Tourist Attractions in Hong Kong

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The MTR (subway) system in Hong Kong was simply amazing and just so easy to use, especially for a beginner like myself. It is extremely clean, efficient and well sign posted in english to make it easy for foreigners to get around quickly and easily.

HOWEVER .... you must study the MTR system and the different stations, lines and station exits, if you want to save yourself lots of time and walking! Some MTR stations and connecting lines have very very long walks in between them, and even though this is usually all underground and cool, sometimes I swear the walks were over a kilometre long!!!

Also every MTR station has several different exits, some stations with about 10 different exits. These different exits can come out at street level about a kilometre from each other. So, it is VITAL that you know which exit to take to get quickly to your destination. All stations have posted in them the different exits and where they come out, so take note of these signs. Otherwise, you will very quickly become lost when you exit at street level. I did pick up a very handy little book (actually bought it up at Ngong Ping Village on Lantau Island) and it was a book telling you how to get to most markets in Hong Kong via the MTR system. And this book also gave you the best exit to use.

The easiest way to travel on the MTR is by purchasing an Octopus card and just swiping it at every station entry and exit. Your fare is automatically deducted from the balance on your card and you can upload more funds onto your card easily.

Unique Suggestions: Before you travel to Hong Kong download a map for reference.

Further details are on their website

www.mtr.com.hk

In Australia I guess it it common for us to stand on the left of an escalator, allowing people to pass us quickly on the right. Well in Hong Kong it is different! And believe me, their escalators are way more busy than any I have ever seen in Australia, so if you dont get it right you will probably get in trouble!!!

If you choose to stand on the escalator and not walk up or down it, you must stand to the right. If you choose to quickly walk up or down the escalator then you do this on the left. And ..... if you happen to accidently get yourself in the left hand lane, then you will be walking up the escalator with the flow of traffic, whether you like it or not!!!! In other words, you will kind of be pushed up the escalator!

I guess with the heavy traffic flow at shopping centres and MTR stations, this system worked very well, apart from the few times we accidentally ended up in the left lane and then lost each other haha!!!

I was warned of this by a fellow VTer (I cant remember who it was - sorry!!) but I think its a fantastic warning tip.

Apparently in Hong Kong, the 3 main banks all print their own Bank notes in the same denomination, so it would not be unusual for you to have say 3 different looking $50 notes in your wallet! If you did not know this, I think the first thing that a traveller might think is that they have fake notes, but this is not the case. The 3 main banks are HSBC, Bank of China and Standard Chartered Bank and they all print different notes. I am not entirely sure if they print different coins, but I saw it with my own eyes, different notes YES!

One of the highlights of a package day trip featuring the sights of Hong Kong is an Aberdeen Harbour cruise. These cruises allow visitors to see the floating fishing villages moored in the harbor. And while these floating villages are a fascinating aspect of life in Hong Kong, in my opinion the harbor cruises themselves can be a tourist trap.

The village of Aberdeen is located on the south side of Hong Kong Island. One of its main attractions is the junks and sampans of the floating fishing villages of the "boat people" who live in junks on Aberdeen Harbour, and who are traditionally fishermen. There are an estimated 600 junks moored in the floating fishing villages, housing around 6,000 residents. This makes Aberdeen one of the most important fishing ports in Hong Kong.

Consisting of two groups, the Tanka and Hoklo, these fishermen have lived on the water for thousands of years. Now, unfortunately, many of the young people are leaving their traditional seafaring lifestyle for the lure of high-paying jobs on the land. Population decreases among the floating fishing villages are also attributed to the development of large fisheries on the Chinese mainland, and increasing costs involved in the fishing industry.

Visitors wishing to see the lifestyle of the floating fishing villages take sampan tours on Aberdeen Harbour. Tours vary widely in cost and luxury. The most basic and least expensive include a short cruise among the floating fishing villages during the day, while the most luxurious and most expensive generally take place in the evening and include dinner, unlimited drinks, and a cruise around Victoria Harbour on the north side of Hong Kong Island.

At many attractions in Hong Kong, there are photographers, either free-lance or professionals employed by the particular attraction, who will take a picture of a visitor who can then purchase a photographic souvenir of his visit.

Most photographic souvenirs merely show a visitor in front of an attraction or engaged in some activity. However, there is a photographer in the Jumbo Floating Restaurant who, for a small fee, dresses customers up in the costume of a Chinese emperor or empress. This is done on a raised dais in the main dining room, where the other diners look on and applaud those daring enough to have this done. Unfortunately, I went through this during my dinner at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, and the result ended up as a tip on this page.

The village of Stanley is located on the southeast coast of Hong Kong Island. The village, named for Lord Stanley, a nineteenth-century Secretary of State for the Colonies, was founded in 1770 by a pirate named Cheung Po Tsai.

Nowadays, the village is known for the Stanley Market, where busloads of tourists come to buy souvenirs. The market is one of the places most tourists visit when they book a day trip highlighting the main attractions of Hong Kong. Located along Stanley New Street, the Stanley Market contains dozens of small shops and street stalls selling T-shirts, fake designer labels, cheap clothing, silk garments, rattan products, ceramics, art work, Chinese crafts, costume jewelry, and a lot of other things. It is a good place to buy inexpensive souvenirs, although anyone who is not interested in shopping will soon become bored.

Another attraction in Stanley is the numerous inexpensive restaurants that line the main streets. They offer a wide range of styles of Chinese cuisine, and are especially popular with locals.

Although I am not a shopper, at the Stanley Market I did purchase a chop with an approximation of my name carved in Chinese characters. Chops, usually made of stone, have been used for centuries, and have the legal authority of a person's signature. The chop is dipped into ink and is used to apply a seal to written documents.

In central, you can take a tram to the "Peak", which is the top of a small mountain on HK island.
It was a complete tourist trap--you pay a buttload of money to go up to a shopping center where people attempt to sell you overpriced trinkets. Then, to go to an observation deck on the peak tower, you have to pay even more... the view is great, but I am sure you can get the same view for HK $9.80 by taking the public bus up to the Peak and back down again (the tram is $48 round trip, $36 one way, something like that)

You CAN take some very nice walks up there, but the paths aren't very populated and there are apparently pickpockets. Don't go alone :)

Unique Suggestions: Take some pictures! Enjoy the view.
It's more fun to take the bus than the tram.

Ngong Ping Village wasn't here when I first visited the Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Buddha back in 2002. But since then this themed tourist village has popped up in order to capitalise on the popularity of the main attractions. It's mostly orientated for kids with such "attractions" as: Walking with Buddha - a multimedia attraction allowing visitors to follow the life of Siddhartha Gautama - the man who became Buddha - and his path to enlightenment; Monkey's Tale Theatre - a comical 'show' inspired by the famous Buddhist Jataka stories; various tea houses, souvenir shops and restaurants. Having some restaurants here is about the only thing that's good about it. Just do what I did and walk straight through it all in order to get to the 'real' attractions that you've actually come all this way to visit.