Day 1; Our flight was delayed by a few hours so we didn’t get to do everything that we had planned beforehand. We got to the hotel by 10pm where the guy at the front desk upgraded us to the top floor. đŸ™‚ The hotel, Hyatt Regency hotel, also gave us a complimentary smart phone with unlimited data which ended up being a lifesaver for us to walk around the streets. It took us a while to find the restaurant still, but we ended up eating at Din Tai Fung, which was amazing. By the time we finished eating it was 11pm and everything but small shops on the streets were open. So, we decided to just walk around and see the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, but that was closed too. Although the streets were incredibly clean and safe, we didn’t feel like being out too late so we headed back to our hotel to rest up for the next day.
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Day 2: After eating breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Ocean Park. The hotel offered us discount tickets which was nice and it helped beat the crowd of people. The first thing we did was go see the giant pandas, of course. There was no trash in sight and it was really nice for a place that was supposed to be a zoo. We ate lunch at the panda cafe, which I wish was more panda-themed and the food wasn’t that great. If you were to go, I’d recommend eating at the Old Hong Kong place in Ocean Park as it was much better when we stopped by for a snack. After Ocean Park,we went to Victoria Peak or The Peak, the most recommended thing for a tourist to do in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it was pretty foggy when we went there so it wasn’t as great of a view. The weather for today was perfect though. I completely forgot what it was like to not be sweating the entire time and to feel cold for once. It was suggested online that one takes the tram to go to the peak but the line to even ride the tram was insane. Kim and I couldn’t even see the end of the line while walking towards it. We decided to just take a taxi to the top which was enough for us. We ate dinner at Duddell’s which was supposed to be a really nice restaurant as it got two Michelin stars but it ended up being pretty disappointing for the price. After dinner, we went to the Night Market and I actually learned how to bargain really well – probably also thanks to seeing my mom do it so many times.Â đŸ™‚
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Day 3: We were super tired after our day so we chose to sleep in. Afterwards we walked around the mall area but it turns out the malls don’t open until 12pm so we did some serious window shopping. We just went to Ladies’ Market early and did more souvenir shopping and but our bargaining skills to the test again. We pretty much needed to finish up most of our HK dollars and kept the rest as a souvenir. It was a good thing we kept our spending under control as we almost forgot to leave some for our taxi to the hotel and the airport. Afterwards, we ate lunch at the airport by the time we got to the gate when it was the final Final call because we assumed that it wasn’t going to be on time for the first time. There was a thunderstorm so we were delayed landing for an hour. Once we landed, we were welcomed back by the 100 degree weather once again.
For Hong Kong, I think 4-5 days would’ve been the perfect amount of time for a relaxing vacation but 3 days is great for a taste of Hong Kong.
Manda in Manila 