Hong Kong – again!

Sunday, 13 March 2011

In between my Mini marketing trip to Xiamen in China with BMW and a very interesting flight from Hong Kong to London, I spent a few days in Hong Kong with Maureen. Hong Kong is always interesting, I love every trip I make back to the city. This trip included some familiar Hong Kong attractions and a couple of unusual ones – for me at least.

▲ No visit to Hong Kong is complete without a ride on the Star Ferry – I listed my Star Ferry ride in 2010 as one of the year’s travel highlights – or a ride on the trams through Central. They’re colourful, fun and at around 25c US incredibly cheap.

▲ Like last visit I stayed in a hotel in Central a stone’s throw from the terrific Edward Youde Aviary so again I spent some time wandering through and enjoying the bird life. Like this Bali Mynah.

◄ We travelled up to Sai Kung, right up in the north-east corner of the New Territories, towards the Chinese border, to meet a friend who took us on the ferry from Wong Shek to Tap Mun.

▲ The ferry goes via Ko Lau Wan Tsui, a small fishing village accessible only by boat, and on to Tap Mun, Grass Island. We strolled through the village, had a look at the recently restored Tin Hau Temple and continue on a loop walk past ‘Balanced Rock’ and back to the village just in time for the soon-after 6pm ferry back to the starting point. It’s a great reminder that even in a busy, built up megacity like Hong Kong you can get away from it all.

▲ The one thing we didn’t manage on this visit to Hong was dinner at Tim Ho Wan. It’s had a lot of publicity as the ‘world’s cheapest Michelin-starred-restaurant.’ No bookings, you turn up, put your name on the waitlist and get a number and a suggestion when to come back. And a checklist menu so when you do get in the front door you can hand over your order instantly. Unfortunately the wait was going to be 1-1/2 hours so we gave it way. Next time.