9 August
3pm - after a comfortable 2.5-hour flight, I land in Hong Kong. This is my last stop before heading back to the US and I’m excited to explore this city I’ve heard so much about. I’m also wondering what it will be like with the demonstrations against the proposed extradition bill - it’s currently a Friday going into the 10th weekend of protests and the tension is building. A friend who was supposed to be coming with me had cancelled her trip - she was not alone as tourism in Hong Kong (5% of its GDP) had dropped a lot in the last few weeks, especially as the bulk of tourists come from mainland China.
3:30pm - walking out of the plane and past baggage claim, I walk into the main hall and suddenly spot huge crowds of people dressed in black sitting on the floor. There are lots of cameras, banners, people shouting into megaphones and handing out flyers. This was the first day of the airport protests and so this was a big surprise.
3:45pm - I head to the city ground transport section and buy a ticket for the A21 bus. My sister had come to Hong Kong last year and had given me her Hong Kong dollars, making this very easy. She had also given me her Octopus travel card which I realized later I could have also used. I walk down the line of buses where everything’s very organized and I get into the spacious, air-conditioned “city flyer” bus. There’s plenty of space for me to put my luggage and it has free WIFI.
4:15pm - The airport is on Lantau Island (also the location of the Big Buddha, check 12 August). Hong Kong and its environs is a series of interconnected islands and I’m excitedly taking lots of pictures of the landscape and tall buildings in the distance.
4:30pm - I arrive at Tsim Sha Tsui station in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, the area of central Hong Kong which is north of Victoria harbor. I’m spending two nights in the bustling, older and more traditional part of Hong Kong and then three nights on the more expensive Hong Kong Island across the harbor, with its business district and the huge skyline of skyscrapers, huge metal/glass shopping malls, and evidence of the large expat population. This area of Kowloon, however, has many tall buildings and is very busy. After some searching, I eventually find my hostel, a few rooms on the 5th floor of a tall apartment building. This feels very Hong Kong as the non-airconditioned lobby mirrors the sweltering heat from outside (a big change from my experience in Thailand/Cambodia) and the air-conditioned hostel room is a 6-person room that’s a 1/4th of the 10-person room in Phnom Penh with triple bunk beds.
6pm - after getting settled and figuring out my itinerary (I have to get used to travelling alone and making my own schedule), I head back out and head north up the Nathan road which runs up the middle of Kowloon. I walk close to the shop side as then I can feel the strong air-conditioning coming from each shop. In my research, I had found that the bubble tea place that my friend had shown me in Bangkok was (only) in Kowloon so I head there and get my favorite salted caramel milk tea. I sit in the nearby King George V Memorial park (one of the many legacies of British colonialism) to drink my boba in the cool shade.
6:30pm - I get to Temple Street with its eponymous night market, a main attraction in Kowloon. Hong Kong and Kowloon in particular has many markets but the night market is a rarity. Officially until midnight but many are open till later, the street is lined with many stalls selling souvenirs, knockoff designer handbags, electronics which include the recent addition of knockoff airpods. Haggling is a must here and after I end up buying 2 colorful earthenware bowls at a definitely too high price, I peruse the other stalls and decide to postpone the hardcore shopping to when I’m more prepared.
7:30pm - I’m having dinner at Temple Spice Crab, known for their seafood. It’s very low-key with long metal tables and stools with a very extensive menu. Overwhelmed, I go up with fried duck - not quite seafood but still somewhat aquatic. I end up with very bony pieces of duck with nothing else but it’s still delicious
9:15pm - Hong Kong has free WIFI in most places that are actually accessible (a stark contrast from Bangkok) so I look for a dessert place. Of those on my list, surprisingly few things were open at this time on a Friday night. I end up at mammy pancake for a black sesame bubble pancake. It’s a small, unassuming stall with no sign in English which is tucked into a side street off Nathan Road but it proudly displays its Michelin guide awards.
9:30pm - I head to the Avenue of Stars along the harbor to see the Hong Kong skyline. On the way I pass a Morton’s Steakhouse (a Chicago classic), a Pizza Express (a family favorite from living in London), and a MoMA (Museum of Modern Art in New York) Design Store.
