Recently I had the chance to go Hong Kong for a product training. To take advantage of this, I naturally extended my stay and went around the famous attractions. Based on my research, you should be able to achieve this in a 5 days 4 nights trip. So that was how I planned out itineraries but of course, mother nature don't usually agrees with anyone's plans and you will have to adjust around her.
I planned to go to :
Disneyland
Ocean Park
Ngong Ping 360
The Peak
Avenue of Stars for the light show
Shenzhen (I just want to abuse my going-to-expire visa)
Seems like nothing much at all right? What you really require are good legs for all the walking, hopefully some good research on how to go those places and a thick face to ask those busy HK citizens. Of course the major attractions you will not have any problems at all because they have many signs and announcements.
In my mind, that's that BUT what is more important for me would be how do you tackle those places especially those that you need to queue up for eg what is a MUST do in Disneyland and Ocean Park? Strangely enough, I did not find much info on this probably because everyone's interest is different which is true in most cases or I just did not have enough time to do it properly. Basically, I would advise for visitors to attend all their shows. I particularly enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic, Stitch Encounter, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Jungle River Cruise and Festival of Lion King. My advice is to really watch the timing especially those with limited shows. In Disneyland, if you are an avid adventurer, I recommend a task for you to complete =D Visit ALL the different themed restrooms, most people would just want to do their business and get on with enjoying the park. I reckon if I was with my friends, we would most likely take pictures in them, something which seemed to be a tradition when we were still in school XD
Watch the weather for Ngong Ping's cable car, mother nature disrupted my plan by greeting me with a typhoon level 3 but thankfully I had other destinations and was able to spend the day accomplishing another task. If you are able to plan things REALLY well, you can squeeze some destinations into 1 day. I think that requires precision planning and in their mind they know exactly what they want to do at those places even without being or seeing the place yet. I like to discover stuff which are not advertised.
What's next? Food! There are so many recommended food places. What you really need to do is to mark down all the detailed places and plan your route. Oh yeah, another important point when looking for food, LOOK UP! Many of the food places are NOT on the ground floor, some are even underground ... I think in the end, I just managed to go to 1 of my researched shops. Local food places have wisen up and have limited or some not so correct but understandable menus in english. Places which don't have, you have to use your thick face to ask, what makes it worse would be that you look like a chinese BUT can't read any, yes, your's truly is not able to read chinese but to compensate, I can speak both Cantonese and Mandarin.
I think I managed to accomplish my tasks of visiting the places which I wanted to go except for the food places. Learned something interesting during the training which we should explore and of course get to experience some Hong Kong culture :)
Gai Dan Zhai - literally translated as little chicken eggs but most shops use the term eggette
Fried Char Siew Pau - this taste GREAT!
Malai Ko - this cake tastes great too
Fried char siew thingy - nothing special about this
Ocean Park - good places to learn about conservation and great place if you love sea creatures
Disneyland - yes, its raining just as I reached =_="
Set A breakfast - surprisingly set A is basically the same thing in all char chan thengs
Other sets which are non-beef
Tried this egg tart just because of its shape :p
Pineapple bun - unlike other pineapple buns, this bakery really put pineapples in the bun!
Noodles for dinner
Giant Buddha as part of Ngong Ping 360's attraction
This meal is part of an expensive ticket to see what is inside the Buddha, the visit was NOT worth it at all BUT the vegetarian meal was awesome!
Or Jien HK style - not bad
Che Zhai Mien - the portion was big BUT the mixture of the ingredients was not to my liking ...
对面海 - literally means Opposite Ocean, winner of the Dragonboat festival at Sai Kung
Normal pineapple bun - these are like Mexican buns but the top are pineapple stuff
The peak via taxi going up and via bus going down - the queue was so mad that I reckon I won't make it up the hill before nightfall
OK view - just outside a restroom area =_="
Shenzhen side of the border - gives me bad memories of China
I did not go out and explore what this place is famous for, its just a place for me to change train.
I took the train so much that I got this.
What are my advices for travelers? Install apps which can help guide you around, preferably those that do not need Internet connection. What I used (on Android) HKMTR by Gary Wang (not the official one from MTR), Discover Hong Kong by the Tourism Board, Mobile BusInfo by Studio Kuma, TripAdvisor's Hong Kong app and of course who can live without Google Maps offline?
Must get Octopus card BUT watch your spending, I think I spent HKD300 just to go around to all the places. Most of the fares are around HKD10 and around half that for short distances.
Wear shoes that won't kill your heels and breathable. Walking around can and will take a toll on your main transportation. If you choose to, you can get competitively priced shoes at Mongkok.
For places to stay, IF you have the money, its really worth the difference :) Else you are in for a culture shock and I do pray that you are not claustrophobic.
Follow the queue, if you don't and you look like a Chinese, you are gonna get some sounding because Chinese (from China) really love to cut queues ... For all their hectic lifestyle, surprisingly HK people queue up for buses and trains. In Disneyland/Ocean Park on a normal day, a queue can be anywhere between 15 - 60 minutes depending on the show/ride. This will affect even the most meticulously planned iteneraries.
Cash and credit card :p For me the food was quite expensive as each meal would cost me at least RM10+. Make sure you have the currency conversion memorized in your head because you will need it especially for shopaholics who do watch out for their money. It is really a haven for shoppers, so many interestingly priced stuff.
