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標題: My Hong Kong Trip Report [打印本頁]

作者: jay2020 時間: 2005-7-11 11:23 標題: My Hong Kong Trip Report

My first trip to HK.

1. the peak - (hk island)
- i took the big bus up but rode the tram down. if you want some excitement and save some $ (one-way bus=$15 and tram=$30), take the bus up. sit back and watch how the driver maneuvers the big bus up on a narrow and crooked road at ~40-50 mph.
- once there, awesome view of hk. there's a small mall w/ gift shops, lame wax museum, and few restaurants, including a mcdonald.
- take pictures or pay other people to take pictures of you and print them out instantly.

2. big buddha
- took the MTR (subway), then bus up, down and up the mountain. another exciting ride on the crooked road that has ONLY ONE LANE. cars and buses must yield moving to the side when there's an oncoming car.
- the big buddha is gigantic. you have to walk 200 flights of stairs to get to it. the surrounding is better than the one in LA.
- too commercialized. too many shops selling beads, buddha statues and so forth. vending machines by the big buddha.

3. wong tai sin temple and lion mountain
- once stepped out of the MTR, saw a group of old ladies lining up in a row like taxis do in front of a hotel.
what were they doing? they tried to sell some incenses; once a lady sold hers, she went to the back of the line.

after walking around the smoky temple and dropping $2 donation box, i walked inside the mall next to the temple. ate roasted duck & bbq pork over rice at a hk-styled restaurant called "golden bowl" 金飯碗.
- then headed up to the lion mountain. it took me 2 hours (1.3 hrs up and half hour down). the lion rock somewhat resembles a lion head. great view of hk.

4. the escalator ride - (hk island, central)
- rode the world's longest escalator. damn, it was a very long ride like going up 50 floors. if i remember it correctly, i turned on conduit road and headed back down. along the way, i saw many filipinas waiting or walking children home.

5. malls (terminal, timesquare, kowloon tong)
- every brands except banana republic and gap. many small stores--really small. can see everything from outside. the one in kowloon tong is funky with an ice skating ring and a college university (called city university) on the top floor.
- walked in an LV store, greeted by an employee who just stood here and greeted ppl. looked around and saw two security guards patrolling the store while there were at least 1 employee at each station.

6. nathan road, aka the golden mile
- reminded me of the las vegas' strip. both are wide and very busy with cars/buses and people. the road is longer and filled with stores on both sides of the street.
- walked from prince edward road all the way down to the space museum. passed ICAC headquarter, kowloon garden, and chungking mansion along the way. didn't know chungking mansion is occupied by indians, and they speak perfect cantonese!

7. kowloon garden
- it's next to a mosque. some birds, fishes, huge swimming pool and outdoor soccer field. stayed and saw 5 blacks playing soccer with the chinese. why there's a mcdonald next to the swimming pool?

8. bird and flower markets
- over on prince edward road. nothing worth seeing unless you want to see bird in cages and smell bird sh*t.

9. temple street and ladies street
- walked through these two streets and saw many V.V., LV-like stuff.

10. stanley - (hk island)
- ~45-min bus ride from central to stanley. many small souvenir shops that sell clothes and toys, a few restaurants that cater to westerners, tin hau temple, and a beach.

11. karaoke @neway
- $68 per head. that's unlimited singing, all-you-can-eat buffet and 2 non-alcoholic drinks.
- beware: little snack packs may not be free. ask before you open.

12. restaurants
bad:
hk-styled restaurants such as
- fairwood 大快活
- cafe de coral 大家樂
- ngan lung 銀龍, suck. low prices and convenience are the only 2 good things about those restaurants.
- yung kee 鏞記, recommended by every travel book, is overrated. food is average, esp. their famous roasted goose (luckily, only ordered half of the bird). if you flip open their menu, the first page(front and back) lists all the awards they have won. you have to call in advance to reserve a table.

good:
- pizza hut. different than pizza hut in the usa. theirs are higher class. excellent thin crusted pizzas.
- $88 dinner at a korean all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, on nathan road and soy street. many selections.
- mcdonald's cones. only $2.
- many dessert places over in mongkok

todai? saw one but didn't try.

13. macau
- took an hour ride on a turbo jet ferry to macau. once out of the ferry, rejected a few "tour guides" and walked over to sands casino, the new las vegas-like casino.
- had a "las vegas style" buffet there. after lunch, walked around the casino and watched what people were playing and how much they were waging. suddenly, music blasted in the background and turned and walked over and saw two girls in workout gear dancing on small tables. at around 7pm, took the ferry back to tsim sa tsui. trip costed $326 ($141 to macau, $175 back).

