Hello. It will be an advantage to know Cantonese when you go HK,
because you can bargain with the night market vendors, ask for
directions, order food, etc. If you dunno Cantonese, you can speak
English and Mandarin (but you won't have much bargaining
power).
For sightseeing and shopping, you can easily refer to any travel
guides. Most travel guides would advise you to visit the Peak (for
its magnificent views), Central (to see all the tall skyscrapers),
mid-levels (for the world's longest escalator, to see antique
shops, to visit Lan Kwai Fong, etc), Causeway Bay (for trendy
fashion and accessories), Tsim Sha Tsui (for world-class shopping,
museums, and the famous cross-harbour view), Yau Ma Tei (for the
famous Temple Street night market), Mongkok (for the famous Women
Street night market), etc etc.... If you have more time to spare,
make a trip to Stanley (South of HK island) for its market and
seaside village ambience, or go to Ocean Park, or Disneyland, or
Lantau Island (either the big buddha at Ngong Ping or the
traditional fishing village at Tai O). If you have even more time,
make a trip to Macau for its casinos, its churches (recognised as
UNESCO world heritage sites), and its Portuguese cuisine. Or you
can head north to Shenzhen for cheap shopping.
I went to HK in May and I'm going there again next week. (I was
born in HK and I grow up here in SG, so I regularly fly between HK
& SG). As a "semi-Hong Konger", I can give you the following
advices if you want to save money!
(1) If nobody fetches you at HK airport, the cheapest way to the
city is bus. Avoid the Airport Express train unless you're in a
hurry. (Train is very expensive in HK.) In the airport arrival
hall, go to the transport counter and buy an octopus card
(equivalent to Singapore's Ezlink card). You can buy a tourist pass
with 3-days MTR rides, or you can buy a normal adult card for
HK$150 ($50 deposit + $100 usable). When you leave HK, go back to
the same counter to refund the card. If you wanna take bus, do some
research before the trip - check whether your hotel has Axx or Exx
services. (E.g. A11 & E11 goes to HK Island. The difference
between A11 and E11 is that A11 is more direct and more
comfortable. E11 is cheaper, but it makes one big round inside the
airport serving the cargo centre, catering centre, maintenance
centre, etc etc before it goes to the city.)
(2) If you live in HK Island, you're lucky! Most of the sights in
HK Island is accessible by trams.... Yes, nice green double-decker
trams that goes "Ding! Ding! Ding!"... It's the cheapest mode of
transportation in HK - $2 per ride (around SGD 40 cents). It's
cheap, and the tram travels slowly so you can enjoy the scenery at
a leisurely pace (and take good photos). If you're in a hurry, take
MTR (Mass Transit Railway - equivalent to SG's MRT), but avoid MTR
during peak hours.
(3) If you live in Kowloon, too bad there's no trams. So getting
around will be a bit more expensive. Hence, to save money in
Kowloon, the best way to get around is to WALK (unless you buy the
3-day MTR pass). With so many shops and eateries, you can walk from
Tsim Sha Tsui to Mongkok without feeling tired. (It's something
like walking from Orchard to Suntec.)
(4) Between Kowloon and HK Island, the cheapest and nicest way to
cross the harbour is to take the Star Ferry. I don't need to
elaborate much. Experience it yourself. (Take note that the upper
deck of the ferry costs HK$2.2 and the lower deck costs $1.7. The
scenary is better in the upper deck, but I still prefer the lower
deck because it's more "local".)
(5) When you go out every morning, pay attention to the weather. If
it's raining or foggy, AVOID THE PEAK. The peak is only worth going
when the sky is clear. (The upward trip on the peak tram is
expensive, and it'll be a waste if you cannot see anything at the
top.) When you encounter lousy weather, go SHOPPING.
(6) An alternative to shopping is to visit museums. The 6 major
museums (Art, Space, History, Science, Heritage, Coastal Defence)
are admission-free
on EVERY WEDNESDAY! My personal favourites are the History Museum
and the Science Museum (which are side by side). You can spend one
whole day in the 2 museums.
(7) One of the evening, you can go to Tsim Sha Tsui and see the
night scenery of HK Island. (In December, the Xmas lightings are
impressive.) Do not miss the "Symphony of Lights" show at 8pm sharp
(everyday). The light show involves dozens of skyscrapers lighting
up and changing colours according to music. If you reach Tsim Sha
Tsui early, occupy a place along the seaside promenade, so that you
can have unobstructed views of the light show.
(8 ) To have good meals without hurting your wallet, consider "tea
restaurant" (Cha2 Can1 Ting1 in mandarin). It's equivalent to SG's
coffee shop, and it's found everywhere in HK. Most "tea
restaurants" serve a wide variety of dishes, but very often the
menus are in Chinese only. "Tea restaurants" are economical and
very "local", but the dark side is that people tend to smoke
inside. Other places to eat includes noodle restaurants (some sell
Wanton Mee for HK$10 only!), congee restaurants, Cafe de Coral
(fast food chain serving rice/noodles), or even McDonalds (which is
much much cheaper than the ones in Singapore). Dim Sum is also a
must-try, but dim sum can be quite costly and it's not recommended
to eat dim sum everyday unless you're damn rich. (Btw dim sum is
only offered for breakfast and lunch. Don't be a suakoo by asking
for dim sum in the evening.) HK desserts are also "must-try".
Examples include sesame-paste, red-bean soup, "Yang Zhi Gan Lu" (a
mixture of mango, pomelo and milk - my favourite), Gui-lin-gao,
milk pudding, rice balls with sesame or peanut filling, mango ice
(esp the one in "Xu Liu Shan" ), etc etc. Oh dear. Thinking of all
these food makes me hungry. Fortunately I'm going to HK next week!
Yay!
(9) Recently HK became notorious for its serious air pollution. If
you encounter a very bad pollution, avoid downtown (HK Island &
Kowloon) and go to Lantau Island instead. Lantau Island has quite a
lot of things to offer, such as the big buddha, the fishing village
of Tai O, and of course, Disneyland. If you want to go Disneyland,
avoid weekends. The (already very expensive) tickets are more
expensive on weekends, and the crowds during weekends are
horrendous. HK Disneyland is rather compact and you can try all the
rides in one day, but most of the time in the park will be spent on
queuing. (You can reduce the waiting time by collecting "Fast-pass"
at certain rides. For example, you can approach the ride counter at
10am and collect a Fast-pass for 11:30am. Then, at 11:30am, you can
just go for the ride and bypass the normal queue.)
(10) If Disneyland is too expensive, and Lantau Island sounds
boring to you, consider going to Macau. A one-way ferry ticket from
HK to Macau costs around HK$150 and takes around 1 hour. Macau is
well-known for its casinos (esp Macau Sands, the sister casino of
Singapore Sands), its historical monuments (recognised as UNESCO
world heritage sites), and its Portuguese cuisine. Downtown Macau
is compacted enough to be explored by foot, but the ferry terminal
was rather "out of the way", so you need to take a bus or cab from
the ferry terminal to the main attractions.
Oh. I think my post is very very long already. As my hometown, HK
is indeed a fascinating place. I still feel excited and amazed
every time I go there, as I always encounter something new. I
sincerely hope that you'll have a wonderful time in HK! (If you
have excess money left after the trip, don't forget to buy some
Wife Cakes at the HK airport for your friends and relatives!)
