Hong Kong with a difference

We travelled to Hong Kong at end of September for eight nights. Not somewhere you would think of for a longer stay. Well, our son moved over there in January to start a new job with Cathay Pacific, the national Airline of Hong Kong. He looks after the safety of the airline.

Having been there on a couple of previous visits staying for only two nights, you don't really get to see what Hong Kong and the surrounding islands have to offer, it is so diverse. On the tourist trips for the short durations, you only really get to see the main sights this vibrant city has to offer. There is so much more so see!

We started our adventures by visiting the Hong Kong Zoological Botanical Gardens with an array of amazing plants and flowers on display. There are more than 900 species in the garden planted in such a way as to achieve natural beauty. Most of them are indigenous to tropical and sub-tropical regions. Another attraction in there is the keeping of wild animal exhibits which can be traced as early as in 1876. You could spend a whole day in there, in this park in the heart of Hong Kong Island.

A famous landmark is the Victoria Peak, which you can either hike up the winding road to the top at 554 metres (1811 feet for those of us who remember), or take the funicular railway up there. It offers great views around the island and over the bay to Kowloon.

We took to doing some hiking on this trip, our first adventure was to take the ferry to Lamma Island lying 3km off the southwest coast of Hong Kong Island. The ferry takes about 20 minutes, the local transportation is so cheap! We hiked on the Lamma Family trail for a few hours before stopping off for wonderful fresh seafood at the Rainbow restaurant. It is pretty expensive and they also make a cover charge and plastic table and chairs, but hey hoy you are eating with mainly locals!

Our next major hike was on Lantau Island home to Chep Lak Kok, Hong Kong's international airport. We caught the express train from Hong Kong Central to Tung Shung, such a great service, we set off and make our way over to Tai O, a hot and very humid 16km journey, but well worth it. We wandered around the village and then caught the local bus over to Mui Wo, sat and watched the world go by whilst eating fresh fish and chips and got the ferry back to the island.

We revisited some of the areas we had seen on a previous trip, using the frequent, very inexpensive, famous Star Ferries, well 20p for a one way across the bay to Kowloon, but very much more bustling area on Hong Kong, also home to some fabulous hotels including the famous Peninsular Hotel. We saw temples and hidden parks too. We met a distant Chinese relative who took us to a very local restaurant, where the menu is only Chinese and no-one speaks English, good job he ordered for us.

We are visiting again for a shorter trip next March, following our upcoming trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. I would recommend staying on Hong Kong Island as opposed to Kowloon.

Watch this space for my next adventures.