It was the first time in Hong Kong for Maria and I, so we had very high expectations on the shopping, we had 3 days so very limited time to do as much shopping and sightseeing as possible.....
We flew out on QF187 @ 1500 flight with Qantas from Sydney to Hong Kong, this flight is actualy one of QF's older aircraft 767, so no screens in the back of the seats to keep you entertained. It's funny how quickly we get used to the new aircraft, so I'm very good at saduko now cause our screen wasn't working. But the service was great and the seating configuration 2 4 2 is good.
I joined Qantas Club and I must say for frequent travellers this is great, I'm really impressed and glad that I decided to do this.
Whats included in your membership;
- Priority baggage handling & allowances (needed for all my shopping)
- Dedicated Check In
- Priority reservations & waitlists
- Access to Qantas Club lounges with business facilities, workstations, wireless hotspots, faxing, phone calls and meeting rooms.
- Access to partner airline lounges + much more!!
Reho Travel have a discounted negotiated rate for Qantas club memberships. Please contact Allison Wood allison@reho.com should you wish to become a member or if you have any questions.
We stayed at the Kimberley Hotel, it is centrally located in the bustling shopping and entertainment district of Tsimshatsui Kowloon. Walking distance to the harbour and the Star Ferry and if you are really energetic you can even walk to The Ladies markets. The trains, buses and taxis are good and cheap! A taxi to these markets is approx 20 HKD/ AUD 5.00. After all your shopping it would probably be best to get public transport back. The Kimberley is 45 Minutes drive from the airport, and offers private and bus transfers at a good price.
All 546 rooms all equipped with bath/shower, king or twin single beds, TV, mini bar however no in room safe which I thought was strange for this type of hotel. The rooms are very small though, like most other hotels in Hong Kong. The hotel has a wide range of restaurants & a bar - Coffee House, Lobby Lounge, Chinese (with great food) and a Japanese restaurant. It has two multi-purpose function rooms. Other facilities include a business centre, health spa, gymnasium & golf-driving range.
The ladies markets are cheap and good, selling everything and anything! shoes, bags, Jade, Jewellery, more bags, pashminas, shirts, beanies, and did I mention bags....there was heaps of stuff! They open at 1300 until around 2200. Unfortunately no A grade bags but plenty of people telling you that they have them. Just be careful with what you are buying and always keep your personal items and money close to you, there are lots of people around so it's easy for pick pockets!
We had our second morning at leisure looking at all the boutique clothing stores around the streets, shops in Hong Kong don't open until around 1100....At 1230 we were picked up from our hotel for a full day Shenzhen and Lo Wu City Shopping Tour.
We are taken to the Hong Kong ferry terminal and by boat into China. The cost of the tour includes your visa into China, its a special day visa which is organised by the tour company you can not get into China unless you get this or have a Chinese Visa in your passport.
What can I say the Lo Wu Shopping centre is huge! hundreds and hundreds of shops where you can bargain down to the price to what you want pretty much. Ski jackets, more shoes, funky clothes, boots, lots of jewellery and lots of golf shops. Walking through the mall gets a little annoying though.....every single shop owner is outside waiting for you to go past......missy missy you buy you by missy missy..it sounds like a broken record!
After 2 full days of shopping we still had not found the good quality Grade A bags.......but finally we found a great little shop that had everything we were after in this shopping centre. It was good because we wouldn't have found it unless we had our guide so it was a really good tour to do and we got lots of helpful tips off them!!
At 2200 it was time to go back to Hong Kong and you are pretty much over it by then! The train is our form of transport on the way home, its a quick 45 minute journey, suggest getting 1st class, it's clean and very quiet and you will get a seat! By the time we got back to the hotel and unpacked our shopping it was time for bed and we are leaving tomorrow. Now a little worried if I'm going to get charged excess.
A great thing to do on a night in Hong Kong is go down to the Peninsula hotel for the light show at 2000 over the harbour, this is on every night at 2000!! well worth it.
Our final morning found us picking up last minute things on Nathan Road, we were able to get late check out by the hotel which helped with our flight being at 2025 that night. No excess was charged...thankfully! The flight home was good slept most of the way, we were absolutely exhausted. I was happy to be home!
Until next time,
Hayley
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