Hong Kong! One of the World's Top Cities

We didn't have terribly high expectations of Hong Kong. We thought it would be just an overcrowded Asian city, but were we ever surprised! Hong Kong is definitely one of the most interesting big cities in the world. We really enjoyed ourselves. Some of the fun highlights that we hit included: Victoria Peak (although it is a little overly touristy) and the tram up to it; the blindingly bright neon, and crowds packed sidewalk-to-sidewalk around Kowloon's Nathan Road shopping districts; the bird market, flower market, and fish/aquarium districts; the world's longest escalator; the giant Buddha statue on Lantau Island; Stanley Market, and more.

But what made our visit very enjoyable was the totally unexpected things that we encountered. For instance, many of the tall skyscrapers of Hong Kong are outfitted with colored lights and lasers, and these are all coordinated in a show that can be viewed from the Kowloon side of the harbor. (This might be a seasonal thing, but it was going on while we were there.)

We were there in August, and Hong Kong is brutally hot and humid in August. Probably not the ideal time to visit. We definitely understood why they had so many enclosed, air-conditioned sky walks connecting all the buildings. Also, many of the big office buildings have a large, open, concrete plaza at ground level, which is covered by the building going up above it. At lunch time, you'd see most of the office workers relaxing in the shade under their buildings.

Part of the fun is the feeling that you're in a city that's been the exotic setting for James Bond and other movies.

Quick Tips:

When we traveled, and any other time I have checked, Cathay Pacific offers a free stopover in Hong Kong if you are flying with them to anywhere else. Take advantage of it! We were going to Bali and stayed 3 nights in Hong Kong on the way home. This was long enough to get to experience a fair amount of Hong Kong. We figured that if we stayed; for one night, all we'd do was go to and from the airport; two nights would really give us just one day; but 3 nights would let us see a fair amount, and it worked out well. (Of course there was a lot more to see and do that we didn't get to.)

Plan to do most of your site-seeing in the morning, late afternoon, or early evening. Take a break, and hit the hotel pool during the heat of midday. We're from the Midwest; we're used to hot, humid summers, but Hong Kong was way worse than anything we'd experienced at home.

Best Way To Get Around:

The best way to get around is on city buses, and use either the ferry or the subway to get across the harbor. Those ways are quick and cheap. We had no problem figuring out the bus system to take us to Stanley Market, for instance, on the other side of Hong Kong Island.

It was a lot of fun careening over the hills on the upper level of their double-decker bus.

The subway was also quite an efficient, clean, and economical means to get from Hong Kong to Kowloon. Although, taking the ferry across is more fun.

You can take the train between the airport and Hong Kong, and your train fare includes a shuttle bus from the train station to many of the big hotels. The airport train is much quicker, and cheaper, than taking a taxi or something like that. There is a help desk in the arrivals area at the airport that will help you figure out the train; and which pass option you can take advantage of, depending on how much other travel you'll be doing.

The hotel is very nice and they treat you very well. It is an excellent use of Hilton Honors points for a stay in what can be an expensive city. The location of the Conrad is okay, but not the absolute most central location. It was a few blocks to the harbor ferry or main downtown area.
It is connected to one of Hong Kong's main indoor shopping malls.

The breakfast buffet (complimentary for Hilton Gold members) was absolutely top-notch. Also, the Executive Lounge, where they serve Hilton Gold members complimentary breakfast in the morning, delicious sweets in the afternoon, savory snacks (enough to be dinner) in late afternoon, and drinks later on, was a fabulous perk that wound up being worth quite a bit of money. As it is on one of the top floors, there is also a stunning view of the harbor and city from out the windows.

Even though we, with our two kids, staying on Honors points, were obviously a little more budget-oriented travelers than their usual business clientele, everyone in the hotel lobby, etc., treated us with the utmost respect and courtesy and were quite helpful with our Hong Kong questions.

