On landing at Aukland International, we went to Tourist information bureau at the airport who advised how to best get to The Wharney hotel in Wanchai. They were very friendly and provided us with maps and a water bottle as a New Year’s Day gift.. They advised us to buy an On-Loan Octopus MRT card for travel within the city and put some money on it; any money not used will be refunded minus a 10$HK admin fee. We put $300 on the cards which covered us for the 4 days as it can be used on public rail, bus and ferries. Just badge and and out. We also bought an AirPort Express ticket for about $75 for the two of us. The public MRT train into the city is cheap and clean as we thought it was better value than the shuttle services provided for most tourist travel.

The Express service took us direct into the city and then we took the MRT to The Wharney hotel at Wanchai. After checking in we wandered around the local Wanchai Market area. Apparently this used to be a red light area but it certainly was safe and clean enough. The Star Ferry was local to us so we walked down to the terminal to cross Victoria Bay to Kowloon. This offered us ample opportunities to get our bearings and take some photos of the city. Close by was The Avenue of the Stars promenade which borders the Bay and is  an interesting walk. It was also a great place to view the Laser show where they cast images on most of the the buildings’ surroundings.

It was also Chinese New Year (Year of the Snake) over a period of 10 days so we enjoyed some of the festivities.

New Years Day!

We took the excellent Ngong Ping 360 cable car to see Big Buddha. The best way to get to Lantau Island (Ngong Ping 360) is to take Tung Chung Line and get off at the last stop (Tung Chung). It’s then a few minutes walk to a Cable Car Entrance which will take you to the Big Buddha and Po Lin monastery. Book the cable car online through the  Klook app for any discounts.

It is a fascinating place and the Gondola ride is excellent. The crystal gondola has a see through floor which is quite an experience.

Once at the top there is plenty to see and it it obviously a very special religious venue for many travelers.

We then returned to watch the the New Years Day parade in the evening in Kowloon which was excellent.

We did the Big bus tour around the island visiting Stanley, Aberdeen, Repulse and South Bays. It’s a great service with an app telling you when the next bus will be arriving so it was really useful to see other parts of the island. Commentary on the bus was also informative.

We did the Green loop and once back we wandered around Hong Kong some more.

In the evening there was a spectacular fireworks display over Victoria Bay so we took the Star ferry to Kowloon to watch.

Originally, we were planning on going to The Peak via the funicular railway in order to get a view of the city. However, given it was a Chinese holiday, there were massive crowds so we decided to take the MRT to Shatin to take a look at the 10,000 Buddhas. Hong Kong Gardens which are near the entrance to the Funicular railway  were worth a look before we took the train to Shatin. 

The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (Man Fat Tsz) is located at Po Fook Hill at Pai Tau Village, Sha Tin in the New Territories.

When you exit Shatin station google maps helps you in the right direction but then, once past the multi-storey car park, on the left, there is a poorly marked path which takes you to the entrance . You then follow a steep climb surrounded by the Buddhas. The link may help: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vumaHW8n7awzixvr7

Entrance is free and it’s an interesting experience. At the top there is the monastery and interesting artefacts.

Given we were flying to Aukland that evening, we retraced out steps to the hotel, packed and then used the MRT back to the airport for an overnight flight.