Please help filling my itinerary in Hong Kong

Hello Deedee,

Apparently a visit to Lantau Island (biggest sitting buddha in the world + monastary) is a must + I think we'll do a tour on a jonk (not sure about the spelling though!).

Cheers
Arleet

Hi Arleet,

thanks for the response.

How do I get to Lantau Island and how long does it take? Have you been to Macau? If so, do you recommend me going there too?

Cheers,
D

Hello Deedee,
I'm discovering it all in the same time than you
Apparently you can either reach Lantau Island by ferry, by MTR, the Airport Express, there are also buses and of course you can use a taxi.
I just purchased the Lonely Planet on Hong Kong and Macau so that I have maps and all indications on where to go and how to reach places

Ah coolness. Yes, did a little research on this Lantau Island thing, looks neat. Your idea about Lonely Planet is awesome. Might do the same. Hope it also enlists great deal on designer's bags and clothes I've been contemplating on

Thanks Arleet!

MM the Buddha is nice but it aint old i think it was built in 1989. Lantau Island has some ok beaches and it is much relaxing than Hong Kong itself. This island is about 40 mins by ferry from Hong Kong island. Coffee shops are everywhere but most will be Starbucks and Pacific Coffee. Try the Peak and caseway Bay. JW

If you want to go to the big buddha, you can take the ferry to Lantau island. Once you get there, you can either take a taxi to Po Lin monastary. If no taxi available at the ferry stop, you need to call for a tax, the number is available at the taxi stop. Taxi will cost about 120 HKD. You can also take a bus (not sure which it is, as I never done this myself). To go back, I would suggest to take the cable car back to Hong Kong. You have some nice views on Hong kong and Lantau island (and the airport) however keep in mind the last cable car down is around 6pm.
The peak and the peak tram is definately also a must.
However experiencing Hong Kong means also just strolling around and shopping. Hope you will have fun there!

Lamma Island is a great trip for a decent beach and some mild hiking.

The further you get away from Hong Kong island the less you see of Hong Kong.JW

Wow thanks for the info gwb325, JWilliamson, woyijc!

On second thought, I might skip Lantau Island as I'm not so much of a beach person, plus, Indonesia has more than enough of beautiful beaches to check out. I got your point JW, I just wanna see Hong Kong.  But thanks anyway, really appreciate the inputs!

Still a big question in my head, a place for a retail therapy?

IFC 2, Pacific Place, Landmark, Princess Building etc are all expensive shopping malls located in Central. If that is too much money to spend on your retail therapy you can also go to Wanchai, Causeway Bay on HK Island. For really cheap stuff there are plenty of shops or markets on the Kowloon side. E.g. Areas like TST, Mong Kok or Yau Ma Tei. actually HK is one big connected shopping mall, unmatched by any other town in the world if you ask me.

Other touristic places to visit are: The Peak ( go up with the Peak Tram). beautiful view, nice walks and also shops. Take the Star Ferry to the other side of Victoria Harbour. this offers beautiful views of HK from the other side. lan Kwai Fong, SoHo or Wan Chai at night to have a meal and a drink.

And further HK is a town you just have to experience by walking in it's streets, lanes etc.

Have fun!,

HKAndre wrote:

IFC 2, Pacific Place, Landmark, Princess Building etc are all expensive shopping malls located in Central. If that is too much money to spend on your retail therapy you can also go to Wanchai, Causeway Bay on HK Island. For really cheap stuff there are plenty of shops or markets on the Kowloon side. E.g. Areas like TST, Mong Kok or Yau Ma Tei. actually HK is one big connected shopping mall, unmatched by any other town in the world if you ask me.

Other touristic places to visit are: The Peak ( go up with the Peak Tram). beautiful view, nice walks and also shops. Take the Star Ferry to the other side of Victoria Harbour. this offers beautiful views of HK from the other side. lan Kwai Fong, SoHo or Wan Chai at night to have a meal and a drink.

And further HK is a town you just have to experience by walking in it's streets, lanes etc.

