Hong Kong hype from Pottinger Street to Victoria Peak and Tim Ho Wan

So, our first full day in Hong Kong was going great, even if not according to plan. After spending much longer at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery than planned, we had only managed to scratch off that one thing on our planned itinerary.
 

• Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery
• Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden
• Tim Ho Wan dim sum restaurant
• Ladies Market or Temple Street Night Market
• Victoria Peak
• Lan Kwai Fong district

 

We made the decision to skip the Chi Lin Nunnery and Tim Ho Wan while we were at the Monastery. We just didn’t have time for Chi Lin and we were too hungry to wait on eating so we could make the trek to Tim Ho Wan. So, after grabbing lunch at the New Town Plaza mall near the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery and goofing around at Snoopy’s World, we hopped back on the Hong Kong MTR to make our way back across the city and harbor in time to make our pre-booked tickets for the Victoria Peak Tram. Our reservations were booked through Klook for 5 p.m. The goal was to get to the top of the peak to watch the sunset, which was just before 6 p.m. that day. Our expectation was that we’d meet our guide at the designated location, we’d get our tickets, and hop on the tram up — no problem, right? We ended up arriving early at the Klook meet-up location at the MTR station exit near Statue Square and asked a guide if we were too early. We were, but we didn’t have much time to really leave to do anything substantial.

I took a few pictures of Statue Square and its statue of Hong Kong banker Sir Thomas Jackson while the rest of the team rested a few minutes. I was really feeling a little anxious that we were only going to manage to get a couple things done off our list, though and contemplated our limited options while taking pictures. I waffled a bit but ultimately decided I wanted to try to make the most of what little time we had. There was only about 45 minutes before we needed to meet up with our Klook guide but Pottinger Street was nearby and I didn’t know if we’d have time later in the trip to check it out. Despite being worn out, I managed to convince everyone else to speed walk with me over to the famous slab stone street for some quick sightseeing.

 

Pottinger Street is also known as the “Stone Slab Street” in Chinese and is a street unevenly paved with granite slabs that’s become an outdoor costume market of sorts. Running up a steep slope, the street is named after Hong Kong’s first governor, and is lined with merchant kiosks known for selling fanciful costumes and masks. Pottinger Street was cute and charming — a unique little bit of Hong Kong history that’s become a bit of an overblown tourist trap. In terms of shopping, it ended up being a wash for me. With most of the shops selling costume items, I didn’t end up snagging any of the kitschy souvenirs I like to bring home. This spot is in every Hong Kong guidebook and must-do list and I love touristy little diversions like this but I walked away feeling a little underwhelmed. Maybe I had a bit of a need for it to be more than it was because I had just forced my exhausted travel partners to rush through the city to see it… even still, I’m glad we saw it but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again should I return to Hong Kong.

One thing we all really loved about Hong Kong was how it so emphatically embraced Halloween. We spotted a lot of fun and silly Halloween stuff throughout the city, especially at restaurants — even some local Starbucks shops we stopped in had Halloween decorations up. In addition to Pottinger Street merchants having a bunch of Halloween items for sale, railings at the top end of the street had been decorated with cute hand-made Halloween decorations.

Our time was up on Pottinger and we started to run a bit late back to our Klook meet-up. We high-tailed it back to the plaza to meet up with our Klook guide and reservation group so we could finally make our way up to Victoria Peak.

Klook.com

Our Klook guide walked our group from the plaza through a bit of the city to the Peak Tram terminal. A short, easy ~15-minute walk but be sure to factor in this time if you book through Klook. At this point, I started realizing that things might start adding up quickly, making our reservation time a bit meaningless and we may end up missing sunset. I was still fairly optimistic as we walked through the city until we got to the Peak Tram terminal.

Once we got to the Peak Tram terminal and saw the situation, it was pretty clear we wouldn’t be making it in. The regular standby line was probably two hours deep on its own and the pre-booked ticket groups were backed up.

