This morning we were picked up by our guide and driver, Frank and Ringo who showed us around Hong Kong Island.
Just a short tutorial of Hong Kong geography: there are three main territories: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories. Victoria Harbor separates Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula; it is one of the deepest natural maritime ports in the world. Hong Kong and its 260 territorial islands and peninsulas are located in the South China Sea at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta. Hong Kong is fairly hilly and mountainous and has a sub-tropical climate. We are here at the beginning of the hot, humid, rainy season and we can confirm that it is hot, humid and rainy at this time of year. The hotel provided umbrellas which came in handy.
Our hotel is located on the Kowloon Peninsula side of the harbor. Ringo drove us through the Cross Harbor Tunnel (runs under the harbor) to get to Hong Kong Island. Our first stop was Stanley, a cute little seaside town that has a popular market for tourists. Dragon boat races are often held in the bay here. The dragon head and tails are only added to the boats on race day.
We continued our journey through HK island by Repulse and Deep Water Bay. These areas are where some of the most expensive property in the world can be found. A 1500 sq ft condo with run you a cool $10 million.
Our next stop along the southwest border of HK Island, we came to Aberdeen. Aberdeen is home to a floating village where several Tanka people (fishermen) still can be found living on boats. You will also find the world’s largest seafood restaurant, located in the Aberdeen Harbor, the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. We hired a Sampan to give us a tour of the harbor.
Our journey had us traveling up to the top of Victoria’s Peak. At an elevation of 1,811 feet, it is the highest hill on HK Island and on a clear day, offers spectacular views of the city and surrounding islands. It is also home to the most expensive real estate in Hong Kong. Today, there was no view, only fog.
Next up: Walking food tour of Kewlong neighborhood of Sham Shui Po. We met our guide, Ryan, in the hotel lobby where we started our journey with a quick ride on the metro to Sham Shui Po, which is located in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula. Although it is predominantly poor, Sham Shui Po is one of the densest and most vibrant neighborhoods in Hong Kong. It has a diverse mix of migrants from rural China, working-class families and seniors, with many living in cage homes, subdivided flats and public housing. Sham Shui Po has many lively street markets, electronics outlets, fabric stores, restaurants and food vendors.
We saved our appetite and skipped lunch so we couldn’t wait to dive into some local treats. Our first stop was for dim sum at Aberdeen Chau Kee Dim Sum Restaurant. The menu was in Chinese so Ryan ordered for us. We sampled the shrimp spring rolls, Shiu Mai (pork, mushroom and squid dumplings), steamed rice noodles with BBQ pork, shrimp and pork dumplings in chili and Har Gow (shrimp dumplings). We both agreed that the shrimp and pork dumplings in chili was our favorite dish.
We continued our stroll through the neighborhood shops and cafes where Ryan would point out interesting things along the way: we saw the dried seafoods, sharks fins, birds nests and Chinese medicinal goods.
We stopped at the Man Mo temple on Hollywood Road. It is one of the oldest temples in Hong Kong.
Our next stop was the Graham Street Market. This is one of the oldest continuously operating street markets in Hong Kong. Plans are in place to tear down the market and replace it with high rise apartments.
We walked off a bit of our dim sum lunch so decided to try some pan fried soup buns at Cheung Hing Kee which can be found on Lyndhurst street. This is a Michelin recommended restaurant and rightfully so, they were delicious!
We worked up a thirst and so stopped and tried a local favorite: Lan Fong Yuen tea stall on Gage Street where Andrew tried the HK special Yin Yang – a mixture of heavily cooked tea and coffee and evaporated milk and Ellen tried the Iced Lemon Tea.
Wonton noodle soup at Mak’s Noodles was up next followed by an Egg Tart at Tai Cheong Bakery on Lyndhurst street.
Our last stop was for some BBQ pork (Char Siu) at the famous Joy Hing restaurant. It was delicious…our favorite of the day!
We stuffed ourselves to the brim and were exhausted. Ryan escorted us back to our hotel via the Star Ferry to Kowloon (nighttime views of the city’s skyline were amazing) followed by a double decker bus ride where we called it a day. So fun!
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