Hong Kong Archives - Page 2 of 4

May 01 2017

Hong Kong Disneyland Best Attractions and Rides

Hong Kong Disneyland is a vastly underrated park in my opinion. The park houses unique rides and experiences that any Disney fan (and many non Disney fans) would enjoy. Here’s my ranking of my favorites –Hong Kong Disneyland best rides and attractions, not to be missed.

Two notes. Obviously, this list details my subjective opinions so adjust according to your family’s needs and preferences. Secondly, there will be mild spoilers for these rides, so if you’re like me and like to go in with a fresh slate consider yourself warned. Also, even though I ranked these, you could pretty much rank them 1A, 1B, 1C, etc.

So here are my favorite attractions at Hong Kong Disneyland, ranked in ascending order.

7. Fairytale Forest

It might surprise some that this is on the list, but I think Fairytale Forest is a great place to visit, especially if you have young kids. The Fairytale Forest gives you a chance to walk through a magical garden filled with features from five different famous Disney stories.

Hong Kong Disneyland features a lot of unique attractions. If you're visiting from the USA, here are the 7 Hong Kong Disneyland best rides and attractions! — You can get a lot of cool shots in the Fairytale Forest

Each section of the garden features a unique photo opportunity with some great framing (literally). There’s also a small diorama of a scene from each movie in each section. You also hear iconic music from each film in each part of the forest. Topping it all off, you can meet Tinkerbell. Overall, it’s a great little attraction that’s worth a look.

6. It’s a Small World

OK, OK. I know lots of people refuse to ride It’s a Small World for fear of getting that darn music stuck in your head for days on end. But I think the Hong Kong Disneyland version is well worth your time.

The rooms, room order, and many of the animatronics are different. Obviously, Asia’s presence looms much larger in Hong Kong Disneyland. But the real star of the show? Characters from Disney movies sprinkled throughout the ride. Not only that, but small bits from the iconic songs from these movies sprinkle themselves into the main It’s a Small World theme. Purists might not like the Disney characters being in there, but I guarantee your kids will. (A few days after I wrote this, my four year old daughter randomly volunteered that she did indeed prefer the Hong Kong version for this very reason!)

Bonus tip: Stick around to watch the clock on the Small World facade. It’s lovely to watch!

5. Hyperspace Mountain

I’d rank this higher up the list, but Space Mountain received this overlay in multiple parks (though it’s leaving Disneyland soon). As you queue, you’re briefed by Admiral Akbar on an important mission you’ll be undertaking for the Rebel Alliance. You also get some briefing in Cantonese and Mandarin – I really appreciated hearing Star Wars stuff in another language!

The ride itself features Star Wars overlays and speakers narrating what’s going on in the mission. Most of it is in Cantonese but you can get the gist without (bad guys blow up, etc. etc.) The ride is a ton of fun and honestly I prefer it to the original (I know many disagree). It surprised me at almost every turn and I walked out with a huge smile.

4. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars

Out of all the rides on the list, I never managed to ride Grizzly Gulch Runaway Mine Cars, much to my chagrin. But if I had rode, it might be even higher up the list. I’m a sucker for rides that go backwards like these runaway mine cars. From what I could see, the track is long, and since this is the only true ride in Grizzly Gulch, it has to be a show stopper. Watching people ride and hearing friends’ accounts, I think it definitely fits the bill.

3. Mickey and the Wondrous Book

My first day in the park, I kept seeing loads of people coming out of an attraction called Mickey and the Wondrous Book. I had never heard of it so I looked it up when I got home. Turns out it’s a theater show, featuring Mickey and Goofy trying to get Olaf back into the correct pages of a magical storybook.

Along the way they meet characters from both iconic Disney movies (Frozen) and some of the smaller ones (The Princess and the Frog). You’ll love the music, dance choreography, and hearing Mickey and Goofy speak in Cantonese. Don’t worry, there are subtitles and half the show is in English.

The show also features some original songs which sound great, too (we’re still singing it). The show features great special effects and brings joy to kids and adults alike. Don’t miss it.

2. Ironman Experience

Walt Disney World in Florida has that weird rule where they can’t showcase the majority of Marvel characters. Since no such rule exists for Hong Kong Disneyland, they built a Star Tours type ride around Ironman called the Ironman Experience. In fact, this is the first Marvel based ride in any Disney theme park.

