Today is our first full day in Hong Kong! All 13 of us were so excited for all the activities lined up today, but first, we had to eat our breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast area is situated on the 3rd floor of the hotel. The Royal View Hotel offers a plated breakfast for all the guests, and we had to present our breakfast stubs that we got during check in before eating.
There are 3 breakfast set meals to choose from. One is an American breakfast with sausage, pancake or waffle, and eggs. The other one is English breakfast, consisting of assorted croissants, eggs, and sausage. The third one is Hong Kong breakfast, with siomai, corn bread, and sticky rice pudding. There is free-flowing coffee, tea, and fruit juices for everyone.
The Peak Tram, No.1 Lugard Road, +852 2849 7654, thepeak.com.hk.
This tram is a 10-minute funicular railway ride that rises up to 1,300 feet above sea level. It is open daily from 7:30 in the morning up to 11:00 in the evening, and the trams run every 15 to 20 minutes. A return ticket cost us 88 HKD per person.
How to Get to the Peak Tram
From our hotel, we took the shuttle service going to Tseun Wan MTR station.
From Central station, we originally wanted to take an Uber car going to the Peak Tram.
We were at Chater Road that time, which was surprisingly full of people, which made it hard for our Uber car to pick us up. Later on, we found out that Chater Road is closed to vehicles every Sunday as many Filipino workers, whose day off is on a Sunday, gather together to mingle and enjoy as one community.
While waiting for our Uber ride, Tala decided to make a vlog as a way of making her own fun. (This is Habit #1 from Sean Covey’s 7 Habits of Happy Kids).
After several Uber bookings and cancellations, which lasted for about 30 minutes, we decided to follow Google Maps and just walk our way to the Peak Tram, which is just a 12-minute walk away.
It was just a challenge since Mamala, one of our senior companions, walk with a cane because of a knee condition. But since it is the most viable option, we decided to walk . What an exercise, right?
Inside the Peak Center
Once you get to the entrance of The Peak Center, you will see two lines, one of which is for those buying tickets, and for those who already have tickets for scanning.
Since Emman already purchased our tickets online, we went to the second line and waited for our tickets to be scanned. Once we were inside the building, we went through a series of escalators, probably 5 or 6 sets, to reach the Peak. For those with strollers or who are physically challenged to use the escalators, there is an elevator that the public can use.
When we reached the topmost floor, we were greeted by an amazing 180-degree view of Victoria Harbor, Kowloon, and the hills surrounding the island. The Peak truly gives us a spectacular view of Hong Kong! We stayed at the Peak for about 30 minutes, and this is where we shot our “Welcome to Hong Kong” video!
After about 30 minutes at the Peak, we decided to head back to the Peak Tram, which gave us a reverse view of the tram ride going up. Both ways are a great experience! To get to the exit, go down the escalators to the Ground Level and follow the signs to go out.
TramOramic Tour
From The Peak Tram, we rode an Uber car going to Western Market Terminus, where our tour will begin. We chose this terminus because it is closer to The Peak Tram, but if you are closer to Causeway Bay Terminus, you can also begin your TramOramic ride from there. We made sure that we were at Western Market Terminus before 1:45 pm for our tour. For details about TramOramic schedules, click here.
A ticket costs HKD150 for adults and HKD95 for kids aged 4 to 11. Kids under 4 years old are free. These prices are inclusive of bottled water, earphones for the guided tour, a box of ginger candy, a TramOramic bag, and a tram puzzle souvenir.
The tram has two levels, and we decided to sit on the open top level to give us a better view of the tour. It is important to put on sunscreen and wear protective clothing for the afternoon sun!
Honestly, I enjoyed only the first half of the TramOramic tour. The tram kept on stopping at various points because of the audio guide, and I think the stops were unnecessarily long to the point that the tour became dragging and boring. But still, it is recommended to try this tour at least once when you are in Hong Kong!