14. lan kwai fong - (hk island)
- nothing special. couple blocks with bars on both sides of a hilly street where westerners buy their beers and drink out on the street because the bars are small.
- if you want to drink there, buy your beers at a 7-evelen down the street and walk up. feel the same and save $$$.

============
tips

1. Winter is the best time to go.

2. The first two weeks of November are always expensive because of their annual business convention. most hotels are booked.

3. if you have a GSM cellphone(those using SIM card), unlock it. bring it along. stop at Sunday, an hk cellphone chained store, and buy a 200 minutes SIM card for $68. pop the card in the phone and make a call to activate it. you can now call back home.

4. ALWAYS have a pack of tissues in your pocket. Restaurants only give ONE piece of napkin, and the all restrooms, except those in malls, have paper towels.

5. comfortable shoes cuz you're going to walk a lot.

6. exchange of currency. although the US dollar is weak lately, the exchange rate shouldn't be below 7.70. shop around because there so many of these exchange paces. the difference can be huge (7.1 to 7.752). i got 7.752 at a place deep inside chungking mansions.
- $100 gets higher rate than $20, so bring $100 bill not $20 bill.
- exchange one or two hundreds at a time and don't take $1,000 bills because there are hard for stores to change. plus, too many counterfeits in $1,000 bill.
- don't exchange at banks.

7. look not once but twice before crossing the street because hk drivers WILL run you over. they DO NOT yield to predestrians. look down on the street, it tells you to look left or right for oncoming traffic.

8. street signs are NOT at the intersection but in the middle of the street.

9. skip taxi
i took 3 times. 2 drivers didn't know my destinations. the drivers wasted some time before calling back to the station for help. i kept my eye on the meter and saw it jumped every 2 seconds when the driver stepped on the gas.

10. skip mini bus because drivers drive wildly fast.

11. MTR is your best friend.
the PA system announces each stop in cantonese, mandarin and english. a train comes by every few minutes.
- AVOID riding on sundays and during peak hours 5-7pm to avoid large crowd.
- AVOID eating, drinking, and smoking on MTR. the fine is hefty. maximum penalty is 6 months in jail.
- put $400 on your octopus card, use it to board MTR and bus, or buy things at 7-eleven or stores that accept the card.
- MTR stop running at 12:30am.

12. buy water at Wellcome or park-n-shop. drink plenty of water while you are at the hotel and switch to Gatorade when out unless you want to go to restroom every 30 minutes. don't freak out when you see squatting toilets or see no divider that separates the urinals.

13. speak english or just walk by when people want to give you flyers or do survey. they can be very persistent and quite irrating.

14. free 30-minute use of internet at terminal and timesquare malls. the connection is extremely slow though.

15. don't clean your tray or bowl at any restaurants (fairwood, mcdonald, pizza hut, kfc) or at a mall. that's the job of old people. don't take their jobs away.

====
misc.
1. many jockey clubs - hk ppl love to gamble.
2. many family-run restaurants. how can they survived?
3. most drinks(tea milk and lemon tea) aren't sweet. their heineken beers are water down.
4. people will first speak cantonese and then mandarin if you don't respond in 3 seconds.
5. elevator/lift doors close so much quicker than those in the usa.
6. some hk police wear the new blue uniforms that make them look like security guards.

more of my pics here: http://photobucket.com/albums/a151/jay2020/Hong%20Kong/

作者: Aries 時間: 2005-7-11 13:30

wow, thanks.
What a wonderful list of suggestions for overseas visitors...!
In how many days you visited the above?

For other readers:
Don't forget to stroll along TST to have a view of the HK island harbour front....
尖東海旁維港景色

For shopping, the connected air-conditioned shopping malls on Canton Road (stretching from Gateway, pass Marco Polo Hotel, towards Star Ferry) is also wonderful.
廣東道近海旁二樓三樓貫通的各個商場

p.s.

1. If you need to shop for consumer electronics, please try
the big chain-stores Broadway or Fortress.

2. Most Hong Kong people welcome Japanese visitors, too.

We are NOT like the irrational violent protesters in mainland China.