You board a tour vehicle at a technology expo in Hong Kong, but of course things go wrong and you get involved in some superhero action. The flight simulator holds over forty people at a time so they can move the line fairly quickly. It showcases some impressive shots of Hong Kong which add to the fun.

My only disappointment? They didn’t shell out the money for Robert Downey Jr or someone who even sounds close to him. I equate him so much with the character now it jarred me a bit to hear someone else. That bumped this ride out of #1 contention. Still, don’t let that deter you – Fastpass this ride a few times!

1. Mystic Manor

It’s been a week and I’m still thinking about Mystic Manor. Due to cultural reasons, ghosts couldn’t be included in Hong Kong Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. What they came up with instead felt nothing short of spectacular the first time I experienced it.

The premise: an explorer offers you a tour of his mansion. Unfortunately, his mischievious pet monkey Marcus opens a magical music box that brings all the artifacts to life. I actually think Mystic Manor feels scarier than the original Haunted Mansion, because these live artifacts give the illusion of putting you in real danger. Well as much as you can in a Disney park.

Another neat feature of the ride – it’s trackless. The cars give the illusion that they move on their own. It’s probably magnets or something but it looks really cool. Finally, the ride makes excellent use of color and effects. It’s absolutely my favorite attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Final Thoughts

Hong Kong Disneyland features a lot of the classic Disney rides, but 5 of my 7 favorite attractions can’t be found anywhere else. Best of all, lines generally are shorter than in other Disney parks around the world, so you could probably hit all seven of these attractions in one day with plenty of time to spare.

If you’ve been to Hong Kong Disneyland, what rides do you enjoy the most? Let me know in the comments!

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Apr 27 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Surviving the 15 hour flight with two young kids

So we took M back to Asia before she turned two and figured we owed H the same. Coming to Hong Kong for only a week seemed like a great idea back in August, time will tell whether it was! But since H managed to get himself born in July going this summer before he turns two is impossible. The first and last steps of our journey: flights with two kids on Cathay Pacific BOS-HKG (and return) in business class.

My buddy Dan reviewed Cathay Pacific business class awhile back so I won’t bother too much with the details. Bottom line: super solid, comfortable product with good food and tons of entertainment. Truly an ideal way to fly to Hong Kong in business class as an adult. Also, one of the only reasons we managed to go to Hong Kong for such a short time (7 nights) with such young kids was being able to fly in business class. (The other? Grandparents.)

We took Cathay Pacific BOS-HKG in business class with our four year old and toddler. Here's how we managed to survive the 15 hour flight. — Hong Kong Airport – look at the camera, kid!

This post will focus on how the flight affected our kids. We spent 420,000 AA miles to fly in J so it’s fair to question whether it was worth it. Here are some things that stood out to me as a parent of a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old flying BOS-HKG on Cathay Pacific.

The lap infant fare cost much less than expected

You need to buy a lap infant ticket when flying internationally.Of course this ticket doesn’t cost a ton since it’s not full price – for most airlines, including AA, it costs 10% of the cash fare. This includes award tickets (though some awesome airlines like British Airways and Korean Air charge 10% of the miles. Aeroplan also has set cash costs which really save you money if you’re booking premium cabins). I wrote about my experience doing just that with United here. You technically need to get a lap infant ticket on domestic flights as well but those cost nothing.

Anyway, I prepared myself to pay 10% of the cash fare for our business class seats, around $800. Like with United, I decided to wait until the last week to call in for the lap infant. Business class fares don’t fluctuate too much so I didn’t think I risked much.

The AAgent surprised me by quoting me about $240 for the lap infant ticket. I’m not sure how she came up with that (coach fare, perhaps), but I took it and ran! So you never know…but be prepared to pay quite a bit. We have before.

Leaving at 1:45 AM is really tough on the kids (outbound)

As a parent, I always prefer direct flights. So when Cathay Pacific started the Boston to Hong Kong flight it was pretty exciting. The downside, however, is a 1:45 AM departure time on the outbound.

We decided to put the kids to bed at normal time (8 PM, I guess an hour early for M). We woke them up right around 11:30 PM and then left immediately. They were pretty groggy and then mostly delirious at the airport, not a great start to the trip.

