Three days in Hong Kong, what to do?

is chungking mansion one of these hourly rate/porn places?

i dunno about walking around hong kong (aren't all the places just the same shops in different shopping centres??) but whenever i'm there i just eat all day and that never gets old

a trip to shenzhen after some time in HK is truly a strange and worthwhile experience. last time i was there we just went on a whim but the information online is quite confusing regarding which passports can go in and which can't (i think it changes regularly). the japanese ppl i was with were just allowed to go in without a visa but i (with british passport) had to pay for a temporary VISA that allowed me to stay for 5 days as long as you don't leave the city.

Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill!!!!

no, chungking mansions isn't no-locks/porn, as a rule, i think. whenever i walk thru it's lots of australian backpackers and like german tourists with big cameras. there's a tgi friday's right next door.

there's an ilx thread where i accidentally walk past chungking mansions and end up walking all the way to sham shui po. i never really got a "just the same shops in different shopping centres" vibe from hk but maybe i was in the wrong places.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Ming+Court+Hotel,+Lockhart+Road,+Hong+Kong&hl=en&ll=22.278188,114.173025&spn=0.00133,0.002411&sll=22.303808,114.159193&sspn=0.010641,0.01929&oq=ming+court+hotel&hq=Ming+Court+Hotel,&hnear=Lockhart+Rd,+Hong+Kong&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=22.278176,114.172919&panoid=qF3Peq2zhzaG-5o6Hghr1Q&cbp=12,55.25,,0,3

where i stay. what a beautiful corner.

it's probably more that i was in the wrong places (shopping centres)

well lockhart road is kinda the 'red light district' of HK, heh

I def get the 'same shops in diff shopping centres' vibe from HK as well

I, too, have a quick trip to Hong Kong later this month. What must I do with 4 days?

What are you interested in?

Where are you staying?

I could probably write 100 posts about what to do in HK

This is the perfect time of year to go too

Just off the top of my head I'd probably skip the Peak unless it happens to be gorgeously clear/sunny on one of your days

It's a timesink in that it takes too long to go up and to get down

Staying in Sheung Wan. I like to eat, drink, shop, go to museums, take photos of pretty things. Good to know about the peak, we were thinking of doing it if it was a nice day. I will be with a friend who is a crazily picky eater: vegetarian who won't do spicy or cold or pickled food (going to Japan a few years ago with her was...interesting). I'll only be there for 3.5 days, so what can't I miss?

Great, you'll be on the island and near Central, the business/expat district

To get the veg thing out of the way - there's a Pret in the Central MTR station (one stop from Sheung Wan) near the LKF exit (LKF is the bar district), so if all else fails I think she'd be able to find something there?. It's a good thing you're in Sheung Wan since you'll be near lots of expat-friendly (read: vegetarian) options. I liked Veggie SF and MANA! in Central, the former being in an elevator building, the later streetside. Use openrice, it's the Yelp of HK, reviews are mostly in Chinese but there are a few English ones. http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=40435&tc=sr1 Some of my local friends took me to a Chinese vegetarian place in Causeway Bay (also on the island), I liked it and HK has a fair share of these kinds of places, but beware they are pretty oil / soy product dependent. Here's the one I went to: http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=22451&tc=sr1

Eating - HK doesn't really have great food unless you're willing to pay for it, I think most of the street food is kinda blah. The local classics are HK milk tea, Cantonese BBQ (char-siu pork, roast pork, yellow chicken, etc.), dim sum, bakeries (the kind you'd find in any overseas Chinatown). I think HK does mid-level sushi really well, and I'm sure it does high level sushi well too but it's expensive. Mi-ne is probably my favorite convey belt place

