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Design Summit/Icehouse/Travel Tips

< Design Summit‎ | Icehouse
Revision as of 15:32, 28 October 2013 by Terriyu (talk | contribs) (Transportation)

Disclaimer

These are my personal notes about visiting Hong Kong, so they will be colored by my own preferences and opinions. However, I have posted them here, in case others will find them useful. -- Terri Yu

Practical stuff

Time

UTC +8 hours

Electricity

UK style prongs with 3 square plugs, 220 V / 50 Hz

Transportation

The Hong Kong subway is reputed to be one of the most reliable in the world. If you can't get there by subway, you can usually take the bus.

It's highly recommended that you obtain an Octopus Card. It can be used for almost all forms of public transportation and even at some retail establishments. You can even use it for the Peak Tram to take you to the top of Victoria Peak!

Cellphone rental

Handy rents Android smartphones (Google Nexus or Samsung Galaxy Note) in Hong Kong for $48 - $68 HKD per day.

Clothing / dress

If you plan on going to luxury stores or fancy restaurants, bring a nice outfit. The Hong Kong elite tend to dress well.

Toiletries

If you venture outside the conference venues, there are some restaurants which don't provide napkins and some public restrooms that don't provide toilet paper. If this concerns you, make sure to bring your own.

Attractions

Temples

  • Tian Tan Buddha
    • Located on Ngong Ping Plateau.
    • You can also visit the nearby Po Lin Monastery and Po Lin Vegetarian Restaurant.
    • You can take the bus there or the more spectacular route is to take the cable car Ngong Ping 360.

Sports

  • Horse racing at Happy Valley

Scenery

  • Tsim Sha Tsui promenade / Victoria Harbor

Hiking

  • Dragon's Back hike - the recommended hike to do in Hong Kong if you only have time for one hike

Food

General notes

  • Cantonese food is the dominant type of Chinese food in North America. (Other regional Chinese styles like Shanghainese and Szechuan are far less common.)
  • Open Rice is the equivalent of Yelp (popular American review website) for Hong Kong food establishments.

Dim sum

Seafood

Shopping

Markets

  • Mong Kok - cheap market with lots of knockoff stuff

Electronics

Photography equipment

Jewelry

More expensive shops (but 100% reputable)

  • Pacific Mall, Admiralty
  • Prince Building, Central
  • The Landmark, Central
  • IFC, Central


Medium to high price range shops (but need to be careful)

  • Element, Jordan
  • Sogo, Hong Kong
  • iSQUARE, Tsim Sha Tsui
  • Miramar Shopping Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui
  • Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong

Attractions/shopping/food by location

Central

Causeway Bay

(*) denotes a highly recommendation attraction

Language

Language spoken in Hong Kong is Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese languages. If you don't speak Cantonese, you can also try English or Mandarin (the standard Chinese dialect). There is only one written Chinese "language" / script, so you could also try writing Chinese characters and showing it to people to communicate, if you know written Chinese.

Here are some links to pages with common Cantonese phrases (including audio samples):


Note that there are two ways of saying "thank you" in Cantonese. One is for thanking someone when they provide a service (e.g. waiter), the other is for thanking someone if they give you something. See the "Thank You" section of the first link http://www.chinese-lessons.com/cantonese/skillsL1Greetings.htm for more details.