Of course, we didn’t sleep at all so by the time we all boarded the plane we had kids with not enough sleep and parents with none. Jess boarded first with M and got her settled while H and I played in the empty terminal. By the time the boys got on the plane, it was time to go, so we settled in for the long haul.

The return flight leaves at a much more reasonable time, 6:10 PM Hong Kong time. Of course, it arrives at 10:10 PM Boston time, leading to a lot of jet lag, but I’ll leave that to another post.

15.5 hours is an incredibly long time

Our flight to Hong Kong took 15 and a half hours, the return took about 15. For the most part, the return was much easier – both kids slept about eight hours. The rest of the time M watched a ton of Doc McStuffins and other TV, while H…went nuts? I’d say 18-24 months is quite possibly the worst time to travel with your child.

A toddler that age knows what they want but can’t express it. They want to go places but don’t necessarily have the physical skills to do so consistently. Plus, H needs to move around much more than his sister did at that age.

One thing I’m not sure we made the right decision about, we got three seats in a row. That means to cross to the other side we had to go through the galley. That meant more room for H to walk, but I felt bad cutting through to help out. Eventually I just started climbing over the center console!

Entertaining the kids

Disclosure: Links in this paragraph earn me a small commission on Amazon if you buy through the links. I only linked products that we found useful, appreciate the support!

We bought a bunch of stuff to entertain the kids on the plane. Some things, like Wikki sticks and some car magnets, didn’t work out too well for our kids. But other stuff, like this Melissa and Doug Color Blast coloring book (with “magic pen”), provided great entertainment not only on the plane but throughout the trip.

Besides that coloring book, three other things we bought stood out. First, we bought more take and toss sippy cups. We find that our kids thermoses sort of explode due to changes in cabin pressure; these sippy cups provide a way to keep the kids hydrated without worrying about a mess. (Tip: if you do bring a thermos, keep the cap open to adjust for the pressure. Science!). They only cost $1.25 when I got the, $4 now but still worth it to me. Note they are add on items.

Secondly, Jess bought this huge Tsum Tsum sticker book which occupied M for a long time. She loves this sticker book and played with it a ton even after we arrived. Jess bought it at Target for $15 or something but you can grab it from Amazon for $10.

But da real MVP by far was this pill planner box Jess bought. I confess, I was completely skeptical about this. But I should have realized multi-purpose items reign supreme. We hid snacks, stickers, etc. in the pill planning box and both kids loved to pop each box open to get what was inside. This especially saved us with H, who probably used the box for over an hour throughout the course of each flight. Pill planning boxes – not just for the elderly!

Flying in business class helps, though I’m not sure how much

Like I said at the top, we couldn’t have done this trip without flying in business class. But that mostly is a function of how little time we were in Hong Kong. Now I know Trevor can do Hong Kong in 48 hours, but kids obviously are different. Not only do they get a ton of jetlag, but the parents get a lot less rest – so adrenaline runs out.

The best part of flying business was maximizing rest. When the kids slept, we could lay down fully, so even though I only grabbed three hours on each flight, I felt better than if I had stayed upright. Having food on demand also helped, but you can get cup noodles in economy so that mostly washed out.

I’d say the second benefit came from the attentive service. Since we had a much better flight attendant to passenger ratio, they helped out a big deal. Remember, on Cathay J, they expect you to ring the call button when you need something so don’t be afraid to do that. I’m always impressed by the quality of Cathay’s flight attendants and these flights were no exception.

Finally, and this sounds dumb, but the fact that there were so many buttons to push really helped to keep H occupied. Toddlers are silly, just give them stuff to push and they can stay happy for quite awhile!

Amenities are nice, but a longhaul flight is about survival

Despite the nice amenities of being in business class, we mostly arrived at both our destinations wrecked. A fifteen hour flight with two kids feels like a long war of attrition. It’s nice to lie fully down, but you can never fully rest because you keep one ear open for your kids.

We had no major meltdowns (greater than 5 minutes), but we had a couple minor ones to deal with. Come to think of it, we probably dealt with the same number as we’d deal with in a regular 15 hour day so that wasn’t too bad. No dirty looks either!

