scrubbedexpat141

Good Morning,

Bit last minute but going to Hong Kong next week for 5 nights with the good lady for my birthday.

Absolute boyhood dream destination that I've been looking forward to going to for a long time.

Anyone got any tips?
Things to do?
Places to visit?
Places to avoid?
Macau worth the trip over?

Anyone done the horse racing on a Wednesday night? Any info on whether to bother doing a dinner / buffet thing or just get into the normal bit?

Thanking you in advance.
Scamp

weasel decentral

Macau is barely 40 minutes on the ferry, so definitely go there and check it out. Much more sedate than HK, some old Portuguese historical stuff and the casinos if that floats your boat.
The racetrack is fun for a visit. Depending on where you are staying try to avoid maybe Wanchai with your GF in tow. And a lot of those expat type bars

scrubbedexpat141

Staying Kowloon side on the old man's advice.
Macau maybe for an afternoon / evening then - thanks.

Thank you.

DXBtoDOH

Having been to HK multiple times I much prefer staying on HK Island rather than Kowloon. It has more personality and the nightlife hotspots are on HK Island. But it's easy enough to get around as the subway system is very efficient. But don't forget to take the ferry back and forth as it gives you great views of the skyline.

Definitely go to the Happy Valley racetrack on Wednesday night. It's loads of fun. Cheap beer, place a few bets, pretend to watch the horses. Major expat social activity.

Food: dim sum. Dim sum. Dim sum. Fabulous and can be cheaply done. Lots of spots so look them up online. There's various blogs posting the top 10 dim sum places. There's also few places that have been around forever and are "old school" and I'd avoid those as I found them stodgy and expensive for what you get. They tend not to be included in the top ten lists.

Sheung Wan on HK Island is expat central. Lots of shops and bars and restos. Fun to walk around as there's a few old temples to visit too. HK is very different from Dubai or London and the streetlife is Asian and a bit maddening but fun.

The top drinking places are Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai, both on HK Island. LKF is probably better (from my perspective). It's a collection of small streets with numerous bars where the partying spills over onto the streets. Many good memories drinking on the street rather than the bar itself! Wan Chai is the old red light district and from what I gather a bit of a hit or miss, really dependent on which place you go to and what you want to do. Some places are certainly filled with prostitutes. Sheung Wan also has a bunch of bars/cocktail lounges and is a bit more "refined" compared to LKF.

Well worth the effort to make the trek to Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery (opposite each other) on the northern side of Kowloon. Beautiful Chinese garden and Buddhist nunnery.

Going up to the Peak is a must. The views are amazing. It's also fun to walk back down because you go through complexes of skyscrapers built on the sides of cliffs.

There's a large cluster of outdoor markets around the Mong Kok metro station. Most are cheap and filled with tat but a fun place to wander around.

Food, on the whole, is fabulous. It can be cheap, it can be expensive, but it's uniformly good. I wish I could give you more recommendations but as implied above, it's best to spend a hour or two browsing food blogs for Hong Kong to get ideas of places to go to within your price bracket.

But a nice bit of advice is to go to the 7-11 dotted everywhere. They have loads of packaged snacks that you don't find in the West and can be very good.

Do a boat tour along HK Island. The skyline is great from the water. You can take the ferries back and forth but the boat tours go further out and along the island.

scrubbedexpat141

Thank you very much for that, appreciate it. Lots to add to my notebook

DXBtoDOH

I'm a bit jealous. Been three years since I was last in HK. Would gladly move there tomorrow.

My mate who lived there at the time had a 2-bedroom flat in Sheung Wan. It was about the size of my bedroom proper in Dubai But I could put up with that just for the opportunity of living in HK. It'd be mad, mad, mad!

Another thing to do is to take a ferry out to one of the fishing villages outside HK where you can have a seafood lunch. Good times.

clergy

How about a daytrip to Discovery Bay? A little(?) community accessible by boat only, where everyone gets about on golf buggies as cars are banned. Mind you, that was 15 years ago.

scrubbedexpat141

I honestly can't wait. Dad used to come back with stories from his work trips there and I just have this wonderful image of the place. That was in the 90s and early 00's so I'm sure lots has changed but he always tries to get there when he's in Asia. Says a lot about the place that everyone raves.

Millhouse

Love HK. Not been for 15+ years but it was great then. May have to go back soon.

DXBtoDOH

You won't have the pleasure of flying in/out of the old airport from those days. The runaway was so short that the planes arrived and left at 45% angles. It was scary!

I still remember HK when it was a British colony. I was there in 1996. It has changed but not in ways that you'd notice. The biggest difference (beyond even more skyscrapers) are the lack of British Crown symbols and Union Jacks, and there's been a decline in the western expat population. It's still big enough but the past 10 years has seen a trend towards hiring Chinese over expats. Understandable, I suppose.

mikemike

If you are in kowloon

ferry to North point, turn left on arrival to bus station get number 63 bus top deck to Stanley . enjoy the gallery lanes and shop for souvenirs before setting your sights on an eatery.

Hong kong is pet friendly to the point of sharing not just the eatery but in close proximity to packs of pampered house hold pets treated like spoiled kids.

littlejimmy

Another fan of HK. Have been a few times 15 years ago when I had to do monthly visa runs from Taiwan where I was working at the time. Macau is a must. Peak tram is good for an amazing view (I was asked for a photo by a Chinese school trip up there, I thought they wanted me to take a photo of them, but they wanted me in the pic as well!). Star Ferry still going?

TheShed

I love HK and have been 3-4 times in the last 3 years. I'd try to do as much of DXBDOHs list as you can. The peak is really amazing and so is the cable car out by the new airport. As has been said before, public transport is awesome, don't think of using anything else.

If you're in the market for a suit or some shirts, visit Mr Sams at Burlington Arcade in Kowloon. You will not believe the quality and fit of a truly bespoke suit you'll get for the money. Ready in 2-3 days and every time you enter the shop they offer you a beer. Roshan is the current boss (3rd generation of owners) and if you eMail him, he'll get you an appointment as soon as you arrive. Mention Ian from Dubai if you wish.

scrubbedexpat141

Thank you all.

Dubaiexile

Very jealous was there for 2 years in the late 80`s when I was in the Military, 4 of us rented a flat in Wan Chai, DXB seems to have covered virtually everything...have a great time!