02 May 2024

Hong Kong

We offer a wide choice of cheap flights to Hong Kong together with Hong Kong hotels, tours and self-drive itineraries.

Other Asia Reviews

Hong Conquerer!

Jetting off to Oz with the little ones? A stopover in the former British colony will be a family hit, says Nick Petche.

Hong Kong - The old and the new of the Harbour

Hong Kong - Charming mysteries of Dim Sum

1 The cities' neon jungle 2 The old and the new of the Harbour 3 Charming mysteries of Dim Sum

THE SOLDIER WAS STANDING just a few yards away, his gun pointed at my chest. Sweat trickled down his camouflaged head and he was grinning from ear to ear. It was an unusual scene, particularly as my wife and children were cheering, along with the rest of the crowd lining the street.

But there was no need to panic. This was Main Street in Disneyland Hong Kong, so I took my blast of water from the Toy Story soldier with good grace.

Very Much Chinese at Street Level

Being surrounded by the House of Mouse’s favourite characters just an hour after I’d been sitting in the courtyard of a Buddhist monastery was an interesting introduction to Hong Kong.

Quite why I’d backed down over my long-held aversion to Disneyland, any Disneyland, can be explained by the ordeal of travelling back from Australia with two very tired young children.

My wife and I had spent several weeks traversing Australia with Megan, eight, and Miriam, six, and had decided on a two-day stopover in Hong Kong. Break the journey, break the stress is the theory.

After landing at Chek Lap Kok airport just after dawn and transferring to a coach we were soon on Hong Kong island, where we stepped briefly through the morning heat into the cool lobby of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, a landmark in its own right.

My wife soon disappeared to the spa to retune her yin and yang, while I headed for the pool with the children. That evening, we decided to get a taste of the city.

There are two great places to savour the drama of Hong Kong: One is down by the water, the other is up in the sky at The Peak, the island’s highest point.

Both are essential. Getting to the latter is an adventure in itself as the Peak Tram edges its way up the 27-degree gradient, just as it has since 1888.

Mingling with the crowds on Peak Platform, we savoured the breeze and took in the neon-studded swathe of light below.

But while the skyline rivals Manhattan’s, life at street level is very much Chinese. Invigorated by what we’d seen, the following morning we chivvied our brood aboard a ferry heading for the outlying island of Lantau.

On disembarking, we realised that even at 10am it was hot and only going to get hotter. The short taxi ride to the famous monastery took us past lush vegetation and country parks with views across to islands dotted in the South China Sea.

Hats and umbrellas were coming into play as we hauled up the 268 steps to the Buddha, where we were rewarded with fantastic views of the 250-ton figure and the surrounding countryside.

The sheer size of the structure and the reverence of those visiting it made a lasting impression on us all – and was a calming diversion before hitting Disneyland.

A taxi ride across the island and we were through the turnstiles (£80 for all of us) in time for a parade with Donald, Mickey and all the usual suspects.

My curmudgeonliness quickly dissipated as I saw how well Disney does entertainment. For Megan, Pippa and myself, the rollercoaster rocketing through Space Mountain proved a real hit. For Miriam, whirling around in a giant teacup was the highlight.

Dragons and Glittering Chandeliers

While the rides would be familiar to anyone who’d been to Paris or Orlando, snacks on offer did show cultural differences: red bean lollies, anyone? The House of Mouse is not the only theme park in town. Rival Ocean Park has the trump card of two giant pandas, as well as a huge aquariums.

Other outings to consider would be the Botanical Gardens in the Central district, which houses tropical birds, and Kadoorie Farm in the New Territories, which looks after injured animals.

For older children, the Temple Street night market in Mong Kok, with its fortune tellers and outdoor eateries, is fascinating.

In Disneyland we boarded another marvel, the MTR underground. Clean, efficient and fast, it delivered us back to the welcoming arms of the Mandarin.

On our final day we decided to sample a full-on Cantonese dining experience with a dim sum lunch at Maxim’s in City Hall.

After a short wait, we were ushered into a packed dining hall replete with murals of dragons and glittering chandeliers.

Ordering is the fun part. The dim sum, small portions of steamed dumplings, vegetables and barbecued meats, are wheeled around on trolleys and you simply point at what you want. The problem lay in a) not understanding the menu and b) having no idea what was in the bamboo steamers.

More Than Expected

We were helped out by a fellow diner who told us in flawless English that what I thought was a starter was in fact dessert.

After lunch, we took the famous Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour’s choppy waters to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Our arrival in Kowloon presented us with more of the Hong Kong we’d expected; dense crowds and hawkers selling watches and suits.

To wind down in style before our flight we headed to the Peninsula Hotel, which serves high tea, Ritz-style, accompanied by a string quartet. The girls loved the attentive staff and plush surroundings.

There’s an energy about Hong Kong which had set our minds buzzing. We took that into the airport terminal, where the children indulged in ‘luggage hurdling’.

It went a bit awry and Megan twisted her ankle, so we bade farewell with one child in a wheelchair. To distract them, I asked which was the best bit of our stay: ‘Easy, Space Mountain. Oh, and the Buddha was pretty cool, too,’ they said. You see, culture and kids, it can work.

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