Hong Kong!

Parent Cafe
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For scenery I would take a one hour flight over to Guilin. Absolutely gorgeous limestone hills, caves and terraces to see. The Three Gorges Area would be a bit farther away but gorgeous as well.

HK has too many things to see and do. The very basic things of course would be to go up Victoria Peak and take the Star Ferry, 2 of the main essentials of HK. Afternoon tea at the Peninsula hotel. Dim sum, too many good places. As a Chinese Cantonese-speaking person, I love to wander in the Mongkok neighborhood, but a first-timer might find things there a bit too chaotic.

You are so lucky, I wish I could take a couple of months off to live there!

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The general advice on Tripadvisor (I think you said you started there) is good for the obvious don’t misses. Also the website Discover Hong Kong was a source for me for hikes, walks, more out of the cultural and historical sites, etc. The biggies are probably pretty obvious - Victoria Peak, Lantau Island Big Buddha, 10,000 Buddhas in Sha Tin (the New Town Plaza there at the MTR station is also a good shopping place for clothes that fit Americans, familiar brands and reasonable prices), Kowloon’s Chi Lin Nunnery and Wong Tai Sin Temple, HKI - Mid-level elevators, Cat Street (antiques, “antiques” and Mao kitsch - fun to wander), Hong Kong Park aviary - those are a few off the top of my head. Undoubtedly missed something obvious!

Star Ferry is fun and the Ding Ding Tram down the length of HK Island will give you an over view. Kowloon and Hong Kong Island are very walkable - I’ve never felt uncomfortable even by myself. Lots of suggested walking routes on line. Ocean Park and Disneyland if you are into that - Ocean Park is rather enjoyable, it’s has zoo attractions as well as amusement park. Hue Hwa Chinese Department store on Kowloon has traditional Chinese medicine, clothes, furniture, knick knacks. It is different from the multitudinous other shopping mall options which often feature very high end fashion. The indoor shopping is all over HKI and Kowloon, I’m not a shopper, but it would be paradise if I were!

Sounds like you are interested in art - me, too. Sadly, the Art Museum is closed till 2019. I did learn a lot about Chinese pottery thanks to my visits. There is a very nice, chronological exhibit at the Heritage Museum in Sha Tin. A fun little museum of tea and tea pots in HK Park Flagstaff House. I made it to a special exhibit at Hong Kong University and Art Gallery once also, you could check if they are showing anything of interest to you.

I had the most remarkable experience in May hiking on Lantau Island on the mountain near the Big Buddha - it was spring with new bamboo growth, butterflies and new flowers. I felt I was walking thru a Chinese landscape. There are a number of easy to access hiking paths all over the country. The Dragon Back Trail has great views and is not difficult hiking. There are hikes/walks at the Peak that are very accessible for anyone.

The big museums are generally very good. I especially recommend the Hong Kong Museum of History for a good overview of history from pre-history thru turn-over to China and the Heritage Museum for cultural overviews.

Everything is very accessible - I rarely take a taxi, only when I want more speed. MRT and an occasional mini-bus will get you most places. I’ve taken the MRT as late as midnight by myself and never felt unsafe.

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@mathmom, I just remembered something that you might want to check into re the legality of short term rentals and possibly AirBnb. (disclamer - I’m not an AirBnB user, don’t know the legal ins and outs of various countries and don’t really know how the system works.)

Short term rentals have to be licensed in HK, as I understand it, and I have seen placards on public transport warning renters and rentees not to break the law. Of course, as I said, I don’t really know the laws, specifically as it applies to a company like AirBnb. But, I do have the distinct impression that an individual renter could run into trouble inadvertently. There are a number of “serviced apartments” at various price points that are legal. You rent by the week or month.

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Hi all, we’ve been here almost two weeks. The university runs its own International House - it’s basically a hotel. A little spartan in terms of furnishings, but very clean and right on campus so very convenient for dh. No hot plate in the room, but it turns out there is a microwave and toaster oven a few floors down in the student lounge. (We are supposed to be too high class to want to use them!) The hotel provides breakfast and so far we’ve alternated between that and the ones at the student cafeteria which are quicker and cheaper. The fried egg on noodles is actually pretty yummy. And their machine makes decent coffee.

