After spending nearly 4 weeks in the Philippines it was time to move on from the beaches with my next stop being the big city of Hong Kong! I flew from Boracay via Manila and met my friend in Hong Kong airport. This was also now the end of my solo travel for the next 10 weeks! We spent a total of 6 nights, 5 days in Hong Kong which was a perfect amount of time to see a lot of the city and not feel too rushed.
We stayed in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong island which was a perfect location to get around the island and visit Kowloon and other nearby islands. Unfortunately we weren’t very fortunate with the weather while we were in Hong Kong. It was cloudy, foggy and sometimes a bit rainy most days but luckily it didn’t stop us doing anything.
On our first day we explored Central Hong Kong, some of the local markets, Soho and the Man Mo Temple before ending the day with traditional Chinese food and some much needed drinks at Alto rooftop bar!
The next day after the rain stopped we went to visit a local park followed by Dim Sum for lunch at a well known but very reasonably priced Michelin started restaurant called Din Tai Wan. I’d never really tried Dim Sum before but really enjoyed it, I’ll definitely be eating more of it in the future. After lunch we got the famous star ferry over to Kowloon Island and wondered around there and through the bird, flower and clothes markets. We then went up to the Ozone at the Ritz Carlton which is the highest bar in the world - 118 floors high! Even though it was pretty cloudy the views over Hong Kong were still amazing. It really made you realise how big the city is! We then went to Ce La Vie rooftop bar for more drinks before dinner! They had a happy hour which was much better pricing than Ozone which charged £10 for a soft drink and £20 for a cocktail (plus service!) not my usual backpacker prices!
The day after we decided to go and explore Lantau Island where the cable car goes to the Big Buddha. Again, it was really foggy so the views weren’t the best but it was still definitely worth the visit - the Buddha is huge!
In the afternoon we got the bus to a local fishing village called Tai O. I’d been recommended to visit by a girl I met in a hostel in the Philippines. It probably was one of my favourite places I visited in Hong Kong, because it just felt so different to anywhere I’d been before in the city. It was still a working fishing village and the houses were built on stilts. We got a boat ride around the village then went for a wonder and got some must needed iced tea! I went a bit trigger happy so there are lots of photos!
In the evening we went for the best sushi I’ve had in a very long time (photos don’t do it justice as I was too busy eating I forgot to take a photo!) then we went to a rabbit cafe... when in Hong Kong!
On our final 2 days we went to the botanical garden, got the cable car up to the famous Victoria Peak (again we weren’t lucky with the weather there either!), went to the Temple Street Night Market and hiked Dragons Back! The hike itself only took 2 hours but it was really nice to see the views and get out of the city for a bit.
As it was my friends birthday we celebrated in the evening by going out on a Junk Boat, having dinner and of course more rooftop bars! Think we managed to try 6 different rooftop bars in the time we were in Hong Kong, the next ones we’ll go to is probably going to be in Bangkok!
My next stop is Hanoi in Vietnam - so my next post will be all about that. I’m looking forward to exploring another country!