This weekend we had a long stopover in HK to deal with some visa issues and it turned out to be an amazing first exposure to this fascinating city. Here were the highlights, I’d recommend the same itinerary to anyone who has a weekend to spend here and isn’t huge on the clubbing/shopping scene.
Thursday:
After landing, we enjoyed a low-key Italian dinner at Sole Mio in Soho and a stroll around the neighborhood, which is buzzing with pre-going out energy. Bars are swimming with ex-pats and the food options include anything from Dim Sum to Lebanese to Thai and everything in between.
Friday:
First stop was the Brunch Club where we enjoyed some fluffy scrambled eggs + avocado and pancakes topped with cream + berries. Unfortunately some construction started outside the door half-way through our meal, but hey what can we say…it’s Hong Kong.
We wandered through the maze of steep alleyways and mid-level pedestrian walkways from Soho to the Central Piers. I was personally astonished at the efficient segregation of transportation modes and incredible network of malls that seemed to intersect with every corner of the city at some level. After catching some views from the Star Pier we ducked out of the flash rainstorm into the IFC mall to grab a quick uneventful lunch at a salad bar, check our email, and get turned around in the IFC consumption grid.
Weaving our way over to the tram to take us up to the Peak, we got a small peak inside the atrium of Norman Foster’s HSBC building - an extraordinary space worth the short detour.
The tram ride was jam-packed with tourists like ourselves but quickly zipped us up to the high-point of Hong Kong island, and unsurprisingly landed us into yet another mall. After enjoying a heavenly cone of strawberry Haagen Daaz we headed west of the shopping zoo to the 3km loop trail that put us deep into the tropical island’s flora and fauna for a good hour and gave us unbelievable 360 degree views of the landscapes surrounding us.
We took the tram back down and enjoyed a leisurely dinner of grilled calamari, shrimp rolls, and oxtail ragu at the popular Vietnamese spot Nha Trang.
Saturday:
Our travels have taught us that turning to the Australians for coffee is never a mistake. We hit Oscar’s espresso bar and were not disappointed. The rain was really dumping and we decided to take a metro ride over to Kowloon and visit the Chi Lin Nunnery.
If you love the sound of rain, you will also love spending any wet day in HK at this getaway from the city within the city. The tranquil nunnery temple grounds and neighboring Nan Lian garden form a welcoming space of quiet and calm. The vegetarian restaurant placed under the garden waterfall offers simple and light dim sum that does just the trick following an afternoon of strolling and contemplation :)
Our last evening was a great opportunity to catch up with a great friend who recently moved to HK over wine and pizza. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, few things beat the chance to catch up with old friends in new places.
This trip to Hong Kong was short and sweet and I can’t wait to come back for more.
NOTE: I realize I left out any pictures of food…which is unusual. But I think I was too busy eating to snap any shots…next time for sure!