We’ve spent way too much time chasing down stuff - more hangers, storage bins because they make organizing clothes on shelves easier. The Festival Walk Mall is so enormous we were there a couple of times before we discovered it actually had a grocery store. The Lok Fu Mall is more fun - more working class and much more practical stuff. I’ve spent way too much time on the logistics of finishing up a couple of architectural projects from afar.

We got a tour of Central from my younger sons’ girlfriends parents. They took us out for both dim sum and dinner. We’ve hiked Lions Rock and Dragon’s Back. We went through the history museum, but had to whiz through the second half - we’ll probably go back at some point.

Since we don’t have a kitchen we’ve eaten at too many places to count. DH has the Michelin app which is good for high end stuff, but they also make street food recommendations. Sometimes we just get lazy and see what the malls have to offer. Vietnamese today, Taiwanese yesterday, BBQ goose at a place where no one spoke a word of English the day before that…

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@mathmom - thanks for the update!! Very timely for me - I’ve actually been wondering when you were going. I leave in a couple weeks on an Asia trip with 2 day layover (planned to help the jet lag) in HK. I have plans to hike Lamma Island which I have missed in previous trips. Isn’t Dragon Back gorgeous!!!

I made the same mistake my first trip to the History Museum - so much, so good, so interesting that I ran out of time for the UK-China changeover exhibits and missed all the details of the Opium Wars. The Museum does stand up well for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th visit!

If you haven’t gotten there yet, the Heritage Museum is also terrific with lots of cultural exhibits. It helped me understand something of the history/culture of a lot of the New Territory and the clans. You can follow a visit to the museum with a heritage hike through actual clan buildings. I recommend the Ping Shan Heritage Trail. The Heritage Museum is by the Sha Tin stop at New Town Plaza which is a good mall with interesting restaurants. Sha Tin MTR stop is also the starting spot for visits to the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery - I recommend it if time allows.

I don’t remember when you return. If you are there into the Christmas season, Festival Walk Mall has a Christmas parade and entertainment. Kind of fun.

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I think it would also be helpful to go back and read up a little more on the timeline before going back. I took a Chinese history course back in 1977, but don’t remember that much. The cultural exhibits were best. And when we were doing the Dragon’s Back hike we could look at the rocks and say, “Look pink sandstone!” That hike was gorgeous and it was fun to end up on a beach though unfortunately we could not avail ourselves of a beer as it had not occurred to us that the cafes wouldn’t take credit cards or the Octopus card… Thanks for the recommendations, we will definitely follow through on them! We leave mid-December.

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Before we moved to Hong Kong (ahem… 1986) my wife prepared by reading “Noble House” (James Clavell). We lived there for 3 years, so it is very different now, and my experience wouldn’t help you much today. Last time I was back was 2001. We would love to return for a visit! Still know some folks there. One friend worked at HKBU, but he left in 1999. Enjoy!

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Wow so you made it to HK! I miss HK and the food so much! And this is the best time of the year to go, not very hot.

One thing, if you miss American food, there’s a Dan Ryan’s restaurant right inside Festival Walk that’s really good. Me being a Chicagoan, I thought it was a Chicago-styled restaurant but it’s not. But good nevertheless.

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We are trying not to miss American food. I actually cook a lot of Middle Eastern food at home currently so I miss that the most - I spied a Lebanese restaurant in Central and may go if I get desparate. Really I just miss cooking. I really do like to cook. We are actually going to have an western style lunch at the women’s club this weekend as my not in-laws think we should be about ready for it! They’ve promised us dinner where we take a live fish to a restaurant which will cook it for us, so that will be different.

The weather has been variable - still some hot and muggy days, but no worse than a typical NY summer day. Most of the rain has been at night which we appreciate!

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Great to hear all the updates, and your experience, mathmom. Perhaps anyone who has lived in HK will miss the food for the rest of their lives, as I do as well.

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A good hike followed by a nice meal is to ferry to Lama Island’s Yung Shue Wan and hike to Sok Kwu Wan and treat yourself to a cold beer/freshly squeezed juice and fresh seafood from any of the seafood restaurants. You pick your own fish, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, scallops, whatever you crave directly from live tanks. If you like squab, they make a delicious roasted squab. Some of the restaurants have ferry boats that will take you back to Central.

