I recently spent 6 days in the amazing city of Hong Kong. What a magical city it is! Leaving Portland, Oregon, USA and landing in Hong Kong was like being transported to another world. Not to mention I also became a time traveler and skipped a day in to the future. I will be sharing some in depth guides to the city in later posts, but I first wanted to share my initial thoughts and reactions of the City. Before we get into that here is a short film I made of Hong Kong.

As you can see from the video, Hong Kong is beautiful! I arrived in the late evening, and the first thing that hit me when I stepped off the plane... Humidity! Coming from Portland Oregon, this humidity was a bit rough, but nothing I couldn’t deal with. After navigating my way to the exit, I hopped in a taxi to take me to my Hostel. Before I entered the man tending the taxi counter provided me a slip that gave me the approximate fare to my location. This was really nice to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off by the driver! And all the cabs look pretty much the same so there is no getting confused.

Navigating the massive city may seem daunting, but it is actually quite simple. The train system is so intuitive and pretty much everything is labeled in English! A few things I recommend. Get an octopus card. This can be used for your train rides as well as convince stores and some restaurants. And to help navigate your way, download an app called Maps.me. You can use this even if you do not have any service or WiFi and boy will it come in handy. Note: The train can get pretty full so if you can avoid taking it around rush hour times.

I highly recommend letting yourself get lost in the city. I spent most of my days walking around the city exploring eating food and drinking bubble tea.. Lots of bubble tea. Make sure to check out the Barroness for the best bubble tea in town! When dining, be prepared to be seated at a table with strangers. Everything is so compact and seating is usually very limited. And for most places, especially during busy hours, you should get in, eat and get out. Do not linger and sit at the table after eating. Other people are waiting to eat so get a move on!

Lastly, make sure to check out the Cityscape from the harbor at night. Around 7:30pm they put on a light show every night and it is spectacular! I was lucky enough to be flying into the city during this time. There is an amazing pier not far from Kowloon park that will provide an epic view. Or you can jump on a night ferry that will take you along the bay.

Hong Kong is definitely a city I see myself visiting again! The culture, sights, food, everything about the city was amazing and I definitely recommend it to all travelers!