Our one complaint was that, even though we had a nonsmoking room, it still smelled a little smoky there. But even on a middle floor we had a great view of the harbor and city.

The Conrad has a nice pool with a pool bar. Our kids enjoyed the pool a lot, and it was great for cooling off in the August heat and humidity.

The Hilton reservations system and website don't admit to allowing more than three people per room. That's pretty inconvenient if you have a family of four. We just booked it and told the reservations system there were three of us. The hotel was happy to accommodate us by putting an extra bed in the room. The room was big enough to fit all of us, although it was very full with the extra bed.

On Lantau Island, the same island that holds the Hong Kong Airport, is a giant statue of Buddha on a mountaintop. The statue is 34m tall, in addition to sitting at the top of a huge bunch of stairs on a mountaintop, so it is a very impressive sight. It's at the grounds of Po Lin Monastery.

You can reach the Buddha by ferry from Hong Kong and take public transport. Since our flight to the US didn't leave until later in the day, we chose to take the train to the airport, check our bags in, and then take a taxi to the Buddha. I believe that you can take public buses after taking the train to the airport for a lot less, but I also believe that it would take all day if you did. As it was, the taxi ride was pretty long (45 minutes, with a lot of curves and ups and downs), and we didn't have much extra time to linger at the statue before we had to get back to the airport for our flight. It was a good plan, but we needed to allot a little more time to get to Buddha and back.

We were there in August, when it is brutally hot and humid, so it was really a lot of work to climb all the stairs to get up to the Buddha.

The temple at the monastery was also nice, but at the end of our trip, we were pretty much done with seeing temples.

I do recommend this as a side trip. It's also interesting to see how undeveloped Lantau Island is when it's so close to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is home to the world's largest escalator. It's a series of moving sidewalks cutting through part of Hong Kong that is used by residents to get around. After riding on it awhile, and alternately walking up some of the hills in the heat, you can see how this was a wonderful innovation for the residents.

Since it was the world's longest and we were nearby, while exploring around Hong Kong one day, we decided we had to experience it. It was kind of fun to say we had been on it. And we were just exploring around anyway, so the parts of the city we saw from it were as good as any.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island...

There's a lot more to Hong Kong than banks, skyscrapers, and Buddhas. On the other side of the island from downtown Hong Kong are several very nice uncrowded, during the week, beaches. I wouldn't call then secluded because they aren't really hidden from view, being near the main road, but they are very nice little coves. It's really surprising to find such nice natural areas so close to the main city of Hong Kong.

Also on that opposite side of the island is Stanley Market. Stanley Market is a huge souvenir shopping market. There are dozens and dozens of little shops and stalls packed together, from which you can get any Hong Kong souvenir you can think of at reasonable, negotiable prices.

Our 9-year-old's favorite find there: a huge pack of about 50 Hamtaro Hamster play figures (with names in Chinese, which I had to get translated by a Chinese coworker after we got home.)

Yes, it is very touristy, but it is a lot of fun, and these markets are so much more fun (and cheaper)than the shops on Victoria Peak, for example.

There are places to eat, but not a lot of them. We had a relatively cheap lunch at a bakery-cafe at Stanley Market before getting on the bus to go back to the city.

With help from your hotel desk or tourist publications, it is pretty easy to figure out the bus system to take you from downtown Hong Kong to the other side of the island. They use double-decker buses. Sit in the front of the top for the best effect as the bus zips around the curves on the twisty mountain road.

One of the more unique sights of Hong Kong is watching a light and laser show, played out from, and on, many of the tall buildings of downtown Hong Kong. It's best viewed from Kowloon, which is on the mainland across the harbor from Hong Kong island.

Along the waterfront, there in Kowloon, is also a "dancing fountain" show with lights and music.

This Kowloon waterfront also includes a walk of fame for Chinese movie stars, analogous to the Hollywood walk of fame, with markers in the sidewalk. It's close to the Kowloon side ferry dock, and a pleasant and popular place to stroll along in the evening.