Heading to Hong Kong

I'll be in Hong Kong next week for work; fortunately, I'll have Fri-Sat-Sun next weekend to explore the city. Anyone who's there or been there have any MUST SEE suggestions?

Getting around is easy; bring good walking shoes. Check out the night market (Temple Street in Kowloon) if I remember correctly. There are some decent deals on electronics at least fun to window shop. Again in Kowloon a few blocks behind The Peninsula. Ride the ferry across to HK island. The tram is over there as well that take you to the top of the hill/Mtn.

Riding the train is the easiest/cheapest way into city. If you are staying in Kowloon you can get off at Kowloon Station and then ride a free bus to your hotel.

If you are looking for a good knockoff watch find Johny in an alley behind Red Lips Bar. Good quality but haggle and don't be afraid to walk away.

The street markets in Kowloon are cool. I brought back a couple cashmere scarves for the wife that are unbelievable for about $15 US each. Haggle like there's no tomorrow. When they quote a price, offer half and work up slowly. Seriously. If you haven't started to walk out at least once in each session then you are getting ripped off.

The ferry across the bay is fantastic. We caught it right before sunset.

Also, I was really impressed with the red/silver taxis that are everywhere. They're well regulated and reasonable in price. The MTR trains are also a great system.

I only spent a day and a night there, but it rocks. I can't wait to go back.

Oh, and watch the Porsches. They have the highest Porsche per square acre rating I've ever seen.

see if you can find something with "NORR" in the name.

ultraclyde wrote: They have the highest Porsche per square acre rating I've ever seen.

"acre" is a measure of area, not distance. can someone explain "square acre" to me? is it an acre in which the length and width are identical, and the corners are 90 degrees?

I heard one time that King Kong went to Hong Kong to play Ping Pong with his Ding Dong. so look out for him, whether you're into that sort of thing or not.

AngryCorvair wrote:

ultraclyde wrote: They have the highest Porsche per square acre rating I've ever seen.

"acre" is a measure of area, not distance. can someone explain "square acre" to me? is it an acre in which the length and width are identical, and the corners are 90 degrees?

My old chem prof used to tell us not to express out answers in "aardvarks per cubic furlong"; i.e. we should only give the answer in the units he selected for that question.

"A square enclosing one acre is approximately 208 feet 9 inches (63.63 meters) on a side. As a unit of measure, an acre has no prescribed shape; any perimeter enclosing 43,560 square feet is an acre in size."

they apparently have the highest porsche per 43,560 square foot density in the world.

Can you get a car in your suitcase?

How in the world did 43560 square feet become our primary measure of area? Right there with 12" to the foot, 5280 feet to the mile, and pints, quarts and gallons, I guess. Oh, and metric is too hard to understand. Arrgghh.

Not to threadjack or anything, but for REAL fun, go look up "Irish acres" (which are not, for some reason, confined to Ireland.) They are 196/121 the size of a standard acre, because an Irish mile is 14/11 the length of a standard mile. I assume (and I speak as someone with mostly Irish heritage) that this is another example of pure Irish bloodymindedness.

wow. That took off.....

Please take photos & post a link when possible !

Check out Kowloon park on Sunday, it is quite an interesting place, a social gathering spot.

Hong Kong island (where Victoria Peak is) has Repulse Bay, which is kind of like a mini French Riviera (you will see lots of Austin Martins, Porsches etc.. I am not sure much you can do there but there is a day market there you can wander through and hang out at the waters edge.

I found the shopping a bit disappointing. Lots of crap, but you can probably find some interesting stuff (most of the stuff has already made its way over her). BARGAIN HARD. Walking away is almost the only way of getting a decent deal. Not being a local, I think they have become used to the fact that they can charge you more.

An international city like you wouldn't believe, we are definitely planing on returning at some point. Not needing a visa (like China) is definitely a plus.

Oh, and get used to crowds (pics from November):

This is the day market. There were blocks and blocks like this... interesting smells.

A shot on the main drag, they do like the neon.

Aberdine fishing village. Interesting boat tour you might consider.

A view from Victoria Peak, a bit hazy.

Kowloon district buildings

Sunday in Kowloon park.

Macau is less than an hour away.

Too bad it isn't the 2nd weekend in Nov. Still might be cool to visit.

Macau is basically the Vegas of south east Asia, it even has Sands casino (not much sand there). The track is right next to the ferry terminal (I was there a week before a race). You will need a passport to get there, but again no visa needed. Try to get a hydrofoil to ride in though, they are pretty interesting, and smooth.

A note on the trip. Going there is not bad, the best tactic is probably to stay up late the night before (assuming a red eye flight). This allows you to be very tired for the flight and you will likely sleep through most of it. This is ideal since you will likely arrive in the morning. I did this and had NO jet lag.