Din Tai Fung , G/F, 68 Yee Woo Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
After an hour on the tram, we reached Causeway Bay Terminus, the end of our TramOramic tour. We enjoyed our late lunch at Din Tai Fung, a restaurant made popular by its super delicious Xiao Long Bao! Of course we ate chicken and pork xiao long bao, noodle soup, shrimp pork dumplings, and black pepper tenderloin. So yummy!!!
Star Ferry Central / Tsim Sha Tsui Service
Next on our itinerary is the Symphony of Lights Show in Kowloon. But first, we have to cross the river through a ferry ride. Ferry ride ticket prices are different on weekends and weekdays. Since it is a Sunday, our ticket prices are slightly higher. Ticket prices for adults are HKD6.5, while those for kids aged 3 to 12 are $3.9. The cruise takes around 10 minutes only.
How to Get to Star Ferry Central
After eating our late lunch, we tried (again) to look for an Uber car that will bring us to Star ferry Central station. Just like in the morning going to the Peak Tram, we had several unsuccessful Uber bookings. We later on found out that Hong Kong is strict with pin locations in Uber. It is not possible for Uber cars to just stop anywhere a passenger wants to be picked up.
As such, we walked to different pin locations to find out if each location is okay for passenger pickup. We felt too bad for Mamala who had such a hard time walking with her bad knee. We know better next time, Mamala!
Ninang Thea’s group decided to just hail a cab going to Star Ferry Central. In our case, just as we were about to cancel our existing Uber booking, a van stopped in front of us and ushered us to enter as fast as we could. Apparently, we were still in a no-pin location in Uber, but the driver decided to pick us up anyway. Thank you, Mr. Driver for this 10-minute ride to the ferry!
Before the scheduled ferry ride, we decided to look for hot coffee since the weather was chilly that night. Our beanies and sweaters were not enough for our tropical country bodies!
Good thing we saw Uncle Russ Coffee, a small coffee shop that offers a wide variety of hot and cold coffee drinks. They also have gourmet coffee flavors and chai drink selections. We love how the barista, a friendly and charismatic Nepalese, conversed with us in Filipino! He said that with the number of Filipino customers that he engages with every day, he eventually learned the language, which is simply endearing!
Symphony of Lights, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
We headed to the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront directly outside the Hong Kong Cultural Center to have a good view of the Symphony of Lights. This is a light and music show that showcases the multicultural and dynamic elements of Hong Kong. It happens every night at 8 pm. We were so excited to see if it was anything similar to Disneyland’s light and music show, so we waited in anticipation!
At exactly 8 in the evening, the first beat of the soundtrack pulsated and the lights on buildings began to spark collectively. Countless lights and LED screens lit and danced for the entire 10-minute lights and music show.
It was a great and impressive symphony of lights. The lights of almost 40 participating buildings danced to the beat of the music. What made the symphony of lights a little difficult to appreciate was the fact that there were lights from hotel logos and billboards that were directly in our vantage point but were not really part of the symphony of lights. Maybe it would be good to turn these lights off just while the symphony of lights was going on.
Central Station to Tsuen Wan Station
Right after the performance, we walked along Man Yiu Street to get to Central Train Station. It was a fun and relaxed 10-minute walk as we relived the fun activities and the mishaps that happened during the day. We enjoyed this walk so much and we took a lot of photos and videos along the way.
When we got to the Tsuen Wan Station, we heard our tummies rumbling so we gave Hot-Star Chicken a try. This branch was situated on the first floor of Tsuen Wan Station, right across the spot where our hotel shuttle service will pick us up from. We tried Hot-star chicken in the Philippines years ago and we did not like it much, but we thought maybe the flavor in Hong Kong will be different. We ordered their large fried chicken and this time, it did not disappoint! It was so yummy! We ended up ordering other food items, such as fried crab, fried squid, and fried green bean! Everything was delicious!
This marks the end of our first full day in Hong Kong! Overall, it was tiring but incredibly fun! Definitely one for the books!
Interested to read more of our blogs? Subscribe now to get notified when our next blog is out!