I think we ended up waiting at least 30 minutes before we were allowed to queue up in the tram loading area. Because I’m an idiot, I nearly got separated from my travel party when the line moved while I had wandered off to take a photo. I was able to rejoin my group but sunset was rapidly coming to a close and we weren’t even on the tram yet… and with the tram loading area looking like this, it was unlikely we’d catch any of the sunset once we finally got to the top.

Victoria Peak is super touristy. It is without a doubt, THE tourist spot you hit up when you go to Hong Kong — and for good reason. As we found out, the views from the top are truly incredible and breathtaking. But, all of that comes with a price, and for us, it turned out not to be the fairly cheap Klook tickets to the top, but rather our sanity. If the tram loading area was a madhouse, the tram itself was even worse. Packed as full as possible and that tram zips up the hill. So, it can be a pretty uncomfortable ride up the mountain if you’re on a full tram. Add in a lot of shouting tourists, our own personal exhaustion, and well, the Peak Tram ended being something none of us ever wanted to do again, which was a big bummer for me. I love trolleys and transportation systems like this and the idea of riding up to the top of the peak on an historic funicular railway first built in 1888 was really exciting for me — but, unfortunately, the experience was just too chaotic to really enjoy. Once you get to the top of the peak, we were funneled through a mall up to the SkyTerrace that came with our Klook tram tickets. Apparently there are other platforms and viewing areas you can head to that are less crazy but we got swooped up in the crowd and there was no clear signage on where to go. So, by the time we got to the very top of the mall and on the SkyTerrace platform, it was mid-blue hour and we were all fried. I broke away from the group and went and frantically grabbed some photos of the view — which really is quite amazing.

Despite the hassle, Victoria Peak really does live up to the hype. The summit of the peak is occupied by a radio communications tower with the viewing platforms, mall, and residential areas just below, surrounding the communications towers. The Peak is one of the most stunning views of a city I’ve ever seen, giving you a stunning panoramic view of Hong Kong’s impressive collection of skyscrapers, Victoria Harbor, and beyond.

I had been a little worried about visibility leading up to our visit — but even with some haze, the view was still spectacular.

Nerds at the top

The view from of the other side of the peak. Just as gorgeous, just in a much different way.

Crowds at the top

After enjoying the view for a while, we decided we had had enough of the crowds and decided to make our way down. We made our way through the mall, stopping to grab a snack and a few souvenirs, to the return queue for the tram back down the mountain. Of course, the line for the tram was long and seemed slow-moving. We were all burned out after the whole experience and decided to forego our return ticket down and grab a taxi instead. The taxi ride ended up being Hong Kong’s version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride down a mountainside — thrilling, sometimes terrifying, but hey – we made it out alive so it all ended well.

After making it out alive from Victoria Peak, we were hungry. I was determined to eat (okay, really, kinda obsessed) at Tim Ho Wan, a Michelin star-awarded dim sum restaurant chain in Hong Kong that’s renowned for being really affordable but also super delicious. I pitched the idea to the group for dinner and somewhat to my surprised they agreed to it — either humoring me or just too exhausted to put up a fight. We made the trek from the base of Victoria Peak over to the location in the International Finance Center mall in Central. The only problem is that Tim Ho Wan was set to close at 9 p.m. and by this point it was somewhere around 8 p.m. We were on foot and the 20-minute walk from the bottom of Victoria Peak to Tim Ho Wan seemed fairly daunting after such a long day…

We made it to IFC Mall and, after struggling to find our way in and where we needed to go, made our way to Tim Ho Wan. We made it in line just before they cut it off for the night and were one of the last tables seated.

The group let me order dinner since I had been so determined to eat here and I did not disappoint my travel companions. I ordered at least 3/4 of the menu, doubling up on some of the items like the BBQ pork buns, which had by hyped to me by friends that had previously visited Hong Kong and earlier that week by Disney and travel blogger Tom Bricker. My friends were horrified at my lack of self control but I figured this might be my only shot so I had to make the most of it.

It was maybe for the best that we came to Tim Ho Wan when everybody was exhausted and just let me take over. I’ve never made better decisions in my whole life and our table was covered in food. I’m still extremely proud of this meal because I made all the right choices. My friends walked away hating me because I ordered too much but I think they were also secretly happy that they got to experience so much wonderful, amazing food. And all of it — seriously, I can’t tell you how much we ordered — came out to less than $50 USD.

