Hong Kong & Taiwan 2025

[DurhamGirl]

Day1 &2 Travel - Hong Kong


We left the Uk on 8th March .. been a bit hectic, so running behind with my Trip Report. Decided to keep it all on one post that I will update when I can.

We are away for 22 days and would normally travel light. As we aren’t sure when/whether we can do laundry and we may decide to bring back a couple of things, we settled on 2 medium suitcases, 1 small & 1 large backpack for our trip.

After the issue with the car being damaged by Purple Parking/Maple/Holiday Extras after we returned from Miami ,we’ve decided never to leave a car at the airport again. We used National Coaches (with our Senior Coachcard &#128512. The coach arrived on time but we were 40mins late arriving at T2/T3 ,due to an issue at the A46/ M40 junction. Took the free shuttle train to T5, bags dropped and through security within 20 mins. The South BA lounge was busy. Not a bad selection of food & had a glass of bubbles.

We left a little early to have a quick look in the Gate B lounge. it’s quite small, less food & drink selection and very quiet. Boarding started 45 mins before takeoff, hoping for a speedy takeoff. Unfortunately problem with an oil light delayed us an hour. Flight was uneventful, TV/Film selection poor, so pleased I’d downloaded something to watch. Dinner was nice & after, then slept for a few hours before Breakfast, landing about 45 mins late.

Bags arrived quickly & we headed to Airport transfer train that I’d booked on Klook. Train clean and not busy. Took about 40 mins to get to the Central Station, and then purchased (cash only) Octopus cards. Note: Download Octopus App (Iphone only) & the card to phone - can use phone instead of physical card and can be topped from Apple pay.

Took MTR to Admiralty, walking through the Pacific Place Designer Mall tour the Conrad hotel.

Conrad very nice (not a big or impressive as the one in Singapore).

Upgraded to the Executive floor and our room overlooked mountains. Bathroom was huge.

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Decided not to go far for dinner and we’d passed a small Dim Sum restaurant in the Mall with a Peacock Motif - took this as an omen and had a lovely dinner.

Sightseeing tomorrow !

Yvonne

[DurhamGirl]

Day 3: Ting Tain Buddha and The Peak

After a good buffet breakfast at the Conrad, we took the MRT to Tung Shung for the cable car to Lantau Island and Ngong Ping, near Po Lin Monastery where the Ting Tain (Big) Buddha is located. When we arrived at Tung Shung, we found that the Cable Car is closed for maintenance. Instead we crossed over the road and took the No 23 Coach on a 30 minute journey on a long & winding road. The bus drops you off right outside the entrance to the monastery which avoids the walk from the cable car.

There are a lot of steps up to the top of the Buddha. When you get to the top, you can go inside and visit a free exhibition.

The Lin Po monastery is beautiful. The temple with the 5 Buddhas is breathtaking.

There is a small vegetarian restaurant and a few souvenir shops within the grounds.

We went back to the MRT station, had a quick sandwich in Pret and headed back to Central Station. We walked to the Peak Tram terminal (10 mins), avoided the initial queue( purchasing tickets from Klook for the tram and the Sky Terrace. The queue to board was stil quite long (10-15 mins) and were were able to pick seats on the right hand side for the views on the way up.

At the top, we made our way to the viewing platform. It was a little overcast, although we did take some decent photos. We explored a small selection of shops & restaurants before returning by Tram.

We walked back to the hotel through Hong Kong park.

Outside the hotel we spotted some really lifelike structures in the grounds.

We were quite tired by the time we arrived, do showered, changed and headed back down to Pacific Mall. Had a lovely Thai Meal in Thai Garden.

Returned to the hotel and it was a Cosmo for me & Jasmine tea for DH in the hotel bar.

Taiwan tomorrow !

[Melbatb]

Brings back lots of memories of my trips there!

My son really enjoyed Taiwan! I hope you do too!

[DurhamGirl]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Brings back lots of memories of my trips there!

My son really enjoyed Taiwan! I hope you do too!

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I see you are off to Singapore. We really enjoyed the short time we had there last year.

[DurhamGirl]

Day 4: Taiwan

Early breakfast in the hotel, then back on the MRT and Airport Express train for our flight to Taipei. Booked return flights with HK Express direct - cost around £110pp return. Plane left on time and we landed in Taipei about 1.25hrs later. No visa required for UK passport owners (you do need to complete an online registration in advance.

Picked up EasyCards from Klook desk and tokens for train to Taipei central. Easy card works like octopus card in HK and can be used in shops as well as on public transport.

We’d signed up for the Lucky Prize draw for tourists - you need to register within a week of the trip. unfortunately didn’t win but there was a queue of people who had !


Changed at Central station for 1 stop on MRT to our hotel. Overall the transfer was long and not as smooth as from HK airport to central HK. The trains/MRT much busier and lots of walking between stops. Exit from MRT to hotel was up a long set of stairs, with DH carrying 2 suitcases 😂. Considering a taxi for the journey back!

Staying at Doubletree in Zhongshan area of Taipei for our first 3 nights. Free Doubletree cookies & goodies.

Room is very big with bath tub inside, also a shower & Japanese style toilet 😀

We were a bit hungry after not eating since breakfast, so had some Taiwanese pop chicken (lots of garlic) and I had a Taiwan beer in the hotel bar.

We had booked a private tour with Trip Advisor for the Raohe Street Night Market.

We met our guide Alex and he took us for some Bubble Tea which was quite interesting - I enjoyed it for the rest of the walk but not something I would have again.

We then went back to near the Exit 5 of the MRT. There is a small clock building which was donated to Taiwan by the Japanese government. Every hour it lights up and a train runs around a small track and plays music. Often missed by tourists as I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere.

