Hot answers tagged hong-kong
14
I LOVE taking photos in Hong Kong. I have taken many photos in mainland China and in Hong Kong and a few other Asian countries - HK has a special "flavour" of its own.
The answers to your 3 questions are "many places" in each case :-) - but there are some specialist ones. You will find mixes of all sorts of things all over. The really and genuinely old is ...
11
Here are some places. Hong Kong is sometimes tricky to shoot because things are in most cases too close up for the size they have. It's not easy shooting 40-floor high buildings when you are standing in front of them. I find my 15mm fish-eye very helpful at times.
Mong Kok: VERY dense place, lots of small shops
Causeway bay, specially around Sogo and Times ...
10
元, traditional Chinese 圓, is the generic Chinese character for "unit of currency" and is used to refer to the local currency: RMB in China, HKD in Hong Kong, SGD in Singapore, etc. So odds are pretty high the signs you saw were actually for prices in HKD.
While many Hong Kong shops do accept RMB, it's just a service for Chinese travelers and the exchange ...
10
Obviously "best" is always subjective and depends on the particular person, but...
Having done 1-day stopover trips in Hong Kong a few times over the past few years (including a 22 hour stopover there 2 weeks ago!), my vote would be for the area on one side or other of Victoria Harbour - either the Kowloon/Nathan road area on the north side, or Causeway ...
9
Your visa will indicate how many times you are permitted to enter China under that visa. On the first line, there should be a field "ENTRIES" with a letter and a chinese character following it. If that letter is M, you are eligible for multiple entries. China also has single and double-entry visas; presumably, those would be the letters S and D respectively. ...
8
I drank bubble tea in Hong Kong practically every day when I was travelling there but never fell ill. (Love bubble tea!) The way bubble tea is packaged in machines that seals the drink in means it's usually sold in shops with fairly good standards of hygiene. Besides, while the drink itself is not hot, bubble tea is prepared using chilled tea - and the ...
8
Looking around online (ask.com, Yahoo Answers), the conclusion seems to be that you can spend RMB only in certain bigger shops that advertise this with the Yuán sticker on their window or the cash register. For other smaller shops, street vendors or taxis you can not use RMB.
As usual the exchange rate you get is not as good as through a bank, currency ...
7
As #naeblis posted, there is no generic answer to this question. My answer would be that it depends on the type of trip you are planning. If you have inflexible dates or a set itinerary I'd recommend getting the tickets as soon as you know these details. Also, if your itinerary involves low-traffic routes or minor destinations with infrequent flights I'd ...
6
There is no way for anyone to know in advance if prices will go up or down in the coming month.
In general prices go up as you get closer to the departure date, as the lower fare buckets sell out.
Airlines of course have sales and promotions, but it is not in their best interest to promote the upcoming sale before it begins. Consider - if they did that, ...
6
Most retailers in Hong Kong do not accept RMB.
The 7-11 stores* have an enlightend policy where they will accept RMB at HKD face value and give you any change in HKD. As HKD are worth less than RMB they make a profit of the exchange rate on the transaction.
The current exchange rate is 1 RMB = 1.25114 HKD (April 2013), so the 7-11 stores are making an ...
6
No you cannot reliably use Renminbi/Yuan in Hong Kong, you will have to exchange it.
Taxis generally do not accept them. Other shops generally do not display if they accept RMB or not, and if they accept it, you will most likely get change back in HKD.
You can either exchange at a bank or at one of the hundreds of money changers in Hong Kong. To my ...
6
There isn't a free public shuttle bus service to/from the airport. (There are, of course, normal paid public buses that serve HKIA.) What I think your relative may have gotten it confused with is complimentary hotel bus services that are reserved for guests.
I'd recommend taking the HKIA Express though. It's a lot cheaper ($100) than getting a taxi and a ...
6
This rather more than a "shopping answer", hopefully.
How to determine if Jade is genuine:
This webpage provides an excellent discussion of types of genuine jade and of non genuine alternatives.
This page is also very useful
Excellent characteristics table for Jade and other materials.
A pocket spectrometer is possibly a really good tool. These are ...
5
There are no "ferries" that travel the route. Ferries are not available for this distance since the minimum distance (bee line) from Hong Kong to Vietnam is 600+ kilometers. You would rather get on board a cruise ship.
Here are some cruises departing from various places in Vietnam, this one here for example going from Singapore via Vietnam to Hong Kong.
As ...
5
There are none left after the ones in Kai Tak and Diamond Coast closed in Kong Kong. you will have to go to China or Macao.
In Macao there is one the Cotai strip behind the golf court. I have however never been there and could not find an email/website either.
