HK bus tour

SBS3688Y SG

Anyone who has been to HK don't mind please share your experiences of the HK bus tour here? Maybe we can also share more info about how to move about HK, how to go to the bus model shop, which hotel is good and cheap, airlines & airfares, etc? How about trams, trains and ferries? How about language communication with Hongkongers and the bus drivers there? Do they understand Mandarin generally?

Junyang700 SG

80M Bus Model Shop - Most convenient and will pass through is the outlet at the Star Ferry Terminal (Kowloon), next to Star Ferry bus terminal. But the prices seem to be a little bit more expensive, and is a very small stall, so variety is limited.

80M Bus Model Shop - Langham Place... Upper floors, need to take lift. At Mongkok MTR Station. There's an exit straight to Langham Place. Or you can take bus. I forgot the numbers.

Bus Fares in Hong Kong start from the maximum fare, and ultimately reduces to a cheaper fare until it reaches the last stop.

You can use an Octopus Card (Ba Da Tong) to save, just like our Ezlink.
Can buy from the HK Airport, can refund at the Airport too. Many Octopus Card Counters. One just as you exit the airport immigrations, and a few others, including one at the airport MTR station.

Octopus cards can be used for MTR, bus, trams, ferries, and shops like 7 Eleven etc.

Airport To City
Airport Express by CTB
A21 - Airport > Kowloon
& Many others.

CTB
629 - Star Ferry (Central) >>> Ocean Park (Only 2 trips in the early mornings.)
629 - Admiralty MTR >>> Ocean Park

NWFB
15C - Star Ferry (Central) >>> The Peak (Lower Terminus)
15C - The Peak (Lower Terminus) >>> Lan Kwai Fung (Walk over for Yung Kee Roasted Duck)

KMB
1,1A,2 - Star Ferry (Central) >>> Tsim Sha Tsui / Yau Ma Tei / Mongkok
104 - Central >>> Kowloon (Via Harbour Tunnel Crossing) Goes to Langham Place also.

MTR
Ngong Ping MTR (Ngong Ping 360)

Star Ferry
Star Ferry (Wan Chai) Hong Kong Convention Centre.
Walk over to Central to take Tram... Can go Causeway Bay for a walk via Tram
(Tram is on Hong Kong Island... stretching from Kennedy Town to Causeway Bay / Happy Valley)

104 - Kennedy Town >>> Kowloon Island (Langham Place)

Hongkongers generally can speak broken Mandarin with a heavy Cantonese accent.
But they do not like to communicate with China people, cos you are "DA LU ZAI" (from China) if you speak Mandarin.

Restaurants and tea cafes no choice, use Mandarin, and most can understand.

Tourist places, use English as it is more preferred. Especially at The Peak, use English.

English - 3 mins queue, Mandarin - 30 mins queue. China tourists have to queue up as a group and take one tram up as they go up to the peak, as they are extremely rowdy, and Hong Kong control limited numbers of them to go up at one time, so as not to disturb other tourists.

At the Madame Tussauds, beware of China tourists also, they push here push there, and when you want to snap a photo, they just WALK RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR CAMERA. 3 second rule. Prepare how you going to snap, jump into the photo, SNAP and leave.

At Ocean Park, China Tourists love to jump queue, push here push there, and they risk their lives, jumping to the rides when the ride is in motion. So the staff there do not generally like them, so if you speak Mandarin, you are one of them lah, from China.

At Ngong Ping, buy crystal cabin tickets... They will give you one empty cabin. The cheaper cabin, 12 person to 1 cabin plus 15 mins queue, beats sharing with China tourists, they will push here push there and start screaming and yelling at the cabin, yeah?

Walking with Buddha and Monkey Tales 3D show can consider skipping, a waste of money in general, especially the Monkey Tales.

I doubt you need to communicate with the bus drivers. There are bus panels everywhere, on each and every bus stop, just like Singapore, and its all in English plus Mandarin characters.

Can try staying at Evergreen Hotel, cheap, though bathroom condition wasnt that good. The bathtub damn old. LOL... Can try buying 3D2N land tours in Singapore with hotel accomodation. Its cheaper somewhat.

Try
Jetstar
Tiger Airways

Occassionally,
Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines have cheap airfares, can check them out.

