My 24hrs in Hong Kong

I have recently returned from a 12 day fact finding trip to China, and part of the itinerary included a day in Hong Kong before returning to the UK.

I thought I would make the most of the short time, to explore this vibrant city.  So after an early breakfast, my colleagues Babs, Lynne & I, set off to find the local Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour.     We bought our tickets for HK$290 which is the equivalent of around £29.00 (about average for this type of tour).  We chose the Red Route, as we were short of time, because it gave us the opportunity to see the main sights of the city.  As well as the opportunity to cross over to Kowloon at the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Terminal.  There are 4 routes for the Big Bus Tour,  Blue, Red & Green, and a Purple Night Tour. depending on how much time you have, where you would like to explore, and of course how much you would like to spend.

So headsets, plugged, in, and a seat at the back to catch the breeze, we settled down to see what Hong Kong has to offer,and we were not disappointed!  We did however have a bit of a blip, when Babs had to get off to exchange our voucher for tickets.  She popped downstairs to the ticket office, but the bus then drove off without her!  Leaving her stranded without her bag, phone, & money!  However a member of the Big Bus company rescued her from her plight and paid for her to catch us up on the local bus. (40p!). We all met up again at the Tsim Sha Tsui Ferry and paid HK$3.70 for the 10 minute ride over to Kowloon.

This is a very popular area of the city, and much busier.  You will find the majority of shopping outlets, markets, restaurants etc here.   Eager to make use of our time and grab a few bargains, we took the local bus to MongKok to Ladies Market.  (You can get menswear there so not quite sure why it is so called?)

My tip:  Be prepared to haggle, and haggle hard!  We managed to get ourselves some great bargains, and had some laughs with the locals as we haggled to and fro!  You can also visit Temple Street Night Market & Stanley Market here. Laden with our goodies, we hopped back on the ferry to Hong Kong Island to complete our tour.

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to take the Peak Tram to Victoria Peak to see the stunning view of  Hong Kong below.  As we had to pack our cases one last time, to meet our guide who took us back to the airport for our return flight to the UK

But next time Hong Kong…. because I’ll be back!  This stunning city has so much to offer the first time traveller, and although I was only there for such a short time, the memories I made will last for a lifetime.