Hong Kong: Kowloon Park, The Peak, Causeway Bay

This is a more detailed post on our Day 1 in Hong Kong. For a more detailed itinerary for four days and four nights, check out our DIY itinerary. We went to Kowloon Park, Central Station, The Peak, and Causeway Bay.

It is just walking distance from Chungking Mansions, Tsim Sha Tsui, where we stayed. Upon entering the Park, you will see a map so you can plan your route. Something amazing: Hong Kong is such a PWD-friendly city! The maps even have braille letters.

First, we sat down at some benches to eat some breakfast. Walking around, we saw elderly men exercising and some elderly women doing Tai Chi. There was even an area that looked like a playground to me, but there is a sign that states it is an exercise area for the elderly. Then we checked out the Maze Gardens and the Chinese Gardens.

There are a lot of benches, birds, sculptures, and green space. Unfortunately, the Sculpture Walk/Kung Fu area was undergoing maintenance so we checked out the Avenue of Comic Stars instead and had a little bit of fun imitating the sculptures. The Avenue has been around since 2012.

We weren’t able to check out the museum, discovery centre, aviary, and swimming pool. After the Avenue of Comic Stars, we exited the park and headed to the MTR. Oh, but I saw these stairs that had paintings on them! It’s a simple idea that really brightens up the area.

We rode from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central Station (two stations away; use the red line). That’s $9.7 per adult if you use your Octopus card.

Central Station is the so-called “tambayan ng mga Pinoy.” Upon exiting at B or D, you see the World Wide House. One floor is full of stalls manned by Filipinos and it’s just like you’re home. The BPI center is also there, and the BDO is a few minutes walk from the building. We walked around while waiting for Mumsy’s card to be activated, so we went to IFC Mall which you can reach via the footbridge from Central station. I looooved the architecture and sculptures in HK!

Lunch at Cafe de Coral
Cafe de Coral is everywhere! Their meals range from $36-$40+ and one meal can be shared by two people! You first line up to place your order and pay for it, then you go to the other counter where your order will be served. They change menus during the day too. One word of advice: Be alert and don’t be slow. Hong Kong people seem to be always in a hurry.

How to go to The Peak Tram terminus from Central Station
Since we got out from Exit B (to World Wide House), we went back inside Central Station and found the J2 Exit so we could reach Chater Gardens. We walked across it, and just followed the instructions that we googled, as well as the instructions from Chiara’s contact, Sharon. Basically, you walk across Chater Gardens, and make sure that the Bank of China Tower is in front of you. Here are the very helpful directions we followed.

It’s a short walk, around 5 minutes, until you reach Garden Road where you will see The Peak Tram terminus. You won’t miss it because of the big signs.

You can check out the different packages here.

You can also buy your tickets in advance from Klook–with a discount to boot.

The tram ride was an awesome experience! It had just rained and there was a little bit of me thinking we were going to slip all the way back down, but we didn’t. We continued going up, up, and up. When you get off the tram, you go straight into a mall with glass windows so you can already see the view from there. However, all we saw was white fog. =(

Eventually the fog lifted and we were able to see Hong Kong from above. Yey!

So basically, The Peak is a mall with a lot of restaurants and shops, as well as a Madam Tussaud’s and the Sky Terrace 428 viewing platform. There is also a free 3D Art Museum–very fun to take wacky photos with the family!

We really enjoyed the 3D Art Museum! After going around the mall, we sat down for some snacks at this cute and colorful food stall. We ordered cheese eggette which we happened to see almost everywhere! Check out their lovely food displays! ❤

After The Peak, we just rode the tram again and then the MTR to Causeway Bay just to have a look-see. Causeway Bay is a very busy area, and it is also very colorful.

Food Street has lots of cute and interesting restaurants on both sides–and they are all pretty expensive too. If you are a foodie, you’ll surely enjoy this place.

I liked Causeway Bay because of the bright colors on almost all the buildings. It felt like such a lively place with everyone rushing by.

To recuperate, we spent a few minutes at Victoria Park, a small and quiet park right across the city.

So that’s it for our Day 1. We got super tired from trying to find our way going to The Peak, but it was fun because we got to see more of Hong Kong.

Travel tip: Wear really comfortable shoes and clothes because you will walk a lot, and the weather is just really unpredictable–sort of like the Philippines actually. 🙂

I’m still working on a lot of backlogs from HK and US, but I will finish them soon–hopefully!