作者: jay2020 時間: 2005-7-12 07:06

thanks! it was a wonderful experience. i stayed in hk for 12 days. i definately will go back to hk again. but, it won't be more than 7 days because i will go to china this time.

any of you tried any of the restaurants mentioned on this site?
HK 2005 年 100 間必吃店

作者: cky 時間: 2005-7-14 21:37

Hi Jay~
Thanks for sharing your feeling in your Hong Kong trip~
In fact what kind of food you are interested?
It seemed you always go to those fast food shops~

And I will not recommend visitors buy things at MTR stop and 7-11/OK shop, they are too expensive. Parkn and welcome must be selling the same things at the cheapest price

By the way, pls go http://www.discoverhongkong.com/login.html
There are a lot of Big Sales these two months~

To buy at the cheapest price
of sport shoes, go Marathon / sporthouse / royal sport house; for ladies there are too many choices...
of electronic product, go broadway
of clothing, go kwai fong/tsuen wan/Mongkok

It seemed to have firework arrangement at the Victoria Habor, just check it at the website.

And if you want to try seafood, you can go to Lamma Island or Cheung Chau. There are many bars too, an alternative than lan kwai fong.

====
misc.
1. many jockey clubs - hk ppl love to gamble.  <-- HAHA, RIGHT!

2. many family-run restaurants. how can they survived? <-- Do you mean those Chinese one? Chinese likes to go to restaurant (including me), thus on weekend there are still many ppl waiting for a seat. And for western type(so-called in Hong Kong), they are really a lot too and it is a necessity of Hong Kong resident!)

3. most drinks(tea milk and lemon tea) aren't sweet. <-- i recommned you try those local small,  "silk socks milk tea" is very famour in Hong Kong. For me I think that they are a bit more sweety sometimes too...

5. elevator/lift doors close so much quicker than those in the states.  <-- and ppl will not let you go out first before they go in!!!

6. some hk police wear the new blue uniforms that make them look like security guards. <- I do think so, the previous green one is better

作者: jay2020 時間: 2005-7-15 07:59

Post by "cky" :
In fact what kind of food you are interested?
It seemed you always go to those fast food shops
And if you want to try seafood, you can go to Lamma Island or Cheung Chau. There are many bars too, an alternative than lan kwai fong.

it's convenient to eat at cafe de coral and fairwood, and all other hk-styled cafes look the same. i love sushi, korean bbq, dim sums, and authentic southern chinese food.

i missed hk dessert houses. creations dessert house

just opened a store in sf but not close to my house. when i was in hk, i ate dessert every night because the dessert house was only a block away from my hotel.

someone recommended these restaurants to me, what do you think?
- "Wong Chi Kei"
- "Kau Kei" in central
- "Lan Fong Yuen"
- "Sun Chiu Kei" in wan chai

thanks!

作者: prokenic 時間: 2005-7-15 09:11

hi, jay2020, thank you for your report, so details.

if u will go to china , please try 小肥羊, it just cost u $50, u must very very full when u leaving.

in HK 小肥羊 will charge u at least $220-250 per head, also u may not very full.

Post by "jay2020" :

misc.
1. many jockey clubs - hk ppl love to gamble.
2. many family-run restaurants. how can they survived?
3. most drinks(tea milk and lemon tea) aren't sweet. their heineken beers are water down.
4. people will first speak cantonese and then mandarin if you don't respond in 3 seconds.
5. elevator/lift doors close so much quicker than those in the states.
6. some hk police wear the new blue uniforms that make them look like security guards.

真係好搞鬼。
HK's heineken beers 原來係咁既!!!

作者: cky 時間: 2005-7-15 18:28

JAY: it's convenient to eat at cafe de coral and fairwood, and all other hk-styled cafes look the same. i love sushi, korean bbq, dim sums, and authentic southern chinese food.

<---but cafe de coral and fairwood.... I think..and probably most ppl in hong kong would think that they are not worth for their price, many local restaurants offer better but cheaper food.
For authentic southern chinese food, do you mean 廣東菜？

Sushi if you would like some with reasonable price, 元氣 is a good choice. 元祿 is cheaper even! I will recommend 元神 in Wanchai~
Dim Sums is really a fantastic food for me too~ I love them too~ 稻香 is a famous local one with reasonable price, and also for 晚飯小菜！I don't recommend 鴻星, it is too expensive but not as delicious as imagine.

i missed hk dessert houses. creations dessert house (許留山) just opened a store in sf but not close to my house. when i was in hk, i ate dessert every night because the dessert house was only a block away from my hotel.

