardens back on flat land. The gardens were very peaceful (I'm a fan of gardens anyway), and it was great to see the locals just hanging around. After a stroll through the gardens, it was almost 7pm so I made my way back to the hotel, for a shower and to generally just have a rest from my long day. At 9pm I went out back to the food court in Causeway Bay for a late tea. I managed to have a quick bowl of ramen before the restaurant closed for the night. At 10:30 I was back at the hotel, ready for a good nights sleep. |
| View Of Kowloon from Star Ferry |
Back on the Star Ferry to the Island as I hadn't yet visited the Hard Rock Café. Burger and fries later and I walked my final few miles around Hong Kong before checking out of my hotel and going to the airport. I met with a few people who had been on my tour in China so looked around the shops with them before they flew off to Bangkok. A majority of people on my tour were travelling for months, while I was going home, jealous!
After pizza and dough balls, I finally boarded my flight to Zurich then onwards to Manchester.
To conclude, I had a fantastic time in Hong Kong, It was an amazing place with a lot to offer. As a solo female traveller, I felt safe the whole time, people were very friendly and there is plenty to do by yourself. It is slightly on the expensive side, but If you don't eat at luxury restaurants and treat yourself for just one or two meals, it is affordable! I got a taxi to the airport and it cost around £35 for a 30 minute journey which isn't unreasonable. There is also a airport shuttle service which is about half the price. Most of the museums I visited were free and took up most of my time so it can be done on a budget if you want.
I am re-visiting Hong Kong in January and intend to do all the things I just didn't have time to do in the four days I was there this year! Watch this space for my next Hong Kong blog!
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