Day 2 of my Hong Kong Adventure

So on our first full day in Hong Kong we were booked on the tour Deluxe Hong Kong Island with Lunch . We were picked up from our hotel at 10:40 on a feeder minibus and then joined the rest of the group a few minutes later – there was only 18 of us so was a nice small group and our guide David was a character.

We first went to the Man Mo Temple which is dedicated to the gods of literature, there was 3 entrances and inside the area was filled with incense being burnt, we had 25 minutes here before going to the Victoria Peak Tram. As we were in a tour we got to queue jump the long line so didn’t have to wait long for the tram.  Once we got to the top the views across Hong Kong were just as you imagine – with the tall high rise buildings. Some people in our tour had included the Sky terrace which is the highest viewing platorm with a 360 degree view – we hadn’t got this included so we paid $50 HK (approx. £5) to go up to the sky terrace and I would recommend paying to do this.

After being here for 40 minutes we then drove to the Aberdeen fishing village and there was an optional tour of the Sampan boat – we paid to do this also and was $60 HK which is approx. £6 and took us on a 25-minute boat trip around the fishing village. We were then dropped at the floating village for lunch (it was then 3pm by this time) We had 50 minutes for lunch and Chinese tea was included but any other drinks had to be bought separately. If you didn’t do the Sampan ride the restaurant was running their own boats from the pier to the restaurant free of charge but obviously didn’t take you on a small tour. Lunch was good and mixture of spring rolls, dim sums, noodles and rice.

The downside to this tour was the 45-minute stop at the Jewellery factory where you had a 5-minute talk about this factory and what they made and then you were ushered into the show room and followed and hassled into buying their jewellery – no mention of this was on our original paperwork and was completely pointless and a waste of time as I don’t think anyone in our group brought anything.

We then got stuck in traffic on the wat to Stanley Market due to an accident so when we got there at 6pm most of the shops/stalls were closed or closing – if we hadn’t of been to the jewellery factory we would have seen more of what Stanley market was about which was a shame as I do like to shop and haggle for bargains.

We were dropped back off at our hotel approx. 8pm and luckily we didn’t have to change buses. It was a long day but very interesting and informative.  If you are going to Hong Kong I would recommend you asking your consultant to book you on this trip if you aren’t already. Due to the late lunch we were not hungry so did not have dinner out.  Less than 4 minutes away from our hotel was a British pub called The Derby where we went to have a couple of drinks.

I am lucky to be off on my travels again on Thursday but this time to Dubai for 2 nights and then cruising the UAE , and will be sampling life on board Silverseas Silver Spirit – so I will tell you about that next time (and then will finish my Hong Kong trip after in the blogs after that)

Have a great couple of weeks

Kerry

xx