Hong Kong

Where: Hong Kong
When: Aug 2013
Who: Mr & Mrs Wanderlust, Karel, Chard, Ryan & Lei
What: HK Shopping, food with a little bit of Disneyland

What to do in HK?  --- NEW Updated (2015) Hong Kong post

*There is an UPDATED page for HongKong please click this link.*

How to get there:

Daily flights from Manila, NAIA Airport (or even other airport like Clark) going to Hong Kong for 1 hour-ish flight. May even get lucky and get a sale ticket from a budget airline and be able to book it at a much lower price.

From the airport it is very easy to get to your destination. Why? Because there is a train from the airport to get you directly to another train station/terminal which would eventually get you to where you want to go. Unlike in developing? countries such us ours, (Philippines) that after getting off the airport, you have to deal with public transportation and haggle with cabs/vans for lower price, only to find out, they ripped you off (in most cases).

What to do:

1. Hong Kong Disneyland - Bring back the kid in you as you see and ride through different attractions & Disney characters.

2. Food - from beef brisket to dim sum, noodles and street foods like bacon wrapped hotdog, and egg waffles are must try.

3. Enjoy the view from the Harbour, maybe while taking a sip of Tsing tao beer and munching on HK street foods.

4. Shopping - the girls' favorite part - retail therapy. From luxury brands, fashion brands, beauty & retail haven. From the famous Nathan Road for luxury and high class to Tsim Sha Tsui side street markets, you will never run out of shops to splurge your impulse buying

5. Night Markets, you'll see different varieties of goods being sold and you can haggle with prices. Many good finds for sure. Mongkok is the favorite place to spend the whole night walking, shopping for souvenir and such.


Tip: Use their MTR for transportation, it is cheaper than cab. You just have to ask around and know where you are going.

The typical Filipino itinerary in Hong Kong *


1. Make plans to take the earliest morning flight possible. Otherwise, the first night paid for at the hotel is considered a waste (or as the common saying goes, “Para hindi sayang ang araw!”).

2. Pieces of luggage are transformed into Russian Matryoshka dolls. Suitcases are stuffed with smaller suitcases and bags, all of which will eventually be filled with purchased goodies upon return to the Philippines.

3. The only clothes packed from the Philippines are the clothes worn to the airport on the first day, just enough underwear, and whatever is required for sleep. Everything else will just be bought from Giordano, Bossini, Cotton On, H&M, F21, Uniqlo, Pull & Bear, Baleno, Zara…(“Sayang kasi ang space!”)

4. Upon arrival, suitcases are promptly dropped off at the hotel concierge (usually one of the Marco Polo hotels located in Tsimshatsui) because the hotel room isn’t ready yet at 9 in the morning. Everyone then immediately heads off for some hole in the wall restaurant for dimsum breakfast.

5. Breakfast is finished just as shopping malls open their doors for the day.

6. The rest of the day is dedicated to shopping; the only breaks taken are either to go to the bathroom (if at all) or to have quick meals of more dimsum, ramen noodles.

7. Return to the hotel when the rooms are finally ready for occupancy, drop off all shopping bags, and then promptly head out again for more shopping and eating.

8. Return to hotel close to midnight after ending the day at the night markets of Mong Kok.

9. Bright and early the next morning, repeat steps above for most days spent in Hong Kong.

10. Head home to the Philippines with bags bursting with purchases; each bag is meticulously and carefully weighed to meet the kilogram limits allowed by airlines. Sometimes, new pieces of luggage need to be bought to bring everything back home.

11. When tired of shopping (which is a rare occurrence), head off to Hong Kong’s many tourist attractions. Depending on the demographic of those traveling (group of friends, family with young kids, etc.), the most popular ones are HK Disneyland, The Peak, Ocean Park, Avenue of the Stars, and the Big Buddha.

12. Quickly lose interest in said attractions and head back to the shopping districts for more retail therapy.

13. Typically the most popular travel dates to Hong Kong, not in any particular order, are as follows: Christmas, Holy Week, July summer sale season, and any date when one is lucky enough to purchase seats on sale by budget airlines.

(*credit to:Mr. Michael Yu from his article on RAPLR)

Bonus Video of our HK - Macau Trip. More travel videos? Go to our Sights & Sounds page!