Drinking - HKers don't really like to drink, it's mostly expat bars in LKF, hotel bars, and bars for HK locals across the harbor in Tsim Sha Tsui/Prince Edward. Beer is usually shitty but can be decent (read: Hoegaarden), it's rare to find a place with a large selection. Not sure if artisanal cocktails have made it to HK yet. LKF is kinda gross and obnoxious but if you're only doing it for a night it can be pretty fun. If you're there during a Wednesday I'd recommend going to Happy Valley in Causeway Bay to see the horse races, you can get turf-level no problem, beer is cheap and pretty decent. Take a trolley that says "HAPPY VALLEY", if that's too much of a hassle just take a cab (they're relatively cheap in HK). Wan Chai can be okay to drink at too but it's where all the girlie bars are (read: prostitutes)

Shopping - HK has a reputation of being a giant 'mall.' All the malls have all the same chain stores, I really choose the ones I go to based on the architecture and design, Langham Place in Mong Kok is the standout one I'd recommend. There's literally like 5 malls in TST all within a few blocks of each other. My recommendation here would be to spend a night in Mong Kok, probably the busiest place in HK, it's mostly locals. Second would be Causeway Bay, used to be more interesting but a lot of shopowners have sold to luxury watch and jewelry retailers who've gutted the street level shops to serve rich Mainland China tourists

Museums - There are a few museums at the end of Nathan Road by the pier, tbh I lived in HK for three years and never heard about a must-see exhibition at any of them

My recommendations in addition:

Daywalk - I'd take a walk up Nathan Road starting from Tsim Sha Tsui and going through Sham Shui Po (Past Prince Edward MTR station Nathan Road will turn left and change into Cheung Sha Wan road). Just a crazily busy road, you'll find many detours I'm sure, shouldn't take more than a few hours, HK is a crazy small place. TST is where Chungking Mansions from Chunking Express is btw, you'll probably get mobbed by hawkers if you walk in there, it's got a feeling unlike any other part of HK tho

Ferry - Take the ferry between TST and Central or Wan Chai

Harbor view - Go to TST at nighttime on a clear night to see HK island - still blows me away every time I do this

Double decker bus - Maybe I like this only because we don't have any double decker buses in the states but taking a double decker up Nathan road at night, starting from the TST terminal, getting a front seat at the top deck, and riding past all that neon, amazing imo

Octopus card - Might be worth it to get an Octopus card, which you can use to take the MTR, buy shit at 7-11/supermarkets., take trolleys and buses, etc. 50HKD deposit that you can get back when you leave, and you'll probably save a lot of time from having to buy single journey tickets every time you wanna take the MTR

Other neighborhoods I think are cool to just sort of walk around in: North Point, Kwun Tong/Lam Tin, Mid-levels (take the Mid Levels escalator up when in Central), HKU (north and uphill of Midlevels), Kowloon City (walk from Lok Fu station or find a bus from Mong Kok), Yuen Long/Tuen Mun/Tin Shui Wai (about an hour from the city and you probably won't have time)

Also, it might be worth it to get a tourist sim card from One2Free for data/Google Maps etc.

Finally, I'd be remiss to not mention that you could also check out what the protestors are doing, the big protests are somewhere in Central I think, but there are smaller protests in MK and other places

Thanks for the input! Also, should I be bringing cash or is a card ok most places?

Card will be taken at pretty much every store inside a mall or that's a chain

You'll need cash for street food or buying single fare MTR tickets I think

The best rates in the city are found, in typical HK fashion, at a place run on the 17th floor of a commercial building in Central

http://bcel1985.blogspot.com/

They post their rates daily each day on that blogspot

Usually the line moves pretty quickly, I bet if you go during a morning on a weekday there shouldn't be a line

But if you have a debit card it's probably just easier to get money from a machine?