Cathay gave H an “amenity kit” with a couple of diapers and Mustela – nice stuff! I actually needed a new small bag for our passports so I’m using it now. I’m guessing they do this in economy too but I don’t know for sure. A nice little baby amenity. In terms of being lap infant friendly, Cathay was great.

The toughest part of flying with a lap infant on Cathay

To me the hardest part was using a seatbelt on H when taking off, landing, or in turbulence. In the States, on most carriers you just literally hold the lap infant in your lap. On Cathay and many other foreign carriers, they give you a seat belt to loop with your own. You then need to buckle that around the kid.

Both my kids unequivocably hate that thing. They don’t mind wearing a seat belt sitting alone, but they hate the lap + seat combination. So the most stressful time of the flight? Sitting in turbulence with a freaking out H on my (or Jess’) lap. Luckily our flights were pretty smooth so we didn’t need to worry about it too much!

Final Thoughts

I recognize plenty of our friends fly to Asia with their young kids in coach so I know how lucky we were to fly up front. I’m glad we got to do it, the whole purpose of this trip was to get H back before he turns two. Unfortunately, that meant we could only stay a week, but thankfully we had the miles to fly in J. That really helped minimize jet lag – though that still was pretty rough (to be continued).

Overall, Cathay Pacific J is a wonderful way to fly to Asia, if you’ve got the miles it’s a worthy redemption. A hefty redemption at 420,000 miles to be sure, but that’s why we play the game. Remember you can use AA or Alaska miles, the latter much cheaper! Stay tuned to read about my jetlag wars with H – fun times were had by none!

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Jan 27 2015

Home for the Holidays: Cathay Pacific First Class with a Toddler

I was excited about our entire trip back to Asia – but I was most excited about flying Cathay Pacific first class. I managed to snag two seats using British Airways Avios due to some persistence and obsessiveness. We were booked on CX 806 from Hong Kong to Chicago O’Hare, a 14 hour flight. So how’d it go with a two year old in tow?

In-town Check in and Security

The Airport Express is possibly my favorite method of getting to the airport that I’ve ever used. We didn’t want to risk the free shuttle being a mess again so we took a short taxi ride from the Hyatt Regency to Kowloon Station.

The signage is super clear in Kowloon Station

At Kowloon Station we used the in-town check in services. Having in-town check in is something unique to Hong Kong that is incredibly useful. Basically, all of the airlines have check in desks set up and the lines generally feel shorter than at the airport.

Not too much in the way of lines in town

You use your Octopus card or Airport Express ticket to get into the turnstiles and then check in as if you were checking in at the airport. As long as you’re checking in 90 minutes before departure time you can check your bags all the way through to your destination. That was super useful for us with M in tow to not have to drag our bags one extra leg to the airport.

There are also luggage carts everywhere - very convenient — There are also luggage carts everywhere – very convenient

Oddly enough, you then leave the check in area and go to the trains where you have to tap your ticket again. Not sure why that’s the case, but it’s a pretty simple procedure. After that, it’s a short train ride to the airport (24 minutes from Central, a little shorter from Kowloon). Exit left for Terminal 1 or right for Terminal 2.

Security at Hong Kong was a breeze, there’s a family line, but really all of the lines are very efficient and move quickly. It’s basically the opposite of what security feels like in…other countries.

Cathay Pacific The Wing Lounge

After going through security, we hung a left and where at Cathay Pacific’s first class lounge, The Wing, after a two minute walk. The lounge is beautiful – it has a nice open feel one level above the gates and a great view of a bunch of the gates.

View from the....well, you get it — View from the….well, you get it

We settled onto one of the couches – M immediately started climbing over everything while Jess and I took turns exploring the food and drink options. Jess grabbed her customary chocolate croissant while I had a glass of the Veuve Clicquot Rose (they also have the standard champagne as well).

Veuve Cliquot sparkling Rose - excellent — Veuve Clicquot sparkling Rose – excellent

Unfortunately, we got to the airport a little late so we didn’t get to enjoy the lounge as much as we had hoped. There is a restaurant, showers, and cabanas (which are like private rooms with a shower). There’s also a champagne bar although you can just get champagne at the regular bar.

