Before arriving, we thought Hong Kong was going to be all food and shopping, food and shopping, and it was — except it was also hiking and beaches and celebrations. It’s amazing, you’re in the heart of a cosmopolitan city surrounded by skyscrapers, and then 40 minutes later you’re deep along a wooded trail climbing up a mountain! We loved everything we did in Hong Kong, from the touristy to the lesser-known. We could ramble all day long about everything we did in Hong Kong, but to spare you, here are our greatest hits:
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Best Beach: Long Ke Wan
We took a train to a train to a bus to a taxi to a 90 minute hike in order to reach this bay beach. Worth it? Absolutely. Along this Sai Kung area hike you will first come across a tiny cluster of huts and a gorgeous beach. Keep going. The next section of beach over the crest is twice as gorgeous, with crystal blue waters, warm waves to play in, and two small restaurants for an inexpensive drink. When you’re done basking on the white sands, you can grab one of the infrequent motor boats back to town (from which you can get a bus and a train or two to get back to downtown HK). Though it’ll set you back about $20 per person, it is a wild ride past sea stacks and coastal coves that you simply can’t forget.
View on The Dragon’s Back trail mid rainstorm
Best Hike: The Dragon’s Back
While this is a very popular and well-known hike, I think it deserves recognition for being a great trail that is easily accessed by city dwellers and travelers alike. Google Maps will easily direct the way to the starting point for you in Shek O Country Park. The hike takes only two hours or three for moderate walkers. Along the way, you will see beach vistas that rival popular holiday destinations and see the “dragon’s back” series of hills stretch out in the distance like a medieval guarded wall. At the end of your hike, follow the signs to Big Wave Bay Beach for a swim to cool off before grabbing a bus back into town.
The bright lights of the Lantern Festival where I had my first of many egg waffles
Best Snack: Egg Waffle
Egg waffles are a popular street food in Hong Kong sold to pedestrians in the afternoon and evening. It is a crispy, wafer-like waffle with egg shaped puffs (and a light, egg-y batter). I would most liken it funnel cake, but it is not necessarily a sweet treat. My favorite variation was chocolate chip, which, when straight from the iron, has melty chocolate pockets throughout so each bite is a chocolate lover’s delight. I recommend Mammy Pancake in the Temple Street Night Market, though you’ll have to wait a bit for this snack attack during high market traffic in the evening.
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Best Skyline View: Central Green Trail to The Peak
Faced with enormous queues to ride the Victorian tram up to Victoria Peak, we found a walking path called the Central Green Trail that we were able to pick up from just beside the tram station. It is quite a steep walk, especially in the midday sun, but the different views as you climb higher and higher make the effort all the more enjoyable. Plus, you can get great city skyline pictures before running into the tourist crowds at the top of the tram line so there are fewer straw hats framing the bottom of your shot.
Best Dim Sum: Char Siu Bao at DimDimSum
We ate A LOT of dim sum in Hong Kong — and enjoyed most of it — but DimDimSum Dim Sum Speciality Store in Wan Chai was our favorite spot simply because all of the dumplings, rolls, and buns were flawlessly prepared and the atmosphere was relaxed. We ordered seconds (or was it thirds?) of the steamed BBQ pork buns known as char siu bao. Most notably, we ordered plenty of different dishes, including chicken paws and crispy veggie rolls, and still the bill was about $7 a person.
Hong Kong blurring by from the top deck of the trolley
Best Evening Entertainment: Tung Po
Cooked food centers are a Hong Kong staple for ultra casual eats and cheap beer. Arranged like an old school cafeteria, these centers are composed of several different restaurants serving family style dishes of traditional Cantonese food like tender grilled octopus and tangy pineapple beef stir fry. Tung Po, in the Java Road Cooked Food Center, wins my (admittedly not very prestigious) award for most entertaining venue in the city. While I enjoyed the circus of getting a breakfast table at Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan, the proprietor at Tung Po actually danced for his customers. On the table. Constantly, and without provacation. The eardrum-bursting stereos pump out a mix of 70s hits and Cantonese pop ballads, while raucous crowds of drunk business men fight over plates of pork intestines and the owner snaps selfies with tourists. The food was fine, but the atmosphere is really what you’re buying, especially when the waiters train you to uncap you beer with a chopstick.
The city all lit up for the light show from the Kowloon side
Best Tacky Tourist Attraction: A Symphony of Lights
If it were up year round, I would say that the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival is the most fun example of bright lights and crowds in Hong Kong. But alas, it is not. Nevertheless, Hong Kong’s A Symphony of Lights river lights display is delightfully tacky and entertaining. It’s sort of like laser tag meets DanceDance Revolution meets a high school orchestral concert. You can catch the show from either the HK or Kowloon harborsides at 8pm every night. Get there early for a prime spot to watch the buildings light up in time to the music — and for a great city at night view afterwards.
A selection of bonsai in Prince Edward Flower Market
Best Market: Prince Edward Flower Garden
While Temple Street Night Market is a great time for hearing ear-splitting Cantonese karaoke and buying knock-off Mulberry wallets, Prince Edward Flower Market is more memorable to me because it floods all the senses as soon as you arrive. Bright buds fill buckets and baskets spilling out of every store front and ornate little bonsai are artfully displayed. You will smell many pleasant fragrances and hear the proprietors bargaining off their wares. My favorite part was all of the individuals I saw carefully selecting the flowers they wanted in a bouquet to bring home to their special someone at the end of the day. Every one of them was grinning.
Hong Kong is a shining example of an international city, but it is almost an exact microcosm of the inequities present across the globe. Peer into any bar in SoHo, nestled around the famous escalators, and you will see gaggles of Westerners buying rounds of $10-a-glass cocktails after a day at the bank headquarters. Then, on the weekends, walk around those same escalators and overground walkways and you will see thousands and thousands of women sitting on cardboard, listening to music, and sharing food with friends. These domestic workers come from the Philippines and elsewhere to earn a better wage than they can at home — but while in Hong Kong they can’t afford to participate in this flashier lifestyle. And let’s not forget the longtime locals who have had to adapt quickly to retain their neighborhoods and customs in the face of such rapid and impressive globalization.
This is not a judgement on Hong Kong or it’s inhabitants; merely an observation of the intensity of this East/West crossroads and how much change has happened since gaining independence from British rule. The question on everyone’s mind though: What will change when China gains authority of modern Hong Kong?
-Sophie
idaknowwheretogo (I don't know where to go!) 