Hong Kong Things to do.

I have been invited to speak at a conference in Hong Kong in September. It’s a one day commitment but as I didn’t fancy flying out one day and back the next I have extended the trip to a week.

My wife is tagging along as my ‘personal assistant’ for the week, so what should we do with the 6 days when we are not at the conference.

Suggestions welcomed.

Nick.

Not getting arrested for spying would be at the top of my list.

Go to dried fish street and marvel at the smell and have a wee cry at the lunacy of shark finning.

Go to the Peak

Is Disneyland still open?

Hong Kong is the Bladerunner future we were all promised. Once you get past the whole repression by China thing, it’s a rush. I’d explore a different area each day, making sure to hang around till night when it really gets going.

First night, frickin’ laser beams from skyscrapers watched from the Kowloon public pier across Victoria Harbour. Proceed from there. There’s zero chance you’ll be bored.

A game you can play in your hotel room.

Hunt the listening device.

Best brocolli I’ve ever eaten was somewhere around Kowloon Market. Fried in garlic and I presume industrial quantities of msg.

Theres some really really good hiking. I think I did something called the dragons back? also eat all of the food, it’s amazing. This admittedly was pre china crackdown so I’d imagine its changed a bit for the worse.

Start a revolution

Dragons back definitely a good afternoon, ends in Shek O, take your trunks as a lovely beach.  Also great Thai food in the village.  Take a high speed ferry to Mui Wo from HK Island and hire a MTB from Jackie Chan, I kid you not. He doesn’t open early, last time I did it, I hired the night before and took it back to my hotel room.  There is a good MTB trail – Chi Ma Wan trail.  Best done early though as it gets hot and sweaty.  Shoot a message on the Facebook group Lantau Rut Riders and get some riding buddies.  They are pretty welcoming.  If you want I could put you in touch with at least one of them direct.  I think there is uplift days as well in HK island but not done those due to covid etc.

Have a night out in Lang Kwi Fong or Wanchai, great night life

Get the MTr to the end and then a public light bus to Sai Kung some good hiking and food.  You can get a boat to an excellent Chinese food place on an island as well from there.

Hike the peak and get the tram back down misses the queues.

Get the MTR out and do the Big Bhudda via cable car on the way up (Lantau) and get a cab down into Discovery Bay and get some nice food and drinks, cheap ferry back to HK island.

Got loads of options for bars and nightclubs etc, shoot me a message if needed.

Alan

Wearing a Winnie the Pooh tee shirt is a requirement.

Not getting arrested for spying would be at the top of my list.

Have you posted naughty opinions about the CCP etc. on here?

Who knows what data they’re scraping. Not many Nicks going to HK in Sep for a conference with their wives. And for a while last year the user profile pages on here were revealing full names for anyone who cared to look.

A week is too long just for Hong Kong, after three days you’ll be bored. The Peak is nice, obviously shopping and eating. A couple of days in Macau is worth it – it’s very different to Hong Kong.

Do you work in a job/industry that may be of interest to the CCCP?

Twin Peaks hike to Stanley.

Twin Peaks & Violet Hill Hike in Hong Kong

When you get to Stanley, jump on one of the mini-buses to the entrance to the nature reserve, and complete the loop back. Don’t try to walk along the road, it’s lethal.

There’s a nice beach at Recluse Bay. Lamma Island is a chilled-out place for an amble/hike – ferry over, no cars on the island.

Suicide cliff hike was great. Tram journey up to the Peak was fun too.

As above, the evening ferry to watch the laser show is great. We also enjoyed the science museum (although that was a rainy day change of plan). Take a tram or two just to enjoy the chaos of embarking / disembarking, visit The Peak just to get the obligatory picture of the view from the top. Ours was a whistle-stop visit on the way back from Australia so we didn’t loads of time, but I loved it.

+1 for a visit to Macau. I went on a day trip on the hydrofoil service which was very interesting in itself. A fascinating contrast to Hong Kong as stated above, or at least it was when I went a couple of decades ago

Apart from the massive negativity from the keyboard warriors, here’s some alternative stuff to do

Go Biking! Theres a relatively new bike park open on Lantau island. Jump on the ferry from central to Mui Wo, hire a bike from Friendly Bike shop and they’ll point you in the right direction to the trails.

Leave the city – jump on a ferry explore some of the Islands – Lantau & Lama are great

Head over to Sai Kung, Nice fishing village / town – great food and chilled out atmosphere – can be busy at the weekends.

Its a bit of mission to get across there but you can hire sit on tops from a beach call Pak Lap and go explore a UNESCO world heritage site with all the sea arches / stacks / caves. you can do the same from Sai Kung but its a mission to get to the caves.

Theres loads of great walking trails all over Hong Kong. The view from the top of Tai Mo Shan is stunning but it can be hard to get a taxi so might be worth asking if they’ll wait for you!

All good advice 👍 I’ve lived here 30 years, and stewartc of this parish is another old hand. Mui Wo park is a laugh if you’re looking to ride, Jacky at Friendly bike shop is a dude. YouTube gweilo mtb, my pals, give you an idea.

let me know, I’m sure we can arrange something

Timely thread, I’m going in September 🙂

Any locals/experienced visitors have any tips for vegan restaurants or general survival? Don’t go to dried fish street I assume 😀

(And yes, I know it’s a ridiculous question, but humour me – not me but my partner…)

Is Harry Ramsden’s still there?

First night, frickin’ laser beams from skyscrapers watched from the Kowloon public pier across Victoria Harbour.

Symphony of Shite? Wasn’t all that, just a light show. Can’t complain for free but I wouldn’t let it get in the way of better plans if you have some.

The ferry is worth doing and costs buttons, as is the tram. There are ferry tours as well, night tours of any variety are worth doing.

Stanley was a good evening for us, there were little beach shops and one was selling booze, was good for just chilling, a sharp contrast to the local “pub” near our hotel which was noisy with folk playing poker dice and such but in a good, lively way (and they can’t mix for shit so the daquaris were pretty much 50/50, Mrs squirrel was happy).

It’s one of those places where if you wander off the tourist path people will notice but quickly go back to what they’re doing, we never ended up anywhere we felt unwelcome and the few times I’ve found myself wandering about in the silly hours it’s felt really safe even in seedier bits (around Jordan Road, just dodgy markets and hookers, no worse than the edges of Brick Lane).

It’s a great place and I really want to get back at some point.

A week is too long just for Hong Kong, after three days you’ll be bored.

Did 2 weeks as a kid and a week for our honeymoon, if you’ve run out of things to do in 3 days you’re doing something very wrong. Temples, culture, gardens (the Aviary around Central is amazing) islands etc. I can’t even think what you’d be doing to burn through it that fast.