I'm going off to India again, and I decided to take a few days of layover on my way back. At the moment, I'm looking at about 6 days in Hong Kong. Any recommendations? (My other option would be a few days in Thailand.)

What would you like to know ?

In general, you can be a tourist in HK in about a long weekend, unless you have a burning desire to visit the scene of every Jackie Chan movie ever made. Major sights are the Peak (a view, some restaurants, nice walk, shopping), the Lantau Buddha (steps, and lots of them, buddha, shopping), Stanley (bus trip through the smart real estate, restaurants, shopping), junk trips (sightseeing, water ski, restaurants, shopping), etc. Accomodation runs from $30 a night including all the salmonella you can eat, to some of the world's best full-on luxury hotels at around $300.

As you can see there's all sorts of shopping going on, but it's not necessarily cheaper than at home for genuine goods. You can also pop over the border to China (about an hour on the train, visas needed) and get yourself a truckload of Guccci or Channel or Luois Vuiton bags at $10 each. Also many genuine antiques (and if they don't have what you're looking for they can run one up for you while you wait). And of course DVDs that fully respect the laws of copyright.

Other possible destinations to consider:
Vietnam: I would say Saigon is more interesting than Hanoi
Singapore, could also include Kuala Lumpur or Bintan (Indonesia)
Cambodia: Angkor Wat is truly astonishing
Shanghai: see the 21st century getting going
Beijing: Great Wall / Forbidden City etc tourist heaven


Regards

Mark

Chess.

Quote:
Also many genuine antiques (and if they don't have what you're looking for they can run one up for you while you wait).

In addition to some of the stuff you mentioned, I really enjoyed some of the mundane -- probably 20 trips on the Star Ferries, the train ride to/from the new airport, a 2-3 hour boat tour of the huge harbor to gawk at the endless rows of container cranes. While I didn't buy much, I really enjoyed the electronics+everything bazaar around Apliu Street in Shim Shui Po (easy subway ride).

I mananged to stay at the Rennaissance on the perks level for ~$100 USD based on (long-gone) Marriott status. Bland, but fancy/comfy enough and handy. I'd still like to go back just to hang out. If I did go back I would try to call hotel manager ahead and see if I could cut a deal. The hotel market has been pretty soft post-SARS, I think.

I'd also like to go back to Bangkok, but it is a tougher go for somebody who likes to walk. Damned hard to breath after about 2 hours outside!

You could catch the hydrofoil to Macau too, a little bit seedier than Hong Kong, nice food markets

You could actually spend a couple of weeks there, as there's a lot to see that's off the tourist path. Check out www.lonelyplanet.com and pick up their book. From traveling about asia and living in Taiwan, I found that the lonely planet books had most of the insider tips it took me so long to learn on my own.

While you're in HK, be sure to visit the "Ned Kelly's Last Stand" pub at night. They have a fantastic band. It's in Kowloon near the Peninsula, but get a taxi to bring you there, it's kind of in a alley that I know how to walk to but couldn't tell anyone how to get there.

Since good indonesian food is impossible to get here in LA any more, you can try some there. Most places are good. My favourite place is off Nathan street in Kowloon. If you start at the kowloon hotel and walk away from the bay, it's on a cross street to the right, about 4 streets up. Huge sign that says 'indonesian'.

I stayed at a hotel called the "shamrock" on nathan. It was $75 us back in 1996, when every other hotel was $300. It's old but nice and should be cheaper now, since everything is.

Just one other caution, buy a surgical mask at Sav-On or Rite Aid and wear it on the plane trip. On those really long plane trips I used to always catch a cold or flu or something horrible. I noticed that it's common for the Taiwanese to do this and since I started, I have never gotten sick on a plane. On a recent trip to Germany, I was the only one on the plane wearing a mask and the only one of my group not to have a cold when we landed.

Have a great trip.

I went to HK last spring - it was my first time in east asia (I had already been to India) and I had a blast. It was just a week, but I hardly slept and was hardly sober. I had a couple of suits made and became acquainted with the wonders of Absenthe - so much so that I got minor alchohol poisoning near the end of the trip and walked through the airports with a fever. My face lit up on the temp monitors, but the lady watching them was distracted so I got through. phew! I had a great time and the bartenders were quite friendly - particularly to a lush like myself.

Heh. Clothes shopping, I might do, but as I don't partake in libation, I'll not follow suit in the rest of your adventure.