7 Traveling Tips on 1 Day in Hong Kong:

1. Pay for the 3 day pass for all the metro systems or the two way ticket for the airport express.
2. If you’re staying one night in Hong Kong rent a hostel or hotel, not a boat off AirBNB. 
3. If you’re craving Mexican food buy it at the restaurant called the Mr. Taco Truck; it’s a quarter of the price at another local place.
4. The tram to see Hong Kong’s skyline is worth it.
5. Ride a double decker bus and sit on the second floor near the front.
6. Mongkok, a shopping area, is worth seeing. (See reviews here)
7. If you’re a backpacker travel as light as possible, because many times during your travels you will be carrying it. (Lightweight clothes like Body Armor are worth buying because you will be doing lots of hand washing.)

Other travel tips for Hong Kong can be found at Nomadic Matt.

Comfort COMIDA

What’s the one food you would miss if you were living in a foreign country and that country didn’t supply it? Well for Denny and I that’s Mexican food. As Arizonians we love our Mexican food. Denny and I have been living in China for about five months, and the city we are residing in, Qingdao doesn’t have any Mexican food. They are missing out. The first thing that was on our minds after a three and a half hour flight plus five months of China was “Mexican food”.

When we arrived at the airport we took a underground subway to the main land, Hong Kong. (Side note: Next to the Hong Kong airport is a mall with an Apples store. Denny’s iPhone stopped working out-of-no-where before our trip so we went there to get help. After hours, and favor from God we received a new phone. There are rules about Apples iPhone internationally, normally they won’t replace the phone unless you bought it in Hong Kong.)

Once we hit the main land, Denny and I were rushing by foot trying to find a certain Mexican restaurant called El Taco Loco that closed at 10pm. We asked several people for directions, which I documented with photos.

Hong Kong’s geography is really similar to the hills in San Francisco, California. We climbed hefting long flights of stairs. We desperately wanted hot spicy Mexican food. How far would you go for your comfort food?

We couldn’t find El Taco Loco but we did find iCaramba! which is located in Soho.

Lodging Under the Stars on a Yacht

Denny found a bedroom for rent on Airbmb on a small yacht. (Note to travelers: not having a SIM card makes this living arrangement difficult because you are suppose to phone the sampan, a taxi boat driver. Sampans are the real deal; the boat looks very foreign to a Westerner). We left the boat club dock in search of a phone after waiting 40 minutes at the dock (the picture below: the guy let us borrow his phone to call a sampan). We arrived on the boat around midnight.

In the morning I woke to a tit-tat-tit-tat up on deck. The sound brought a smile to my face. It was the sea captain’s friend, a black Chihuahua. On another note, sadly the boat wasn’t small enough to feel the rocking of the waves but climbing out onto the boat’s deck in the morning was refreshing and peaceful.

 Our morning view

 

A sampan

One day in Hong Kong

We did lots of walking, saw lots of roads and people. The most eventful thing I saw was:

Denny and I were on a street corner figuring out which direction to go when I saw a man quickly exchange a large bag with another stranger and then quickly walk the opposite way. I commented to Denny what I just witnessed and the man must of heard because he bolted after that. Maybe drugs or money laundering? I don’t know.

On a more architectural note, the streets reminded me a lot of what a space station with open quarters would look life. Hong Kong was super tight spaced, so many people. Did you know that England isn’t the only city to have double decker buses? We rode a few on the second level in the front. It felt like a car game on an Nintendo where you come close to hitting a tree or person but you miss them.

We found another Mexican restaurant that is friendlier to our check book, Mr. Taco Truck. If you visit here you can receive a $5HK (about $1usd) cash coupon. (Located on 14B Wo On Lane: Telephone: 852-2810-0888)I highly recommend this restaurant. Your tastebuds will be met with happiness. Afterwards we walked to the city’s tram (The Peak: I love You) to see Hong Kong’s city horizon. (The Peak Tram’s Operating Hours are Mon-Sun 7am-12 midnight).

[box] A historical account posted on the top of the peak: “Local legend says that Victoria Peak was originally called ‘Ngau Tau Shan’ (Stiff Head Hill), but once the notorious pirate Cheung Po Chai surrendered to the imperial government in the early 19th century, local fisherman thought Hong Kong Island would be a safe place to live and they began to call the Peak area ‘Tai Ping Shan’ (Peaceful Hill).”[/box]

In the evening we ventured to the Mongkok, which is a market.

 

This place is a terrific place to get a grand bite of Hong Kong. Also try some of the local Hong Kong food. We asked some locals and they recommended this dish.

Hong Kong See You Later

Funny enough Denny read our departure from Hong Kong to Singapore wrong. We were to leave at 1:40am not 1:40pm the next day. So fortunate for us, we got the real backpacking experience. We (I) lugged our (my) giant backpacks around Mongkok for hours. My hips and feet were really sore. (Lesson, pack lighter than I did this trip.)

 

Blessings from an Angel

I was waiting in the McDonalds line for french fries because I was craving carbs from all the walking and lugging. Well, out-of-no-where an angel (person) taps on my shoulder and gives me a voucher for $75 Hong Kong Dollars. She told me that she and her traveling buddy didn’t need two.

Denny and I traded in the voucher for two Caesar salads at Starbucks. Thank you God. He knew the meal on the plane consisted of mostly wheat. That salad tasted amazing because it was given out of kindness.

I highly recommend Hong Kong as a place to visit. Put it on your bucket list! If you have been to Hong Kong, what would you recommend future travelers to do if they just had one day?