Exciting excursions in Hong Kong 在香港可以做的事情

Traditional Chinese Junk Boat Crossing Victoria Harbour

First and foremost, Hong Kong is a very welcoming city which has a lot of things to offer. It's simply more than just a city! From food, shopping, outdoor, colonial buildings and many more cultural heritage sightseeing places. I've been travelling many times to Hong Kong and thought to share some insights in this blog post. The city itself is a true happening cultural sightseeing destination from Monday till Sunday. The greatest fun to begin with is a quick visit to the peak and a ride on a traditional Chinese junk boat. I've used to book a four days Hong Kong pass which included most of the sightseeing spots of Hong Kong. Such Hong Kong travel pass allows to save about half of the expenses. Equally important is to check the weather forecast before visiting Hong Kong. It would be a pity to discover the hidden treasure of Hong Kong skyline while covered by clouds or fog. Although there are far more worthy things to do in Hong Kong, these alternatives are a ''must'' visit that won't disappoint you.

Ride on a Traditional Chinese Junk Boat

Taking a Hong Kong junk boat ride will give you the second best skyline view, but this view is just an after thought compared to the junk boat ride itself. Aqua Luna features a traditional junk boat ride through Victoria Harbour that also coincides with the cities famous light show, the Symphony of Lights. The sight of this venerable vessel with its flashy red sails set against the backdrop of an ultra modern skyline is certainly striking and it has become a cherished symbol of the city. 

Two Hong Kong yacht traders, Yu Lik-hang and his aunt Cheng Ching-wah, have acquired Duk Ling from the previous owners and to great effort and expense, have managed to save the vessel.

Duk Ling is licensed to carry up to 36 passengers plus crew.

Daily scheduled cruises are available. The cruise takes 45 minutes to sail around Victoria Harbor.

Boarding locations at Tsim Sha Tsui Pier 1 and Central Pier 9. Duk Ling is also available for private charter.

The Traditional Hong Kong Snake Soup

In the Causeway Bay section of Hong Kong you will find Se Wong Yee, the tiniest eatery, with the menu out front completely written in Chinese, except for the significant bold lettering stating the sale of Snake Soup, an Asian delicacy. There were two options on the menu; just the plain old Snake Soup for 50 HKD ($6.50 USD) or the Snake Meal which includes the of duck’s liver-sausage.

Ride in a Cable Car 

The cable car experience can be truly adventurous and breath taking! Before actually climbing the stairs to Big Buddha you have to get to its location on Lantau Island and there aren’t many options. You can take a bus, make a strenuous hike uphill or ride the 3.5 mile Npong Ping Cable Car that suspends you high above the ground. Not like the typical street cable cars in San Francisco.

Lantau Island Street Food

On the Western side of Lantau Island lies the quaint fishing village of Tai O where the homes are built on stilts and the markets sell a plethora of dried fish street food. Though there are dozens of fishy dishes to choose from I tried a meal of BBQ squid jerky, for just 10 HKD ($1.39 USD).

The Great Buddha of Lantau Island

Even though there are 268 stairs to reach Hong Kong’s Tian Tan, it is one of the top Things to do in Hong Kong. Tian Tan is one of the largest sitting Buddha’s in the world and even though at 34 metres (112 Ft) feet tall. The Big Buddha was perfectly visible from the ground level, it is hard to tell its true massiveness without getting up close and personal.

The Cheapest Michelin Starred Restaurant in the World

Tim Ho Wan is a hole-in-the-wall dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong that gained recognition after receiving a coveted Michelin star and therefore being known as one of the cheapest Michelin starred restaurants in the world. And it is cheap. Really cheap. Though they are well known for their pork buns, all their food is quite tasty.

Ocean Park Hong Kong

Opened in 1977, Ocean Park is an amusement park, home to thrill rides including four roller coasters, eight themed amusement zones and animals including sharks, bottlenose dolphins, koalas, giant pandas, penguins, walruses, sea lions and more. Perfect for kids and adults, Ocean Park is an umissable part of Hong Kong's heritage. The first pair of Giant Pandas named An An (安安) and Jia Jia (佳佳), were gifted to Ocean Park by China in 1999, followed by Le Le (樂樂) and Ying Ying (盈盈) in 2007. A regular ticket cost HKD 480, I have had the luck to get a free entry using my 4 days Hong Kong pass. The Ocean Park is located at 180 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen.