Have fun!,

Wow thanks HKAndre! I'll make sure to check out all the places you mentioned here. Btw, I'll be staying at Ibis Hotel north point, really, I've no idea where else instead and I think it's one of the hotel chains that is reputable enough. I hope it's also strategic enough to reach all the interesting spots easily.

Cant wait!

Well a little feedback on on - short - trip to HK

We enjoyed it very much although we had to cut our holiday as the weather forecast for the last 3 days of our stay was terrible... you could not even see the other side of Victoria Harbour due to the fog and it was pouring rain!!! Pity really... but the first days were very nice.

My legs and feet were beaten though due to the lot of walking we did.

To get a first idea on HK, we did the Big Bus tour and got down to see what we liked... which was a very good idea.
Food in HK is delicious also.

We unfortunately had to skip Lantau Island due to the bad weather and the Peak due to the huge crowd standing to wait the tram!!!

I hope to stopover in HK again to see what we missed this time.

I'll post some pics in the coming days.


Have a nice day further
Arlette

PS: visitors must know however that HK is very expensive!

Hi Arlette,

Thanks so much for the feedback. Now I know what to expect!
So it's been raining and unpredictable these day? How's the temperature during the day and night? I'm traveling with my best friend who seems to have a slight allergy to cold weather. What kind of clothing would you suggest her to bring?

And just how expensive is HK now?

Hi deedee,

Well it seems (from what I see on TV now) that it has been nice weather this whole week but it's not without reason that you see umbrella sellers everywhere LOL

Day time the temperature was ok, although when there is wind.... and temperature drops at night...

So in any case I would recommend bringing a sweater.

Enjoy your stay!

Arlette

Thanks Arlette, will do!

Anyway, was wondering if the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) provider in Hong Kong has any daily subscription I can use and what's the rate? I so much prefer not to have my number roamed abroad.

Thanks in advance

Always have an umbrella with you in Hong Kong! JW

deedee09 wrote:

Anyway, was wondering if the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) provider in Hong Kong has any daily subscription I can use and what's the rate? I so much prefer not to have my number roamed abroad.

I don't know about that but I hope someone else has the answer... I forgot to desactivate my Blackberry services while in Hong Kong and was charged the equivalent of 200 HK$ in a couple of days!

FeeAcer wrote:

deedee09 wrote:

Anyway, was wondering if the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) provider in Hong Kong has any daily subscription I can use and what's the rate? I so much prefer not to have my number roamed abroad.

I don't know about that but I hope someone else has the answer... I forgot to desactivate my Blackberry services while in Hong Kong and was charged the equivalent of 200 HK$ in a couple of days!

Wow, When i visited Hong Kong some years back i had to sign up for a local cell plan and ended up being charged 700 US Dollars for under 400 minutes. JW

Checked the local service provider and none offers prepaid service. Well then I guess I'll have to return to my blackberry-when-used-abroad wisdom: always and only count on the free wi-fi connection. Sigh.

Wow, When i visited Hong Kong some years back i had to sign up for a local cell plan and ended up being charged 700 US Dollars for under 400 minutes. JW

Yes, I know JWilliamson, it doesn't sound that much but keep in mind that it was for only 2 days and that's how much I spend on my blackberry for a whole month in UAE! LOL

FeeAcer wrote:

Wow, When i visited Hong Kong some years back i had to sign up for a local cell plan and ended up being charged 700 US Dollars for under 400 minutes. JW

Yes, I know JWilliamson, it doesn't sound that much but keep in mind that it was for only 2 days and that's how much I spend on my blackberry for a whole month in UAE! LOL

Yes yes i wrote in agreement that for some reason people end up spending more on their cell phone usage in Hong Kong. JW

I've had a great time in Hong Kong. Also visited Macau. Weather's really fine although I kinda had problem with the food there. As I don't eat pork and it was a bit hard to explain with my zero understanding of Cantonese (and most of the time, their zero understanding of English). Highlight of my trip was the local coffee shops I went to at the Central area and TST.

So thanks for the help, you guys! Lemme know when you've plans to visit Jakarta.

Cheers,
Deedee

Haha nice to hear. I say 1 in 3 restaurant are good and yes theres some nice coffee shops. glad you had some fun. JW