9:45pm - After going through an underground subway station to cross the busy street (and luckily escape the heat with air conditioning), I end the night at the Avenue of Stars. I gawk at the very long and impressive Hong Kong skyline and take plenty of pictures and time-lapse videos of the many skyscrapers with colorful light displays. The Avenue of Stars is Hong Kong’s version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame where different celebrities’ handprints line the railing.
10 August
6am - I get up early again for yet another interview. It’s a phone interview which is lucky as there are no private spaces I can call in the hostel, especially this early in the morning. I take my laptop to the toilet stall the furthest from the rooms, close the door and hope for the best. Luckily the WIFI service here is very good.
7am - Done with the interview which luckily for my tried brain wasn’t very intense, I head back to the room to get some sleep. The makeshift curtain which hangs lower than my bed on the top of the 3rd story bunk means there’s a lot of light in the room. This usually would make it very hard for me to sleep but my travel schedule has helped me gain the ability to sleep when I need to.
11am - I go to the Tsim Sha Tsui metro station across from my hostel to try the MTR metro (Mass Transit Railway) for the first time. I load up my Octopus card and go to the red line platform to go north on Kowloon to the Mong Kok area. A big fan of well-connected and organized metro systems, the MTR is very easy to use as it has many lines, it’s very clean, everything is in English, and each platform has a detailed map above the entrances that show the direction and stops. Inside the metro, a line map with lights at each stop makes it very easy to see where the train is going.
11:30am - get to Mong Kok
11:35am - Kam Wah cafe - milk tea + famous pineapple buns
(menu explains Cha Chann Teng – Hong Kong restaurant with affordable (often fusion) food, retro décor and lots of people packed together)
12:45pm - walk up, mee & gee thrifting
1:10pm - flower market
1:30pm - Tim ho wan, cheapest Michelin star rated restaurant, seated at a group table
2:20pm - head in the metro on the green line to temple
2:35pm - exit, lots of signs
2:40pm - temple, beautiful, very different style from Thai temples, zodiac signs
3pm - good wish garden, bridges
3:15pm - taking metro east to Choi hung, going on an Instagram photo tour
3:35pm - find the 2-story parking garage staircase, walk up to basketball court on roof with view of a rainbow building, 30 people taking pictures and no-one playing basketball
3:55pm - on the bus south to a huge apartment complex
4:10pm - climbing 4 flights, get to rows of blue walls with circular holes
4:20pm - Bus, yellow lines to show where to line up for which bus
4:50pm - Hong Kong Museum of History, especially curious with demonstrations
5:10pm - Video of how the landscape was formed, skip through extensive displays of natural history to get to the social history, understand the development of Hong Kong
5:30pm - Huge structures of temples, houses, streets, government buildings
6:15pm - Walk back to the hostel, look at some shops
7:15pm - The restaurant had run out of most stuff, left
7:30pm - Dinner
8:30pm - On Nathan road to go back to temple street but people running in gas masks, ems staff said it’s unsafe, police
9pm - Hotel bar with live jazz by the harbor, drink by myself
10:15pm - Head back to the hotel, stuff is clear
11:30pm - In the hostel room by the station, hear people running
11:45pm - Huge group of police running to go on Nathan road
11 August
11am - Leaving the hostel today to head to Hong Kong Island. Check out time is 11am so I leave my bag at the front desk and head out for breakfast
11:15am - Waiting in line near Temple Street at Australian dairy company. It’s hot outside but in true Hong Kong style the line moves reasonably quickly
11:25am - As I’m getting closer, a server comes out asking for party numbers. As a single diner, I’m seated right away.
11:30am - What’s Australian? Get the custard + iced milk tea, sat at table with a mother/son + a boy
11:45am - Already done, I head back to the hostel, grab my bag, and take the MTR to Hong Kong Island.
