We arrived into Hong Kong early on Wednesday morning after crossing the international date line and completely missing Tuesday. Hong Kong is made up of many islands, and the one closest to the airport has a very large Buddha statue and temple at the top of it, so we headed straight here from the airport with our bags, and launched straight into backpacker mode. It was still early enough that the cable car hadn’t yet started, so we grabbed some snacks and hopped on a bus up the mountain, quickly figuring out that it would have been much easier to get a transport card from the airport, than to have to pay in cash with no change. We arrived before most other tourists and climbed the last 100 steps up to the monument, very slowly after 3 months of sitting still in the States. The views from the top were fantastic, and not what you’d expect when you thing of Hong Kong, with tropical blue water and islands dotting the horizon. We visited the temple and did a quick walk into the wilderness to another monument that unfortunately is currently closed for renovations, and then caught a bus back down the hill to the station, where we hopped on a train to Kowloon. 

We were staying in a very tall skyscraper, because that’s all there is here, but our box room did not have windows. $40 here vs a $40 room in South East Asia is a very stark difference! In the afternoon we relaxed after our long journey and busy morning, and then found it very difficult to go back out again for our evening plans, so in the end we just headed down to the waterfront after dark to see the skyline lit up at night. There’s a light show on the buildings every evening but given that it’s only done by about 7 buildings out of the over 100 skyscrapers that are visible, it was quite underwhelming. 

The next day we woke up early after going to bed very early the night before, but lounged around until it was a more reasonable hour to go out. We took a meandering path to the port, past the Time Ball Tower and the Railway Clock Tower. We took a short ferry across to Hong Kong island, where we had our first dim sum at a Michelin starred restaurant – supposedly the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world, and the only one both Creed and I have ever been to (he went to this exact restaurant on a previous Hong Kong visit 8 years ago). We tried various buns, dumplings and rolls, and I was pleasantly surprised as I’d been nervous I wouldn’t like anything. From here we wandered around a foodie area and picked up a snack for later, and then took a long tram ride through the city and out into the suburbs.  We got off at a place called the Monster Building, an incredibly densely packed apartment complex with around 10,000 residents which has appeared in quite a few movies. 

Directly behind the apartment complex was the beginning of a hiking trail, which we headed up next. It was actually a paved road for a surprisingly long way, which wasn’t super interesting as hikes go, but the views of the city below as we ascended were magnificent. We opted not to do the actual peak, and instead took the route towards a couple of reservoirs, gradually descending the mountain towards the less inhabited side of Hong Kong island. Here the trail got a lot less popular, and eventually we were off the road. The reservoirs were very peaceful, with some pretty bridges, so we made various stops to eat our snacks. The hike ended with a steep descent to Repulse Bay, which had a fairly nice stretch of sandy beach, though we managed to arrive at exactly the same time as 4 coach loads full of tourists. Seeing around a thousand people just standing on the beach fully clothed taking pictures, with no-one sitting or swimming or doing normal beachy activities was quite surreal, so we moved on fairly quickly.

Next we took a bus up to Victoria Peak, where we arrived just in time for the early sunset. From here you could see in all directions, with the sea and other small islands on one side, and the packed city of skyscrapers on the other. It had been a very long day at this point, so we decided to leave Hong Kong Island nightlife for another day, and instead headed back to Kowloon to check out the night market near our apartment for dinner.

The next day we temple hopped in the morning, visiting the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery first, which had a long steep path up to it lined with golden Buddha statues, followed by Sha Tin Che Kung Temple, and then Chi Lin Nunnery which was attached to a very beautiful garden. It had been cold when we arrived in Hong Kong, and cloudy for our hiking day (which was actually quite nice) but today the sun was finally out and the walk around the gardens was very pleasant. Templed out, we skipped our fourth planned stop and instead headed for more dim sum. Our walk back to the apartment for a mid day siesta took us via the bird market, selling various tropical birds, thrpigh the flower market to the goldfish market, selling all manner of fishes for home aquariums as well as turtles and some interesting reptiles, then a street of general pet shops with very cute puppies, kittens, bunnies and guinea pigs, and finally through a more normal market of clothes, souvenirs and electronics.

In the afternoon we headed back to Hong Kong Island for another temple, this one with huge incense coils hanging from the ceiling, followed by a trip along the series of moving walkways that take you from the port area through the restaurant area and up towards the apartment complexes on the hill. We explored the old jail, which has been converted to a series of art spaces. We then headed to a noodle restaurant, intending for it to be course one of a series of meals around all the great local restaurants, but it was actually quite filling and we didn’t want anything else. So instead we headed to the waterfront to take a ride on the big wheel, which gave great views of the river and city lights. We intended to round off our evening at the highest rooftop bar in the world – an expensive place to get a drink, but a cost we decided was worth it for the story. Unfortunately during the crowd pushing to get onto the ferry, we were pick pocketed! They took about $50 worth of cash and our credit cards from the pocket of our bag, though kindly left Creed’s driver’s license and room key. It was absolutely our own fault, walking around with the money in an easily accessible outside pocket of a bag. But as much as people often warn you about this kind of thing while travelling, it’s honestly so rare that we never even think about it – this is the first time it’s ever happened to Creed in 11 years of full time travel, and the second time for me (the first time was in Athens years ago and also absolutely my own fault). Having lost the money that was going to pay for our fancy rooftop drinks, and wanting to cancel our credit cards as soon as possible, we abandoned our plans and headed home. Creed’s card had already been used for almost $5000 at Starbucks and the Apple Store, but the credit card company assured him the transactions were all blocked, and cancelled the card. We managed to get both his and mine reissued and shipped to our upcoming apartment in Vietnam to pick up next week. 

The next morning we found my credit card and driver’s license in a different pocket, discovering that they weren’t stolen after all and I didn’t need to cancel it, which was very annoying. Especially in hindsight, as the replacement cards never arrived in Vietnam as the apartment apparently can’t receive mail, so now we don’t know what the plan is for that, but tap to pay has been fine so far!

On our final morning in Hong Kong we had a brief visit to a museum of money, located at the top of an office block, so offering a free viewing platform for one last appreciation of the city views. Then we took a ferry to Macau!

Thanks for following along on my crazy adventures!

 Ros ♥

If you’re interested in how I got here, or where I went next, check out the rest of the story!