Thomas was finally in town! So we got down to business and did one tourist stuff after another. Here is a list of what to do and what not to miss in Hong Kong. Oh, if you see the locals stand in line, don´t bother getting in line, most of the time it is the line for the elevator, take the escalator, it´s faster. The locals like to wait in line, apparently it is cool. Of course, if you see a line for a restaurant, that is a different story, you should probably get it line, too.
Victoria Peak:
In the morning, take the Peak tram (40 HK$ for round trip) from Garden Road, which is close to Central, I heard you can take the bus up there, but I cannot do curves on a bus, so we opted for the safer version. Once up there, walk around one of the many trails. We decided to the Peak Circle Walk, (which also has many other names), it goes all the way around, but not difficult at all. The view of the Harbour and the city from up there is pretty unreal.
Causeway Bay:
Lots of shopping and restaurants here! And so many people.
The Apple Store at IFC Mall:
I am not a big Apple fan, but this Apple Store has one of the best views from all other Apple store (that I have seen, if there is one out there with an even better view, let me know). The store, like other Apple sotres, has huge windows that overlooks the city and pier and Victoria Harbour and is pretty awesome.
SoHo/Hollywood:
From the Central Station you can take the Central Escalators to go up to the SoHo area. We got off at the burrito restaurant and walked around the area. This area is totally different than the rest of HK that I thus far have seen. It is a very hilly area, expensive (well, HK is expensive in generall), lots of cute botique stores, loads of restaurants, and even more bars.
Night Markets:
I visited many, but worth mentioning is the Ladies Market, and like the name suggests, there is a bunch of stuff (you do not need, but still really really want) that are mostly only interesting for women. But there is also a bunch of electro stuff that would interest others as well.
We also went to the Temple Market. This market also sells a bunch of stuff, but they also have stall after stall of fortune tellers. I really wanted to, but decided against it because I didnt want to hear anyhing bad.
Very close to the Temple Market, we decided to have a beer. We found a street with lots of restaurants that offer outside seating. We found a place and ordered beer. Because we didn’t want to eat, we stalled and pretended that we were discussing what to order. But in HK, the waitstaff waits with paper and pen handy to take your order, which makes you nervous and really puts you under pressure. If you take too long to order, they will huff and puff and say stuff in Mandarin and it sounds mean. Anyway, all of a sudden our waitress screams something that sounded like a Banshee and totally freaked us out. At first, I thought it was a typhoon or earthquake. Then she just trashes the table like she was really angry. And then everyone starts to freak out and start to yell a bunch of stuff that we couldn’t understand. We grab our beer and stand up just in time before she throws our table over! We go across the street and watch in awe as the whole block starts to clear off all tables and chairs in the speed of lightning. All the seafood that were displayed in the buckets on the street were quickly covered with a tarp. The noise or all these Chinese women screaming and yelling while clearing off and throwing tables over was insane! Insanity, I tell you! We’ve never seen anything like it before. Turns out that the police were busting them for having outside seating. Apperently, they are not allowed to have tables and chairs outside. But this is not the first time that they have violated this law. They looked pretty experienced at clearing up. I think they paked up everthing within 3 minutes.
Din Tai Fung:
A world wide famous dumplings restaurant, originally from Taiwan. They know their dumplings and they do it well. The service is also better than most other places/restaurants in HK. If you go, (just google to find one, there are plenty in HK and all over the world), just order a bunch of stuff and try them all out! We had a few different stuff, all super yummy. Check out the next post to learn how to properly eat dumplings.
Double-Decker Trams:
They are only on the island, jump in, go to the top and enjoy your little tour of Hong Kong Island. Pay when you leave. If memory serves me right, they were rather cheap, only about 2 USD per ride.
Tsim Sha Tsui:
This area has all the so-called Mansions, which houses a bunch of stores that sell everything from food to electronics to clothes, the Mansions also have all the hostels and guesthouses. There are lots of other hotels and stores in this area, not just the Mansions. You should also head down Nathan Road, towards the water, and go around the Museum of Art. Directly behind the museum is a really good view of the Island, especially at night.
moments to create 