Hong Kong & Taiwan 2025

[DurhamGirl]

Day 16: The Pingxi Line
Early Start this morning in the fast train north (not HSR) from central station to Ruifang, the connection for the Pingxi Train Line. Originally, built by the Japanese to transport coal, the train line has become a popular tourist attraction.

I’d purchased the day pass from Klook, giving us the option to get on and off at different stations. We decided to start at the end at JungTong & work our way backwards, stopping at Pingxi & Shifen before returning to Ruifang. Most people got off at Shifen.

JungTong has a coal museum, and a short street market.

We shared a scallion pancake and found another post box 😀

Back on the train to Pingxi. A much busier area with more historic streets, selling souvenirs, street food and sky lanterns.An alternative and less busy place for releasing lanterns on the rail lines.

Shifen is by far the most popular stop on the train. The railroad runs directly through Main Street, with shops & food places on both sides.

Our main purpose was to visit the famous Shifen Waterfall. The 1km walk from the station is worth it.

However, most tourists are here to launch sky lanterns from the rail tracks.

We decided not to release a lantern because of the impact on the environment & we had seen discarded lanterns littering the countryside.
Another popular tourist stop, we didn’t visit was Houtong for the Cat Village - where you can buy cat themed souvenirs and visit the hundreds of cats who live there.

Day 17: Back to HongKong

Sad to be leaving Taiwan. We have really enjoyed our 13 day experience here & the Taiwan people are so friendly. We won’t forget the scooters

Flight back on HK express good & this time we are staying on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong at the Hilton Garden Inn MongKok. We had dinner in the hotel & re-packed before our trip to DisneyWorld tomorrow.

[DurhamGirl]

Day 18: Off to Disneyland Hong Kong

Made an error this morning trying to find the Hong Kong Hard Rock Cafe (which had closed during COVID) - my DD collects the T-Shirts.

Wetook a cab to Sunny Bay - didn’t want to be jumping on and off the MRT with heavy luggage .. but wanted to arrive at Disneyland Hong Kong on the Disney Train 😀

We took the bus to the resort, with hindsight even with luggage would have been quicker just to walk from the train station. We are staying at the Disneyland Resort Hotel.

I’d booked a Luxury Room with Balcony. The room is nice, on the 2nd Floor (below reception). Handy for the gym for DH, near the indoor pool (open) and outdoor pool (closed - open the day we checked out). Not a great view & balcony about 30cm wide 😂.

Had a wander around the hotel grounds and spotted the maze.

The Explorers (Animal Kingdom style Theming) is a 5 minute walk.

The Hollywood Hotel another 5 minute walk.

We had dinner in the Crystal Lotus restaurant in the Disneyland Hotel. Sautéd Beef and Spicy Tofu, with Fried rice.

Excited for the park day tomorrow

[Melbatb]

Enjoy your park day- I hope you manage as much as we did when we went!

[DurhamGirl]

Day 19: One Day in Hong Kong Disneyland

Breakfast is £40pp .. so we decided on sharing room service for breakfast - Cereal, large fruit platter, a croissant, 2 slices of toast & added in a plain yoghurt. Cost £20 (inc room service fee!)

We walked to the park & were in the hotel guest line at 09:45 (for opening at 10am).

We had an issue with one of the complementary tickets given to us by a US cast member, which was quickly sorted and we were in the park by 10:10am.

First impressions were how small Main Street & the castle looked.

We headed straight for Frozen, through the middle of the castle to the back of the park.

The theming is very impressive (Amazing what can be done when you’re not trying to adapt ‘Norway’ ). As an aside, we loved the old Norway ride - it was a quiet calm respite from a hot & busy Epcot day, with 2 small kids) ..

The wait for Frozen Ever After was 5 mins (same when we came back at 6:30pm). The ride is so much better than Epcot, it was beautiful (so absorbed I didn’t take photos’) The drop at the end is slightly longer & steeper (bit of discomfort on my bad back, so took this as a sign not to do the ‘mountain’ rides. ☹️

We walked through Fantasyland. Still no queues and very quiet at 11am.