In retrospect, we should have gotten a cabana. Truth be told, I didn’t even get to grab a shot of them on this trip – but they are perfect for families with small children. There is plenty of stuff for a toddler to climb or mess with, a shower, a bathtub, and a daybed for resting.

Having our own private cabana with a daybed might have been nice but we didn't have time — Having our own private cabana with a daybed might have been nice but we didn’t have time

I was also disappointed because I didn’t find the restaurant until ten minutes before we had to leave to board. The lounge isn’t very big but for some reason I had trouble finding where things were – I think it’s because of the dark/sleek design or maybe it’s just because I was making sure M didn’t climb on the furniture too much.

The restaurant is to the left of the bar

Anyway, I checked out the menu and the attendant asked if I’d be coming in. I told her that, unfortunately, I had to leave to board soon. She smiled and replied, kindly, “ “ – next time. I don’t know, what she said really got to me – with M turning two it personally just felt to me like I wouldn’t be back anytime soon – or maybe ever. And with that, we heard the boarding announcement and were off.

Cathay First Class Seat Selection and Boarding

We boarded at gate 4, which is right outside the lounge. We went out of the lounge the way we came but realized later that we could have exited through the business class lounge and been right at our gate.

Boarding was smooth, though when we got on the plane I realized I had made a mistake with seat selection. One Mile at a Time has a good primer on CX F seat selection that I wish he had released, oh, a month ago.

Anyway there are six seats in first class – 1A and 2A are on the left side with their own aisle – it would have been ideal to have been in these two seats with M since no one else would be using the aisle. Instead we were in 1A and 1D, which meant we were separated by a partition – no backup.

Barring grabbing 1A and 2A, it would have been better to have 1D and 1K so we could have been across the aisle from each other. Oh well, live and learn. It ended up working out okay in the sense that when one of us was taking care of M the other was completely undisturbed, though I was nervous about us not being able to support one another.

After we boarded we were given our amenity kits and pajamas. I grabbed a glass of champagne but passed on the amuse bouche we just had too much going on. I’m not too into amenity kits – too much toothpaste in our household these days – but the pajamas on Cathay are perhaps my favorite airline pajamas yet. They are soft, comfortable, and most importantly for the plane – don’t get static-y.

Cathay requires lap infants to wear one of those extension belts whenever the seatbelt sign is turned on. M really hated that so it often resulted in some loud protests whenever she had to put it on, including on takeoff.

Taking Meals with the Toddler

After take off our meal service began. As is our custom, we split time with M and ate separately, this time Jess got to eat first. Now I know a lot of people say first class with a toddler or lap infant is a waste, and I totally get that. But the flip side of that is in first class you can really have things the way you want them. The attendants are always super helpful and trying to meet your needs as best they can; with a little one in tow they seem to be even more accommodating.

So while Jess was eating her caviar, I decided to order something off of the snack menu for M – the Japanese braised pork ramen. I found the food off the snack menu worked much better for M, obviously first class fare can be a bit too fancy for toddlers.

We had a great time eating together – it’s tough to explain just how huge the seat is. I actually laid it out as a bed so we could spread out and instead of using the expansive tray table we just used the very large side table. We managed to minimize the number of noodles that hit the seat to two – a real coup!

Eventually it was my turn to eat. I’d definitely say the highlight of the meal was the caviar – you can never really go wrong with that. Although the seared tuna in the salad was very good, I don’t really enjoy eating large pieces of non-chopped lettuce so I let most of it go to waste.

I ordered the Wok-fried Maine lobster as my main – that was excellent. The only trouble with that is I couldn’t really figure out how to eat it without making a mess – luckily M was with Jess.

Jess and I split the apple crumble after M was a sleep

I finished with some cheese (tallegio and manchego I think) and the apple crumble. The cheese was excellent and the crumble was good even though I’m not a huge fan of dessert. We waited until M was asleep to eat dessert. The great thing about first class is the ability to get what you want when you want it and not on a set schedule.

I ordered noodles again twice throughout the flight. Once after M woke up and once for myself. Besides the ramen, there is also a noodle soup with fish balls – this was also pretty great. Unfortunately, I slept through breakfast service but Jess said the congee was excellent. No pictures, unfortunately.

