Hong Kong and Singapore, 2 of the wonderful places that I have had the fortune of visiting in my life. For anyone who is thinking about visiting either of these places, here is a run down of what I thought of them based on our latest trip (December 2011), and what you should consider doing.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is very much an East meets West due to the island being a British colony until 1997. This means that a lot of people speak English, especially on Hong Kong island itself, unlike on mainland China (thus the Kowloon side of Hong Kong has a lot less English spoken or understood).
As mentioned in a previous post of mine, I would recommend 5 full days (7 nights) to get every thing in, and I would suggest the following:
- Disney Land (1 full day)
- Take the gondola up Victoria Peak to view Hong Kong
- The Big Buddha on Lantau Island (half a day – take the ferry followed by the bus up to the top, and only take the cable car back down, this way you will save a good hour queuing for the cable car)
- Harbour light show
- Avenue of Stars
- Ocean Park (1 full day)
- Using the MTR (it’s just fun
) - Catch a ride on a tram
- Find a market place in Mong Kok
- Explore Kowloon and Hong Kong
- Hitting the shops (my wife’s influence on our trip made sure that this is on the list)
Singapore
Singapore is very much a melting pot of cultures, and if we I did not know any better I would have said varied between saying that it was inhabited by Chinese, or Indians or Malay. In fact, it seems to be all of these population groups and more that make up Singapore, with the official language being English, or so the locals told us.
I would once again recommend a good 5 full days in Singapore to do as much of the following as you can:
- Universal Studios on Sentosa Island (half day if you by the Express Pass to bypass the queues)
- The rest of Sentosa Island (another half a day, possibly more, and I recommend doing the Segway tour)
- Singapore Botanical Gardens (half a day)
- National Science Center (if you have children – half a day)
- Snow City (if you want to ski or snowboard, then this is an evening affair, but beware, there is nowhere for spectators to come in and watch)
- Orchard Road (half a day, but make sure it is the latter half as the shops are open until 23:00 and restaurants and bars until around 12:00 when the MRT closes)
- Singapore Zoo, Jarong Bird Park and Night Safari (whole day – find out more about all of them here)
- Clarke Quay (it will be quiet if you go while it is light as this is more of an evening watering hole)
- Marina Bay Sands (if you include the hotel, shops, casino, dinner and a show, this is a whole day – we watched the amazing Wicked)
Final Word
You could definitely spend more time in both Hong Kong and Singapore, but we found that we started getting tired of things and really wanted to move on (from Hong Kong) or eventually come home (from Singapore). One thing is for sure though, these are really great places to visit.
For more information, check out these Wikipedia posts:
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