Hong Kong Trip

Author: shellyf
Date of Trip: November 2010

We stayed at the JW Marriott — great location-many amenities — club floor is great — free breakfast — everything, eggs, lox, salads, also great dinner snacks from 6:30 to 8- wings, salads, salami, prosciutto. All drinks included.

World class gym was available 24/7. Safes in all rooms. Great bathroom amenities, toothbrushes, mouthwash, razors and shaving cream, all of this is provided everyday if you use up any of it. All staff was extremely helpful and friendly.

Great bar area with music in the evenings. Their Man Ho restaurant had decent food but service was so-so. High prices. $7 for a coke or small Perrier. Marriott is attached to a large, beautiful Mall, Pacific Place, with loads of shops and restaurants. Try Zen for excellent lunches and dinners. Dim Sum, spare ribs in honey sauce, scallops with asparagus — all delicious.

Went to nearby neighborhood, Wan Chai. Many offices, packed with people. Tried local soup restaurant and it was terrible. Heard there were some good restaurants.

Wan Chai – #3 train to Wan Chai — Take exit A4. When you get outside, immediately to your left is the Wan Chai computer center. They have 2 floors with anything and everything to do with computers, peripherals, accessories, TV’s, Cell phones, etc. Unfortunately, almost everything they have is cheaper in NY or on ebay. Wan Chai also has many restaurants and shops. Try Joy Hing food shop 267 Hennessey Road. Take exit A2 from Wan Chai station. This lets you off on Hennessey then turn left and walk a few minutes. Fabulous roast pork with rice is their specialty.

Easy use of trains. Got octopus card. Buy in arrival hall at airport. Easy and convenient to use. You load a certain amount and can refill the card at any station. When it was time to leave, I went to the station and gave back the cards and got a refund for whatever value was left. Trains always packed with people but very reliable. A train comes every 3 minutes.

The JW Marriott was on HK Island. To go to Kowloon and most of the shopping, take Metro one stop from Central station. If going to TST, get off and go right upstairs to Nathan Road. Main shopping street and leads to everything else. Sam’s Tailor — 94 Nathan Road, in back. 180’s suit, $410, 2 fittings. Aztec Chang, in Peninsula Hotel. Terrific shirts. $100. Sea Island Cotton, 2X2. This entire area is high energy with many people, shops, restaurants and hustlers looking to sell you “copy watch.” These are $25 knockoffs of major names. Be careful. They are not dangerous, just persistent.

Took half day orientation tour which was good intro to HK. We went to Stanley Market. They had mostly inexpensive souvenir type stuff.

OM Custom tailors Vijay — (http://www.omtailors.com/) He made my wife a dress and some pantsuit outfits and blouses. Gorgeous stuff. She went for fitting the next day. I had 2 sport jackets made. All of it was ready in 4 days. 66 Mody road. From central we take metro to TST and 2 blocks was Mody Rd. We then had to walk down about 5 blocks to this shopping center. And there it was. We did take a taxi once from JW Marriott. With a tip it was 12 bucks. This included the toll through the tunnel to Kowloon. Also had suit made by Sam’s Tailors. Super 180’s wool 4 seasons, $410.

My wife had 3 pairs of shoes made by ShoeMan Lau, in the downstairs mall of the Sheraton Hotel, across from the Peninsula on Nathan Road. Very helpful people. She has a bunion problem on one foot but these handmade shoes fit her perfectly. About $200 a pair. They took about 4 days to make and one extra fitting. SHOPPING TIP: If you want a certain item made, bring a picture of it or a copy. This is for garments as well as leather goods. They can show you only so many styles of shoes, but if you have a picture of one you’d really like, they can make it from the picture. Also, they can make wallets, leather bags, etc. from a picture. For guys, GQ magazine has dozens of suit styles and there are many women’s magazines with many styles as well. Just bring pics of what you like and they can make it.

Great restaurant at Peninsula Hotel: Spring Moon. Baked ribs, roast pork, Peking duck, lemon chicken and sauteed shrimp with asparagus all outstanding. Great bar in lobby for drinks or tea. It seemed always crowded.

Macau — One hour trip from HK by Turbo Jet. Ferry is about $15 by day and $23 at night — Takes one hour to get to/from HK. Huge ship holds more than 300 people. Go on weekday. Less crowded. Many free shuttle buses provided by casinos to/from their places right as you get off ferry. About 7 minutes. We went to Grand Lisboa hotel. Great restaurant: The Kitchen. 3rd floor by elevator. Opens at 6:30. Basically Japanese but also can get veal, steak, fish. Phenomenal steak, Wagyu beef from Australia and Veal from US. Huge salad bar with everything. The food was outstanding, vegetables, etc. Casinos packed. 4 floors of gaming tables. Many casinos in this area including those from Vegas.

Causeway Bay — Take train #3 to Causeway Bay. Very busy place with many shops, malls, and restaurants. Also a nice park draws thousands of people on weekends.