One more thing of note – you can be served an afternoon tea set on request (you can have any snack at any time just hit the call button). We had only about an hour when M slept on her own – so we decided to take tea together. It’s easy to eat with a companion – the ottoman even comes with a seatbelt for turbulence. The afternoon tea was a nice spread and we enjoyed a little bit of peace and quiet together. Jess has reminded me that my lack of sleep has caused me to mix up this flight with our flight home from Lyon. Oops! So I can’t speak to the quality of CX’s afternoon tea – but it does exist!

Finding Ways to Rest with the Toddler

I’d venture to say that aside from the Lufthansa 747 with a seat and bed, the Cathay Pacific first class seat is the most conducive premium cabin seat for a lap child. Like I said, the seat is huge. There is a nice little section to the right of the main seat where a toddler can sit comfortably.

If you lay the bed out, there is a ton of space – all three of us could sit on the bed with room to spare. The chair is comfortable both in the lounging and sleeping position – though when sleeping there is a little bit of a bump that was always sticking into my back a little bit.

The flight attendants will of course make your bed for you

Getting M to sleep was pretty tough. She was super into everything on the plane – light switches, seat controls, duty free magazine (searching for Hello Kitty). Compounding her overstimulation was the fact that every time we managed to get her to sleep, we’d hit a spot of turbulence.

Whenever her seatbelt went on she’d wake up get pretty mad (or not wake up and still be pretty mad). Unfortunately, there was a ton of turbulence on the flight – maybe 1/3 to ½ the flight. Maybe things would have been more comfortable otherwise.

Still, it was great to have the first class seat for M to sleep in. Both Jess and I spent some time sleeping with her in the bed and neither of us felt too overcrowded.

In case you require further proof... — In case you require further proof…

The entertainment system is also well set up to use when you’re in the bed. You don’t need to sleep at an angle to see the screen clearly which happens sometime on other products. I managed to watch a movie and a few TV shows on the flight, which of course you know I love.

As I mentioned, I got to sleep the late shift so I missed breakfast. Before we knew it, we were descending into Chicago.

Final Thoughts

This flight was definitely tough at times – the turbulence made it tougher on everyone. But the cabin crew and service was great and did their best to make everything easier for us. The seat was super comfortable and spacious enough for us to sleep with M. I definitely think this is one of the top first class products in the world (in my limited experience). At 67.5K AA miles, it’s definitely one of the best options out there right now. Cathay releases quite a bit of space close in, so if you’re flexible – go for it!

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

United Domestic First and LAX Star Alliance Lounge

EVA Royal Laurel Class Review

Using Public Transportation in Taiwan with a Toddler

Visiting the Taipei Zoo

Eating in Taipei

Grand Hyatt Taipei King Suite Review

A Tough Flight with a Toddler

Public Transportation in Hong Kong with a Toddler

Typical Hong Kong Tourist Activities

Hong Kong Disneyland with a Toddler

Finding Peace and Quiet in Hong Kong

Eating in Hong Kong

Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui Regency Suite Review

Jan 26 2015

Home for the Holidays: Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui Regency Suite Review

Like in Taiwan, I booked a cash and points room at the Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui and confirmed a suite upgrade using my Diamond suite upgrades. As a Category 4 hotel, this cost 7500 points and $100 per night. Here are my impressions of the hotel.

Lobby and Surrounding Area

The Hyatt Regency TST is very well located in the same building as the K11 mall (where we went to eat a few times.) As Trevor noted in his review, it’s a little weird that you need to take two elevators up to your room but you kind of get used to it. In general the hotel is very centrally located – it’s close to a lot of public transportation options including the MTR and Star Ferry.

The decor wasn’t as impressive as the Grand Hyatt Taipei, but the staff and service was just as attentive. Everyone was always extremely helpful, though it was a little weird that they had staff posted at like every corner of the hotel (I think it’s to prevent the public from trying to access the rooms).

Regency Suite

The Regency suite was definitely smaller than our suite in Taipei. It still was pretty big, with a large bathroom, a decent view, and a nice living room. One weird thing about the room was that it was oval in shape (Hong Kong architecture I guess). I’m honestly not sure if that made the room feel bigger or smaller.

It did give us the chance to run around in circles looking for M. I had some nitpicks with the room – the light switches weren’t intuitive (or intuitively placed), the closet was far away from the bed so slightly inconvenient – little things like that.

