∞ Destination is Infinity

Hong Kong

Two short stays in spring 2019, before and after Japan. Both times our window looked across the harbour.

Watch the film 3:30

Before and after Japan

We flew from Edinburgh to Heathrow with Flybe and on to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, landing at 7 am on 23 March 2019. The Airport Express took us into town. After two nights in Tsim Sha Tsui we flew HK Express to Tokyo. We came back on the evening of 5 April for two more nights, and our flight home left at a quarter past midnight on 8 April. Japan, in between, has its own page.

  1. Tsim Sha TsuiNew World Millennium · 23–25 MarCathay Pacific from London
  2. JapanIts own page · 25 Mar–5 AprHK Express to Narita and back
  3. Tsim Sha TsuiHotel ICON · 5–7 AprFlight home at 00:15 on 8 Apr
Meenu at the railing of the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, looking across the harbour to Hong Kong Island
Meenu in an armchair at the corner window of our room, above a curving road and the harbourBruce Lee's statue in its fighting pose on the Avenue of Stars, with the harbour behind
Area
Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon
Stayed
23–25 Mar · 5–7 Apr 2019
Hotels
New World Millennium · Hotel ICON

Tsim Sha Tsui

Both of our hotels were in Tsim Sha Tsui East, about 150 metres apart, and both rooms looked across the harbour. We spent the first two nights at the New World Millennium Hong Kong and the last two at Hotel ICON, in a Club 36 room with breakfast and lounge access.

From the corner window of our room we looked down on a curving road and out across the water to Hong Kong Island. On the waterfront promenade, Meenu walked along the railings in the sun with the island's towers opposite. A wooden junk sailed past, and so did a cruise ship. On the Avenue of Stars, Bruce Lee's statue held its fighting pose in front of the harbour.

0:00 Watch the arrival0:32 Watch the waterfront
A long row of golden statues seated beside the path, each in front of a red plaque
Meenu laughing with her arm thrown up, copying the golden statue behind herPraddy walking past pink and red flowers below a many-armed golden statue
Area
Sha Tin, New Territories
Entry
Free in 2019
Visited
Spring 2019

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery

A yellow sign by the path said admission was free. From there the steps climb between rows of golden statues, each seated in front of a red plaque. Some smile, some laugh, and one throws its arms wide with its mouth open. Meenu stood in front of it and did the same.

Up on a terrace, a golden statue with dozens of arms sat behind beds of pink and red flowers, and Praddy walked past below it. We passed an incense burner and trays of red charms shaped like fish, and looked out over the hills and tower blocks of Sha Tin.

0:57 Watch the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery
Nan Lian Garden's golden pavilion among clipped pines, with a red bridge and tower blocks behind
Meenu waving from the railing of a lily pond, with Chi Lin Nunnery's timber halls behindA wooden water wheel beside a small hut in Nan Lian Garden
Area
Diamond Hill, Kowloon
Visited
Spring 2019
We saw
Lily ponds · bonsai · a water wheel

Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden

Chi Lin Nunnery's halls are built of dark timber, with gold ornaments on the roof ridges. Water lilies flowered yellow and pink in the ponds in front, where stone dragons spouted water, and Meenu waved from the railing. Bonsai trees stood on stone stands around the courtyard.

In Nan Lian Garden we found a wooden water wheel, a waterfall and neatly clipped pines. A golden pavilion stands among them, with a red bridge leading to it, and tower blocks rise straight up behind.

1:31 Watch Chi Lin and Nan Lian
The Aqua Luna under red sails, passing the lit-up Bank of China Tower at night
Central's towers at dusk from high on the Peak, with the Bank of China Tower's lit X's belowPraddy stretched out on a daybed on our hotel's rooftop at dusk, with the city lights beyond
Seen from
The waterfront · our rooftop · the Peak
Visited
Spring 2019
We saw
The Aqua Luna · the light show

The harbour after dark

One evening we lay on daybeds by our hotel's rooftop pool and watched the sky turn purple as the lights came on across the water. From high on the Peak at dusk, we looked down past the Bank of China Tower, its white X's lit, to the harbour and Kowloon in the haze.

On the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront at night, the island's towers were lit green, pink and blue, from IFC to the red ring of the observation wheel. The Aqua Luna sailed past under its red sails. On a misty night, searchlights swept the sky from the island's rooftops during the light show. In the streets, crowds waited at the crossings under the neon.

2:11 Watch dusk and the Peak2:31 Watch the harbour at night

From our bookings

  • Ask ahead for an early room. Our flight from London landed at 7 am, and check-in at the New World Millennium started at 2 pm. When we booked, we asked for a room by noon.
  • Add 10% to the room rate. Both hotels added a 10% service charge. With it, two nights came to HK$3,651 at the New World Millennium, without breakfast, and HK$5,280 at Hotel ICON, with breakfast and executive lounge access.
  • Use Hotel ICON's free shuttle. In 2019 it ran every 20 to 40 minutes from 8 am to 10 pm, to Middle Road, between the Kowloon Hotel and the Peninsula, and to The Sun Arcade on Peking Road, opposite Harbour City.
  • HK Express charges for bags and seats. Our 2019 return flights to Tokyo were HK$4,678 for two, including HK$658 for one 30 kg bag each way and HK$200 for seats. Only a 7 kg cabin bag and one personal item are free. HK Express also takes bags at the Airport Express in-town check-in, from a day before the flight until 90 minutes before it.
  • Plan the last day around a midnight flight. Our flight home left at 00:15 on Monday 8 April, so our last hotel night was the 6th. Hotel ICON's check-out was at noon on the 7th, more than twelve hours before take-off.

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