Weekend Getaway to Hong Kong: Where To Stay and What To Do In Hong Kong In Two Days

Hong Kong is one of my favorite destination for its vibrant life, halal dim sum and of course: no visa requirement. I visited Hong Kong with my family, double date with BuDin @diniros or only with Mr.husband. But this time was different, I went with my friends (mostly my office mates), a group of 9 people. 

I wasn't sure about taking a group and explore Hong Kong as a backpacker. But there always be the first time for everything, and that includes being a tour leader for my friends in Hong Kong and Macau.

Thanks to Air Asia promo ticket, we went after office on Friday night, transit in Kuala Lumpur, and arrived in Hong Kong the next morning. 

Arriving at Hong Kong International Airport

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Liburan Keluarga Ke Hong Kong: Why Hong Kong, Persiapan, Itinerary dan Budget

Saya selalu suka Hong Kong, bahkan pernah terucap request ke mr.husband, "Kita ke Hong Kong yuk tiap tahun :)" Yah namanya juga request boleh aja kan..:D

Karena itu, ebook kedua yang kami tulis adalah mengenai Hong Kong: A Place For Everyone. Eh belum download ebook kami? Gratis loh di link ini. Dari ebook, akhirnya saya diberi kesempatan oleh Elexmedia menulis buku Family Backpacking Hong Kong.

Saya memberanikan menulis ebook dan published book setelah menikmati liburan keluarga yang berkesan ke Hong Kong. Itulah sebabnya saya menulis "Hong Kong is a Place For Everyone", karena saya, mr.husband dan kedua Kiddos sangat menikmati liburan keluarga kami ke Hong Kong.

Melalui tulisan ini, saya rangkum hal-hal yang perlu diketahui untuk mempersiapkan liburan keluarga ke Hong Kong. Mau liburan agak jauh tanpa repot mengajukan visa? Hong Kong lah salah satu alternatifnya.

The apartments in Hong Kong

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Exploring Hong Kong in 12 Hours: Our Mommies Day Out Trip

I have never thought that a daytrip to Hong Kong was doable. Hong Kong is 4 hours by plane, and a daytrip would be totally insane! But somehow...we had just come back from our Hong Kong's mommies day out trip. And yes it was a return trip from Jakarta to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific.

Our original plan was a daytrip to Cirebon, but the train tickets cost the same with a return airfare from Jakarta to Singapore:p So We changed our plan to visit Singapore. I calculated that a weekend getaway to Singapore would cost IDR 3,000,000 per person, which includes: airfare, hostel for two nights, meals and transport. But we've been to Singapore and Johor Bahru on a mommies' day out trip already.

Hong Kong crossed my mind, so I checked Cathay Pacific's website. That time I found a "One Day Special Offer" from Cathay Pacific, and I told my friends if they are interested visiting Hong Kong for a day, with an estimated budget of IDR 3,500,000 per person (all in). Everyone said YES! Hahaha, I am not sure who was crazy, is it me who had the idea, or my friends who agreed to my idea? Well, so we went to Hong Kong for one day, instead of a daytrip to Cirebon or a 2 nights stay in Singapore.

It all started with this promo from Cathay Pacific

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A Photo Tour to Tsing Ma Bridge Hong Kong

Upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport, we took airport bus and sat on the second floor. It was early in the morning and we were amazed by the view of sunrise when we approached Tsing Ma Bridge, a bridge that connects two islands: Tsing Yi and Ma Wan.

Tsing Ma Bridge is the world's largest suspension bridge that carries both road and rails traffic. So when you take the airport bus from the airport to Hong Kong or Kowloon, you will be passing the bridge. But if you take the Airport Express Train, you will go through the tunnel under the Tsing Ma Bridge. It is how sophisticated this bridge is.

It was the first view we saw in Hong Kong after our midnight flight

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Getting Close to Stonecutters Bridge Hong Kong

We were lucky that we have friends in Hong Kong who were able to take us around while we spend our weekend getaway in Hong Kong. Deasy and Andi have been living there more than 5 years, with all of their knowledge about Hong Kong, still they were in doubt where to take us that morning.

I wanted to visit Repulse Bay and Shek O beach, but Andi suggest other thing: to see the view of Stonecutters Bridge. Then I remember passing that bridge and all the colorful container by airport bus. Suddenly the beaches sound less interesting, and I agreed to visit anti main stream tourist place: container in Hong Kong and the bridge.

Andi is a professional photographer, his amazing pictures could be seen in his website https://andreas-images.com/. So it was kind of a photo trip around Hong Kong that day with Andi and Deasy. A trip that my husband Rene enjoyed so much. 

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Staying at Apple Hostel Chungking Mansion

"Never stay at Chungking Mansion", "Please avoid this place", "You have to wait for the lift for half an hour"... I ran through the comments on tripadvisor from travelers who have stayed at Chungking Mansion. I was wondering, is this place really that bad? "The traveler" inside myself decided to try and experience it by myself. I would like to know, how bad is bad?  

"Is it ok if we stay at Chungking Mansion for our last night in Hong Kong? It's only HKD 300 per night for the two of us. The cheapest room I could get so far" I asked Rene, before clicking the reserve button in booking.com. Rene asked me how the review on tripadvisor was. I told him that many travellers complaint about Chungking Mansion, but the Apple Hostel I choose had positive reviews. He said ok, and I proceed the booking.

We spent our first night at Causewaybay Inn, a modern and affordable hostel located at Times Square Hong Kong. Because our itinerary was exploring Tsim Sha Tsui area on the second night, I had the idea to stay at Tsim Sha Tsui. Well in terms of location, Chungking Mansion is perfect. Just minutes away from Kowloon Mosque, MTR Station, and Star Ferry Terminal.  

The busy Chungking Mansion at night

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Central - Mid Levels Escalator Hong Kong

Mid Level Escalator Hong Kong was on my list on our first independent trip to Hong Kong, but it was raining every single day back then. We skipped the escalator, and visited 4 years afterwards. Time flies, really.

The Mid Levels Escalator at Central Hong Kong is claimed to be the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world. But it was not my reason to try the escalator, I was interested in the surrounding areas near the escalator. Let me take you to our journey exploring Central to Mid Levels using their famous escalator.

Local people are using the escalator which linked Queens Road (Central) with Conduit Road (Mid Levels)

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A Walking Tour in Central Hong Kong

As one of Asia's shopping paradise, Hong Kong has so many areas for shopping. Tsim Sha Tsui, Causewaybay and Central are the three major shopping complex, and probably my fave is Central. One of the reason is because there's a huge Marks and Spencer store located in Queen Street. Marks and Spencer's price in Hong Kong is way cheaper compared to their price in Indonesia.

To explore Central, Rene and me decided to explore the area by doing our own walking tour with GPS on our phone. We started our walking tour in Central by taking a tram from Western Market and alight at Pedder Street. The what so called "Ding-ding Tram" could only be found in Hong Kong island. You have to try this old tram to get "a real Hong Kong experience". Passangers get in from the rear door of the tram, and exit from the front door.

The colorful old tram in Central, Hong Kong

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Halal Food in Hong Kong : 27 Kebab House Turkish Restaurant

I finally made it to the famous SOHO area in Hong Kong! Yup, I have always wanted to visit SOHO, but there were always something that kept SOHO away from me. Somehow I made it on my 4th visit to Hong Kong:)

We walked from Queen Street and took the Mid Level Escalator. All of the sudden I wanted to exit the escalator. How lucky I was to find a halal certified Turkish restaurant between cafes and restaurant in SOHO. It is called the 27 Kebab House Turkish Restaurant.

Located among cafes and restaurant in SOHO area

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Ebook Travel Gratis : Hongkong, a Place For Everyone

Yup, another ebook from tesyasblog.com :)

Setelah mengeluarkan ebook tentang Singapura dan Melbourne, kali ini we proudly present our free download travel ebook on Hongkong.

Hongkong setelah Singapura...

Banyak warga Indonesia yang “melirik” Hongkong setelah liburan ke Singapura, Johor Barhu dan Kuala Lumpur. Awalnya buat saya Hongkong itu terkesan mahal, misalnya saja untuk harga tiket pesawat. Jika dibandingkan dengan tiket pesawat pp ke Singapura, harga tiket ke Hongkong bisa dua hingga tiga kali lipat. Karena itu saya tidak pernah merencanakan untuk liburan ke Hongkong hingga suatu hari saya mendapatkan trip gratis dari kantor. Terbukalah mata saya bahwa Hongkong tidak semahal yang saya kira, dan saya pun kemudian “PD” untuk mengatur kepergian ke Hongkong secara independent.

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Causewaybay Inn, a Place to Stay On Budget in Hongkong

Looking for an affordable place to stay in Hongkong? It was not easy to find a cheap, centrally located, modern, very clean, budget hotel in Hongkong for my weekend getaway with Rene. 

We didn't want to stay at dorm in the hostel. We did once in Tree in Lodge Singapore, ending up I couldn't sleep well because I was affraid that I could not wake up to catch the first flight in the next morning. I stayed at a female dorm, while Rene slept at a mixed dorm.

I read the review of budget hotel in Hongkong on tripadvisor and found out the top on the list was Causewaybay Inn. I checked their website, and fell in love with this budget hotel. It looks great and very cheap indeed.

We took airport bus A11 and alight at Causewaybay. It only took 5 minutes walking to reach the building on Percival Street. The hotel had sent email to us giving access code to the building, to enter the units as well as the code for our room. So we could do our self check-in as we arrived at 7 am.

The entrance to an old building, Causewaybay Inn is on Level 1

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A Short Visit to Ngong Ping

On our last day in Hongkong, we decided to try the cable car which connects Lantau Island and Ngong Ping. Actually it was not in our itinerary, because we thought we would have done it enough in Ocean Park. But having seen the cable car from our hotel room in Novotel Citygate the whole morning, we changed our mind and walked to the Cable Car Terminal, which located just meters away from Tung Chung bus terminus.

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Toy Story Land Hongkong Disneyland

One thing I learned from taking kiddos to Disneyland: instead of meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse, they preferred meeting Buzz, Woody and other Toy Story Characters! So this Hongkong with kiddos trip was inspired after I read the news that Hongkong Disneyland had opened the Toy Story Land in Nov 2011.

We spent three hours in Toy Story Land! That's why we'd like to make a special post on it. We entered Toy Story Land area after the 1 pm Disney Parade. Toy Story Land located behind the Disney's castle, that's why it is closed 1,5 hours to the Disney Fireworks, for the show preparation. First kiddos met this woody statue just meters away from Andy's Toy Box.

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Visiting Cheung Chau Island Hongkong

Advised by our friend who is currently living in Hongkong named Deasy, we visited Cheung Chau Island, a gorgeous small island, one hour away from Hongkong. We have been to Macau before, and we thought Macau was not the right place to be visited with our kiddos. So we were looking for a place which is free and kids friendly, and the recommendation to visit Cheung Chau was all we need. Thanks a lot Deasy!

We took an ordinary ferry from Pier 5 of Central Ferry Pier. It is recommended to take the fast ferry as the seats are more comfortable. But the only ferry available was the ordinary one, we purchased deluxe tickets (HKD 19,7 for adults, and HKD 9,9 for child), and this was all we got: a dining area which made our kiddos#2 asked "Are we going to eat here?":p

on the deluxe area of the ordinary ferry

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Halal Dim Sum in Hongkong

Finally we found the place where we could eat halal dim sum in Hongkong! And even better, the place is only minutes away from JJ Hotel, the hotel we stayed in Hongkong during our trip with kiddos. The canteen located on the 5th floor of  Masjid Ammar and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre in Wanchai. The canteen opens at 10 am and served dim sum until 3 pm.

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Novotel Citygate Hongkong

We changed our booking of JJ Hotel from 4 nights to 3 nights, and decided to allocate our budget to spend one night at Novotel Citygate. The main reason was we would like to stay as close as possible to Hongkong Disneyland, but we couldn't afford Disneyland Hotel:p We booked through their accor website, a superior room including breakfast HKD 1,400 nett for one night.

We left JJ Hotel early in the morning and took a taxi to Hongkong Station (cost HKD 40). Maybe the taxi driver assumed that we were going to the airport as we had our luggage with us. So he dropped us in front of the airport express train station. We walked to MTR station from the airport express train station, and took MTR heading to Tung Chung MTR station.

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JJ Hotel Hongkong

If you are looking for an affordable hotel in Hongkong, especially when you are traveling with kids to Hongkong, we would recommend JJ hotel, the hotel where we stayed with our kiddos (at that time 3 and 5 yo). I rate this hotel excellent in the tripadvisor review (I seldom give excellent rating so far).

Right after we booked a promo ticket to HK back in March 2012, we search for what so called "the right" hotel for our family. That would mean: affordable price, strategic location, near to restaurant serving halal food in Hongkong, and allow us to take 2 kids (most of the hotel policy stated that they only allow to take one child). 

We spent hours on booking.com and finally decided to book a free cancellation room at JJ Hotel in Wanchai area. We booked the premier room, as we needed space for the four of us. We sent email to the hotel prior to our booking, asking the hotel whether is it ok if we take two kiddos to share the room with us. They replied promptly saying that it is ok, but they won't provide any additional pillow and also blanket. The cost of our room is HKD 980 excluding 10% tax, room only (the room was booked in April 2012 while our trip was in Feb 2013). 

When we arrived at the hotel, we found the hotel to be exactly "very central" to everything just like the reviews that I have read about this hotel. Just beside the hotel, there is Yoshinoya (non-halal), and at the basement (exit the hotel entrance, turn left, and go downstairs) you will find welcomm supermarket, where the price is way cheaper compared with Seven Eleven. I did some research regarding the hotel location, I saw on the google map that there are some bus stops around the hotel. However I have never imagined that the bus stops were so close to the hotel.

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Using budget airline from Hongkong International airport

Finally it's time for us to leave Hongkong after all the sightseeing, the shopping, the taking picture session, and all the Indian food:p We took our lugage at Hop Inn, and walked to the A21 bus stop which took us directly to the airport. Please note that the bus stop is different than the one we're coming from the airport. It's in the opposite side.

By the way, we have returned our octopus card at the MTR station. They gave us our deposit which is HKD 50 minus HKD 5 for their fee, and also the remaining balance. So we pay cash for the A21 bus fare which is HKD 33.

As we're flying with jetstar, we have to go to terminal 2. And we thought that we're going to fly for terminal 2 as well. Little bit dissappointed with the budget terminal, there's no Popeyes (the only halal certified food in HK I knew so far beside the Indian food), and the Disney shop is smaller than in terminal 1. We checked in at the counters and forgot to ask the emergency seat this time. Oh nooo.. The lady said that after checked in, we have to go to terminal 1 because the immigration is in the terminal 1 and all flights fly from terminal 1.

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Shopping at Cheung Sha Wan Road

We continued our journey on the last day in Hongkong to Cheung Sha Wan Road, to shop the latest fashion with wholesale prices. To go there, take MTR to Sham Shui Po and exit C1, walk to Cheung Sha Wan Road. Actually there is also a flea market in Apliu Street, but when we went there, the flea market was not yet open.

Most of the shops can be found between Yen Chow Street and Wong Chuk Street. The clothes are over runs from garment factories in and around Shan Shui Po - with a few reject thrown in for good measure. Many of the shops are run by fashion-conscious operators who save the best items for Hong Kong boutiques and overseas buyers.

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Second Visit to Avenue of Stars

Our last day in Hongkong was raining (meaning another foggy day!), so we cancel our plan to visit Ngong Ping, the Budha statue. Bye bye Ngong Ping... First we took pictures in front of the famous Peninsula Hotel.

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