A quick trip to Lantau Island, Hong Kong

It was our last day in Hong Kong so we woke up really early in the morning to catch a bus to head to the airport which is in Lantau Island that’s where Disneyland is but NOOOO we didn’t go there. 🙁

So we kept our luggage at the airport and paid the rent for storing it while we go and explore the island. We took  a train to where the Ngong Ping Cable Car is located but unluckily it was not operational on that day and we missed all the buses that goes up to Hong Kong Buddha and we didn’t have enough time. So we took a taxi which was bloody expensive. Fortunately, on our way back to the train we managed to take a bus which was so much cheaper.

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When we arrived to the top (btw, it’s quite far) we passed by the Ngong Ping Village and walked towards the Po Lin Monastery and the Hong Kong Buddha was located there. We walked all the way up to the big Buddha which was EXHAUSTING but the view was breath-taking. We later visited the monastery and headed back to the airport to catch our flight.

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It was indeed a short and quick trip and maybe some day we will get to explore more of the island next time.

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Markets in Kowloon Hong Kong

There are several markets in Kowloon to visit. Tim and I visited the Flower Market, Ladies Market, Goldfish Market and the Temple Street Night Market.

The markets aren’t that far from each other, we managed to walk to it all and started from the Flower Market. It was a strip of flower shops that sold different types of plants and flowers. We went there to check it out it out to see if we would see anything unique and we have. It’s not very touristic because obviously tourists don’t buy flowers LOL but it’s lovely to see.

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Our second stop was the Goldfish Market, that was impressive. If you are an animal lover you won’t like how they cage animals and how they sell Goldfish in a plastic bag. Yes, it is upsetting but it’s worth seeing. I was so tempted to buy a turtle and I even got into a argument with Tim over that LOL. He was like “HOW WILL YOU BRING IT WITH YOU TO DUBAI?” But they are just sooo cuteeeee. I love turtles by the way and when I was a child I had 4. 3 turtles and 1 tortoise and YES, I named all 4 after the Ninja Turtles hmmmmm technically famous painters LOL.

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Third stop was the Ladies Market. Men you may go and visit, it’s a mix of stuff. Ladies and Men’s clothes, souvenirs and toys. I bargained with one lady and dropped the price to more than 50% and she told me to shut up and to leave her shop LOL. I’m really not that annoying when I bargain LOL.

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Last stop we visited was Temple Street Night Market. One of the best markets we’ve been to and we highly recommend it. So many interesting restaurants and street food and yes, it is only open at night.

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So those are the 4 markets we’ve visited in Kowloon there are many more and more and more in Hong Kong Island.

 

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Bellion Travels – 3 Days in Hong Kong

We took Philippines Airlines to Hong Kong from Manila. Before writing down the itinerary of what you can do in 3 days; I added the below map from Trails of Indo China to explain our trip in a  more simplified matter.

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Hong Kong Map From : http://www.trailsofindochina.com/hongkong/map

As you can see there are 3 main islands which are all easily connected by a train.

Day 1: Kowloon (Orange Island)

We landed at Lantua Island where the airport is located and took the train to Kowloon. It took us almost an hour to find our hostel and we just gave up looking for it and asked a stranger if he knew where Urban Pack Hostel is located. He just pointed up and we realised it was on the 14th floor. (Interesting for a Hostel)

We left the hostel to have lunch and our first stop was to have lunch at the famous Michelin star Dim Sum Restaurant called ‘One Dim Sum’. 

For day one in Hong Kong, we decided to check out Kowloon so we visited 4 main markets.

  1. Flower Market: You can make out what kind of market it is by its name. LOL.
  2. Ladies Market: Good for souvenirs. Men can shop there too.
  3.  Gold Fish Market: They sell lots of fish, turtles and have pet shops. Weirdly, they sell the fish in plastic bags.
  4. Temple Street Night Market: We enjoyed walking around and exploring the local area. They have good and interesting street food.

Tim and I decided to walk to the Garden of Stars to take a picture with the famous Bruce Lee Statue. Afterwards, we walked back to the hostel to get enough sleep for the the next day trip to Macau

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Day 2: Hong Kong (Red Island)

Half of the day was spent in Macau.

As soon as we got back we took the train and headed to Hong Kong Island. We visited the Central Market and Mid-Level Escalator. Hong Kong Island was highly recommended for night life.

They’ve got great bars, clubs and restaurants. We spent the night at the Habour and headed back to Kawloon Island to have hot chocolate at Charlie Brown’s Cafe.

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Day 3: Lantua Island (Yellow Island)

Lantua Island is the yellow part of the map. We got up early in the morning, packed our bags and took the bus to the airport. It worked out cheaper for us but took longer.

We headed straight to the airport and rented a locker for 5 hours at the Airport Storage. 

Disneyland is located in Lantua Island but since we did not have enough time, we decided to go and visit Tian Tan Buddha followed by Ngong Ping Village and Po Lin Monastery. They are all located in the one area. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get on the cable car (AKA Ngong Ping) because it was under maintenance.

We headed back to the airport to catch our flight back to the Philippines.

So here is our 3 day itinerary in Hong Kong. We will post a separate blog about our stay and hostel.

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Our 14 days Travel Itinerary

Tim and I took 14 days off of work; actually to be precis, we took 10 working days off to finalise personal errands in the Philippines and then continue our holiday to other destinations.

So our itinerary of 14 days covered, Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong and Macau. I guess being a full-time employee to a huge organisation restricts our travels because of the limited days off.

In UAE, we are entitled for 22 working days off but being an expatriate, our holidays include visiting families abroad which means travelling to the same destination quite often. We don’t mind it at all because we really do miss them. So our current travel mission is to cover as much places as we can in a short period of time.

Here is how our itinerary looked like (not detailed)

Day 1: Landed late night in Philippines

Day 2: Makati, Philippines

Day 3:

  • Bonifacio Global City, Philippines
  • Rockwell
  • Travelled to Japan

Day 4: Landed in Narita Airport and took a bullet train to Kyoto

Day 5: Kyoto

Day 6: Nara & Kyoto

Day 7: Kyoto and took a bullet train to Tokyo

Day 8: Tokyo

Day 9:

  • Tokyo
  • Travelled to Philippines

Day 10:

  • Landed in Philippines and spent 5 hours at a nearby hotel
  • Travelled to Hong Kong
  • Explored Kowloon Island

Day 11: Macau & Hong Kong Island

Day 12: Lantau Island – travelled to Philippines

Day 13: Eastwood, Green Hills, Pasig, Marikina and Antipolo.

Day 14: We woke up an hour before check out and had breakfast in Pasig and headed straight to the airport.

Day 15: BACK TO THE OFFICE

PHEW!!! Typing the itinerary was as tiring as the trip but worth it. LOL. I really want to dedicate time to write about it because we’ve learned a lot and observed a lot and I’m dying to share everything with you.

Unlike most of my other posts, I want to put a lot more effort into writing about our experiences and stories, particularly Japan. I’ve visited 20+ countries and Tim has been to 30+ countries and by far our favourite country is Japan and I can’t think of any other place that can beat it. It was Tim’s third visit and that says a lot and I can’t wait to go back.

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