There are two in Zuhai: The Zhuhai Golden Apple Karting Circuit (used by the HK GoCart club) and ...
5
There are a number of ferries between South Korea and China, via Tianjin or Qingdao. Both South Korea and China have a well-connected railway network, so it shouldn't be a problem to travel onward by train from the arrival point in China to Hong Kong.
For what it's worth, the same page also lists ferries between South Korea and Japan.
South Korea to Hong ...
5
The supermarket chains in Hong Kong (such as Welcome) do accept RMB at a (not great) fixed rate. There are otherwise no fixed rules about which businesses accept RMB, however it is better to assume that most businesses do not.
That said, Hong Kong is changing fast with the increasing amount of mainland tourists. RMB usage is definitely rising throughout the ...
5
Looks like the restricted area is restricted for the passengers only, so you will be in this area basically.
The non-restricted are is where anyone can come from the city, and which is before border control and security checks (from the perspective of people arriving from the city). You can assume that you will not get to this area (unless you want to go ...
5
From the Wikitravel piece on Hong Kong and eating exotic meats, it sounds like there are a few restaurants that sell it and it's likely legal. They even name restaurants that sell it:
While Hong Kong has long banned dog and cat meat and has strict rules
on importing many meats of wild life animals, snake meat is commonly
seen in winter in different ...
5
The information you have is consistent with that given by the Hong Kong immigration authorities in that US passport holders may visit Hong Kong for leisure purposes for up to 90 days without a visa.
(Note that the US State Department website which you quote says that you only need a passport valid for at least one month after the planned travel dates. The ...
5
You can store baggage at Hong Kong International Airport itself. There's a baggage storage facility at Level 3, Terminal 2. At 10 HKD / hour, it's quite inexpensive too!
Here's something you should consider though: peak time traffic is bad in Hong Kong and if you plan to reach your host's house after 5pm, it might take you 1-2 hours by taxi to reach your ...
4
Hong Kong SAR has fairly relaxed rules for visa-free entry ranging from 14 to 90 days to a large range of nationalities. The official rules to list you are supposed to prove you have sufficient funds to cover your travel and evidence of onwards travel. However, in practice I have rarely found HK Border Control officials asking anyone to show this evidence or ...
4
Many airlines will send out periodic mailings detailing points promotions and/or discounted/special fares.
There is - of course - no guarantee that the flight you want will come up on sale, but every now and then you'll also get coupon codes for double miles, 10% off, etc., which can also be very helpful.
To opt into these mailings, check your online ...
4
While sites like Wikitravel don't seem to help too much in this case, fortunately we can look at anecdotal evidence and quotes on VirtualTourist pages like these.
Quotes from these pages for a selection of clubs:
"Dress Code: No jeans or sneakers/trainers, must be very fashionable."
"Dress Code: No Jeans , shorts, or flip flops !!!!"
"Dress ...
4
As far as I can tell reading on the embassies websites there is no reason for them to stop you at the airport at either destination. With the switch in BKK (Bangkok) I believe you will not enter customs and your luggage is automatically forwarded.
The people at Bangalore have the option of stopping you if they think you will be refused entry to your ...
4
'Restricted area' are the shops near the departure gates, and if you stay within that area then you don't need to go through passport control. However, if you want to go into the non-restricted area then you will have to go through passport control. Hong Kong has fairly open rules for most nationalities and your get the visa as a stamp on-arrival (if you ...
3
You'll want to decide whether you need to make calls, send SMS, or if you're just after it for data.
Then take a look at the Prepaid Sim Card Wiki entry for Hong Kong.
Depending on what phone you have, you have a few options there, and it'll depend on how much data you plan on using in those five days, of course, as to which one suits you the best, but ...
3
I found an article on SFGate that gives details of a locality in Kowloon (emphasis mine):
And that's where Kweilin, in Kowloon's teeming Sham Shui Po, comes in.
Known far and wide as Snake Street, it's the place to find the
freshest snake in town. How fresh? Fresh enough to try to get in the
first bite. Part of the fun of a Kweilin Street visit is ...
3
Definitely on Friday, come as soon as possible. Once the weekend starts and people come from work or school (Friday from 16:00 on), it gets packed very quickly. People start lining up overnight to get the best stuff anyhow. You can assume that once the prices go down, the good things will be gone, too.
The visitor numbers have been increasing massively over ...
2
I lived in Hong Kong for nearly a year, and made multiple trips to mainland China while I was there.
I recommend getting your Chinese visa from a processing/expediting agent. I was there around the 2008 Olympics and visas were in high demand so lines were long and visas for US Citizens we're frequently being rejected and/or shortened.
My first visa ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