And then across to Toy Story Land for a couple of rides we hadn’t seen before

Toy Soldier Parachutes (15 mins) - seemed to be a popular ride.

RC Racer (10 mins)

From there we headed to Mystic Point. (We assumed this was going to be the Haunted Mansion - we thought it was much better)

We walked through Grizzly Gulch, home of the Big Mountain Runaway Mine Car. (5 min wait)

Then headed to Adventure Land and Jungle Cruise.

Jungle Cruise separated into 2 language queues; one for mandarin/cantonese and the other for English. 3 boats were running, 1 mixed, 1 mandarin/chinese, 1 English. We ended up on the English speaking boat, the ‘tour guide’ was more scripted than some we’ve seen in Orlando. There is no tunnel or ‘backside of the waterfall’ and the ending is quite different (with fire), otherwise the same ride. This was the longest queue we were in (Display was 15 mins; Actual 17 mins).

We came off Jungle Cruise just in time for “Moana: Homecoming Celebration”. On an outdoor small stage, this short production was delivered in a mixture of English/ Mandarin/
Cantonese.

Not sure you’d follow the storyline if you haven’t seen the film .. I enjoyed it.

We then stopped for lunch at River View cafe, having a short break before the Lion King.

We love the Lion King at WDW. We were not disappointed. Some of it was very similar, some very different. There is no audience participation (language/ cultural differences) , no trampolining monkeys, and the ending is a bit different.

The music, performances, singing etc was excellent. Given the low crowd numbers parkwide, we were pleasantly surprised how popular it was and how full the auditorium appeared.

We left the park around 3pm so that I could have a rest and DH could go to the gym 😀

We walked back at 6pm and had dinner at The Golden Crocus Inn in Frozen. It was Ok- one chicken and one Salmon. Main issue was the food wasn’t very hot, similar to lunch time, with no queues.

Then to Fantasyland and my favourite (the rest of the family do not agree) - It’s a Small World. The longest pathway to a ride! We had the entire boat to ourselves.

Each ‘continent/area’ is labelled as you enter, which is different from WDW. The theming much brighter and more modern. If you look carefully there are characters from individual films, dropped into the relevant countries.

Even a Golden Gate Bridge

Even DH agreed he’d enjoyed the ride.

Just as we were leaving, the tune was playing outside & the clock opened up and a number of characters circled the top.

We missed tomorroworld in the morning to return with it lit on the night.

Queues under 10 mins on all rides. I beat DH on AntMan & the Wasp (much better version of Buzz Light Year). There was no queue, so we went straight back in, and DH beat me the second time!

We made our way back to Main Street to do some gift shopping before Momentous. Bit more crowded than we were expecting but still not a bad view for a typical well done light, firework (& dancing fountain) display

The fireworks were over by 9pm, so we walked back to the hotel for a nightcap 😀

Rest/Travel day tomorrow

[Melbatb]

You did brilliantly with all the rides! Bought back a lot of memories!

[DurhamGirl]

Day 20: Goodbye Hong Kong Disneyland

Up early to make the most of the time we had left in the hotel. Room service breakfast (as yesterday), then packed the suitcase ready to leave. My DH (always looking for a bargain) has spotted at T-Shirt reduced in the Explorers Hotel shop. I also wanted some fridge magnets (I’d left the queue in the park last night as I didn’t want to miss the start of Momentous). In the end, DH purchased a T-Shirt & a long sleeved top, when bought together had 70% off. There was a 100HKD discount for guests which meant that both items ending up costing less than the reduced price of the T-Shirt. I bought a long sleeved top & the fridge magnets - full price but also got the 100.HKD discount. In general, I thought the Merch was cheaper than in WDW. The head band ears were around 25$USD, T-Shirts $30, Long Sleeved Tops $50-60.

Back in the Disneyland hotel, we had coffee in Walt’s Cafe

and Goofy was leading a Tai chi session 😂

DH went to the gym & I had a walk around outside. The outside pool re-opened today.
We checked out & was initially disappointed when they took away my key card but they replaced it with these

We ate a small lunch in Walt’s Cafe.

Took an Uber back to the Hilton Garden Inn.

