Hong Kong trip 2008

 Finally!...Another vacation to relax( hmmm...) from all the stress. For this trip we avoided the package tours like the plague and decided to plan and book our own itenerary through the net.  We avoided the hassles of spending almost half a day picking up and ferrying tourists to their hotels, going to places you DO not want to go to, and limited or too much time at tourist spots. Since Hong Kong's public transport is excellent and its such a small place( easy to got back and forth from HK island and Kowloon in a day). If your not travelling with your kids or with elderly people I recommend you customize your trip you will be surprised with the number of places you can visit in a day( MTR from Kowloon to HK island is about 15mins)

Since its Ella's first time in Hong kong our main objectives were Ocean Park, shopping and to watch the Macau Grand Prix we decided to spend 3 days in HongKong and 2 days in Macau. It was very challenging as we had only 2 days to go around the various shopping areas( Nathan, Mongkok, Causeway Bay, Citygate factory outlets, Central) and the tourist spots( Victoria peak, Avenue of Stars, Symphony of Lights) as our last day in HK would be left for Ocean Park. 

PR and ELLAS TIPS WHEN VISITING HONG KONG

1. Plan your trip well. With so much to do and places to go to but with very limited time better do your homework. We were very optimistic with our itenerary which resulted in "cement feet" we wanted to cover so much in 2 days!

2. Walk! Walk! Walk! Better be well rested before your trip all those walking, people jostling around, all the sights and sounds can really drain your energy.( We learned it the hard way hehehe)

3. Pick a hotel which is very near an MTR station.

4. Go to Victoria peak around 5pm. So you can catch both day and night views of the Hong Kong Skyline. Watch out for the Tram lines on a bad day it would take you 30 minutes.Consider taking the tram up the peak and by cab when going down should save you time.

5. Ride the Star Ferry. Just for experience plus its a fast and a cheap way( HKD 3.00) of crossing over the harbor.

6. Visit City Gate Outlets located at Tung Chung right next to the airport. Expect all the shops to be open around 11:30am

7. Let your Hotel front desk write down in chinese the places you want to go. just in case your taking a cab better have this handy as we got ripped of twice and we got dropped of a wrong area once which is really far from our destination!

8. MTR One day unlimited tourist pass. Only costs HKD 50.00, one trip from Airport/City Gate Outlets already costs HKD 18.00

9. If you want to save on taxi from the airport to Tsim Tsa Tsui. just take the bus to Tung Chung MTR( HKD 3.00) and MTR to Tsim Tsa Tsui ( HKD 18.00). Taxi fare might be around HKD 250.00- HKD 350.00

10. Please be reminded that taxi cabs charge for EACH PIECE of extra luggage stored in the trunk. Also you have to pay for their tollfees when crossing to the other island.

11. Dont starve yourself! meals in Hong Kong are expensive so dont waste your time looking for cheap food as you wont find any. Average meals at Mcdo, and KFC will range from HKD15.00-30.00, While local diners/dimsum places will cost you HKD22.00-50.00. Fishballs/ Siomao from the street peddlers is around HKD 8.00. Please include in your budget meals in which will cost around HKD30.00 on the average.

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