Pakistan to Hong Kong? Weird itinerary choice given that I flew in from Hong Kong in the beginning. I actually wanted to fly only 3 hours to Dubai, but thanks to the lack of flights on the oneWorld alliance I was forced to head back east.

Turns out that wasn’t so bad. For my Mum’s birthday this year Dad had given her a plane ticket to Hong Kong to come spend a week with me. This time Mum was on my turf.

I arrived sometime in the afternoon and made my way to the Marco Polo hotel in Kowloon to meet her. Me being a bit of a smart arse decided it would be a laugh if I didn’t shave and rocked up to the hotel wearing my Kameez from Pakistan. Mum was sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for me and instantly burst into tears as soon as she saw me. I didn’t think I looked that scary!

After a million and one questions, a shower and a shave we went looking around Kowloon for a bit to eat – eventually finding a small noodle bar hidden down a side street. I was exhausted after my full day of travelling

The day we explored Kowloon together. Mum had maps from the hotel and had already picked out a bunch of stuff to see. First was the “lady’s markets” which is a street full of just about any tacky chinese made items you could want. There was the odd fruit seller here too.

At the top of Kowloon (near the original Hong Kong border) was a flower market and a bird market situated in a small park behind it.

And on the way back we found the fish market. Not fish to eat, but ones to keep and the stores were full of aquariums and small fish swimming around in plastic bags.

We had hoped to see the famous Hong Kong skyline laser light show “A Symphony of Lights” from the banks of the harbour and we waited along with the crowd only to find out it had been cancelled. Disappointing but were were there for a few more days.

No visit to Hong Kong is complete without heading up Victoria Peak which is the large mountain behind Hong Kong city. We took the subway from Kowloon to Central and then caught the bus up the very windy road to the lookout at the top. There is a large shopping centre at the top and a few different buildings with competing lookouts over the high rise buildings. It was a bit cloudy but they clears enough to light up the city and Kowloon in the distance. It was a warm day so ice cream was in order after lunch. There is a funicular that takes visitors up and down the peak, so we took that back down instead of the bus and headed back.

We had only booked the first few nights in the hotel, and thus had to find accommodation for the next few. Out of habit and my inability to spend a few hundred dollars on a hotel room that charges extra for wifi we booked into a guesthouse in the centre of Kowloon. The Chungking Mansions opposite Tsim Sha Tsui subway station are right in the centre of Kowloon and houses dozens of guesthouses – and all for less than the price of wifi in the upmarket hotels a few blocks away. Sure, the room was only big enough for the two single beds, and the shower was directly over the toilet but it was a tenth of the price of the hotels.

Now Hong Kong is a bit more than just skyscrapers on an island – it is actually a few different towns spread across a few islands. One of which is Lantau Island which not only houses the airport, Tokyo Disneyland but also a giant statue of Buddha and a tiny little fishing village. We took the ferry from central to the island and caught the bus up to the Giant Buddha. It is a bit like a buddhism theme-park, with heaps of souvenir stands and entrance fees to the Giant Buddha. There is also a well overpriced cable car that runs up and down the mountain to the subway station on the other side of the airport.

The Giant Buddha was pretty cool. You wall up a few hundred stairs to get there and admire the view from the top. Inside the buddha is a shrine and a few photos documenting the construction. With your ticket you get a vegetarian feast in the nearby monastery.

We took the bus back down the hill on the other side to visit Tai O, a small fishing village on the far side of the island. Despite the tourists that come here, the town is an authentic fishing village and the old houses are made from tin and other scraps and raised above the high tide level all perched on bamboo and metal poles. I spent a few hours taking photos around the town, as well as stopping for tea in a small cafe overlooking the canal.

We caught the last bus back – not to the ferry, but to a housing development around the back of the airport. There was a fountain there and kids cooling down in the water and having a lot of fun in the process.

One of the reasons Mum flew over to Hong Kong was to spend some time with me on my birthday – well kind of. I actually flew out of HK on my actual birthday, but we still celebrated in style by having ‘High Tea’ at the Peninsular Hotel in Kowloon. Cucumber sandwiches, cakes, scones, macaroons and ‘Peninsular Afternoon’ tea – how British.

After 2 failed attempts we finally caught the ‘Symphony of Lights’ lazier light show. It wasn’t mind blowing, just buildings lighting up in different patterns in time to music. A video would be more appropriate as the photos don’t really convey the effects.

So that was it! A week in Hong Kong and the next mooring Mum was off! I took her to the station and successfully avoided another round of puffy eyes as she made her way to the airport train. It was good to see her, spending quality time together… getting a restock (of Vegemite) and dumping about two kilos of my stuff in her bag!

I had the full day in Hong Kong before my plane left late that night. I headed over to Central and went to check out the ‘mid-level escalators’. I thought it was the longest escalator in the world, but after about 5 of them realised it was the “longest outdoor, covered, escalator system in the world”. Close. At the top is deposits you on a street with nothing on it, but there was some interesting streets on the way up, so I slowly walked back down the hill (the escalator is one way only) and checked out the SoHo district and Hollywood Road. SoHo is full of restaurants and cafes and I stopped and treated myself to a set menu lunch at one of them. Hollywood Road is full of antique stores selling all sorts of antiques including carved mammoth trunks!

I really enjoyed Hong Kong. Both catching up with Mum, and exploring the city. There is much more here to see than I thought and the city is a lot different to mainland China.

This post is tagged China, Hong Kong