Related Hong Kong Favorites Tips

Fondest memory: Curiously enough, my most distinct memory of Hong Kong is the smell! When I left the plane and arrived in the airport, at the very first moment on the new continent, I at once noticed the foreign smell. It smelled so different and so exotic, and I had never encountered such a smell before. Like a mixture of spices, flowers and humidity.
I still remember it so clearly, whenever I close my eyes and think of it, it is there again.

It meant so much for me to spend that day in Hong Kong and when I smelled the new city, I knew that I was really there and that it was true!!!

Attached is one of my favourite pictures of Hong Kong.

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Favorite thing: One thing that striked me at once when I arrived in Hong Kong were the huuuuuge buildings. I had read about these buildings in a magazine about Hong Kong back home: There were countless of apartments in them, and they were like a small city in themselves, complete with shops, cafés, sports centres etc. However, when I saw them, I felt not prepared at all and gaped in amazement.
Nearly everything in Hong Kong was bigger than all I had seen before - the MTR stations, the construction sites, the skyscrapers - but these buildings impressed me the most. I am not sure though if in a negative or positive way. I must admit that I cannot imagine how it is to live in such a building!

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Fondest memory: I only once got a little lost, it was when I left Central Station and was looking for the station of the peak tram. I had a small map but it did not help at all, and I became a little afraid of losing the way.
I asked several locals and all really tried to help me, no matter if they spoke English or not. When it rained a little, an old lady even held her umbrella over me and walked beside me for some time until it stopped again! I could not believe how friendly those people were to me, although I was only a lost tourist and there were language problems. It was a great experience on my first trip to a really foreign country, and an incentive to become more helpful to other people myself.

Favorite thing: Each time I visit a different country, I do some research into the best way to take funds to that country. For my last few trips, the easiest way I've found to do that is to take some cash in Australian Dollars and the bulk of my funds using a Travelex Cash Passport Card.

These cards are just so easy to use and also give you a good exchange rate, which is locked in when you purchase the card. There are 2 types of cards, one that can be used only at atm machines and then one that you can use at atm's and also to purchase things over the counter and online, like a debit card. The cash passport card is a visa card, so you can use it any atm that displays the visa symbol, which is usually about 95% of atm's that I come across.

Fees for loading the card with a foreign currency in Australia and zero and the only fee you will be charged is a flat $3.75 fee for every atm withdrawal. For this trip, I loaded my card with Hong Kong dollars and just got the atm card. Atm's are so easy to find in Hong Kong and also very easy to use, with simple instructions in english. I had no trouble at all using the cash passport card in Hong Kong and I will continue to use it for future travels. I think the card has a 3 year lifespan.

Further details at their website:-

http://www.cashpassport.com/

Favorite thing: You can also take your kids in Wetland Park, which is in Tin Shui Wai. Take the West Rail.

Regarding reviews of restaurants, you must browse the following website as the locals will browse that (of course, they browse the Chinese version):
http://www.openrice.com/english

Favorite thing: Kowloon is an urban area of Hong Kong that makes up five square miles (12 square kilometers) of the most densely populated urban area on earth. The district occupies the Kowloon Peninsula, just across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island, and stretches north from the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront to Boundary Street. The name Kowloon is derived from Kau Lung, which means "Nine Dragons" in the local Cantonese dialect, and refers to eight surrounding mountain peaks and Bing, a former Chinese emperor.

The area south of what is now Boundary Street, plus Stonecutters Island, was ceded to the British in accordance with the Convention of Peking in 1860. In 1898, the area north of Boundary Street, known as the New Territories, was leased by the British for 99 years. The expiration of the lease in 1997 led to the turn-over of Hong Kong to China in that year.

During the 1800s, Kowloon was undeveloped wilderness. In fact, the British hunted tigers in the area up until the early twentieth century. At that time, some urban development began, mainly the construction of factories and warehouses. However, it was not until 1949 when millions of refugees fleeing the Communist revolution in China streamed into Hong Kong, that Kowloon started to become congested. At first the refugees lived in slums, but they were eventually replaced with high-rise public housing estates.

Unlike glittering Hong Kong Island, much of Kowloon consists of low, run-down apartment blocks. The streets are narrow, crowded, and sometimes dirty. However, parts of Kowloon, and the lifestyle of the people who live there, are reminiscent of Old China, making it an interesting and exciting place to visit.

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Favorite thing: It is simply amazing how things are built in Hong Kong. Especially when you speak of those residental buildings, very thin and very tall, its roofs touching the sky ... How many thousands can live there? At some level we speak of the most densely populated areas in the world.

I went for a walk on the Canton road, west of Nathan road in Kowloon where this pic was taken - near newely reclaimed from the sea area (where huge construction sites are and new skyscrapers and stuff).

What never fails to amaze by cities of such scale is the growth along vertical line together with material, work force and energy used. And how much that one single buidling consumes, especially in electricity terms and waste production. And then... how much of land is actually saved for other uses when we are to live in heights, far from the soil. Really, you should go and see...

Fondest memory: Actually, there must be great views in the highest of floors in the building.

The third photo: see the field of huge construction site in one of the sites near centre. New growing next to old, they're bound to live in symbiosis.

Favorite thing: --

One morning while I was in Hong Kong in 1965 I took a tour of the New Territories, including old villages, new factories and a glimpse of the border between Hong Kong and mainland China, which at the time was routinely called "Red China" by the Americans.

On the tour they explained that the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong consisted of three parts: Hong Kong Island, which the Chinese emperor ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" after a war in 1841; Kowloon, which was ceded in 1860; and the New Territories, which were leased to Britain for ninety-nine years starting in 1898.

When I was there everybody was wondering what would happen thirty-two years later in 1997 when the lease expired.

What actually happened was that not only the New Territories but also Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were returned to China. So the former British Colony of Hong Kong is now a "Special Administrative Region" as a part of the People's Republic of China.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/