I’ve always wanted to visit Hong Kong, perhaps due to the exposure to HK drama at tender age and the likes of dim sum and roasted delight cuisine. Coming from a city which is often compared to HK in terms of land size and financial hub, I wanted to check out how it’s like. Also to have a first hand taste of their service industry because I’ve heard pretty awful experiences.
Day 1 | Check in at The Imperial Hotel
Getting to city from Airport is quite easy, there’s a straight bus directly to our hotel. We were staying at The Imperial Hotel at Nathan Rd. I imagined the lobby to be much bigger but as we all know Hong Kong is land-scarce so probably why. We settled on this place as it was a in close proximity to metro, city center and price point. After leaving our bags, we went to a nearby mall, iSquare to grab a late lunch and then explored around the area before calling it a day.
Day 2 | Breakfast at 翠華餐廳
The plan for today is to visit Po Lin Monastery at Ngong Ping via a cable journey but before we do that, we went to 翠華餐廳 which is just few minutes walk from the hotel for breakfast (this was recommended by the hotel receptionist,so why not?). We weren’t expecting actually to have a long queue since this place never came up in our research. #ignorant.
We ordered the beef noodle, “fish and chips’ and condensed milk toast (this is my favourite)
Po Lin Monastery
It has been a long while since I hopped onto a cable car. The all-around glass view allows you see beneath during the ride and sometimes you’re can see hikers in the woods (not sure what the route is, maybe you can share with me if you know). You can probably dedicate half a day here to explore the place and work out by climbing the flight of stairs to reach the Giant buddha. The cable experience
Wan Chai
We decided to take a stroll around Wan chai to see how the city looks on a random weekday and window shop as we talk along the streets. It was something new to me that the tram was sharing the roads with the vehicles.
Just when our stomach started to growl, we chanced upon a Michelin 1-start Chinese restaurant 原汁原味 and decided to give it a try.
Address: 141 Wan Chai Rd, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Closes at 1030 PM
It was quite a fulfilling dinner though I would expect a slightly higher standard for the type of recognition they get. We headed back after a short walk and call it a day
Day 3 | Tim Ho Wan
This is one of the famous dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong that is both value for money and of high quality. We decided to go there for breakfast and waiting time was around 30-40 minutes which is considered fast since we only need 2 seats.
This was before Singapore actually had brought in the outlets for THW.
After breakfast, we wandered off to nearby for some shopping before heading to Ladies Street for more shopping.
The Peak
Also known as Victoria Peak, The Peak is one of the popular attractions for tourist and locals as it provides a breathtaking view over the city skyline, offering a break into nature from the urban landscape.
You can ride the Peak Tram both ways to get to the top. Tickets are available online.
We also visited Madam Tussauds wax museum. It was quite unbelievable at first to see that the figures were so life-like. The height of the wax figures were also made to replicate those of actual characters. I think its going to be a really long time before I visit the wax museum again as the experience was pretty mediocre. We hang around at the observation deck and then it started to pour. The food choices and restaurant didn’t seemed worth it so we decided to head back home and have our dinner nearby.
Mak's Noodle
This is one of famous places for wonton noodles if you’re heading to HK. There’s an outlet at The Peak so we grabbed a quick bite there before taking tram back.
Central Ferry Terminal
We decided to try a different way of getting back to our hotel. We found out the there’s a ferry service that can directly take us across the river where Imperial Hotel was located and so we thought why not?
It was a pretty short ride and i think it costs like 2.50 HKD (~ 50 cents SGD) which we felt was reasonable.
We headed to the 24-hour restaurant behind our hotel to grab late dinner. It has a wide variety of Hong Kong cuisine at really affordable prices. We ordered their Hainanese chicken rice and their traditional luncheon meat and egg rice with soya sauce.
Day 4 | Day trip to Macau
We started our day slightly early today as we’re spending a day at Macau which is just a 45 mins ferry ride from Hong Kong. There are a couple of ferry terminals that provides such service, you can easily find them online. Depending on your preference, Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal has frequent ferries while China Ferry Terminal has a great location as its located at Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry.
Some travellers enjoy staying a night or 2 over a Macau just explore the city further. I did not, and merely just did some casino hopping and visiting the popular Ruins of St Paul
Venetian Hotel
Our first stop for the day is Venetian hotel where it is known for painting its ceiling with sky blue and clouds. I was told that the intent was to make shoppers lose track of time since its always showing ‘daytime’, not sure how true is this?
There are a couple of free shuttle for you to hop on to get to different hotels and casino, so getting around is pretty much free and easy.
If you’ve been to Las Vegas, you will notice many famous hotels are also here and the landscape actually bears some resemblance.
Margaret Cafe e Nata
After touring the hotels, we headed towards the city center for more food and sight seeing. The first stop was at Margaret Cafe e Nata for their famous Portugese egg tarts! I am a huge fan of egg tarts so this is a must-visit!
Address: 17B R. do Cmte. Mata e Oliveira, Macao
Opens at 0830 am
If you like dessert especially beancurd, Yee Shun Milk Company serves one of the best I’ve eaten. Actually I think this shop is a chain and you can also see it in Hong kong, not just Macau. The one that I went is just down the street from egg tart cafe.
Address: 381 Av. de Almeida Ribeiro, Macao
Day 5 | 蘭芳園
We woke up later than usual as it was our last day in Hong Kong. We went to check this eatery which is popular for its milk tea and pork chop bun. There was a long queue and we were told that we had to share seats with other diners too. We’re pretty cool with and I guess we’ll just have to go with the culture. When in Rome do as the Romans do.
Address: 44 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
After a sumptuous and satisfying brunch, we took some time to wander around before heading to the airport for our flight back home. It was a great week in Hong Kong. What I liked most about this trip would be the food and the cable car ride to Po Lin Monastery. Other than that, I felt that the shopping range were quite limited and expensive and there isn’t much to see since it’s quite urbanized. I think it will be quite sometime before I visit Hong Kong again.
