We begin our Hong Kong and Macau adventure in this blog. We’ve already covered all the travel essentials in the itinerary blog before this. That contains info about Hong Kong’s history, best time to visit, visa, currency, etc. So let’s get started!

Unique immigration experience

Our trip began in Kochi from where we took Thai Airways via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport to Hong Kong. We landed in HK at 11:30am and stood in the longest immigration line we’d ever seen. There was only one line leading up to all the counters – like the coiled up queue that you typically see in temples. They had plenty of counters and the line kept moving continuously – there was no bottleneck created at the counters where the official was slow. So, no one complained and everyone kept walking – a brilliant strategy!

We both had made sure our pre-arrival forms matched our passports exactly and it was printed on an A4 sheet – so we had a smooth entry.

Getting the basic supplies

As per our usual process, we converted a minimum amount at the airport to HKD (Hong Kong Dollars), bought an Octopus card – this would give us access to all public transport by topping up the stored value. We looked for SIM cards but couldn’t find any economical options. Our friend had recommended SoSim but we couldn’t find a shop anywhere. So we decided to move ahead to our first stop and look there.

The tourist information centre told us to take bus S1 to Tung Chung – our plan was to explore Lantau Island Hong Kong on the first day. It was a double-decker bus! The kind we had seen so often in videos before! We have travelled on double-deckers in Mumbai before but these were much more swanky and modern. Make sure you hold on tight though – these buses zoom around pretty fast and fit into impossible looking gaps between vehicles and narrow roads – it was as if we were on the Knight Bus!

At Tung Chung, we spent a good amount of time getting our bearings right. We needed a SIM card and a luggage locker. Apparently the metro station and the adjacent mall had both. After a lot of roaming around, we landed up at a shop that sold sandwiches and juices. This was supposed to be an “official” outlet for SoSim and we asked the guy at the counter. He disappeared behind the counter and soon emerged with a box of SIM cards! He didn’t have a pin – so we got creative.

Pro tip: you can use an earring to open up the SIM card slot if you don’t have a pin!

Handicapped Google maps

Why did we take so long to find this shop? Well, Google Maps told us that the shop was inside the metro station – that too inside the area that could only be accessed by commuters. But in reality, it was outside the metro station! For the same reason, we struggled to find the luggage locker.

We even asked around and no one seemed to know for sure. I had to go back to my memory of reading a blog which said that the cable car station had a luggage locker facility! Later a friend told us to download Citymapper as it was far more accurate. We didn’t end up downloading it as we were enjoying the process of discovering the city the old-school way!

The locker mystery solved

We picked up some rolls, mochi and buns at a bakery and walked towards the Ngong Ping cable car terminal. We kept peeping into the Citygate outlets mall hoping to find a place to put our luggage and there it was! Right next to the escalator leading up to the cable car.

The Octopus card could be used as a mode of payment for the locker as well. We swiped it for 25 HKD, got our locker number and went ahead to place our bags. Weirdly the door didn’t have handles. Add to it a strong spring action. By the time I bent down to pick up the bag, the door shut with a bang! 

The exact same thing happened to a group right behind us. We all looked at each other in horror realising that the money was gone and we had to do this again. But it didn’t feel as bad because we weren’t the only ones!

Moral: it takes two people to operate a locker here – one to hold the door open and the other to put the bags in/out.

The secrets of Ngong Ping 360

We had the instinct to pre-book our tickets to the cable car on Klook. It gave us a discount and also allowed us to skip the long queue at the cable car terminal. We had also picked the Crystal cabin – the one where the floor was transparent and we could get a full view of the surroundings as we climbed up the mountain. The Standard cabin had a really long queue and we felt glad that we didn’t skimp on paying the slightly higher fare of the Crystal cabin.

Tip: The Crystal+ is far more expensive and there are very few cable cars of this type – so you will end up waiting quite a bit. Also, there are combos of Crystal+ and Standard – this again sounds like the best of both worlds but the wait time on them would be high. Just go for Crystal both ways!

The Crystal cabin experience

Our first panoramic view was that of the airport. Being a bit of an avgeek, I was really geeking out at every plane that was taking off or landing. I noticed how most of them were wide-body long haul planes.

Soon, we were cruising above the forests. The cable car went directly above the hiking trail and we could spot some people making their way up thanks to the transparent floor of our cabin. The floor really added to the experience – after every tower or intermediate station, it felt like the floor was giving way! The Crystal cabin is highly recommended!