Junyang700 SG

$416 on Cathay Pacific. =)

$80 - $90 a night Evergreen Hotel.

Basiling SG

I recomment to take Kowloon Motor Bus Rt. 72 non-air con'd bus as it is cheap (HK$6.3), from Kowloon to Taipo, New Territories. However there only 2 non-air con'd bus running on Rt. 72, so u need to know the timetable of the buses in order not to wait for a long time.

Video for part of the Rt. 72

I also recomment to take Rt. 15 from the peak to central, U better take tram from The Peak (Lower Terminus) in central to the peak, and then take NWFB Rt. 15 back to central as it is very exciting ( narrow road with fast speed ).

Also i recomment NWFB H1, and H2 open top sightseeing bus, HK$50 for whole day and HK$8.9 for a trip

http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/content/default.aspx?intLangID=1&section=hotSpots&page=rickshawSightseeing

Apalis56 SG

Video for part of the Rt. 72

Also i recomment NWFB H1, and H2 open top sightseeing bus, HK$50 for whole day and HK$8.9 for a trip

http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/content/default.aspx?intLangID=1&section=hotSpots&page=rickshawSightseeing

U wan chiongster arh? Minibus better! There is a green minibus (Route 1) that operates frm the Peak down towards Central (Star Ferry).

It costs abt HK$4 i tink

service_238 SG

Try
Jetstar
Tiger Airways

Occassionally,
Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines have cheap airfares, can check them out.

Earliest flight out from SIN is at 0650H - United 896. Jetstar leaves slightly after 0700H. Though online booking you will realise though 3K is a budget carrier, its more expensive than UA sometimes. That's why my preference is UA.

This duo are also the last flights into SIN at night. If they are early its 2320H and they can land as late as 2355H.

No CX or SQ beat this combination so since their charges are generally more expensive, its still UA. hahaa.

Basiling SG

U wan chiongster arh? Minibus better! There is a green minibus (Route 1) that operates frm the Peak down towards Central (Star Ferry).

It costs abt HK$4 i tink

The route of minibus 1 is different from NWFB bus Rt. 15. Minibus 1 cost HK$8 and go to central via magazine gap rd. while 15 go though all the peak rd.. Also mini bus is single deck while 15 is double deck. There is no seat for passenger at the front of Minibus while bus have seat at the front of upper deck.....

Minibus is much faster (about half an hour) while the bus need to take at least an hour to central because it go through wanchi

Acx1688 SG

There is CX636[certain days only] depart SG at 2030 ...
las flight from HK for Capac is CX715...
UA is of course the most cost effective but it does not provide full meals only snacks for your trip to/fro.
The snacks consist of prepacked sandwiches.

Eh on the contrary on HKers do not like to speak proper mandarin is not correct...
They do like to attend to mainlanders as these are the cx with $$$
HKers are able to converse well in cantonese, english, chinese.

jayh272416 SG

Minibus is much faster (about half an hour) while the bus need to take at least an hour to central because it go through wanchi

if i remember correctly GMB 1 goes one round around mount kellett... does it still do that?

as for language... your best bet would be cantonese.

Tranzort08 SG

their newer double decker bus fleet have 'straight staircase' damn cool! and their bus is also quite nice in exterior compared to in sg

sBs_boy SG

The cheapest way to get into city from airport is by taking S1 to Tung Chung Stn and then the Tung Chung Line.

sBs_boy SG

Generally,
Rejected goods from other outlets will be stock up in the star ferry outlet.

SBS3688Y SG

How about powerpoints plugs? Is it the same as sg or we got to buy adaptors?

Are there many money changers there?

Which is the better option to book airfare and hotel?

Which places got lots of delicious food and any recommendations?

sBs_boy SG

How about powerpoints plugs? Is it the same as sg or we got to buy adaptors?

Are there many money changers there?

Pls dont sound like u're making a trip to some africa countries.

yes, power plugs are the same.
(dont forget we were all under the british..)

sBs_boy SG

Its only a 4hr flight.
the snack box is enough.

But theres something that only UA offers.
Their famous Channel 9....

Fryderyk HPH SG

airlines & airfares, etc

I will just comment on the aviation side, since you asked in the question.

SQ now has 6x daily flights to HKG, all nonstop.