12:30pm - Google maps has told me to get out at Central station and take the tram. hard to find
12:50pm - Check into the hotel room in Sheung Wan, staying at a 3 star but affordable hotel with a spacious air-conditioned room to myself for 3 nights, the best end of trip gift I could have given myself
2:20pm - Takes me a while to figure out what I’m doing but I finally head out
2:39pm - Cat street = an antique market, the area is very hilly
2:50pm - Trying to find Central–Mid-Levels escalator which is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world
3pm - Construction, find it
3:04pm - Trying to find jian dui (black sesame seed rice balls), Tai Chiong bakery was on my list + google said they had them but no luck
3:15pm - At TeaWood, Taiwanese dessert place, I go crazy and order fried oysters and an Oreo honey toast
3:30pm - Fried oysters, omg. Watching friends on Netflix on my phone and chilling
4pm - Oreo honey toast - wow, so delicious and decadent
4:45pm - Head out
4:54pm - Walking through Lan Kwai Fong which is the party district, see a sign that says “keep calm and drink responsibly”
5pm - Walking up a hill and past lush vegetation to get to the Victoria peak tram
5:10pm - The line isn’t super long but I bypass it with my octopus card
5:20pm - Tram up, beautiful views already, very steep
5:26pm - Get out, seems like you have to pay, use their free WIFI to find the exit
5:30pm - Peak Galleria shopping mall roof has a good view
5:45pm - Walk back to Peak Tower and take a left onto Lugard road, goes around the mountain, feels like you’re in a forest
6pm - Reach lookout view, perfect view right as clouds roll in
6:30pm - Having sat for a while enjoying the view, I walk back the way I came
7pm - Take small, bumpy 1 bus to central
7:20pm - Walk to the pier
7:30pm - Take the star ferry across the harbor back to Kowloon, beautiful view
8pm - Walk up Nathan road, I thought I could go back to temple street but demonstrators are back and police have blocked things off. Head back to hotel
9pm - Grab my favorite Oreo ice cream that I learned about in Bangkok from 7-Eleven.
12 August
11:05am - Find Ma Sa, was told to go for breakfast to get spam/eggs on rice. Given lunch menu, ask for the dish and a picture is on the wall
11:12am - Omg, so simple yet so amazing, spam is unexpectedly delicious
11:30am - Get on MTR to get to Lantau island
12:15pm - Get to the sunny Tung Chung station, walk to the cable car entrance
12:30pm - Buy a one-way ticket and join a group in a cable car, going up over hills into the clouds
12:54pm - Arrive at top at Ngong Ping village, supposed to be authentic but lots of touristy restaurants/shops
1:15pm - Climb the 250 steps up to the Big Buddha, oof
1:25pm - Smaller than it looks, bit disappointing because the fog obstructs the view
1:35pm - Po Lin Monastery and Grand Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas
1:55pm - See water buffalo wandering around
2pm - Waiting for the bus
2:15pm - Take the bus down the peak to Mui Wo ferry pier
2:50pm - Hop on the ferry just in time, next one is in 40 minutes
3:30pm - Get to central, MTR back to the hotel
6pm - At dim sum at Yum Cha with a girl I used to tutor and her mum
6:20pm - Get very cute buns with googly eyes
7:30pm - Take a picture with the cute bun pillows
8:15pm - Back on Kowloon, apartment overlooking the harbor, great view
8:30pm - Their building has a pool, swimming with an amazing view
13 August
6:30am - Another phone interview, have to stop and start because of bad internet
8am - Breakfast in the hotel, back to sleep
1pm - Last day so taking it easy, take MTR to Mong Kok
2pm - Having a chirashi bowl at Big Bang Don, expensive but delicious
2:45pm - Getting last-minute souvenirs at the nearby lady’s market
3:15pm - Last Boba at KOI thé
4pm - Get to Pacific Place mall, walk around
4:45pm - See a movie at AMC, very relaxing
7:30pm - Walk to Arirang Korean BBQ
8pm - Hard to order for self but delicious
9pm - Take the tram back to the hotel
9:30pm - Get an email to get to the airport extra early because of demonstrations, advised to check-in bags early at Hong Kong station and take airport shuttle but cheap bus is right next to my hotel. I got many messages from concerned friends/family members about flight cancellations but my flight seemed fine.
14 August
10:25am - Waiting for the bus, sad to be leaving Hong Kong
10:35am - Get on a11, similar to bus from the airport
11:05am - Get to airport extra early, see one reporter but otherwise very calm
11:30am - Having checked in, I walk to the airport gate. Wait there for a while and see news reports of extreme upset at the airport the night before and a subsequent protest ban at the airport. My flight is an afternoon flight so there don’t seem to be any protestors. See some flight cancellations but only domestic/nearby countries.
2pm - Flight leaves for San Francisco.
12pm (3am the following day in Hong Kong) - After 13 hours I finally land in San Francisco. I skip the visitors' line (yey US residency), quickly get my bags and get in a cab to my new apartment.
Sad my travels are over but excited to start my new life and be in one place.
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