Had dinner not far from the hotel at Paradise Dynasty. Not bad - food delivered in an odd order (mains before appetisers) but we’ve grown used to this. Tea was cold.

Took a photo of the Bamboo Scaffolding on our way back to the hotel

As we walked into our hotel. The reception & loft area was full with Fiji supporters, arriving for the start of the Rugby Sevens tomorrow.

[DurhamGirl]

Day 21: Hong Kong Rugby Sevens

This wasn’t on my radar when I booked the trip but a chance conversation between DH & a former colleague led me to look for tickets. We could only do the first day.

The Kai Tak Sports park is a new stadium and the HK sevens is the first event held there.

Rain was forecast, so the roof was closed, resulting in it being a little colder than I was expecting inside the stadium. Our tickets gave us access to any seat and we sat in the North Stand (favoured by the lively Fijians).

GB men won both games & GB women won 1 of their 2 games.

There was a fan park outside, where we ate lunch. Lots of games and activities.

We cheered the Fijians, especially in their win over the US and enjoyed Argentina beat the USA 52-5. We had a break to warm up in the fan park. I noticed the Veuve Clicquot stand.

At approx £14.50 for a 175mlglass, I was thinking about it. My mind was made up when I say the bartender filling up tumblers 😀. I had a few sips before taking it back inside the arena.

We watched the ‘opening ceremony’ at 6:30pm ..

then headed back towards the Kowloon Harbour area. We used a different MRT station and this route took us through a newly redeveloped area around the park.

No trip to Hong Kong would be complete, without capturing the iconic Hong Kong Skyline from the Avenue of the Stars, along Victoria Harbour. It was a little cloudy and damp impacting the 8pm laser show. The view is still wonderful.

By this time, it was a lot later than we’d normally eat, so we returned to Mong Kok and had some sushi & headed back to the hotel.

Home tomorrow ..

[Melbatb]

Great last few days. The Sevens move here to Singapore next weekend and we are discussing whether to go - our flight home isn’t until 23.50!

Have a good flight home!

[DurhamGirl]

Day 23: Homeward Bound
Started this from the Cathay Pacific lounge in Hong Kong Airport, waiting for our late flight.Finished in the Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow.

Had breakfast in the hotel. We then unpacked & repacked the suitcases. We have a 3pm checkout which is good but with a late flight, there’s not a lot we can do with 2 suitcases.

We walked out for a mid morning coffee at the ‘posh’ Starbucks Reserve near the hotel. As it’s our last day, I treated myself to an espresso martini, instead of the usual cappuccino.

Had a walk around the streets near the hotel & took a few more photos. The location of the hotel is in Mong Kok, the nearest streets selling automotive parts, electrical goods, and machinery .. a working community. It’s a bit off putting at first but another 3 minutes walk, you a right in the centre of the shopping, restaurant area with restaurants & designer malls, and the MRT station.

Better photos of the bamboo scaffolding

Our flight isn’t until 22:45, so after we checked out at 3pm, we decided just to sit with the bags in the hotel foyer.

Unfortunately, there was no lounge menu and the bar was never open and didn't look stocked.

We were bored & cold as the automatic door kept opening & it was chilly outside. After 2.5 hours, we took an UBER to Kowloon AirPort Express Station & the train to the airport. We had 2 hours to wait for checkin to open and to be able to drop off the bags. Very disorganised and inefficient - the queues were all round the checkin area. That will be noted in feedback to BA. In fact the return flight experience generally was not the best .. not sure whether the crew were tired but didn’t feel the service in Club was as good as usual - some of the crew were miserable. Did manage to get some sleep & we arrived on time.

Having a coffee now, waiting for DD to pick us up.

Will index the report when we get home.

That’s all for now folks !

[DurhamGirl]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Great last few days. The Sevens move here to Singapore next weekend and we are discussing whether to go - our flight home isn’t until 23.50!

Have a good flight home!

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We really enjoyed it. The games are really quick, so there is no time to get bored. There are activities all around the arena which you can try out, when you want a break.

Congratulations on your 30th Anniversary & enjoy your Singapore trip