48 Hours in Hong Kong…(part one)

Last month I went to New Zealand and Australia on a cruise. I had to fly to Auckland and back from Sydney. Whichever way you fly to these destinations, there is no denying that they are a long way away. Fortunately, both my husband and I managed to get four weeks leave as the cruise itself was for two weeks. We decided to fly with Emirates and I found a good option taking us via Hong Kong on the way out and Dubai on our return. If flights are routing that way anyway, it is surprisingly inexpensive to add a couple of nights stay and so not only extending our holiday but helping with the length of the flights and also with the inevitable jet lag.

I had visited Hong Kong in 1996, the year before it returned to China and was interested to see how it has changed.

We arrived in the early afternoon after an overnight flight and took a pre-booked shuttle transfer to the Metropark Hotel Mongkok in Kowloon. The transfer was amazingly easy to find and the journey from the airport on Chek Lap Kok island is about 30 minutes. Mongkok is a busy area, as is most of Hong Kong, but a great base for the night markets including Ladies market and Temple Street which are a mix of clothes, souvenirs and street food. The shuttle dropped us at the side entrance to the 4* Metropark which did not give the best first impression but there is no place for vehicles to stop at the front. In keeping with the city in general, the reception area was very busy but check-in was relatively quick and our room on the 12th floor was very comfortable with everything we needed.

The walk to the harbour front from the Metropark is a good 45 minutes but the bus routes and MTR are all very close so after settling in we took the bus to the waterfront.  As you head towards Tsim Sha Tsui, the markets and smaller shops are replaced by the large hotels and designer shops and from the promenade on Victoria Harbour, you get the iconic view over to Hong Kong Island. After a few dozen photos and some time watching the famous Star Ferry, we joined a Symphony of Lights cruise on the harbour which lasts around 90 minutes and is the best way to see the nightly laser show covering the buildings on both Kowloon and Hong Kong Island whilst enjoying a complimentary drink (or two).

Afterwards we walked the long walk through the night markets back to our hotel. A great start to our stopover…..