6th Daily eff 27MAY10
SQ860 SIN0830 – 1215HKG 77W D
SQ856 SIN0945 – 1330HKG 388 D
SQ866 SIN1330 – 1715HKG 772 D
SQ872 SIN1505 – 1850HKG 772 D
SQ002 SIN1750 – 2135HKG 77W D
SQ870 SIN1900 – 2245HKG 772 D

SQ001 HKG0800 – 1140SIN 77W D
SQ859 HKG1030 – 1410SIN 772 D
SQ863 HKG1330 – 1710SIN 77W D
SQ861 HKG1540 – 1920SIN 388 D
SQ865 HKG1830 – 2210SIN 772 D
SQ871 HKG1955 – 2335SIN 772 D

New 2-class 777 implementation date
eff 30MAY10 SQ859/870
eff 29JUN10 SQ866/865

SQ872 and return SQ871 are the new 6th daily. Given a choice, if you want to arrive into HKG to maximise your full day, take SQ860. You'll arrive into HKG just in time for lunch, and two meals will be served onboard, compared to later flights which most likely would be just a single meal(probably additional snack service). The 77W has better seats as well, if you don't mind the drony GE90 engines. Seating config for all 77W and 772 flights are 3-3-3. For the 388, it is 3-4-3 on the lower deck and 2-4-2 on the upper deck. On your return, do avoid SQ1.

Cathay Pacific, now has a 6th daily nonstop flight to HKG from 1st August 2010. Currently operating 4x weekly.

All in all, CX operates 46x weekly to HKG. You should be able to find one that matches your schedule best. Please please, avoid the particular flight that goes via BKK Bangkok. You wouldn't want such a longwinded routing. That should be the CX712/713 pair.

Try to avoid the 330s. They send their older nonrefurb 773s and 330s regionally.

Their supposed 6th daily is below.

CX635 HKG1520 – 1910SIN 343 x124
CX636 SIN2030 – 0020+1HKG 343 x124

Operating aircraft varies from 01JUL10, and increasing to Daily from 01AUG10. However, the arrival time in HKG is just way to late for local transport connections.

Jetstar operates twice daily to HKG, and three times daily on Fridays and Sundays.

3K693/694 is the one that operates on Fri and Sun. Rest operate daily.

Tiger Airways from 01FEB10 launches 13 weekly Singapore – Hong Kong service with Airbus A320. Schedule as follows:

TR922 SIN0755 – 1135HKG 320 D
TR924 SIN1635 – 2020HKG 320 x6

TR923 HKG1225 – 1600SIN 320 D
TR925 HKG2050 – 0025+1SIN 320 x6

United, that one already mentioned, so I won't comment on that.
121 weekly flights (up to 18 Daily flights on selected days) on this route(SIN-HKG) by June 2010.

Junyang700 SG

How about powerpoints plugs? Is it the same as sg or we got to buy adaptors?

Are there many money changers there?

Which is the better option to book airfare and hotel?

Which places got lots of delicious food and any recommendations?

Same. England, Hong Kong and Singapore same.

Money changer wise, I would say Singapore offers one of the best rates than most places, so better to change here. Play Safe! Later you encounter fake notes, not worth it.

You can try booking online or try pricebreakers or book some land tours with local travel agencies. Go and find out the prices from a few sources before making the decision.
Australia different.

Yung Kee Roasted Duck. Can go online and find it out yourself. Its near Lan Kwai Fung.

Junyang700 SG

Generally,
Rejected goods from other outlets will be stock up in the star ferry outlet.

Ic. That time I went to buy a tram set at HKD 298... went over to the star ferry terminal, it costs HKD 328. An extra HKD 30, equivalent to about SGD 5+ difference.

Acx1688 SG

The cheapest way to get into city from airport is by taking S1 to Tung Chung Stn and then the Tung Chung Line.

hehe not a lot of pple noe tt
Bus stop is opp the GTC, the same one u alight if you take E11 from the city[Hong Kong side]
N S1 is mostly E500 buses

Acx1688 SG

Eh add on from Frederick...

If you arrive past midnite in HK, there are night routes for Cityflyer...
freq is 30mins[10more than normal operating hours]
Routes slightly differ...

http://www.nwstbus.com.hk/content/default.aspx?intLangID=1&section=routes&page=cityflyerRoute