There are tons of exchangers all over the shopping districts like Mong Kok and Causeway Bay and I'd probably just go to those for convenience if you're trying to exchange actual cash

Be careful in a place like Chungking Mansions tho, I would think

Also HK has pretty cool money imo so I'd exchange some cash just for kicks

They have the best two coins in the world (the $5 and $10 coins) and the newer versions of the $10 bill are made from plastic and make for great bookmarks

The $2 coin is pretty good also

i cannot advice on where to eat for a vegetarian who does not like spicy or cold or pickled foods, sorry

Think you would have much better food recs in general, tho

actually you can get these egg waffle things??
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R90t0sgu1s8/TMkVzy99bPI/AAAAAAAAACs/VPB00L1KVIQ/s1600/123910553142.jpg

drinking: i had a fun time at ozone bar at the ritz carlton - the waiter didn't know how to pour beer but drinks were not outrageously priced. it's meant to be the "highest bar" in the world or something, it was cloudy that night so all we could see were clouds, pretty rubbish view really

There's a place in LKF/Mid Levels called the Globe that has a decent selection of Belgium bottle beers

i love eating in hong kong but it really depends what you like. i think everywhere you stumble into you will get decent food for cheap, but yes it's difficult to recommend somewhere that truly stands out.

i actually just love stumbling around shopping centres and street and eat as it takes my fancy. there's a little store in sham shui po that i love getting a skewer of curry fish balls from (still $5 a skewer)

i haven't been to here but i would like to try this "tofu fa" which is a sweet dessert soup with smooth tofu
http://tastytreats.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/smooth-tofu-operator/

there are fancier places and you will have to pay a lot more - i always feel that'd be missing the point of being in hong kong which is never really about being fancy. but then again, choices are a lot more limited as a vegetarian

ALTHOUGH i suppose you could take the cable car to the mountain with the giant buddha and you can get something veggie there for sure.

http://www.plm.org.hk/eng/food.php

Ah man I love that tofu fa stuff, have it with some light muscovado sugar

Oh yeah I have a friend who's a real big foodie and goes to all the fanciest places in HK (and a fair number of non fancy places too)

Don't wanna post the link w/o getting permission, ilxmail me if you want it

My memory is slowly getting jogged. There's a bar in Sheung Wan/Central called Three Monkeys, it's izakaya style

They do some pretty great cocktails and have a nice selection of Japanese beer

Expensive tho

i'm going to try and remember where but i also stumbled into this "bar" in a shopping mall in kowloon that did NOT know how to make cocktails and as a result made the BEST long island iced tea that is basically 100% ethanol for like $40.

night!

Don't go here. But it was kind of amazing. It took me forever to find it in the crazy ass mall it was in.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5604/15531893522_77214d697b_c.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/15531057375_75c98164ea_c.jpg

WARNING! We Serve American Portions - @officialjaden

Thanks for the suggestions, dudes! Had a great time and my veggie friend (who also doesn't like Chinese food and anytime we'd go to a Chinese restaurant that wasn't strictly vegetarian, would pick at her food, sigh heavily, and proclaim, "I'm used to not having anything I like to eat" even if a hot pot of tofu and greens was right in front of her) was only moderately annoying. The best vegetarian food we had together was dim sum at the Lock Cha teahouse in Hong Kong Park, but she also loved Herbivores on Staunton Street in Soho. One evening, we went out for Italian. So there is my Hong Kong vegetarian advice.

Other things I did/advice/observations:
Got an octopus card and a sim card right at the airport along with a round-trip airport express ticket. It was super-great to be able to check my suitcase at central station on my way back. You can also get the balance of your octopus card refunded right when you get off the airport express.

We did take the cable car to the big buddha and that was really nice (the vegetarian food at the monastery was meh, though) and we took a bus from there into Tai O and I ate a bunch of street food: the egg waffle thingy, lotsa seafood covered in cheese (?), and the best cup of tea I've ever had. Paid some locals with a boat $25HKD to take us out in pursuit of the pink dolphins, but the pink dolphins weren't having it that day.

We did go to one of the high-up cocktail bars...I think Aqua? Drinks were ok and pricey, but you're paying for the view, which was incredible. Booze seems a bit overpriced in HK everywhere, though.