We also saw a bridge leading into the sea, going underwater and re-emerging after a point – this was the connecting road from Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai. Truly an engineering marvel!

Ngong Ping village and Po Lin monastery

After a 25 min ride, we were at the village. The architecture of the buildings reminded me of the some temples that we saw in Hanoi and Hoi An in Vietnam. I had always wanted to explore this part of the world. We passed through a courtyard with statues of generals.

On the other end was a pathway made of lanterns and giant incense sticks. This was the entrance to the monastery.

We really felt like we were in a movie – the bright red, blue and green colours, the architecture and the entire vibe! We soaked it all in!

There was a small cafe/restaurant inside the monastery which served vegetarian snacks. There were sticky matcha rice balls with bean filling, sesame balls and rice balls with black sesame filling. We picked these up and ate them silently at one of the tables in the garden. We ended up getting more portions!

Going up the Wisdom Path and stairway to Buddha

We had to make a choice now – either take a bus to Tai O fishing village or stay back and explore the Wisdom path and the giant Buddha. After some debate, we settled on staying back and exploring where we were. The Wisdom Path was a 15-20 mins walk one-way. The surroundings were very tranquil as we kept walking up. Towards the end of it, we saw a wooden structure planted on the hill in the shape of an infinity sign.

While the walk was nice, I would say this one is skippable.

Next, we climbed up the stairs to the Tian Tan buddha statue. We got a nice view of the Po Lin monastery from above.

Metro to Hong Kong Island

Once again, we were glad that we booked the Crystal cabin – the Standard one had a waiting time of 45 mins! The Crystal one – hardly 5 mins! 

We collected our bags from the locker and took a metro to Hong Kong MTR station. The entire place was fully decked up with Christmas decor.

We came out of the IFC exit and were totally disoriented as Google maps kept insisting that we were standing on some other road! It kept suggesting to us the wrong buses as well. So, we gave up and booked an Uber to our friend Naveen’s place. He was kind enough to host us for this trip.

Into the concrete canyons

Photographs of Hong Kong can be quite deceiving. There are so many skyscrapers packed together in such a tiny space that it seems very claustrophobic and congested. However, there is plenty of space in between these towers. It is difficult to perceive the scale of these buildings – on average they have a height of 150 m – that is more than 40 floors! 

But as soon as you are on the ground, it feels like a completely different world. There are plenty of public spaces, gardens, shopping areas and the streets are wide enough to accommodate large vehicles and double-decker buses. There are footpaths everywhere. The vertical city has a different avatar on the streets!

Sichuan dinner and exploring with a local

Naveen and his friend took us for dinner to a Sichuan place called Chilli Fagara. The food was amazing and the Sichuan pepper left a tingling sensation in the mouth. It was not spicy in the way Indian food typically is (think laal maas and Andhra spice) but had a really unique flavour and mouth-feel. 

We then explored the Tai Kwun area as Naveen took us weaving in and out of random buildings. He knew all the shortcuts to avoid walking up and down the slopes. We walked along the brightly lit Lan Kwai Fong party street as people kept inviting us to enter their bars. The Central area was home to the top banks in the world like HSBC, Goldman and regional giant, Bank of China. These buildings were so tall that we couldn’t really see their tops from the street.

The Central-Mid-levels Escalator

Finally we took a ding-ding tram ride (more on that in the next blog) and climbed up the famous Central-Mid-levels Escalator. This walkway system is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. It covers a distance of 800 m over a height of 135 m from bottom to top! I was absolutely fascinated by this! How did they even have the thought of making something like this? Truly amazing!

In the mornings from 6-10 am, the escalators go downhill to help commuters get to their offices. For the rest of the day till midnight, they go uphill. It was super convenient to go all the way to the top without having to worry about buses or cabs.

What an amazing day of exploring Lantau Island Hong Kong! It had been a pretty long day and we decided to bring it to a close.

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You can check out the other Hong Kong blogs here:

• The Hong Kong Itinerary (with Macau) – plan your perfect trip to HK!
• Lantau Island Hong Kong – Day 1 of the HK Trip
• Hong Kong’s Urban Oasis – Peaks & Parks
• Incense and Neon – Hong Kong’s culture
• East Meets West – the Macau Mosaic
• Feast for the Senses – the Hong Kong Foodie