Kowloon Walled City Park

Historical not due to it's age but rather due to it's history in connection to the Walled City of Hong Kong. A ''must'' visit to visitors that wish to get a feeling on how the Walled City used to be. Some more details on how life was all about at the Walled City can be read on my earlier blog post.

The Kowloon Walled City had been a military stronghold since 15th century due to its coastal location and was a centre of vice and crime until 1987. Under the agreement between the Hong Kong Government and the PRC, the Kowloon Walled City was demolished in the 1990s while the indigenous buildings and features were preserved for incorporation in the new park.

Happy Valley Racecourse  

Visitors that love happening places won't be disappointed! Every Wednesday from September to July, thousands of Hong Kong residents flood the stands of the Happy Valley Racecourse. Horse racing is the only legal form of gambling in Hong Kong, making Happy Valley one of the few places where you are allowed to gamble in the city. And many of Hong Kong's citizens take full advantage. Even if you're not into betting, you should visit this local institution simply for the electric atmosphere, not to mention the surrounding city skyline, which sparkles once the sun goes down.

Much like the locals, recent travelers agreed the Happy Valley Racecourse is must-visit if you're in Hong Kong. Visitors reveled in the attraction's fun atmosphere, cheap admission and to most, surprisingly good food and drink options. Some travelers were quick to note that unlike other racetracks, specifically in the states, attire is very casual, so there's no need to pack any big hats or bow ties for your night at the track.

Standing room at the race track level costs just HK$10 (about $1.30), and tickets for the seated area start at HK$20 (about $2.60). You can purchase tickets the day of at the track or up to 10 days in advance from several outlets throughout the city. Only visitors 18 years or older are permitted inside the track. Located on Hong Kong Island, you can walk to the track from the MTR's Causeway Bay Station or simply take a taxi from either one of the Star Ferry piers on Hong Kong Island. The races usually last from 7 to 11 p.m.

 

Hong Kong Museum of History

The Hong Kong Museum of History was established in July 1975 when the City Museum and Art Gallery was split into the Hong Kong Museum of History and Hong Kong Museum of Art. But some of the Museum's collections date back to the City Museum and Art Gallery founded in 1962 at the City Hall. In 1983, the Museum was moved to the temporary accommodation in Kowloon Park. It was moved to its present premises on Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui in 1998.

The address is at 100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong (next to the Hong Kong Science Museum)

Yuen Po Street Bird Garden

The ideal place for birds enthusiasts. Yuen Po Street Bird Garden is located in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong, directly west of Mong Kok Stadium. While it’s unlikely that you’ll be purchasing a few Chinese thrushes as mementos of your Hong Kong trip, the garden is a pleasant place to witness this age-old Chinese hobby in action; where elderly men feed and preen their feathered friends in exchange for sweet songs.

The Avenue of Stars

The avenue is modeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and located along the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. It honors celebrities of the Hong Kong film industry. The most impressive sight is the monument of Bruce Lee.

Takeo Ishii 石井 健雄 - German Yodel Master

Yodeling is not just music but an art that not everyone can master. During my early days in Zurich, I loved to visit yodeling events. I remember that Bavarian type of yodeling sounded somewhat different than traditional Swiss yodeling. Besides the all-time best Franzl Lang from Germany, there is one impressive yodeling master from Japan that I like to remember. In 1291 early Alpine shepherds discover how to yodel by alternating their voices between natural singing tones and falsetto pitches. Shepherds began using the distinctive calls to round up cattle and communicate with others across the Alps. Although yodeling was probably being used back in the Stone Age, the choir singing of the yodeling songs only developed in the 19th century. Interestingly, Switzerland has an international yodel festival which is hosted every time in a different city. Through the festival's days, lots of artists from all over Switzerland, reach the host city.

