After that super fun time in Japan, we added a new destination to our travel log next: Hong Kong! Sadly it was overcast on arrival so we didn’t get any of the aerial views of Victoria Harbour, but breaking through the cloud deck a few minutes out from the airport would have to do. I’ve wanted to come to Hong Kong for a long time – more than 30 years!
Our friend Dicky is originally from Hong Kong, and his parents still keep an apartment here where they spend a significant amount of time, especially in the winter. They’ve invited us to stay with them so we’ll get a real authentic Hong Kong experience! The apartment is just over 400 square feet, and there’ll be 7 of us in here for the next 5 days…
Their place is in the Siu Hong area of the New Town Tuen Mun – one of the master planned communities in the New Territories. Tuen Min is one of the earliest of the New Towns, and was the basis for others. There are dozens of high rise apartment buildings, with all of the amenities that you need for daily life within walking distance, and of course, robust public transit connections.
I found it so interesting that to spread the load between elevators they didn’t stop in banks of floors – only certain floors!
Here’s a public school in Siu Hong.
And a robot patrolling the plaza/park area. Never did figure out what the machine’s purpose was.
We went out to check out one of the markets a very short walk from the apartment. Lots of fresh fish in here.
A typical “Main Street” in Tuen Mun.
We headed down to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) in Kowloon to catch some of the classic night views across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island. Bruce Lee greeted us on the Avenue of Stars.
The views were of course, awesome.
This is the former Kowloon-Canton (now Guangzhou) Railway Clock Tower. Kowloon Station used to stand here until railway service was moved, and the station demolished in 1977.
We took the classic Star Ferry across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. It really did feel classic with these floors and benches! The ride was quicker than expected and I wished I’d spent more time at the windows.
I found these types of warning signs interesting – they were all over the MTR (the Hong Kong rapid transit system). The phone scam wasn’t the only one. I think I remember one for creeps taking photos, too!
Yes, of course we had to visit McDonald’s in HK. The honey McWings were pretty good!
More than anywhere else, the method still used for construction scaffolding in Hong Kong is out of bamboo, and here’s a sample of what it looks like. It’s lightweight, quick to assemble by skilled workers, and strong. Sadly there are safety risks though as seen by the massive deadly fires spread by bamboo scaffolding at a housing estate in another one of the New Towns in May 2025.
We took the “Ding Ding” (double decker tram) down Des Voeux Road to go out and do a bit of sightseeing.
There were people sitting on the street whose business was purchasing used mobile phones.
Passing through Causeway Bay with some classic urban streetscape.
We checked out the waterfront and looked across to Kowloon – to the former Kai Tak airport lands. Wish I would have been able to fly into there in my life!
There was a glass bottomed observation walkway at North Point. It was an interesting experience – there were attendants at each end ensuring that you put on shoe covers so as not to scratch the glass. Not really long enough to make a dedicated trip out there though.
We went even further to the east, to check out the Yick Fat Building – popularized as the “Monster Building” due to its super dense layout and dark courtyard.
A couple of times we went to a VERY local restaurant in Siu Hong for breakfast. I really enjoyed the noodle soup with beef satay.
As we took the MTR from Siu Hong into the city every day, I was always amazed at the skyline of Shenzhen in the distance. I remember learning about Shenzhen in the 90s before Hong Kong was handed over to China. It was something of an outpost then of a couple hundred thousand people in a special economic zone mostly set up to get Chinese goods out to Hong Kong and the rest of the world for export. Now, the skyline from here reminded me of looking at Manhattan from New Jersey!
Today’s adventure is to Ngong Ping, a scenic mountain area on Lantau. There are several ways to get up there from the Tung Chung MTR station, but we’re taking the cable car. It was pretty busy even for a weekday, but we lucked out and got one of the glass bottom cabins, and to ourselves. To guarantee this the price would have been twice as much! (Although we’d have been able to skip the main line then).
We begin the long and scenic journey looking back towards the cluster of apartments around the MTR station and pass over the first portion of sea before a 90 degree turn in the route.
Yep, just green seawater below!
As we rose higher we had a good view of the new Hong Kong airport at Chek Lap Kok through the haze.
Now this was pretty cool – looking through the glass bottom floor at the forest going by down below.
After 25 minutes on the cable car, we arrived at the top of the ride, at Ngong Ping Village. The village is built in traditional style but it’s artificial and only about 20 years old. There were a few attractions around, the most popular one being The Big Buddha in the distance.
Ngong Ping Plaza was pretty impressive for being on top of a mountain in the relative middle of nowhere.
The hike up the 268 steps to the Tian Tan Buddha (Big Buddha) was definitely worth it, and yes, you could go inside it to view a museum!
There were some great views up here which would have been amazing on a clear day (it was quite humid out); including the Po Lin Monastery;
The islands in the sea south of Lantau;
And the bronze images of “The Offering of the Six Devas”.
After descending from the Buddha, we wandered over to check out the Po Lin Monastery, where we found lotus blooms, incense, and colourful Chinese lanterns.
We split up after this. Dicky and Charlotte went to meet one of his old friends for dinner in Kowloon; his parents, Frederick, and Ellie went back to Siu Hong for dinner and then to the apartment; and I went to Central to take the bus up to Victoria Peak. I wish I’d got a window seat as the views on the road winding up above Happy Valley were amazing even from the aisle seat on the upper deck, but at least I didn’t have to wait for the bus – it was right there when I came out of the MTR station!