Wandered around TST a bit, did the Avenue of Stars, took a ferry back to Central. Visited the protesters at Admiralty. Walked around a lot of neighborhoods, popped into a lot of local bars and restaurants. Little Bao was a "bao burger" place near our apartment (also on Staunton) and was excellent.

I would also recommend checking out the PMQ building. It's full of local designers/artists studios and shops.

Lotsa stuff is closed on Monday. Taxis are everywhere and cheap, but cabbies are really reluctant to stop for you. They'll either slow down to take a look at you and then speed off, or stop and ask you where you're going and then speed off. This happened everywhere, even in a cab stand at central station. Give yourself extra time to find a cab if you're taking a cab.

It was hot and muggy as fuck. Would go back in January.

Thanks again!

Glad you had fun! Sorry about the cabbies, I never took them much

So my dude and I just booked a 5 day trip to Hong Kong and we have NO idea where to stay. My dude is not so much into "roughing it" or scoring the sickest deal and wd prob prefer to spend a little more to stay somewhere that will put him at ease (large crowds and not knowing Cantonese are prob going to stress him out a bit so as much as I wd love it we will prob avoid Chungking Mansions) but we have no idea what parts of town to look in or to avoid, or what hotels are great.

Any recommendations?

I stayed in the Four Seasons. It was uh, very expensive. But awesome.

Got an airbnb in a SoHo high rise and it was great. The one we stayed at isn't listed anymore, but it was near this one: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8973520?checkin=04%2F20%2F2016&checkout=04%2F27%2F2016&s=s-_ZoVRa

Nice residential neighborhood but really easy to walk to the train and restaurants, etc.

We wound up getting some hotel at a YMCA in Tsim Sha Tsui that dayo recommended and it was relatively cheap and close to lots of stuff!!!

dayo i am going to HK in like 10 days and i am sure everything i will ever need/want to do is upthread but i'm just so stoked on it and wanted 2 let u know, also if there's anything extra-dope you think i'd love plz tell me, i'm just going off the Lonely Planet book and this thread tbh

like should I spend most of my time in Kowloon, or Hong Kong Island, or split it btwn the two? we have like 4.5 day(o)s

man i am envious

hope you're having fun!

I just got home last night (after 27 grueling hours of travel). I think it is my new favorite city?? I will give details soon!

have u guys ever been to lamma island?

dyao should i go to lamma island?

They are, that's why he goes back!

I haven't been following closely but have been seeing bits via twitter. There's this thread instigated by an American who's spent a lot of time in Hong Kong during the riots. I feel slightly wary of the outsider perspective on something that's probably changed character in quite complex ways since its started - he's very supportive of the protests and Hong Kong culture in a way that seems to skew things a bit sometimes, but it seems like a useful summary:

SHAME-FREE thread: ask the dumbest question you have about the Hong Kong protests. I'll try to answer it or loop in a real Hong Konger to answer it for you. No question too ignorant or basic.

— Pinboard (@Pinboard) October 15, 2019

He also wrote this quite nice piece on the mechanics of protest.

A Walk in Hong Kong

I found this Chuang piece on the perspective from within China an interesting and useful perspective, with wider application to how government can control media, and how absence of information doesn't mean that there's a gap from which you can infer correctly what's going on, more that you get stuck on an axis of the controlled government messaage and confusion.

Why are informed Beijingers increasingly baffled by the struggle in Hong Kong?

There's a useful timeline if slightly annoyingly presented here.

reusing this thread to offset some air miles

theres no real reason to avoid a layover in HK airport in the next few months.....right?

people i know have been through hong kong airport fine over the last month. i almost did as well, but then went via dubai, because of the same doubts as you, which was a) in retrospect a bit silly and b) the rong decision because dubai airport is horrible and i quite like hong kong airport as airports go (good food options and cheap electronics).

excellent, seeing as we booked regardless

reusing this thread to offset some air miles

theres no real reason to avoid a layover in HK airport in the next few months.....right?

― Banáná hÉireann (darraghmac), Thursday, 2 January 2020 13:13 (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh my