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For full posts about my trip, visit my blog: Eat Fly Wander !

INTRODUCTION

It's my last real summer of medical school so my mom and I decided to do a 2.5 week trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong in June. Neither of us have ever been to Taiwan nor have we stepped foot into Hong Kong in over 20 years. (I hardly remember anything about that trip.) So that leads us here. My ten-part trip report of our 11,357 mile trip including 4 countries, 4 airlines, 7 lounges and over 1500 pictures. This is my first trip report ever so any critiques would be great!

INDEX

Part 1 – Planning & Introduction

Part 2 – HNL – NRT via UA 747-400 Upper Deck BusinessFirst

Part 3 – NRT – TPE via ANA 767-300 & ANA Business Lounge

Part 4 – Tackling Taipei Travel

Part 5 – Around-the-island Taiwan Tour

Part 6 – TPE – HKG via EVA 777-300ER Royal Laurel & EVA The Infinity Lounge

Part 7 – Hopping around Hong Kong Part 1

Part 8 – Hong Kong Disneyland with a Side of Sightseeing

Part 9 – HKG-ICN via Asiana 747-400 & HKG 3 Lounge Bonus

Part 10 – ICN-HNL via Asiana A330-300 Business Class


For full posts about my trip, visit my blog: Eat Fly Wander !

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TRAVEL PLANNING

I would like to thank all of the contributors to FT for helping me tremendously when planning this trip. From seat selection and aircrafts to hotel recommendations and coupon codes, you guys are the best!

I decided to book this trip using points and miles I had been stockpiling for quite awhile. And I accumulated enough to book both trips in Business Class thanks to my CSP and MP Explorer VISAs. My CSP is my normal everyday spend card and I use my MP Explorer whenever I fly.



Back to the trip. Our itinerary looked a little something like this: HNL-NRT-TPE-HKG-ICN-HNL (see flight map above) with NRT and ICN only being quick layovers. We took advantage of United's free stopover on our routing and routed it as a RT TPE trip from HNL with a stopover in HKG. Total came out to 105,000 miles and $70 in taxes per person.



Surprisingly, the tricky part wasn’t finding award availability of Star Alliance partners. The problem was finding favorable planes and products to fly! I booked the award back in November 2014 (about 6.5 months prior to departure) so the availability was plenty. I ended up choosing these options:



United 747-400 Upper Deck BusinessFirst – HNL-NRT and vice versa is the only way of flying in a 180 degree recline bed in and out of Honolulu to Asia. And I knew I wanted to fly one of the best United seats available at least once.

ANA 767-300 Business Class – Heard good things about ANA’s service so I was excited to include them.

EVA Air 777-300ER Royal Laurel – Taiwan’s own international airline and getting a small taste of their Royal Laurel product sounded tasty.

Asiana 747-400 and A330-300 Business Class – Rather than try to do a reverse of our inbound itinerary, decided to try another world-renowned airline and have a quick layover at their home airport, ICN.


All hotel reservations were made through CheapTickets for the most part utilizing their weekly coupon codes. My main concern when looking for hotels was being in close proximity to a metro/subway station and free WiFi of course!


For full posts about my trip, visit my blog: Eat Fly Wander and follow me on Twitter !

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UA HNL-NRT BUSINESSFIRST 747 UPPER DECK


We did a nice stop at the United Club at HNL before our morning flight to Narita. It was relatively empty since we got to the airport early and passed through security pretty quickly. The club could use some serious renovations but still a comfortable place to wait for your flight with nice views (as seen in the picture above) of the apron. We had a light breakfast from their small selection of pastries, cereals and juices and I eagerly awaited the beginning of the trip I had been waiting 7 months for!


Not only had I been waiting for the start of this trip for 7 months, but it would be my first time flying a premium cabin internationally AND as a bonus I got to fly on the Queen of the Skies on United’s upper deck. (Supposedly some of the best seats you can sit on the United fleet)

UA 879: HNL – NRT
Boeing 747-400
Depart: 10:20AM (June 10,2015)
Arrive: 1:25PM (June 11, 2015)
Time: 8HR5MIN
Seats: 15J/K

(sorry about the blurry pic, there were hoards of Econ passengers behind me! :O)

As many already know, United’s 747-400 is a three-class cabin aircraft with Economy, BusinessFirst and GlobalFirst all on the lower deck and additional BusinessFirst seats on the upper deck. The upper deck houses only 20 of United 747 Business Class seats. I loved entering the plane and heading upstairs! What a feeling!

A few snaps of the seat, controls and IFE:

PDB and menus were distributed shortly after arrival and settling in. I stuck with champagne for the remainder of the flight and here were our dining options:


Orders were taken from front to back of the cabin and we were asked to give our first and second choices. I wanted the Japanese selection as my first choice and the shortrib as my second. The very apologetic FA (she was based in Japan) informed me several minutes later that she would not be able to accommodate my Japanese selection choice. I'm assuming it was given to those higher on the totem pole, as it should be!


Ended up with the shortrib which was tender and flavorful, but a bit on the salty side. And dessert was the infamous sundae. I asked for a cherry on mine but she may have gone a little overboard...


But the more the merrier in my book!

The IFE was very extensive as many others have said before and I agree. There were hours and hours of movies (both recent blockbusters and classics) and television shows to entertain me for the entirety of my flight and then some!

Beverage service continued throughout the flight with our very attentive flight attendants. There was also a mid-flight snack service that was done a few hours prior to landing at Narita.

Landing was very smooth and deplaning very efficient. The flight attendants made sure the BF passengers from the upper deck finished deplaning before any of the economy passengers deplaned. Overall, this flight on United 747 Business Class was my favorite United flight to date. A wonderful seat and great selection of IFE paired with decent food service.


For the full write up, visit here: Eat Fly Wander and follow me on Twitter !

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Before we get to the lounge, there is a fun little side story that happened to me when we were going through transfer security check at Narita. There was a slight hiccup with my backpack after being scanned. It had to be checked. and the agent found two of my small hand sanitizer bottles. After rescanning the bottles and deeming them fit to enter Japan, the agent gets a small Ziploc baggie, zips up my hand sanitizer and places them back into my backpack and says, "No spill!" I was blown away by this! What a great way to enter Japan!


ANA LOUNGE

And back to Narita. We had a 4 hour layover here so there was ample time to wander around the airport and check out the many shops. We bought some Japanese snacks to bring home. They surprisingly survived the following 2.5 week trek unscathed. After shopping was exhausted, it was time to lounge.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) operates 5 different lounges at Narita. There are 2 Suite Lounges for first class passengers, 2 Lounges for business class passengers as well as an Arrivals lounge. For our layover we spent our time in the Satellite 4 Lounge, which is located one floor below the main concourse. There were escalators and elevators at the end of the 40s gates.

For those interested, both of satellite 5's lounges have just undergone a remodeling if you want to check it out! We didn't have the chance to do so when we were there. There is an underground tunnel connecting the two satellites to make sure you ask how to use it rather than going all the way around.


Agents stood up and greeted us as we walked in and scanned out boarding passes. They informed us of a last minute gate change and apologized that they do not do boarding announcements. Such great service already! Grabbed our BPs and off we went into my favorite lounge of the trip! The entire lounge from check in counter to restrooms is white-marbled with dark accents and furniture. It made for a very sleek, modern look which I definitely approved of.

There is ample seating available once you enter the lounge with it extending far beyond the buffet and restroom area. I found the chairs fairly comfortable. WiFi was very reliable and outlets were very accessible for many of the chairs I looked at. That's important! (But really..)



The buffet area was small but stocked. The dishes were constantly being checked to see if they needed to be replenished. There were several salad and sandwich options as well as breads and assorted nigiri/sushi rolls available. A DIY bar was also available with many options to mix and pour. There is also a nice sake bar on one end of the lounge for those that want a more traditional Japanese pairing.


The two real gems of this lounge though were the noodle bar and Asahi perfect pour machine. I can't stress how amazed I was by the Asahi machine and how bummed I am I didn't snap a pic of it. I guess I was enjoying that Asahi a little too much afterall. The machine tilts your glass back and pours a perfect glass of Asahi Super Dry with a foam finish. Coolest. Thing. Ever! The noodle bar served up made-to-order bowls of ramen, soba and udon along with chicken curry rice. Delicious food options if you are at the lounge!

The most unfortunate thing about the ANA Satellite 4 Lounge is that it is located below the main concourse. That means there were no views of the apron at all. Some natural light couldn't hurt right? But there are no windows here.

ANA 767-300 REGIONAL BUSINESS CLASS

Unfortunately, the only way we could make to Taiwan in a reasonable amount of time was flying on ANA's 767-300 V2 Regional Business Class. The craft featured recliner seats. Not the Business Staggered lie flats or Business Cradle angled flat seats. Business class is still business class right?

NH 823: NRT - TPE
Boeing 767-300 V2
Depart: 5:40PM
Arrive: 8:15PM
Time: 3HR35MIN
Seats: 5A/B


The cabin was configured 2-1-2 manner. Solo travelers will really enjoy the middle seats. They also offer a little additional storage compartment? Correct me if I'm wrong, I thought I saw my neighbor place something inside the compartment to the right of his seat. 35 seats total. Our flight was less than half full.

Menus were distributed after settling into our seats and orders for food and drinks were taken shortly before take off. I opted for the Washoku meal and champagne as my beverage of choice. The Washoku was soy sauce-simmered ginger pork over rice with various mini appetizers.


Once airborne, beverages were served promptly and appetizers/meals came out soon after. The meal was okay. Being from Hawaii and having visited Japan last year, I can say that I've had better Japanese food before. But as far as airplane food goes, it was definitely a step above other meals I've been served inflight.


The IFE was definitely lacking on this flight, especially compared to my previous flight on United's 747 BF, with only a few movies to select from. I eventually just chose to watch Toy Story 3 then the flight map for the remainder of the flight.

The rest of the flight was unremarkable as we approached Taiwan. The service onboard was great and attentive, but the hard product (seat and IFE) were lackluster for me. I would love to try out their Business Staggered product though on international long-haul.

BONUS PLANE SPOTTING PICS AT NRT

For more on my experience read: Eat Fly Wander

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For the full Taipei report, check out the post HERE!

I’d like to start this segment by thanking everyone here on FT for being a wonderful resource during the entire planning process of my trip, especially for my 3 days in Taipei since it was brand new destination for me and my mom. After extensive reading and searching, here was our final itinerary:

DAY 1: Taiwanese breakfast, Maokong Gondola, Taipei Zoo, Taipei 101, Din Tai Fung
DAY 2: Chaing Kai Shek Memorial, Longshan Temple, Ximending Shopping
DAY 3: Yong Kang Street Lunch, Wufenpu Market, Ximending Round 2, Hot Pot

I originally had a more extensive itinerary, but lets just say that humidity killed my schedule greatly. It was so damn hot that we had to take midday breaks to the hotel to get out of the peak heat times.

HOTEL – DANDY HOTEL DAAN PARK
We stayed at Dandy Hotel which was a great value hotel with an amazingly close subway station (10 steps away from the hotel entrance). We opted for the Elite Twin room with Park View which came out to about 90USD a night. There was a 7-11 convenient store right downstairs as well as nice amenities in the hotel such as a DIY laundry room and computers/printers for guests to use.


The hotel ain’t no Grand Hyatt or W but it gets the job done and is very comfortable for two travelers. There is an included breakfast buffet which was very nice and a great way to start our morning before exploring Taipei!

TAIPEI HIGHLIGHTS

I’ll go over some of my favorite places in Taipei now. If you want a full write up of my 3 days and more pictures, head over HERE!

One of the mornings, we headed to Fu Hang Dou Jiang on a friends recommendation for a traditional Taiwanese breakfast. It’s located on the second floor of Hua Shan Market and serves soy milk, chinese crullers/doughnuts and shaobing which is flatbread. It was a great and really cheap meal and wonderful way to kick off our time in Taipei.


Next stop was the Maokong Gondolas and Taipei Zoo. The zoo was unremarkable but there were two giant pandas to gawk over. The gondolas were a fun experience though. We arrived at opening time and avoided all lines. Because of this, we were able to ride the Crystal Cabins (glass bottomed gondolas) without much of a wait at all.


The entire trip took about 30 minutes and cost only about $1.60! Maokong Station is the terminus and there are several attractions to get to on foot. We did a little sightseeing and stopped for for a refreshing midday snack! Maokong is famous for its tea farms, so we got…

Next stop in the evening was Taipei 101, which was formerly (until 2010) the tallest building in the world. That title now belongs to Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It does however hold the record for the fastest passenger elevator, blasting visitors up to the 89th floor observatory in less than 40 seconds.


The observatory also had a souvenir shop, bubble tea stand and various exhibits about the construction and infrastructure of the tower. It’s a fun ‘When In Rome’-esque thing to do, but hard to see locals or repeat travelers going up 101.

To round off a nice first day in Taipei, we ate at Din Tai Fung! Famous for their xiao long bao (soup dumplings), Din Tai Fung has several locations throughout Taipei and beyond (United States included). The original location is the Yong Kang Street location. Our wait was ~30 minutes for two people. This location seemed bigger than most and they ask that you fill out and order form when you put your name for a table. (read: efficient) Great flavors and delicious dumplings with savory broth soaking inside.


A wonderful 'attraction' that I enjoyed (mom probably enjoyed more) was Wufenpu, the wholesale garment area in Xinyi. Hundreds of tightly packed stalls and shops lined maybe 6 or 7 blocks making up this outdoor market. As tight and narrow as the roads were, it didn’t stop mopeds from zooming and beeping their way through all of the bargain shoppers. Lots of Taiwanese street fashion can be found here at a bargain!


Our next stop on the report is a cultural one. Longshan Temple is probably the most popular Buddhist temple in Taipei. Although it isn't a full day, or even half day, affair, Longshan is still a great sight to see with lots of foot traffic coming in and out. After burning our incense and walking around to see the various altars, I shopped around for blessed charms to bring home. There are charms for nearly everything you can think of. I opted for one for 'good studies' which is very fitting being in medical school and all.


Look out for my next post about our 5-day tour around the the island of Taiwan. For the rest of our Taipei adventure, visit the post HERE!

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Couple more fun pics from Taipei I dug up before moving on with this report!


For the full Taipei report, check out the post HERE!

xcalibir

Nice trip report, I figure you just took the STEP and just started rotations? :P (My bro is in the same year of med school as you)

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Thanks! I'm actually between my first and second year. Your brother is between his second and third year. Third year is when you start rotations. I figured I will be spending next summer studying exclusively for Step 1 so won't have time to be gallivanting around the world

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For the complete Taiwan tour, check out the post HERE!

We chose to do a tour for the rest of the island of Taiwan instead of trying to plan our our itinerary. Honestly, I was getting a little overwhelmed trying to piece together more pieces of this trip while going to school full-time. But also, the guided tour that we picked would let us visit a little bit of everywhere around all of Taiwan. The one we picked was a 5-day around-the-island Taiwan tour that started and ended in Taipei. I booked our tour through Viator which books the tour with local Taiwianese tour company, EDISON TOURS.

DAY 1: Taipei – Xuanguang Temple – Wenwu Temple – Sun Moon Lake
DAY 2: Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastery – Liuhe Night Market – Kaohsiung
DAY 3: Kenting – Southern Coastal Highway – Chihpen Hot Springs
DAY 4: Eastern Coastal Highway – Sansientai – Hualien – Taroko Gorge
DAY 5: Taroko Gorge – Changchun Temple – Hseuh-Shan Long Tunnel – Taipei

The tour included an English-speaking guide, travel and hotel accommodation, entrance/attraction fees and breakfast at the hotel every morning. Lunch and dinner as well as optional activities/items were at your own expense. We paid ~$500/person for the tour. Considering it was a 5 day tour with 4 night accommodations at ‘5-star hotels,’ I think it was a great value. (A much better value than me trying to plan it out on my own.. :P)

DAY ONE
The tour included hotel pickup and drop off at the end so we were driven from our hotel at 8am to the meeting spot for the beginning of our Taiwan tour. The driver unloaded our luggage and escorted us over to a large tour bus which we would become very familiar with over the next 5 days. The bus was comfortable enough. The seats were fairly cushioned and had a few inches of recline left in em.


Our first stop and final destination of the day was Sun Moon Lake. From Taipei, it was a 3 hour drive to get to our first attraction at the lake. Sun Moon Lake is named so because people thought the geography/shape of the lake looked like the Chinese characters for ‘sun’ (日) and ‘moon’ (月) thus Sun Moon Lake. (We were shown a bird’s eye view of the lake and… I don’t see it but hey who am I to say otherwise? Does anybody see it from the map above?)


First stop was Xuanguang Temple which I actually did not see much of unfortunately. We were given two options to do at this point: explore the temple or head up to Ci En Pagoda which was a 800 step hike up the hill next to this temple. My mom stayed and explored the temple while I ventured to the pagoda.


Our next stop was to Wenwu Temple, which was explained to me as Literature-Warrior Temple since the temple worshiped two deities in one temple: Confucius (master of pen) and Kuan Ti (master of sword). The temple is popular amongst students for obvious reasons and many visitors would write their wishes on little charms and hang them throughout the temple as seen below. The temple and halls were very ornate and beautiful.


As the day came to a close, we were taken to our first hotel of our Taiwan tour, Fleur de Chine Sun Moon Lake. The property was very large with lots of places to explore. After settling in, we wandered around the hotel. It was a very nice property with a large lobby with a cafe/bar in the middle, several conference rooms, and a very welcoming staff.


The next morning my mom and I explored the hotel and took more pictures. The rooftop of the hotel has a restaurant that has amazing views of Sun Moon Lake!

DAY TWO
Our first stop on day two of our Taiwan tour was Wuchang Temple. A little background: in 1999 Taiwan experienced a 7.3 earthquake, one of the worst earthquakes the country ever saw. It leveled off the original Wuchang Temple (as seen below) and the new one was built immediately next to it. It was amazing that they kept the original temple and the aftermath of an earthquake.


Our next stop took us to Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Monastery which is the largest Buddhist temple in all of Taiwan. There was a monastery you can visit via a shuttle up at the top of the mountain but we spent most of our time at the visitor center and the Buddha shrine.


The main attraction to Fo Guang Shan was the giant bronze Buddha statue that was right past the visitor center. The path to the statue was adorned with 8 pagodas, each with a different meaning/lesson of Buddhism. Once we reached the top and snapped pics with the Buddha statue, the center inside/underneath the statue had many exhibits about Buddha, his teachings and other interactive activities. It was great seeing so much history/relics and learning more about Buddhism!


DAY THREE & FOUR
The next two days of our Taiwan tour were spent driving along the southern and eastern coasts of the island. Day 3 was mostly just scenic attractions with lots of stops to see oceanviews. There were very few cultural attractions so just enjoy some of the pics:


Day Four was nice because we went from ocean to mountains all in one day! Our main attraction and one of my favorite in our Taiwan tour was Taroko Gorge. It is a must-see attraction if you are visiting Taiwan and can be a fun day-trip if you are just visiting Taipei. Taroko Gorge is nicknamed “Marble Gorge” because the gorge is (as you can probably guess) is carved into the marble by the Leewoo Ho River.


DAY FIVE
After overnighting in Taroko Gorge, we left our hotel in the morning to slowly make our way back to Taipei. We stopped Changchun Temple which was constructed to honor all of the workers that died during the construction of the roads through Taroko Gorge. The temple was a short walk from the parking lot and had a waterfall that flowed underneath one of the pedestrian bridges.


On the way back towards Taipei, we drove through HseuhShan Tunnel aka Snow Mountain Tunnel, the longest tunnel in Taiwan! Measuring in at around 8 miles, it connects Taipei to Yilan (northeastern county in Taiwan). We made the journey through in a little under 9 minutes. Then wham bam, hello again Taipei!

For the complete Taiwan tour, check out the post HERE!

offerendum

The tour looks really amazing! Thank you for your report.

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Thank you! Yes it was a great time! I never would have been able to research and cover that much ground if we tried to do it by ourselves haha

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For the more pics and a full write up, check out the post HERE!

TAIWAN TAOYUAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (TPE)
Travelers beware to double check that your cab driver knows exactly which airport you are departing from. Taipei has its own airport in the city, Taipei Songshan Airport (TSA), while most international flights depart and arrive from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE). TSA is only a few minutes away from most popular places in Taipei while TPE is over 30 minutes from Taipei!


Finding the check-in counter was simple as there were maps located throughout the departure hall to direct you to the right place. The agents spoke English well and were very efficient in tagging our bags and sending us on our way with our boarding passes.

Unfortunately, this is where our troubles began. Even though TPE is EVA Air’s main hub, there are no benefits for elite and premium cabin passengers on the national carrier when it comes to security fast track lines. (Maybe I'm having a DYKWIA moment but that would have been nice)

Next, apparently you are not allowed to carry on selfie sticks/tripods. I had my GoPro’s extension mount/arm in my carry on and the agent told us we would either have to check it in or throw it away. OH HELLL NO am I throwing it away. So we were escorted back outside and forced to check in my carry-on luggage, which I don't like checking in so it doesn't get scratched and scuffed. The security line and passport control lines had nearly doubled after we came back. UGHHH.. Annoying little blip in our transit.

EVA LOUNGE - THE INFINITY

EVA Air operates 4 lounges in TPE, each with different qualifications to use them. All of them are located airside shortly after you pass through passport control of Terminal 2. The CLUB is for Infinity MileageLands (EVA’s frequent flier program) Silver members (2nd to lowest tier). The STAR is for Infinity MileageLands Gold members and Star Alliance Gold members. The Garden is exclusively for Infinity MileageLands Diamond members, the airline’s highest frequent flier tier. The Infinity is for Infinity MileageLands Diamond members and those flying on EVA or Star Alliance flights in Business or First Class. We used The Infinity for our time here at TPE since we were flying Royal Laurel to HKG.


The lounge was very spacious with lots of different types of seats to your liking. It was fairly empty throughout our stay. The main attraction was the large light display in the middle of the lounge that changed colors every few minutes or so. Try not to stare directly at it!


The buffet/food area was nice. Staff were always watching (a little too attentive at times) to make sure items did not run low. It was breakfast time so there were items such as eggs, ham, Chinese buns, etc.


Overall, The Infinity was cool and swanky and nice place to kill time before our Royal Laurel flight. With decent food/drink options and reliable WiFi connection, it was a nice experience. I, however, prefer the ANA Lounge at NRT for its awesome buffet area and cool and modern aesthetic.

EVA 777-300ER ROYAL LAUREL

Preface: We lucked out on our flight when we were making our award reservation. Originally, we were booked on a BR A321 Premium Laurel with recliner, which was most of the available options for TPE-HKG considering it's such a short trip. A few months later, EVA changed one of the flights on our date to a 777-300ER with the new Royal Laurel product! Thanks to a United system glitch, I somehow was able to 'change' flights onto the new one without any fee or error. However, the glitch resolved itself and I was dropped from the leg completely. Luckily, I monitored our reservation pretty closely and saw the error. I called in right away and explained everything. The agent was able to rebook me onto the 777-300ER flight after consulting with a supervisor. SCORE!


BR 869: TPE – HKG
Boeing 777-300ER (77A)
Depart: 12:40PM
Arrive: 2:25PM
Time: 1HR45MIN
Seats: 3D/G


The aircraft has 38 seats arranged in a 1-2-1 arrangement meaning every seat has direct aisle access! The seats were 180 degree recline into beds with a entertainment screen that swung out towards you. Since it was me and my mom traveling, we chose the middle 2 seats which is great for those traveling with someone. Otherwise, the window seats look great for solo travelers as they are slightly angled towards the window.


I have to say that I was very amazed with the service on our flight even though it was a very short one. Even though we had a very short flight, we were served a complete hot meal with beverage service and assorted warm breads! Amazing! You definitely will not find that on a US carrier. I pre-ordered our meals about a week before our flights through the EVA website/reservations. I ordered the teriyaki chicken fried rice and my mom had the shrimp cream linguine.