There’s a bunch of development and a commercial viewing platform at the bus terminal / tram terminal. The Peak Tower as it’s called had a ton of people enjoying the views, but I walked further down Lugard Road (yes, this is a road) for a quieter and classic view of the iconic skyline.
Loved the puppy potties along the way to keep the mess in one spot!
Although there were quite a few people down here, it was easy enough to get a viewing spot right at the railing even as the sky went dark as it was by no means busy or crowded. The nighttime city views were amazing.
Loved the changing messages on the International Commerce Center in Kowloon – a 108 story building and the tallest in Hong Kong.
As I made my way back to the plaza, I decided to take the bus down again just because it was so much cheaper and I had just missed a tram anyway.
The bus dropped me off at the International Financial Center, the tallest building on Hong Kong Island, at 88 stories. Then it was back to Siu Hong to regroup with everyone.
The following day saw us take a ferry trip from Central to Cheung Chau, one of the outer islands of Hong Kong. It took about 50 minutes to get there. The views from the ferry of Hong Kong Island were great even though it was still hazy.
Here we arrive in the main harbour of Cheung Chau. Very peaceful compared to the hustle and bustle of Central. It’s basically a fishing village.
This is the ferry that brought us here.
There are no cars on Cheung Chau – only bikes and some motorized bikes/mopeds for deliveries.
We wandered around the interesting streets, very quiet on a weekday afternoon.
We visited Pak Tai Temple, where there was almost no one.
A few minutes beyond was the beach, which would be gorgeous on a clear sunny day, as it was on the photos Dicky showed us from his last trip here. Still, the kids had some fun in the sand.
This was an interesting statue on one of the back streets.
We met some of Dicky’s relatives in TST for dinner at a Peking style restaurant. It was a huge feast!
I only wish that I could have stayed a bit longer and wandered around the streets at night, but we were all tired after our day and the huge meal, so we headed home.
On our last full day in HK, we all split up again but not too far from each other in Kowloon. Dicky and I went to Sham Shui Po to check out a market area – Apliu Street. Everyone else went to Mong Kok, to a different market area – the Ladies’ Market.
The Apliu Street Market had quite a number of interesting stalls and shops. There were a few places that only sold remote controls.
Used power tools.
An awesome semi-vintage stereo shop!! Most of the stuff in here was from the mid 80s to 2000. Some really cool gear, mostly Japanese origin, but some American gear too.
Phone cases galore.
Souvenir currency.
A vintage copy of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003!
I’d been curious to see what happened with the old Kai Tan airport lands so we took the bus over there, going past the new Kai Tak Stadium, roughly where the former air terminal used to be.
And then got off on the redeveloped runway, which is now all apartment buildings, many of which are still vacant as they are a bit isolated from everything else, and quite expensive. We (well, Dicky) were approached several times on our walk by apartment salespeople who spoke Cantonese with a strong accent.
This is looking basically right down Kai Tak runway 13!
Back to Mong Kok we went, and met up with Frederick, who’d spent the afternoon with Dicky’s cousin in Kowloon.
Then it was off to Sham Tseng Tsuen in the west, to a restaurant renowned for its roast goose.
I’d never seen this vinegar drink and I was intrigued. I liked it – would definitely have it again!
The goose was very good too, even Ellie approved!
Here we all are waiting for the bus after our last dinner in Hong Kong. Thank you to the Sum family for hosting us!!
Last night view of Tuen Mun.
The last day we just spent some time at a mall in Tuen Mun, not doing a lot of shopping but mostly just spending time since it was raining on and off. Then we headed to the airport in the evening.
Once we got our stuff checked in we had some food and really nice cocktails in the Qantas lounge!
Oh no, a Labubu waiting for unsuspecting travellers in the middle of the airport.
Goodbye Hong Kong, it’s been great! We’d love to come back!
As you might remember from the very beginning of the trip, our flights had been messed up and to salvage the trip at a late stage, the most cost (well, points) effective way to return from Hong Kong was to fly all the way around the world via Paris and Vancouver. It was comfortable though, and Ellie got a special treat on the flight from Hong Kong to Paris. While I was sleeping, she was invited to come and fly in the cockpit for a while and chat with the pilots as they were so impressed with her flight logbook!
After a break in Paris with a shower and light breakfast, onwards to Canada we went. Hello and goodbye to CDG airport.
That’s Loch Ness in Scotland down there!
My favourite… Greenland! Didn’t expect to get these views again so soon!
We were invited to the cockpit on arrival in Vancouver, so why not a photo for the end of the big trip.
And on our final layover of a very long journey (we’d left the apartment in Siu Hong 35 hours before arriving at home), we enjoyed these delicious donuts in the Air Canada Cafe in Vancouver.
Ellie was pooped on our short hop over to Calgary (which I’d paid $200 to change to an earlier flight, which ended up being late… only got home 40 minutes earlier than the originally booked flight. Not a good return on investment.
But returning home with not a single trip planned ahead, which hasn’t been the case in a very, very long time… it feels different! At least we can enjoy the memories of this awesome trip for a while.
Ellie's Adventures 