It was still quite early and we’d already eaten at 3:30, so Alex asked us if we would like to look in the temple - just next to the market. He told us some interesting facts. This temple is dedicated to a sea ‘goddess’ Mazu and is located just in front of the river. You enter on the left through a Dragon door and leave on the right through the Tiger door, leaving bad luck behind and exiting with good luck. There were a few tourists looking round but the temple was mainly occupied by local people. They threw wooden blocks (shaped like orange segments) on the floor to ask questions and depending how they fall, they either receive a yes, no or maybe answer. Others were burning incense and we also saw someone burning fake money in a furnace. There was a side room where locals were asking the Tiger for wealth .. they gave money with the intention of hoping for more money back. It was a really interesting experience and had we not go in with the guide, we wouldn’t have learned anything about the traditional beliefs.

We then headed to the Night market. It’s down one street, with stalls on most sides. We tried Pork Buns, deep fried 3 types of mushroom, BbQ fried chicken and Grilled mushrooms. Everything was $100NT and big enough portions to feed 2-3 people. Lots of sweet options which were not for us. There were many fortune tellers using various different methods of predicting the future!

I didn’t take any photos in the market as it was very crowded - we intend to go back on our own, so hoping to get some photos next time.

Taipei 101 tomorrow ..

[Melbatb]

My son who went to uni in HK loves bubble tea. Me - meh! It is a textual thing I think!

The temples are always such interesting places to visit! The market food sound yummy!

[sky13]

Originally Posted by DurhamGirl

Changed at Central station for 1 stop on MRT to our hotel. Overall the transfer was long and not as smooth as from HK airport to central HK. The trains/MRT much busier and lots of walking between stops. Exit from MRT to hotel was up a long set of stairs, with DH carrying 2 suitcases 😂. Considering a taxi for the journey back!

Staying at Doubletree in Zhongshan area of Taipei for our first 3 nights. Free Doubletree cookies & goodies.

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We stayed at the same Doubletree earlier this year!

There's an exit from the Zhongshan MRT station that has a lift. It's comes out in the park-like area that's next to the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi that has the Charles and Keith store at the entrance. We used this exit quite a bit - it's a little bit more walking and involves crossing the street, but no stairs needed!

We did take an Uber from the Doubletree back to Taoyuan airport though, had too much luggage to consider taking the MRT back!

Taipei 101 tomorrow ..

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We went just before sunset and got to watch the sun set, it was pretty amazing!
Hope you have a good time there, the view from the top is really lovely! You can go up one floor to an open air area where you can take nicer photographs (no glass in the way), but it was quite chilly when we went...

[DurhamGirl]

Day5: Taipei 101 and Elephant Mountain.

We took the MRT to Taipei World Trade centre and walked 1.5km to the foot of Elephant Mountain. There are a number of trails to follow and it was hot & humid when we arrived, late morning. We chose the short trek, involving. The steps were not even and different heights and I gave up after the 300 step marker, where there is a good viewpoint. DH did the extra 100 steps to the top.

We walked back to the Mall at the WTC and had a nice Italian lunch in a cafe inside.

I had purchased tickets for 2:30pm for Taipei 101 .. not needed as there was no queue. The tickets covered floors 89/ 91. We decided against going to the highest level .. where you need to hold on to the rope for safety!
The lift is very fast and took 37 seconds to get to the 89th floor.

Level 89 has an indoor viewing area, with a small gift shop, giving a 360 view of Taipei area. It was a little cloudy but we still got some good photos. Floor 91 is an outside fenced area - a little windy.

We had dinner at Ding Tai Fung (which had been recommended) and very close to the Hotel & MRT, on the ground floor of a department store.

It’s very popular, we arrived at 5:45pm and there was a 35 minute queue. They give you a ticket & you come back nearer your allotted time (you can monitor the queue on the App). When we left at 7:30 the queue had increased 90 Minutes.

We had 2 types of Xiaolongbao (Green squash & Shrimp and Mixed greens & mushroom) ; noodles with spicy sesame & peanut sauce and stir fried pea shoots. For dessert we had Golden Lava Buns (filling a bit like custard). Forgot to take photos - these are from the website

Back to the hotel for my evening cocktail.

More sightseeing tomorrow !

[DurhamGirl]

Originally Posted by sky13

We stayed at the same Doubletree earlier this year!
..

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What a coincidence .. when I started a thread a couple of months ago asking if anyone had been to Taiwan, I didn’t get any response!

[DurhamGirl]

Day 6: Taipei Old Town.

Change of weather today with thunderstorms this morning during our free Taipei Old Town walking tour. We met the guide outside the NTU hospital MRT station and walked through 228 Peace Memorial Park which commemorates the demonstrations which took place in 1947 against the ruling nationalist government.

The park contains several small pagodas, each reflecting a piece of Taiwanese history.

The azaleas are blooming & there are still a few blossoms on some of the trees.

We walked past the National Museum and the Presidential Building.

Throughout the tour our guide told us about the history and politics of Taiwan( Republic of China) & Taiwanese people, culture and politics.


We walked through the very narrow Chenzhong market, selling clothes, snacks and unusual vegetables.

The tour finished at the Ximen Red House, a restored Japanese building.

After stopping for a quick lunch in the park, we went inside the National Museum. The lower ground floor had many children’s educational interactive exhibits. There was a fascinating display of puppets - modern & old

The remaining exhibits were similar to those found in the Science Museum in London, focused on geology, insects and climate.

We had dinner in a small restaurant near the hotel. Spicy Pork Ramen

The hotel robot was wondering around the hotel foyer

Now caught up to the present .. Suitcases packed. Leave for Kaohsuing in the morning