<--- 許留山/同治堂 are two large dessert house in HK. They make a large variety of desserts but with cheap price. 同治堂 offers more traditional chinese desserts. Other good dessert houses are 甜蜜蜜, 葫蘆館. They have many specially designed desserts which are not as general as those in 許留山/同治堂.
I don't like 大良八記, it is getting worse.
I love 發記 at 深井. And those small dessert house in Cheung Chau too. Extremely delicious 楊枝金露!!!!!!!!

someone recommended these restaurants to me, what do you think?
- "Wong Chi Kei"
- "Kau Kei" in central
- "Lan Fong Yuen"
- "Sun Chiu Kei" in wan chai

<--- 我要諗諗佢地究竟係乜先.. 可能未去過...

If you really like eating in HK, may be you will be interested in site like http://www.openrice.com

仲有, 我覺得大陸ge 東北人都好ok, 幾多野食又平~

作者: jay2020 時間: 2005-7-16 05:58

@prokenic and cky,

thanks for the recommendations. i will have them with me the next time i go to hk.

For authentic southern chinese food, do you mean 廣東菜？

yes. i'm not a fan of shanghai and taiwanese food.

another semi dessert house i saw a lot is Saint's Alp Teahouse 仙跡岩. their bubble tea was all right.

openrice is a fabulous website.

作者: joelleli 時間: 2005-7-16 15:26

If u can read chinese, welcome to visit my website in which I introduce some hongkong places.

As far as I remember, Wellcome Supermarket offers extra discount on Sunday.  But I am not sure whether all Wellcomes have this offer.

ICAC headquarters is in Central, the one you saw in Nathan Road is a neighbourhood office.

Most Karaokes like Newway, Califonia Red, Green Box offer luch sets at special price during 11:00 to 14:30 hrs on weekdays.  U only pay $30-35.  U will get a room to sing, a lunch that makes u full but not delicious, and one drink.  Maybe it is not available during summer holiday.

I never suggest ppls eating seafood in Lamma Island as it is extremely expensive - the seafood restaurants sell u a dish of fried rice at $60 but they charge half to their local islanders.  However, Lamma is good place for me as it has mediterranean feel.  If u miss the chance to see stilts at Tai O, u may visit them at Lamma.  Get off the ferry at Yung Shue Wan, look at your left hand side where u will find some stilts along the bay.  Though they are in far smaller scale than their counterparts in Tai O, they are intact.  You may find boat bottoms still at the bottom of some stilts.

The world's longest escalator is in Ocean Park.

作者: cky 時間: 2005-7-16 21:08

Post by "jay2020" :

yes. i'm not a fan of shanghai and taiwanese food.

Then Just go to 稻香. It offers food at economic price. Another one i recommend will be 明星火煱海鮮海家.

作者: jay2020 時間: 2005-7-19 12:59

thanks joelleli, i could read some chinese but my head aches when i see a page of chinese words.

@cky,
where is 稻香 located?

作者: cky 時間: 2005-7-19 18:40

There are many branches everywhere in HK
If you would like to a some gimmick one, you can go to that one in maritiime square at Tsing Yi (Just at Tsing Yi MTR station). The restaurant just looks like a pirate boat and all knives, forks and spoons are made of iron but not porcelain, not as traditional as other restaurants.

作者: bb23 時間: 2005-7-21 19:54

Don't know if I make the right translation...

Wong Chi Kei - 黃枝記
Chinese style noddle

Kau Kei - 九記
Cantoness style food

Lan Fong Yuen - 蘭芳園
Just like those small chiness fast food restaurant, the milk tea is great.
BTW, have you forgot to put sugar into the milk tea? You should do that yourself :lele:

Sun Chiu Kei - 新超記
There is lots of 新超記 in HK. I like their hainan chicken rice ...

作者: cky 時間: 2005-7-21 20:09

新釗記....

作者: billy 時間: 2005-7-24 02:28

It 's really a comprehensive and impressive sharing

作者: jay2020 時間: 2005-7-24 13:58

i hope my report will help some people who want to go to hk and have never gone there before.

作者: hanmiler 時間: 2008-7-20 15:10

I read all revert,it's interesting

作者: jay2020 時間: 2010-4-5 13:02

I haven't been to HK in a while. Do you guys, the locals, tip at 茶餐廳? How much to tip at restaurant?

Thanks!

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