After a 4-hour bus ride, a 2-hour flight, a long wait in London Heathrow Airport and another 10-hour flight, I finally arrived at my first destination on the journey: Hong Kong.
I had two pleasant flights, first with British Airways and then with Cathay Pacific Airways, where I got free food, drinks and icecream! The service was the best I’ve ever tried and they even had vegetarian options on their menu! Normally, airlines that serve food don’t have extra vegetarian dishes, and since I’m terrible at remembering to order it beforehand, I always end up with nothing. But this time was different and it was great! I’ll definitely be flying with those airlines again 😉
On the way from London to Hong Kong, I had three seats for myself, so after a very comfortable sleep, I woke up fresh and ready to explore! I caught a train to the central station on Hong Kong Island and was already amazed by the views that I could see from the train. Hong Kong, despite being a ginormous concrete jungle, is a beauty. Even the air is fresh and seems to be free from pollution; it smelled like a mixture of ocean and churches, haha!
My original flight would have arrived in Hong Kong three hours earlier, so I had planned on seeing a lot during the sunlight hours, but due to getting there later, I ended up with only one hour of daylight, when I got to the city center.
I decided to not stress myself with a million things to see, as I’m coming back for a few days in April, so instead, I jumped on the famous Star Ferry from 1888, a historic ferry that brings passengers across Victoria Harbour between Hong Kong Island and the urban area of Kowloon, while offering the most amazing view of the beautiful skyline of Hong Kong.
In Kowloon, I went up on a viewing deck to get some sunset pictures of the skyline and took my time wandering about the streets until the sun had finally set and left the city with only its neon lights to light it up.
Since it had gone dark, I decided to jump on the ferry once again and head back to the city center. The view on the ferry was great once again, but this time the dark sky and the neon lights made the city look even more beautiful.
There was much more that I wanted to see, but parks are scary in darkness and the buildings were all closed, so I decided to save that for the next visit and go back to the airport just 2,5 hours after I had arrived in the city center.
Finding the train station again was easy, as it’s located next to the Two IFC building, which is the tallest building on Hong Kong Island, so I couldn’t possibly get lost. I’m very surprised that I didn’t get lost at all (it’s a first) and I actually already feel familiar with the city.
The entire stopover is 17 hours (I still have 7 hours left….), but unfortunately, I didn’t get many daylight hours out of it. I didn’t see everything that I wanted, but I got a good taste of the city and now I won’t have to worry about figuring out boring stuff like transport systems, when I come back in April.
I can already say that Hong Kong is my favourite megacity so far; a city full of skyscrapers surrounded by tall mountains and water, what’s not to love? I’m already excited to go back in 1,5 months, where I’ll discover much more of the beauty of Hong Kong.
9 COMMENTS
Inger Midtgaard
8 years agoHej Melissa.
Vi følger din rejse med stor fornøjelse! Det er helt utroligt, at du når så meget. Og at du får tid til at opdatere med billeder og tekst hver dag.
I dag havde vi besøg af din søde far – så hørte vi lige lidt ekstra om din spændende tur.
Fortsat god rejse.
Kærlig hilsen
Hans og Inger
Melissa Cherry
8 years agoHej Inger og Hans!
Jeg synes det er dejligt, at i har lyst til at følge med! ?
Det lyder hyggeligt med et besøg fra min far, måske jeg skulle tage med, når jeg kommer hjem? ?
Hav det godt!
Kh. Melissa
Ann
8 years agoA very beautiful post, Mel! I adore traveling with you through your fabulous pictures! Stay in touch and take care!
Melissa Cherry
8 years agoThank you so much Ann, I’m glad to have you along on the trip! 😀
Anonymous
8 years agoFantastic place, I like it very much! Pictures are wonderful as always, Mel! stay in touch, I am traveling with you!
Monica
8 years agoSkyscrapers, mountains and water… I love this. Hong Kong is on my list, too, Melissa. I just don’t know when 🙂
Beautiful post again <3
Melissa Cherry
8 years agoIt’s perfect, right? You’ll love it when you do go! 😀
Thank you! <3
Robert
8 years agoVery nice places! 🙂 Really a wonderful city! Safe journey further! Can I ask what you will be doing for 1.5 month there, work or study?
Melissa Cherry
8 years agoThank you Robert! 😀
I’m not in Hong Kong for 1,5 months, I’ll be back there in 1,5 months, but only for two days :/ I’ll be travelling around Asia until then! 😀