The return trip will be a LOT harder on you. Again you will want to sleep as much as possible, but it will be a lot harder (generally leaving during the day and arriving during the day after 10 hours of flying). Just plan take at least a day to recover.

Figure I'll chime in here, having been born in Hong Kong and all :)

You will leave Hong Kong marveling at how they're the only city in the world to have really gotten mass transportation right. Clean, efficient, fast. I miss this the most about the place. If your hotel is in the main business districts of Hong Kong Island or Kowloon (Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, etc), take the Airport Express train from the airport - if you're further out, there may be bus options that are more cost-effective and time-effective.

Everyone so far has hit on the high points -

The markets (day and night) in Kowloon are a must-see if you like to shop. Get off at the Mong Kok MTR station, the markets are less than a block away. For the luxury shopping experience, go to Times Square - directly above the Causeway Bay MTR station.

The ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island is called the Star Ferry; get off the MTR at Tsim Sha Tsui (the MTR station announcer voice will enlighten you on the pronunciation).

There are two ways to get up to Victoria Peak - take the tram, or wind up the mountain on a double-decker bus. The bus driver isn't tofu-delivery fast, but the ride has its exciting moments nonetheless. To get to the Peak tram - New World First Bus route 15C is a shuttle that runs from the Hong Kong Island Star Ferry terminal to the station at the bottom of Victoria Peak. NWFB route 15 leaves from the Central MTR station, if I've remembered correctly (it's been a couple years, so I'm not 100% sure on this).

The South side of Hong Kong island is much less built up than the north side (where the skyline is), so that's worth a look. Grab New World First Bus route 66 from the Central MTR station and head for Stanley and Repulse Bay.

Finally, unless you love to play baccarat, with your limited time schedule I wouldn't bother with Macau. Not much there other than casinos, and Steve Wynn has turned it into Vegas with Asian people.

Thanks, guys!

The flight was arranged by work; I didn't take the red-eye, but it actually worked out. I slept a few hours Saturday night and left at noon on Sunday, and with the time difference, arrived Monday evening about 8pm. I was in bed and sleeping like a log shortly after 10pm. Unfortunately, at 2am I was wide awake. It was that way for three nights running, but a lot of that could have been the stress/pressure of work. I crashed hard Thursday night and didn't move until noon on Friday, which kind of sucked as that was my vacation day! But I needed the rest.

As many pointed out, shopping was a major disappointment - mostly because I wasn't looking for cameras, which are apparently super cheap there. Electronics in general cost the same or more, and as for the vendor garbage in the markets...meh. I don't want cheap crap, no matter how cheap it is!

I got to take a boat to Lamma Island for dinner with workmates Wednesday night, which was a great tour of harbor. I hit some shopping malls on Friday afternoon, just for the experience, and had rice pizza with a former co-worker Friday night. Saturday, I hit the Museum of Science, which was mostly disappointing. It's like any science museum in the US and very kid-oriented, which sucked as a solo adult touring it. The History and Art Museums were fantastic, though, and totally made the HK$30 (~US $4.50) week pass for all the museums with the extra money. :D

I also rode the cable cars to Lantau Island and to see the big Buddha. I missed the Peak, skipped Macau (great feedback on that, thanks!), but did catch the Symphony of Lights after the Art Museum on Sunday. Honestly, seen better light shows at raves, but the sheer scale of it was fantastic.

Oh, and MTR? Cleanest, safest subway EVER. Amazing. It was fun to get off at random stops and just wander around.

My flight back was at 1am on Monday, meaning I got home Sunday night at 8:30 Pacific. It actually made getting back onto schedule a lot easier than going over for me.

AngryCorvair wrote:

ultraclyde wrote: They have the highest Porsche per square acre rating I've ever seen.

"acre" is a measure of area, not distance. can someone explain "square acre" to me? is it an acre in which the length and width are identical, and the corners are 90 degrees?

When you take an area, and square it, you get a ^4. So I assume that a square acre has volume+time.

patgizz wrote: "A square enclosing one acre is approximately 208 feet 9 inches (63.63 meters) on a side. As a unit of measure, an acre has no prescribed shape; any perimeter enclosing 43,560 square feet is an acre in size." they apparently have the highest porsche per 43,560 square foot density in the world.

You could also go with highest Porsche count per unit area.

All the good stuff has already been mentioned. Have fun!

szeis4cookie wrote: Finally, unless you love to play baccarat, with your limited time schedule I wouldn't bother with Macau. Not much there other than casinos, and Steve Wynn has turned it into Vegas with Asian people.

Ever been to Vegas? That's all that's there anyhow. And wierd mexican dudes with little flyers for "escorts".