Overall, I really enjoyed both the hard and soft product on EVA. Granted, I only got to experience it for 1.5 hours but I would definitely not mind flying this product long haul. Compared to my flight on United's 747 BusinessFirst, I prefer EVA's hard product. There was more personal space imo and EVA's seat beat out United's 6 inches in pitch and 2 inches in bed length!

Before I knew it, I was bidding my seat farewell and greeted at the gate with this..


For the more pics and a full write up, check out the post HERE!

Caloy

Wow, what an interesting TR this is. I think that the really cool pics you included made this TR so great. I did enjoy reading all of it, and I'm glad you submitted it and I was able to stumble upon it.

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Thanks for reading it and for the kind words!

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For more pics and attractions, check out the post HERE!

GETTING TO TSIM SHA TSUI
Once we were off the plane, we followed signs to the arrivals hall and passport/immigration check. At the time that we were there, it was the midst of the recent MERS scare in South Korea so there were inspectors doing temporal (forehead) temperature scans randomly along with many signs regarding keeping healthy. To reach the arrivals hall, we caught the tram from the gates. It came very often and was a quick ride over to passport control.


After getting our luggage, we followed the signs for taxi cabs to get to our hotel. We made sure to follow the right signs as certain color taxis service certain areas in Hong Kong. Since we were going to Kowloon, we caught the red taxis (most common). For about $30USD, our driver zoomed us from the airport and across the bridge to Kowloon and dropped us off right in front of our hotel!


I booked us in Butterfly on Prat, which is part of the Butterfly Hotels Group. They have various locations, mostly on Hong Kong Island, of hotels and serviced apartments. The room was more spacious than what I originally had in mind. The bathroom in particular was a great size! We had no problems during our stay here and found everything in the hotel very clean and the workers courteous. One of the best amenities here was the Handy Phone that is provided with every room! It was a phone made specifically for travelers which had unlimited and free 3G data and free local calls!


We were worried about currency exchange and getting HKD when we arrived. We almost exchanged it at the airport but decided to wait until we got into Kowloon to get a better rate! Chungking Mansions, which is a building right on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, is known to have a lot of currency exchangers that offer really competitive rates. We got an extra $300HKD (~$30USD) by exchanging here rather than the airport or the other street vendors.

The remainder of this post and the next Hong Kong installment will just be reports on various attractions we visited rather than a day-by-day kind of report. Enjoy our Hong Kong travel!

VICTORIA PEAK & SKY TERRACE 428

We used the MTR to get from Tsim Sha Tsui over to Hong Kong Island to start our journey up Victoria Peak. The best way is by using The Peak Tram which is a railway that takes you from the lower terminus all the way to the top of Victoria Peak/Peak Tower.


We bought roundtrip tickets and included entrance into Sky Terrace 428, the 360 degree lookout at the very top to get amazing views of Hong Kong! It costs $83HKG (~$11USD) for everything. We arrived very early and there was barely a line to get onto the tram. Sky Terrace 428 includes a self-guided audio tour with information about the tower as well as the surroundings that you can see.


NGONG PING & TIAN TAN BUDDHA

One of my mom’s must-see attractions was to see the giant bronze Buddha statue. We caught Ngong Ping 360 – the cable car system that takes you from the Tung Chung MTR Station up to Ngong Ping Village. You can ride the standard cabin or the crystal cabin which has glass floors but cost more.


Since we rode the glass-bottomed Maokong Gondolas in Taipei already, we saved the money and did the standard cabin rountrip for $165HKD (~$20USD). It was a 20 minute ride one way and was rather enjoyable despite a little drizzle.


A short walk through the village brings you to the bottom of the Giant Buddha. It was 268 steps straight up to the foot of the statue and views of Ngong Ping Village. We also went into the base of the statue where there was a mini exhibit about Buddha and even a Buddha relic!


For more pics and attractions, check out the post HERE!

Look out for the second part of my Hong Kong writeup which will also include my review on Hong Kong Disneyland!