A real splurge is the Sunday Brunch at the Conrad Hotel (seafood, sushi, dim sum items, pasta, other Western items). I used to take my associates there once every other month for what we called “The Mother of all Brunches”. Many of us would fast on Saturday to prepare ourselves. https://youtu.be/yy_4huaMm_0

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It occurred to me to mention a day trip to Macau if you aren’t already fully booked for free time! Easy multiple ferry options. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been, but the Portuguese architecture in Sendado Square is beautiful, the fort is interesting, Macau Museum quite good with historical and cultural exhibits, Portuguese egg tarts from various bakeries, Chinese temples and houses, etc. Not as much English spoken as in HK, but not hard to get around. The casinos, there are several big ones, offer free transport to the city from the ferry terminals. Taxi drivers probably won’t speak English, I had pictures of the places we wanted to be taken to.

I second the Dan Ryan’s recommendation if you want a great American style burger! Glad to hear the weather report and hope the rain holds off for my upcoming short stay. Too often I’ve had to cancel hiking due to heavy rain or visiting the Peak due to fog. Love the updates!!!

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A few years ago, preparing for a trip to Hong Kong, I watched a bunch of Hong Kong movies. One of them was called (in English) “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” It was an OK, somewhat stylized rom-com by a director much better known for (and much more adept at) gangster movies, Johnnie To. Anyway, in one scene in the movie a rich, aggressive young businessman tries to woo a woman by asking her to dinner at his office and having delivered the best dish from each of the best specialty restaurants in Hong Kong. That’s why I do something like watching a bunch of movies to prepare for a trip! By going back and forth over the scene, and cross-referencing a guidebook, I was able to identify eight or nine restaurants and their signature dishes. I got to try several of them while I was there. They were great.

Do I still have the list? Somewhere. I don’t remember names or dishes right now. But the movie is still available, I’m sure, if maybe a little out of date now.

In a similar vein, don’t the Crazy Rich Asians books have a set of Hong Kong plotlines (and don’t they involve a lot of name-checking of restaurants and other places that the crazy rich and the merely affluent enjoy)? They might provide a list of places to check out.

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^^^ Fun idea!

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JHS, I might have known you’d recommend a movie! If you find the list let me know, but we may try and watch it. I knew that Crazy Rich Asians had been based on a book, but thought it was strictly Singapore. Will have to check that out.

I actually thought I might spend more time reading or painting or exploring than I have so far. I have spent way too much time trying to figure out how to edit architectural drawings with a program I’ve never used before and then figuring out how to get things printed and mailed back to the US. (Actually still haven’t got the large scale printer thing organized, but we know where it is. Today is a holiday so nothing happening today.)

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I haven’t read any of the CRA books, but my wife borrowed them from the library when each was published and loved them all. She told me about the Hong Kong plotlines. This year’s movie was entirely Singapore-based (except for a couple of scenes in New York), but apparently the next movie will have a lot of Hong Kong in it. (Remember, in movie #1 the central male character’s father is completely absent, and he’s reported to be handling some urgent business in Hong Kong. And I think the guy who locked eyes at the end of the movie with the sympathetic female cousin, whose husband had just left her, may turn out to work in Hong Kong.)

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If you don’t know how to to buy a live fish, which one to choose for the whole steamed, Cantonese HK preparation, then have a friend take you so you don’t get ripped off and sold a trash fish…
Just have it cleaned with the head, fins intact but guts removed and rinsed out…

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I don’t know how to buy live fish, but this is one of the thing the girl friend’s parents are taking us to do this Saturday. They are very determined that we do all the unique Hong Kong experiences!

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Pay attention and take a picture of the specific fish(before and after cleaning) and the veg you buy so you can repeat for the next time you are called upon to buy the ingredients for a meal.
Google Translate Cantonese will also help document.
I would suggest to buy a hot pot set up so you can have friends over and entertain over platters of food as you all cook communally in the hot pot.
Typical HK home cooked meal…hot pot.

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I wish I could get a hot pot, but the International House where we are staying doesn’t allow them. We don’t have anywhere to entertain anyway. When I say Spartan, I mean it! OTOH, the university is covering the entire cost, so we’ve got plenty of money to go out. We could probably rent something for a weekend if we got desparate!