All the hype is true – Tim Ho Wan’s BBQ pork buns are transcendent. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, filled with the most perfectly seasoned, delicious BBQ pork. I still dream of these all the time.

One of the best meals of my life.

After Tim Ho Wan, we decided it was time to head home and get some rest before our big day at Hong Kong Disneyland. But before we went to bed, we stopped at The Coffee Academics, a hipstery coffee spot whose flagship cafe was across from our Airbnb. Chuck and I had discovered they had coffee cocktails and cakes and wanted to try them out and after our long day, we deserved a nightcap.

Coffee Academics is pretty dang great. The drinks are fantastic — both the regular coffee and the after-dark coffee cocktails. The pastries are also worth trying. The location near our Airbnb had a food menu as well but we never got a chance to try it. It is worth mentioning, however, that Coffee Academics is pricey — Chuck and I got cold brew one morning and I believe it ran somewhere around $8 USD for a tiny cup of cold brew. It turned out to be some excellent coffee but it was such a tiny portion, I could never recommend it.

The cocktails were great — a nice boozy coffee-tinged treat after a long day.

What a crazy first full day in the city. Victoria Peak might’ve not quite been the experience we were expecting but even if the chaos wasn’t ideal, the views from the top certainly did live up to the hype. Would I recommend it? Absolutely — but I think I’d warn everybody visiting to go in with realistic expectations. If you want to be there for a certain part of the day, get there way earlier than expected and be prepared to camp out. For us, maybe we should have rope dropped Victoria Peak and done it first thing in the morning before crowds arrived. But, of course, hindsight is 20/20. I think, to a certain extent, we had been spoiled earlier in the day at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery — not only is that an amazing place on its own, but it wasn’t very busy when we visited and we didn’t feel rushed or stressed out at all. Victoria Peak was the complete opposite and that’s fine — it’s pretty centrally located for tourists and it’s unquestionably Hong Kong’s signature tourist attraction. Even with the stressful first visit to Victoria Peak, I wouldn’t turn down a chance to visit again — I’d just plan for the delays and the crowds that come along with it. My travel partners might disagree — I think Victoria Peak was a once-in-a-lifetime situation and I don’t think I could convince any of them to return in the future if we all went back to Hong Kong. Tim Ho Wan, on the other hand, was an amazing way to follow-up our somewhat disappointing Victoria Peak and Pottinger Street experiences — that’s a dining experience I’ll forever remember and dream about reliving. We cannot recommend Tim Ho Wan enough — if you visit Hong Kong, you must have a meal at Tim Ho Wan.

After it was all said and done, we didn’t fare so bad after our first full day.

 

• Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery
• Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden
• Tim Ho Wan dim sum restaurant
• Ladies Market or Temple Street Night Market
• Pottinger Street (bonus!)
• Victoria Peak
• Lan Kwai Fong district

 

Klook.com

We figured we’d save Lan Kwai Fong for the next night, which was Halloween, after we got out from Disneyland. Apparently that nightlife district is known for having big Halloween parties. And, if we were too tired after Disneyland for dance clubs, we figured we might hit up the Temple Street Night Market or Ladies Market instead. We’ll dig into our Hong Kong Disneyland and Halloween experience in our next Asia trip installment!
 

POTTINGER STREET

Central, Hong Kong, China
Open daily.
Free admission

VICTORIA PEAK

and The Peak Tram, SkyTerrace 428
thepeak.com.hk
Open daily, individual hours vary
Admission prices per attraction vary

TIM HO WAN

at International Finance Center Mall
Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station (Podium Level 1, IFC Mall)
Central, Hong Kong, China
timhowan.hk
Open daily, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Price range: $10-15 USD per person

THE COFFEE ACADEMICS

Flagship store
38 Yiu Wa Street
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, China
the-coffeeacademics.com
Open daily, hours vary
Price range: $5-15 per person