Traveling among 7 million people in Hong Kong

After spending weeks in China, it was time for that necessary visa run and we opted to go traveling in Hong Kong at the same time. Since most travelers visa’s have just 30 days at a time to travel through China, you’ll have to cross the border into another country before coming back and this was something I had gotten very used to while traveling through Southeast Asia. And seeing as how I have always wanted to go traveling in Hong Kong and since it was so close, I decided to head there for a weekend trip. Luckily I had a friend to stay with that lived in Hong Kong so this was ideal as it’s an expensive city to spend time in. Maybe not as expensive as New York or Tokyo, but when compared to mainland China, Hong Kong seemed to cost twice as much for just about everything, from food and hotels to simple metro costs.

Coming from the south part of Shenzhen when we left, it was a simple ride on the metro to the border stop and only a 15-20 minute delay in actually making it into Hong Kong from the border crossing.

The best thing about getting out of China… real pizza!!

And the great thing about leaving from Shenzhen, China and traveling to Hong Kong is the fact that you can ride the Shenzhen MTR all the way from heart of the city in Shenzhen straight into downtown Hong Kong. It only takes about 45-60 minutes for the entire trip and there is never a need to catch a cab or a bus.

And for some fun, random facts on Hong Kong…  it has the most skyscrapers in the world which is almost double that of New York and the city’s name, Hong Kong, means ‘Fragrant Harbor’ though I’m wondering which street you need to be on for the fragrance?

The double decker bus… a ‘Londonish’ sight rarely seen in Asia…

And apparently, Hong Kong has more Roll’s Royce’s per person than any other city in the world (yes I did see many while there).  The city is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with a population just under 7.1 million and was under British rule for 156 years. Once the British rule was over, the Chinese took it back under their control in 1997 as a ‘Special Administration Region’ which is similar to Shenzhen although I’m sure there a lot of differences that still exist in the rules and regulations between the two cities. And since its so close to China, there are thousands that pass through its borders every day for business. Hong Kong is mainly made up of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the ‘New Territories’ and over 200 other small islands however Hong Kong Island is where the heart of the city is and is what people envision when they think about the city. Interestingly enough, Mandarin, mainland China’s widely spoken language, is not spoken in Hong Kong. Here they speak Cantonese (a dialect of Chinese) as well as English, which is good because I don’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese!

As soon as we got there we had to take some time out to run to a visa agency however we were soon on our way to eat lunch and run around in the city. We spent a lot of time just walking around however one of the main highlights is to travel up to the top of ‘The Peak’ to see the overlook of Hong Kong. From atop The Peak is the view you’ll typically see in pictures of Hong Kong and it was one of the things I had wanted to experience for many years and had planned to see before leaving on this RTW trip. The Peak sits on top of Hong Kong’s highest mountain around an elevation of 550 meters.

‘The Peak’ overlooking Hong Kong from its tallest mountain

It was recommended to us to head up to The Peak right before sunset and to watch the city skyline as it changes from daylight to dusk and the wait was well worth it. To get up there, you go by electric tram.

The Electric Tram that takes you to The Peak

The first tram was built in 1888 but thankfully, that one is still not in use today because the climb the tram makes is extremely steep and when you’re riding it, it feels like you’re riding straight up into the sky! We actually arrived about an hour before the sun even started setting but it was exciting to see all the lights in the buildings begin to turn on. While we were up there, we also found out that there is a group of skyscrapers that put on a ‘light show’ at 8pm so this we didn’t want to miss. It was a bit cloudier (or perhaps smoggier) than I wanted while we were there but the view was still amazing and the nearly 3 1/2 hours we spent up there was great.

The view over Hong Kong Island. FACT: There are more than 8,000 skyscrapers in this city!! (With hours to burn up here, I decided to count them)

Later, we traveled back down and met up with my friend where we would be staying the night. She had a really nice place just outside the center of downtown and she took me out for some traditional Hong Kong cuisine which ended up being a type of rice dish with BBQ/sweet pork and vegetables.

‘Bird Street’ in Hong Kong

The next day we took a run over to ‘Bird Street’ which is a popular place for

Just a bunch of bird lovers, that’s all….

visitors to see traveling through Hong Kong. Basically, it is a street that sells nothing but birds, bird houses, bird food (including ‘nutritious’ grasshoppers!), and anything else imaginable you could ever think of that is bird related. Personally, I’m not a huge bird fan but it was worth checking out. There were also a lot of flower and garden shops along the way and some had some very exotic plants I had never seen before back home.

Yuen Po Street (Bird Street)

While here, we also spent some time in other areas of the city. There were some famous fountains and monuments to check out and of course, there is a lot of shopping that is famous to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s ‘Times Square’ in Causeway Bay… not quite the same look as in NY!

There is even a ‘Times Square’ in the Causeway Bay area of the city and as curious as I was, I decided to go and check it out. When I arrived, I realized it is nothing like the real Times Square but rather, it’s one of Hong Kong’s largest and most popular shopping areas consisting of some very high end stores… And apparently the rents here for these shops are similar to that of Fifth Avenue in New York.

Same view from The Peak… but about 3 hours later! This was taken right before the skyscrapers stared their light show…

So after a couple days spent in the city, we would soon be heading back into China. However, Hong Kong is definitely a place worth checking out and there are even some nearby beaches to visit while you’re here but you may need more than a couple days of traveling in Hong Kong in order to check them out. I decided to stick to the highlights within the city but I’d like to return to spend more time and to catch the many shows and performances that you wouldn’t normally find in China. Believe it or not, there is even Disneyland here on one of the neighboring islands! We decided to save Mickey for another trip…

Sunset from the backside of Victoria Peak