六 | Touristy Things prt. 1

September 23rd, 2016

I can’t believe I’ve been in Hong Kong for a month. Time is seriously flying by and I’m in no rush for this experience to end. At the same time I feel like I’ve been here longer than a month, and it’s probably because of all the adventuring I’ve done. There’s a long list of things I want to go over with you guys. I’m a big fan of getting the local experiences when I travel, but I’d say the tourist’s attractions here are definitely worth seeing. The attractions here introduce you to the Chinese culture and traditions making it a more meaningful sightseeing experience. The best way to find out whst cool things to do is to download the Discover Hong Kong app. There are so many sections for attractions. You can find the more tourists populated attractions, down to the low-key nightlife activities. If you’re a big fan of the outdoors you can find all the hiking trails that range in difficulty, and find the best beaches for water sports, etc. In the app you can also save the attractions you’re interested in so you can plan your trips later.

For starters, I went to the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens and Zoo. It’s a beautiful park within the bustling city area of Hong Kong Island. It’s free and open to the public. There aren’t any of the big favorites like lions, or bears, it’s mostly monkeys and birds, which are still very cool. The monkeys weren’t shy at all, swinging around their cages, yelling at each other from across the park, and taking food from people (your not supposed to feed them). The landscaping is gorgeous, as expected, and not to mention there’s free Wi-Fi.

The peak tram is also quite popular. It’s a steep 7-minute railway journey that takes passengers to the upper levels up Hong Kong Island. There’s plenty of shopping and restaurants, but most importantly there’s the jaw dropping view. It’s a sight you must see, I didn’t realize how massive the city area of Hong Kong was until I was able to feast my eyes down at this view. Hong Kong has the Guinness World Record for the largest permanent Light and Sound show that happens everyday at 8pm, with a series of buildings along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. For another good view there’s the Sky 100. It’s about a 2 minute ride up a lift to the top floor of the tallest building in Hong Kong, giving you an awesome view from within the city rather than from out in the mountains.

There are also several boat tours you can take around the city area. I’d say the simplest and cheapest one would be the STAR ferry. They have a night tour that takes you out to get a good view of the daily Light Show. I took the ferry during the day, for a short ride from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. It’s one of the oldest ways that people here used to get from the Island over to Kowloon, and it’s around 1USD.