Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, is a vibrant blend of Cantonese Chinese and British influences. A major hub in East Asia, it’s a destination for China’s affluent travelers. Known as Asia’s World City, it’s renowned for its financial center, global connections, and unique cultural mix.
Formerly a British colony for almost 150 years, Hong Kong boasts British-designed infrastructure. Rapid development from the 1950s made it one of the “Four Asian Tigers,” excelling in manufacturing and finance. Today, it’s a leading financial center in East Asia and a crucial transition port for China’s exports.
Beyond its bustling streets, Hong Kong offers a surprising rural landscape with mountains and islands. Country Parks provide pockets of wilderness for adventurous tourists.
The population, primarily Han Chinese (93.6%), includes various Chinese groups, Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Filipinos, Indonesians, and Thais. Hong Kong is truly international, with residents from Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea, and North America.
The people are reserved but friendly, especially to children. Learning a few words of Cantonese can enhance your experience. Despite the crowded spaces, bumping into people isn’t considered impolite. The peninsula to the north of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, is a dense mix of malls, markets, and tenements. Tsim Sha Tsui offers budget hotels, Mong Kok is a bustling shopping district, and Kowloon City is known for local restaurants and parks.
For travelers seeking a taste of local life, exploring Kowloon’s diverse neighborhoods, like Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, provides a unique Hong Kong experience.
MY EXPERIENCE. “Let’s go to Hong Kong tomorrow? Or let’s go now after lunch?” – for me and my friends with whom we lived in Shenzhen on the border with Hong Kong, this was a common thing as part of a more interesting pastime.
Because it didn’t take that much time either. Get to any of the two border metro stations, and there, after passport control, make a pedestrian crossing to Hong Kong. Well, to the center, to Tsim Sha Tsui, another 50 minutes by Hong Kong metro.
Initially, or the first times, it seemed like something difficult. We needed this departure from China to Hong Kong to get a stamp in our passport, due to the fact that our Chinese business visas had a corridor of 60 or 30 days. And you could return and renew your entry and be in China again on the same day. It was even possible not to go to the center, but simply go down and immediately return back to China.
But over time, we began to travel to Hong Kong more often! Both for work and just for fun, but mostly for shopping!)) It so happened that we still tried to return on the same day, but in order to have more time for Hong Kong, we tried to leave Shenzhen in the morning, so that we could return late in the evening and catch the last metro and get to our homes in Shenzhen.
We drove there with empty backpacks, and back with full ones and with an additional 2-4 large shopping bags in our hands! And there was some kind of magic in this!))
However, the Chinese themselves love to go shopping in Hong Kong, and they also return back with a lot of packages. By the way, this is one of the many obvious signs by which one can distinguish a resident of Hong Kong from an ordinary Chinese, although outwardly they are almost indistinguishable (for those who come to Asia for the first time))
It so happened that in China there is trust only in traditional medicine. As for various vitamins, mineral supplements and medicines, it’s definitely best to buy them all in Hong Kong only! There these products are mainly from USA.
We bought sports nutrition, vitamins, etc. there for ourselves, and before flying home to Ukraine, we bought medicines and vitamins for our parents and relatives.
It has also become a rule that in addition to clothes, be sure to buy sneakers! In the center, in the Tsim Sha Tsui area, there are a lot of shopping centers, for example K11, where we always loved to look and buy something from new collections, but also looked closely at the promotions! Adidas, Nike, Puma, Asics, and my favorite Onitsuka Tiger! We lost several hours in these stores!
By the way, with promotions you could sometimes buy good branded sneakers for 200 HKD! That is, for about 30 USD! Yes, these were new sneakers but from old collections. Of the new collections, sneakers mostly cost from 500 to 1000 HKD, and the most fashionable and cool ones cost 1000-2000 or more.
Also we liked to buy perfumes in perfume stores. We could also spend from an hour to two there)) And by the way, before Hong Kong I didn’t use any perfumes or eau de toilette at all, and then I started! )) Calvin Klein One was my very first)) then Trussardi Black Extreme, Versace (different options), Salvatore Feragamo, and so on… Sometimes I actually spent a couple of hours smelling everything through paper samples! 😀
Food was not in last place either! It so happens that sweets in China are a bit of a mess! Or rather, “non-Chinese” don’t like the Chinese sweets that are sold there in stores at all! Especially those who are spoiled by our Ukrainian or European sweets!
That’s why we bought sweets from Hong Kong stores like “BestMart 360” or “PrizeMart”! Because they really were tastier, more natural, and generally better! Large packs of M&M, Nutella, chocolate chip cookies – everyone was bought there. Dried fruits, fish, nuts – also there!
As for sitting and eating in Hong Kong itself, our favorite place was “Paisano’s Pizzeria” (not far from the main Nathan Road). The pizza is huge, thin, and incredibly tasty! They also always had chicken salad and beer! Very often this is where we gathered to celebrate something!
We liked to drink coffee at “ISQUARE” on the 2-3 floor of Starbucks because it had a beautiful view of the Tsim Sha Tsui area!
It was also only in Hong Kong that I always bought my photographic equipment! New in the store on Nathan Road, and used equipment in the Mong Kok area at the “Sim City” photographic equipment market.
I can tell you a lot more about Hong Kong, but there is already too much text! 😉
I’ll try to tell you about the islands and the best beach in Hong Kong in a separate post…