It's always nice to have a couch in a separate room — It’s always nice to have a couch in a separate room – especially with a sleeping baby

Still, considering the fact that I am currently sitting in a room in Hong Kong that is less than half the size of the Regency suite, I can’t really complain. The fridge had enough space for M’s milk and we had plenty of space to spread out. All in all I was happy with the room.

The hallway in the suite was a good staging area/stroller storage

Regency Club and Amenities

The club offered a modest breakfast and some snacks and drinks during happy hour. They always had a selection of hot food that you could ask the waiter to bring you, though during happy hour this was usually just something small.

It was nice to have breakfast, and like any of my stays with lounge access, I was always up there getting my caffeine fix after long days.

The hotel has a great amenity: the Handyphone. It’s a smartphone that you can use for the duration of your stay. Although I have international data through T-mobile, it was nice to have a phone that was on a better service carrier. You can log in with all your personal google information and the phone wipes when you are done (you can wipe it yourself too).

Getting a free smartphone loaner is a great amenity

Final Thoughts

I was definitely spoiled by the Grand Hyatt Taipei – although the Hyatt Regency TST was nice I wasn’t especially blown away. The location and smartphone are great and the staff is top notch, other than that the hotel didn’t really stand out to me. Still, I’m not gonna look a suite upgrade gift horse in the mouth – we had a very comfortable and relaxing stay and I was glad we booked it. There are a ton of hotel options in Hong Kong though so it’s definitely worth it to look around.

Cereal at breakfast is never a bad thing

Other Posts in this Series

Introduction

United Domestic First and LAX Star Alliance Lounge

EVA Royal Laurel Class Review

Using Public Transportation in Taiwan with a Toddler

Visiting the Taipei Zoo

Eating in Taipei

Grand Hyatt Taipei King Suite Review

A Tough Flight with a Toddler

Public Transportation in Hong Kong with a Toddler

Typical Hong Kong Tourist Activities

Hong Kong Disneyland with a Toddler

Finding Peace and Quiet in Hong Kong

Eating in Hong Kong

Jan 25 2015

Home for the Holidays: Eating in Hong Kong

Obviously, one of the main draws of Hong Kong is the food. For me, it’s always a matter of balancing good food with nostalgic food from when I was a kid that…might not be as good. Luckily we managed to do a little bit of both on this trip. I’ll just hit our culinary experiences in chronological order.

Spaghetti House

Our first night in Hong Kong, we were still recovering from a pretty tough flight with M. We were looking for some place quick to eat so I suggested one of my favorites from childhood: Spaghetti House!

Having moved to Hong Kong when I was 10, I missed Western food all the time. Spaghetti House was one of the restaurants we would go to after I complained too much.

Like many restaurants in dense Asian cities, you have to look up to find where you’re going. After taking a dinky elevator and waiting a few minutes, we were seated.

One thing I noticed, starting with Spaghetti House, is restaurants in Hong Kong don’t give you a ton of napkins. We only got one each for the two adults and had to ask for a third for M. So come prepared – hey it saves the environment!

Anyway, we didn’t have anything fancy – spaghetti and a salad. M and I enjoyed it – though it probably won’t blow anyone’s mind. Still, if you’re looking for Western food, there are worse places than Spaghetti House.

Random Restaurants in K11 Mall

Like in Taiwan, we were often confined to eating near the hotel. Unlike Taiwan, we weren’t stuck only eating at the food court. The K11 mall has a bunch of restaurants, we managed to try two.

The first restaurant we tried was Good Place. Like a lot of Hong Kong restaurants, Good Place offers all sorts of food – Western and Chinese alike (the British influence). I ordered the pork belly with rice – it was delicious.

Eating in Hong Kong — Pork belly plate. Yum.

That egg is only half cooked and you dip the pork belly in it (forget what it’s called if someone knows please enlighten me). Anyway, it’s pretty common place to find restaurants in HK that offer food from all over (I ate Japanese here, Jess had some Chinese noodles, but we also could have ordered lasagna). Just go with it.

The second restaurant we went to in was Miso Cool. This place was mostly Japanese food; besides the ridiculous/awesome name the food was pretty good. We just ate your standard Japanese dishes (udon and teriyaki with a side of sushi) – I didn’t manage to take any pictures of the food because it was one of those family meals where our hands were full the whole time. They also serve frozen yogurt which Jess would partake in at a later date.

