It all started with Hong Kong. We had to be careful with our planning as we only had so much leave from work, so we decided to go over the October long weekend of 2013. By booking everything ourselves, flights and accommodation through Expedia we were able to save ourselves from the heavy taxing & high-end costs. Everything was organised in spreadsheets, including places to stay, attractions to visits, rooftop restaurants, famous bars etc that we wanted to go.
It was exciting, first trip to a large city known for it's business opportunities & high-end corporate lifestyle. I have previously done the regular getaways to Thailand (including Bangkok, Koh Samui & Phuket), and Bali, where I spent three weeks in Legian (close to Kuta, Seminyak etc) & going all around on daily adventures to the paddy fields, white water rafting, elephant rides etc. But these were great holidays when I was younger (which is a perfect way to start), but I always wanted more.
Hong Kong seemed like the perfect place, cheap and easy enough to get around. We scored a fantastic deal through Qantas with return flights only coming to AUD$750 each, and sourced a good deal for accommodation through Expedia.
Staying 6 nights on Hong Kong Island, perfect location so you're close but not right amongst the nightlife, then finishing the trip with 2 nights in a luxurious hotel in Macau.
Hong Kong Island was perfect, we walked everywhere!
The night we arrived we got into the hotel around 8.30 PM, dropped our bags & headed straight out to check out the area. It was surprisingly easy to work our way around the area. We were walking distance from nice bars and restaurants. Wine bars (our favourite) were also the perfect walking distance, and the roads were reasonably clean (in comparison to Thailand and Bali).
We made the most of it. We took two Big Bus Tours so we saw all of Hong Kong Island and then did the same across the river in the Kowloon & mainland district. This was fantastic.
We saw all the sights, with the open opportunities to get off the bus to explore and then hop back on when we were ready. Once you bought a ticket onto the Big Bus Tour you could use this all day, hop on/hop off. You just had to make sure, if you started on the red bus, you stay on the red bus and vice versa.
This meant when we got off to explore Stanley Bay, we could get off, chill out at a bar, grab some tapas and a cocktail while we enjoyed the scenery, walk around the beach and shops, and then get back on when we were ready. Reasonably priced for what you got. Highly recommend it to see all the areas of HK without having to walk everywhere (#hkwithcpsw).
One place we ventured to was Shenzhen, China.
It’s known for its fantastic shopping with perfect “fakes” in handbags, watches, jewellery, and shoes. In order to get there, you have to catch two trains (approx. 3 hours of travel).
The second train will take you across the border where you will arrive at the train station, and go through customs, so make sure you have your passport, money to pay the tax to cross the border and top up with their currency in order to purchase anything.
This may be a great spot for some people who love their shopping, however when we arrived we were followed & hassled since we stepped outside of the customs gates. We found it to be our worst experience of the whole trip & left within being there for only 45mins.
If you do go, you need to dress the part, wear your old daggier clothes, don’t wear any expensive or nice jewellery & even make sure you have a cheap/old looking wallet. The people there are very cluey and will use anything on you or near you to judge you by how much money you have and what they can get out of you (very similar to Thailand and Bali). We figured we’d rather head back to Hong Kong & enjoy the rest of the day then stay, so we did. You still got to see a bit while on the train ride though, so it wasn't all a waste.
Macau was an interesting place.
Firstly, I would not recommend going over on a weekend as you will be in line for what could be hours to get onto the ferry (as all the locals go over on their weekends). We went over on a thursday, stayed thursday and friday night and then came back over to head to the airport and leave on the Saturday.
This meant not only did we miss the traffic to go over, but we also missed a lot of it when we headed to the airport.
Macau was a fantastic place to unwind and relax by the pool, soak up the sun and enjoy the fresh cocktails. We're the type of people who like to adventure out and get amongst everything - so we were happy that we only chose to be there for 2 nights. Plenty of time for us to relax & refresh before having to get on the plane to go home.
Overall it was a great trip. An experience I'd highly recommend.
It was exciting, first trip to a large city known for it's business opportunities & high-end corporate lifestyle. I have previously done the regular getaways to Thailand (including Bangkok, Koh Samui & Phuket), and Bali, where I spent three weeks in Legian (close to Kuta, Seminyak etc) & going all around on daily adventures to the paddy fields, white water rafting, elephant rides etc. But these were great holidays when I was younger (which is a perfect way to start), but I always wanted more.
Hong Kong seemed like the perfect place, cheap and easy enough to get around. We scored a fantastic deal through Qantas with return flights only coming to AUD$750 each, and sourced a good deal for accommodation through Expedia.
Staying 6 nights on Hong Kong Island, perfect location so you're close but not right amongst the nightlife, then finishing the trip with 2 nights in a luxurious hotel in Macau.
Hong Kong Island was perfect, we walked everywhere!
The night we arrived we got into the hotel around 8.30 PM, dropped our bags & headed straight out to check out the area. It was surprisingly easy to work our way around the area. We were walking distance from nice bars and restaurants. Wine bars (our favourite) were also the perfect walking distance, and the roads were reasonably clean (in comparison to Thailand and Bali).
We made the most of it. We took two Big Bus Tours so we saw all of Hong Kong Island and then did the same across the river in the Kowloon & mainland district. This was fantastic.
We saw all the sights, with the open opportunities to get off the bus to explore and then hop back on when we were ready. Once you bought a ticket onto the Big Bus Tour you could use this all day, hop on/hop off. You just had to make sure, if you started on the red bus, you stay on the red bus and vice versa.
This meant when we got off to explore Stanley Bay, we could get off, chill out at a bar, grab some tapas and a cocktail while we enjoyed the scenery, walk around the beach and shops, and then get back on when we were ready. Reasonably priced for what you got. Highly recommend it to see all the areas of HK without having to walk everywhere (#hkwithcpsw).
One place we ventured to was Shenzhen, China.
It’s known for its fantastic shopping with perfect “fakes” in handbags, watches, jewellery, and shoes. In order to get there, you have to catch two trains (approx. 3 hours of travel).
The second train will take you across the border where you will arrive at the train station, and go through customs, so make sure you have your passport, money to pay the tax to cross the border and top up with their currency in order to purchase anything.
This may be a great spot for some people who love their shopping, however when we arrived we were followed & hassled since we stepped outside of the customs gates. We found it to be our worst experience of the whole trip & left within being there for only 45mins.
If you do go, you need to dress the part, wear your old daggier clothes, don’t wear any expensive or nice jewellery & even make sure you have a cheap/old looking wallet. The people there are very cluey and will use anything on you or near you to judge you by how much money you have and what they can get out of you (very similar to Thailand and Bali). We figured we’d rather head back to Hong Kong & enjoy the rest of the day then stay, so we did. You still got to see a bit while on the train ride though, so it wasn't all a waste.
Macau was an interesting place.
Firstly, I would not recommend going over on a weekend as you will be in line for what could be hours to get onto the ferry (as all the locals go over on their weekends). We went over on a thursday, stayed thursday and friday night and then came back over to head to the airport and leave on the Saturday.
This meant not only did we miss the traffic to go over, but we also missed a lot of it when we headed to the airport.
Macau was a fantastic place to unwind and relax by the pool, soak up the sun and enjoy the fresh cocktails. We're the type of people who like to adventure out and get amongst everything - so we were happy that we only chose to be there for 2 nights. Plenty of time for us to relax & refresh before having to get on the plane to go home.
Overall it was a great trip. An experience I'd highly recommend.