48 Hours In Hong Kong – 2023
Introduction
We decided to take a stop over in Hong Kong on our way to Cambodia, in February 2023. We also managed to sneak a quick visit in to downtown hong Kong during our 12 hour transfer on the return trip. This is what we got up to.
Day 1
We arrived early morning into Hong Kong and took a car from the airport, in hindsight we should have taken a taxi, as because we had pre-paid for the car, he took us via the cheapest route and avoided the tolls. After a long flight all you want to do is get to the hotel as quickly as possible. Lessons learnt, and next time we are in Hong Kong we will be sure to tell the driver to take one of the fast tunnels on to the Island, it is well worth the cost ! There is a fast rain that goes to “Hong Kong” MTR – I would highly recommend this if you don’t have much luggage.
We finally arrived at our hotel. As we were only in Hong Kong for 48 hours and were planning to spend most of the time sight seeing we decided to choose a slightly cheaper hotel, albeit you would have never known. We stayed at the “Harbour Grand Hong Kong” hotel. Location-wise it was great as we were right near Fortress Hill underground station (we used the MTR a lot!), which is a great location to get around from.
After a couple hours of sleep to try and reduce the jetlag we were out exploring. When we went China was still operating strict covid rules especially with regards to masks, but I am happy to say these were lifted when we returned two weeks later !
Our first stop was to the infamous Star ferry, I have to say on all my visits to Hong Kong this has been a constant, we took the ferry over to Kowloon, you can not beat this to get a real taste of Hong Kong, and maybe the one thing that hasn’t ever changed.
Getting off the ferry, you are right at a mall (not what we want when we are in Asia), we did find a nice bar called Amelia, which was just by the ferry terminal (https://www.facebook.com/ameliahongkong/) , after a few well deserved drinks we heads up to Kowloon Park to allow Frankie to burn off some of the energy from a 13 hour flight.
Kowloon Park, as with many cities is an oasis in the middle of the craziness of Hong Kong, lots of green spaces, trees, and lakes with wild birds. The highlight for Frankie though was the Green Tea ice cream!
We then took the ferry back over to the Island and considering “once an expat always an expat!” we headed towards Lan Kwai Fong, which is a great area full of bars, restaurants, and clubs. It is very much where the expats head to after work for relaxing, so off we went.
We ended up in a bar called “Mine” (https://zincgroup.com.hk/) very much a bit of us ! cold beers, sat outside, people watching. The bar was busy with locals and expats all enjoying a Saturday evening. We decided we wanted some authentic Chinese food for dinner, but some how ended up in a Japanese Ramen bar ! across the street from the bar, not quite what we expected but still great !
After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where they open their roof terrace every evening to allow guests to watch the light and laser show across the harbor. I am not sure if it is us getting older or where the hotel is, but from a distance it wasn’t the greatest show I have seen ! Some cocktails and desert in the roof top bar before we went to bed for some well-deserved rest.
Day 2
Day 2 started early, and we headed straight out, grabbing food as we went. We were on a mission to get to see the “Big Buddha” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Buddha_(Hong_Kong). While on the map it looks a long way, it really isn’t. We took the MTR to Tung Chung Station, from there you can get a bus or taxi, but why would you do that, when you can take the cable car.
We took the cable car and really were not disappointed. A top tip would be to purchase the tickets beforehand, as we had to que to get them, but wasn’t a big deal. You can pick from a standard car or a glass floor car, we just went for the standard car. You are whisked into the air and over the mountains, and the views are amazing. There is a path that you can walk part of the way, but we don’t believe it goes all the way to Tung Chung. As you get closer to the end, you will start to glimpse the Buddha and will appreciate the size of it.
Getting off the cable car you are thrown into a fake village of western shops, subway, Starbucks etc – our view was to walk as fast as you can and don’t stop. We headed towards the Buddha and walked around the monastery and temple; it is truly spiritual.
Instead of grabbing American fast food, we ended up in one of the street food stalls / restaurants, just along from the Buddha. I think this is as authentic as you can get. We ate noodles, dim sum, and fish ball soup. It was all amazing and great to be back eating Asian street food as it should be eaten. We then headed back down ready for an afternoon. Amy had wanted us to visit one of the fishing villages nearby, but we just ran out of time, we will do this next time!
In the afternoon we headed to “The Peak”, we rode the tram up to the peak, and the views were as impressive as I remembered at the tram worked its way up the hill. Unfortunately, when we got to the top, it was very disappointing. Since last visiting a large shopping mall has been built that provides a look out over the city, this unfortunately is really the only way to catch the view, as the old views have all been blocked, I assume intentionally.
In the evening we headed to the Temple Street market, this in my opinion was the attraction impacted most by covid, there were a smaller number of stalls than previously and with very few visitors it didn’t live up to memories or expectations. We did however find a great food hawker bazaar on the corner of Temple st, and Pak Hoi St, this is exactly what we wanted, great Chinese food, a grumpy waiter and no idea what we were doing. It was a great way to end our two days in Hong Kong.