Tasty Noodle

Jess and I discovered this place way back in 2010 on our first trip to Asia together and we have visited every time in Hong Kong since. It’s located in the IFC Mall and can often have a decent wait time. Like almost every restaurant in Hong Kong, take a number and wait for it to show up on the sign.

Tasty Noodle lives up to its name: it has all manner of noodle dishes and an extensive menu that can be overwhelming. We always order at least one order of wonton noodle soup, just because it’s so classic.

Then we usually get some dish with ho fun (flat rice noodles). Often this is Beef Chow Fun (乾炒牛河) but this time I decided to mix it up. There is a standard Hong Kong dish called runny egg beef rice (滑蛋牛肉飯) – I asked for this but on ho fun instead (he fen if you’re speaking Mandarin). I love this dish – I really just seem to love semi raw eggs in general.

We also ordered some vegetables, I guess, and ma la gau (pinyin, don’t know the English translation). Overall we were super satisfied, as always!

Tim Ho Wan

After Disneyland, we made a beeline for Hong Kong Station (near the IFC) to eat at Tim Ho Wan, our second Michelin starred restaurant of the trip (there are other locations as well). This place was pretty annoying to find, it’s like on a middle level of the actual train station – we wandered around for ten minutes to look for it. Just do yourself a favor and ask first instead of being a stubborn guy like me.

Prepare for crowds and tight quarters – all these people have numbers already, back up!

Tim Ho Wan is cheap, tasty, and crowded dim sum. There was a long wait when we got there at 4:15. There is always a huge crowd of people by the podium, but all of them probably have numbers up there. Push your way up to the front and ask for a number, you’ll receive a menu with a number on it so you can mark what you want to save time. There also aren’t any high chairs for you parents out there.

No high chairs at the Central location so bear that in mind

We had a mix of great orders and fail orders, though that was on us not the restaurant. You have to order the steamed pork buns, they are unique here and possibly some of the best I’ve ever eaten.

The glutinous rice chicken (糯米雞) was very generous in portion and tasted amazing, much better than anything we can get at home.

If you're not sure how to order this, just say "Naw Mai Gai" - the last two rhyme with fi from "fee fi fo fum" — If you’re not sure how to order this, just say “Naw Mai Gai” – the last two rhyme with fi from “fee fi fo fum”

We also ordered some shrimp dumplings, which were pretty standard.

Finally, we ordered this fried egg and minced beef on rice dish that was kind of a fail. I mean it tasted fine and all, but I can’t really remember why we ordered it and it just wasn’t as good as the other stuff.

All in all, I definitely believe Tim Ho Wan was worth the wait. For sure you have to try it at least once, but I’m considering it putting it on our list of must visits with Tasty Noodle and Din Tai Fung on future trips.

Cheap Eats

There are a lot of cheap eats in Hong Kong. First, I need to give a shout out to McDonald’s. I did not eat there – a shocker – but we did get a hot chocolate. Couldn’t pass this up. The also were selling a 6 piece chicken nuggets meal for $21HKD (less than $3 USD) WHAT!? If only…

Our toughest find ended up being egg waffles at Lee Keung Kee. They have a location in Tsim Sha Tsui on Nathan Road which really is basically in Jordan (just walk north). Anyway, we read online that they opened at 11 AM so we got there around 10:50 and stood around until they sadly did NOT open. Jess was incredibly disappointed.

The line for egg waffles was not insignificant

Eventually, on one of our last days, M took a nap in the afternoon while I ran up there to get some egg waffles. There was a super long line that took me about twenty minutes to get through. The egg waffles are cheap (like less than $2 each or $3 for a pair), and they are served hot! Anyway, they are a great snack and something you should definitely try if you don’t mind waiting in line.

Worth the wait - best when hot — Worth the wait – best when hot

Final Thoughts

Though you wouldn’t believe it seeing how thin people in Hong Kong are, there are amazing food options to be had in the city. These were some of the places we hit on this trip (didn’t get to go to Cafe de Coral for my chinese fast food fix unfortunately) – it’s tough to find a restaurant in the city that’s not good. Happy eating!