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Our final stop in our trip was Hong Kong. For our visit we had two days and yet again realized that 4-5 would have been much more appropriate for our stay; perhaps next time we’ll actually learn.
- Picking the Destinations
- Cathay Pacific First Class
- Cambodia & Le Méridien Angkor
- Bangkok Airways (Bangkok to Siem Reap & Maldives)
- Bangkok & Le Méridien Bangkok
- Maldives & Sheraton Full Moon Resort
- Hong Kong & Ritz Carlton
Hong Kong & Ritz Carlton
Hong Kong makes me think of New York … its just the vibe I get from the city. It is a business center. It has skyscrapers. It is a major air and sea hub. In its own right, like New York it makes me think of a Capital City. The fanciest of fancy and the cheapest of cheap can be had within a mile of one another.
In both of our visits to Hong Kong we’ve stayed at the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong. The hotel is located on the 16 top floors of the International Commerce Centre … with a pool on the 118th floor; it is fancy … way too fancy for us, but we LOVE it. At 70,000 Marriott points a night, a couple could get 4 nights at the property with a pair of the Ritz Carlton Credit Cards by Chase (big fee, don’t forget) … we used points for our two nights spoiling ourselves.
We paid $70 for access to the club and worth every penny. It served as our hub for planning, snacking, catching up on instagram/facebook and chatting with some of the friendliest and worldliest (is that a word?) concierges you’ll ever meet. Really, they were all fantastic. The lounge afforded unlimited food throughout the day including breakfast and afternoon tea, along with unlimited drinks and several wine tastings. The views themselves (see below) are worth the price of admission and access to the concierges to help plan anything is gravy on top.
Room rates are anywhere from about $500/night to $20,000/night (I had to do a double take just reading that); at 70,000 points/night in some of the highest rooms in the world. The elevator up takes under a minute to climb the 100 floors as your ears pop once or twice. One of my favorite things about this hotel is that it is connected directly to the mall attached to Kowloon station. Airport to hotel without ever having to go outside and brave the elements … and you can checkin and check any luggage for your flight at Kowloon station (yes there are airport check-in agents there).
Simply put, it is fancy; very fancy and from our experience worth the splurge in points if you’ve got em to burn. Part of me wants to experience other properties … we’ll see where our (and Mom’s) Marriott points balances are at for our next trip.
While the hotel served as our hub we spent a bunch of time exploring. Our last trip we made it up to Victoria’s Peak, so we skipped it this time in favor of visiting the Big Buddha, the Ladies’ Market (appropriate for men and children as well) and making a mandatory stop at Tim Ho Wan for some Dim Sum.
The tram up to the Big Buddha offers some great sites of the airport, neighboring area and the hills up to Buddha. Share a car with others and enjoy plenty of picture taking. The Ladies’ Market has every knock-off you can think of. I’ve never seen so many people selling Rolex and Louis Vuitton outside of a fancy mall … that said, no high pressure sales techniques and every price is negotiable. We paid no more than 70% of the original asking price for anything and about 50% for a few things. Negotiation is key … be polite, but negotiate.
The visit to Tim Ho Wan was exactly what I had hoped. We were the only white people in the restaurant, had absolutely no clue what the process was for everything … and we gorged on Michelin Star dim sum for under $25. We were both in a food coma afterwards. The key takeaway from the visit is that Sara likes steamed BBQ pork buns (like the ones served in the Wing Lounge of the Cathay Pacific Noodle Bar at HKG airport) over baked ones.
Some nuggets from our trip:
- Hong Kong is a city with great public transportation; use it.
- Overpaying for things in Hong Kong is easy; getting deals on stuff in the Ladies’ Market is also easy. Just have cash
- If you’re in town for multiple days get a multi-day subway/train pass.
- Order your tram tickets to Big Buddha ahead of time; the day before. You’ll skip a potentially HUGE line. Splurge for the glass / clear bottom car — the “Crystal car”. If you’re insane you can hike up …
- Credit Cards were accepted everywhere where went except for at the Ladies’ Market
- 2 days just doesn’t do the city any justice. After two visits we’ve finally realized 4-5 days would have been much more appropriate.
And some pictures (Sara also posted some really good ones on Instagram)
Have questions about this or other topics? Feel fee to comment below or email me.
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