The Japanese yodeling star Takeo Ishi (in German Takeo Ischi) that is still active continues to impress yodeling fans all around the world. There isn't much the public knows about him and I was told that Takeo is a very humble and nice person that identifies his style of singing with the surrounding alpine habitat. He is probably not someone who could live in a big city, the opposite would be Takeos favorite. The more nature, the more mountains the better!

Takeo was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. In high school, he was a loner, but it was during this time that he first heard yodeling on the radio. Following his father, Ischi went to university for mechanical engineering. In his spare time he became engrossed with the zither and the hammered dulcimer and learned to play these instruments. Using Franzl Lang's records, he taught himself to yodel and began performing on Japanese television. During a six-month period where he studied abroad in Germany, Ischi went to Switzerland, where he sang at a beer hall in Zurich. He soon started earning money from this. From there he sang in front of Lang, his idol, and Lang took him under his wing. He performed on television with Maria Hellwig, and after that became known in German language circles as the "Japanese yodeler".

Ischi met his wife Henriette in 1981 and proposed to her three years later at an onsen (hot spring) in Japan, where he yodeled his proposal to her. They married in 1985 and had five children, of which four sons named Maximilian, Michael, Andreas and Lukas, and one daughter named Julia. A humorous collaboration with The Gregory Brothers, "Chicken Attack", was released on January 25th, 2017, garnering over 4 million views on YouTube.

Experience the alpine atmosphere in Switzerland

Davos as an example is a small town of superlatives: this holiday destination with the international ambiance is the largest resort in the Alps for mountain holidays, sports, and conferences, at 1560 m the highest town in the Alps and a high-altitude health resort with a long tradition. In the center of Davos, visitors will find a wide range of accommodation and excellent shopping, with numerous boutiques, cafés, and restaurants. At night, too, there’s plenty of entertainment, with bars, discos and a casino.

The first situation we usually run into is that people who want to visit “Switzerland” assume that the first and best (and sometimes only) stop should be its largest city, which is Zurich. Unfortunately, Zurich is the most expensive city in the world for travelers, and it’s not really very interesting. Geneva is a very famous city (though not for tourism reasons) on a lovely lake of the same name, but it’s also notoriously dull and lacking distinction. Rick Steves puts it well by saying that “Geneva is pleasantly situated on a lake, like Buffalo or Cleveland.” The point is, you don’t want to go to Geneva unless you’ve got something specific in mind that you want to see there.

If you have 4 or fewer days in Switzerland I wouldn’t visit any of the cities listed above. If you have 5 or more days and especially if you want to include a proper city then I’d recommend 1 or 2 days in Bern. For a longer trip, and especially if you want to visit the French part of the country, then a day in Lausanne is worthwhile. Many people (me included) don’t feel as if they’ve scratched the surface of a new country if they haven’t spent at least a day or two in the largest city. Zurich is certainly pleasant and a useful transit hub so spending one or two nights there wouldn’t be a mistake. But Zurich isn’t even close to being a city like Paris, Rome, Berlin, Amsterdam, or even Vienna. If you skip it in favor of spending more time in the outdoors, you won’t be missing much.

Schilthorn observation deck and restaurant

The cable cars (mountain lifts that carry up to 80 people at a time) from Lauterbrunnen to Gimmelwald and from Gimmelwald up to Mürren are short and fairly cheap, but if you keep going up two more segments to the top, you reach the Schilthorn observation deck. It’s expensive (around US$100 round-trip from Lauterbrunnen to Schilthorn) but if the weather is clear this is very worthwhile and will be your single best memory of Switzerland.

There is a rotating restaurant (with prices similar to normal Swiss restaurants) and a bizarre and anachronistic James Bond attraction based on it being a key location in the 1969 movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The Bond thing is included with the lift, and it’s worth a look.

But the main thing you come here for is the 360-degree view from one of the highest peaks in Europe. Again, the weather here is key, but fortunately, all the locals track the visibility on a minute-by-minute basis. If it’s clear up top while you are in the area, it would be a terrible shame to skip it based on the high price. But even if it’s cloudy up top, there are still plenty of wonderful things to see and do in the villages below.

     Japanese Av Star