After every country we visit, Vikram writes about our overall experiences and highlights. Here’s his take on Hong Kong!

Hong Kong was one of our favorite cities on the trip for many reasons: the combination of eastern and western cultural influences, the phenomenal food, the cheap, clean, and efficient public transportation, and of course, meeting up with some of our best friends. Mary covered the wide variety of things Hong Kong has to offer, but it was a great first leg of the Asian portion of our trip. A week is a long time to spend in one city, but we never ran out of things to do there, and I’m looking forward to going back.

Basics

Number of days: 8

Cities: 2 (Hong Kong, Macau)

Number of boat rides: 4

Finances

Average daily cost per person: $114 (Hong Kong is kind of pricey, and we were also with friends who were not on strict budgets, so we decided to splurge a little.)

Exchange rate: $1 USD = $7.77 HKD 

Attractions

Favorite things we did:

• Ate everything, but especially dim sum
• Hiked up Victoria Peak
• Hiked Dragon’s Back
• Explored the markets
• Got tailored shirts made

Better than expected:

• The food somehow surpassed expectations
• Nature stuff—good hikes, decent beaches, peaceful islands a short boat-ride away
• Public transportation

Worse than expected:

• Prices. Things were expensive considering we were in Asia.
• The weather. It rained for five straight days, but I think we were just unlucky.
• Atmosphere. Hong Kong has an unbelievable number of luxury goods stores, which does not really result in a rewarding cultural experience. This is definitely not an issue for all (or even most) of Hong Kong, and it didn’t seem to bother anyone but me.

Things you have to eat:

• Pork buns at Tim Ho Wan
• Soup dumplings at Crystal Jade
• Seafood at Lamma Island
• Everything everywhere, really

Biggest challenges we faced: The rain, which didn’t hold us back too much, but just made moving around and doing things annoying. Also, the resulting humidity meant our laundry took forever to dry.

What we would have done differently: Seen the Big Buddha, and also tried to experience more of the Hong Kong nightlife.

Read More!

Hong Kong: A Few of My Favorite Things

Savoring the Hong Kong Food Scene

Hong Kong Pictures