We set aside two and half days to explore Hong Kong before continuing to mainland China. What an enchanting city. It was not only an incredible weekend destination; Hong Kong made our shortlist of places we could imagine building a life at some future date.
We’re hardly the first to note Hong Kong’s resemblance to New York. Hong Kong’s towering, neon skyline throws dazzling reflections into Victoria Harbour; markets and storefronts compete brashly for the attention of crowds that spill onto the streets all day and late into the night; stick-thin glamour elite stride its sidewalks in designer fashion; narrow winding markets segue seamlessly into trendy hipster hangouts; and mouthwatering meals can be found at every conceivable price-point, whether from world-class restaurants, hole-in-the-wall dives, or countless food-carts.
With street signs, storefronts, and menus in Cantonese, Hong Kong undoubtedly feels like a foreign city. But it also offers more than enough English to make it easily navigable, as well as a wonderful spattering of pedestrians, languages, and food from across the globe – giving the city a deeply international feel. Though we didn’t have a chance to check it out, Hong Kong also boasts beautiful hiking trails just on the edges of the city.
Our flight from Manilla delivered us to Hong Kong’s expansive and sparkling-clean international airport on a Friday night. In this monument of modern convenience, we were able to efficiently withdraw some Hong Kong dollars, claim our complimentary city-wide WiFi card (courtesy of the HK tourism bureau), purchase a local SIM, load credits into an ultra-convenient transit card (the “Octopus Card”), and then quickly board a sleek bus into the city. High-speed rail connects the airport to downtown Hong Kong in just twenty minutes, but we chose the bus instead because it dropped us off just steps away from our AirBnB.
The Hong Kong apartment we called home for the weekend was an urban shoebox, but in a prime location. After checking in, we walked just a few blocks to a restaurant recommended by our friends Ann and Arun to indulge in quite-possibly the best dumplings of our lives just hours after our arrival. Despite the long day and late hour, we couldn’t resist the bustling streets and headed down to waterfront for our first views of Hong Kong’s skyline across Victoria Harbour. Forming unfamiliar but charming vignettes of urban night-life, clusters of teenagers spotted the Kowloon boardwalk, crooning into portable sound-systems – each a mini concert for 5-10 friends; nearby bare-chested old fishermen dangled fishing lines into the dark water.
We spent the next two days soaking up as much of the city as we could. Our first day, we started on the Tsim Sha Tsui East Promenade to take in the Dragon Boat Carnival (!) that happened to coincide with our visit. Then we hopped the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, where we walked from the old fish and medicine markets of Sheung Wan, east through the hipster-driven urban renaissance of Tai Ping Shan Street, and finally into the towering brightly-lit sky-scrapers of Central. After dinner, we took the tram up Victoria Peak to see the skyline from the city’s highest point. The self-guided audio-tour at the top offered a surprisingly fun introduction to the city and its history.
Our first training session in a dragon boat!
Our second day we explored Kowloon. We started at the Chi Lin Nunnery, a serene Buddhist temple filled with bonsai trees and lotus ponds, tucked among high-rise apartments. Then we followed this DIY walking tour of Hong Kong markets through the electronics market, flower market, bird market, and goldfish market. After a quick stop for dinner and a short return to the Kowloon waterfront to enjoy the city’s nightly sound and light show, we ended our time in the city with a leisurely stroll through the Temple Street Night Market, where we finally decided to become more than just spectators to the street-market culture. Vigorous bargaining was definitely expected. Even as novices (and conspicuous foreigners), we scored a couple items at just one-third the original asking price. We strongly suspect the real price for locals was lower still.
After many hours and miles of walking through the city, we collapsed into bed to grab a few hours sleep before our train the next morning into mainland China. It was a late night for us, but the city was still wide awake.
Hong Kong is a gastronomist’s dream, so for our foodier friends, below is a short catalogue of where we dined during our short time in the city. Most of Hong Kong’s culinary glory was probably lost on our unrefined palettes – but we got great joy from all the eating nonetheless. We had everything from simple 50-cent street food to complex, unfamiliar concoctions at Michelin-starred modern Cantonese restaurants, and we surely didn’t even approach the extremes Hong Kong has to offer. Honestly our favorites tended toward simpler, cheaper stuff, though there were lots of exotic items we weren’t brave enough to try….yet!
Two ducks, two chicken, and, in the middle, a cuttlefish (we think). Remember those guys from the scuba diving videos?
This list is in chronological order. For our Chinese readers, apologies for our brutalized Cantonese/Mandarin-hybrid pinyin; for our English-speaking readers, welcome to the hurt that is our new world!
- Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung in Tsim Sha Tsui;
- Dim Sum — specifically, Har Gao, Siu Mai, Lo Bak Go, Cheung Fan, and Lai Wong Bao — at a dim sum restaurant near our AirBnB that was jam-packed with locals, but the name of which is lost to us;
- Sweetheart Cake at a friendly neighborhood bakery on Queen's Road in Sheung Wan;
- Braised Pomelo Skin with Shrimp Roe and Braised Superior Bird's Nest Soup at the upscale Tim's Kitchen;
- A bowl of super-spicy Sichuan dandan noodles at Dandan Soul Food from Sichuan. We cannot wait for Chengdu!;
- A kabob of an unidentified body part of an unidentified animal deep-fried and drizzled in an unidentified sauce — from a street stall near the goldfish market;
- Cha Siu Bao (barbecue-pork-filled bun) and Gwai Fa Go at Tim Ho Wan near Sham Shui Po; and
- Shrimp Dumpling and Beef Brisket noodle soups at the tiny-hole-in-the-wall Mak Man Kee in Kowloon.