Author's note: If you are from India and looking to travel to Hongkong and Macau on vacation, this blog series might give you a general overview of both these places, things to plan before the trip (to make your stay smoother) and important places to visit. This below is Part 1 of the series. Read on:
Last week my mom and I travelled to Hongkong and Macau. We had discussed visiting Hongkong some two years back, but the plan got dropped and then we never brought it up until about a month back. This time we decided we will just make it work. My mother generally prefers taking a package tour with one of these travel agencies like SOTC, Thomas Cook etc, but I for one am more comfortable doing my own research and customizing the trip my own way. She was game to trust me and drop the idea of a packaged tour even if it meant trying to hunt for vegetarian meals (which would have been provided for in a packaged tour) and opting for public transport most of the times as opposed to the pick up and drop coach transportation.
We didn't have much time planning since we went pretty much as soon as we'd decided to go. But Google is such a blessing and it made every single thing easy. I was able to plan a rough itinerary and book for most of the tours within HK right before we left. Which is good, because things are cheaper online than if you want to buy them from the counter. Here I must also thank a couple of my friends I took some tips from as well, in terms of what to cover and what to leave out.
As Indian Nationals we don't need to apply for a Visa, although you do need to submit a rather long Pre-arrival form which, if it gets approved by the authorities, would enable you to travel and make you eligible for an On-arrival Visa from HK Immigration authorities. This link gives all the information: http://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/services/visas/pre-arrival_registration_for_indian_nationals.html
The next thing I did was to book the hotels, flights and some of the tours within Hongkong. I was careful to book refundable tickets even if at a higher cost, because for some reason I was uncertain
whether this trip would happen or not. So I kept my options open.
I was very particular that we fly Cathay Pacific as it would mean an uninterrupted flight without any layovers anywhere. As for the hotel, Google maps helped me in finding the right one. I wanted something very close to an MTR station (Mass Transit Railway - their local metro), as well as an Indian Vegetarian restaurant (so that my mother feels at home.) We booked our room at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile hotel in Tsim Tsha shui area. The location was fantastic, because it was at the tip of Kowloon and walking distance to an MTR Station, shopping districts, Star ferry to take you to the Island and of course the Indian Vegetarian restaurant, which by the way, we ended up eating at just once - on the first day of our visit.
Here are the list of things I booked for in advance, before we made the trip:
- Flights (To and fro) with Cathay Pacific (You get some tax refund on your return. Yay!).
- Travel Insurance: You can do your research and see what suits your needs best. I chose to sign up with ICICI Lombard for our travel insurance: ICICI Lombard
- Hotels (Holiday Inn Golden mile at HK and The Venetian at Macau). I booked via Expedia and Booking.com respectively.
- Big Bus 48 hour deluxe tour (more on this later. Here's the link: https://www.bigbustours.com/en/hong-kong/48-hour-hong-kong-tour-and-night-tour-ticket/)
-Tickets to Disney Land (https://www.hongkongdisneyland.com/)
- Ferry tickets from Macau to Hongkong International airport for the last day of our tour. We can of course buy these at the counter (which is how we got the onward tickets), but I didn't want to take that risk in case we were told the ferry was full. http://www.cotaiwaterjet.com/index.html
In case you intend to visit the Madame Tussauds at Peak station and Ocean Park, you can get these online too. But we didn't buy them in advance because we decided not to go to Madame Tussaud's and only go to Ocean Park if we had the time. We couldn't go and this was disappointing because Ocean park is huge with so many things to see and experience. Maybe next time.
Also, if we hadn't planned on doing the Big Bus tour, we might have had to buy a couple of additional tickets in advance - like the Peak tram passes and Harbour ferry tour as these come free with BigBus.
The other important place we wanted to visit was the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island. This did not require us to buy any tickets in advance. The only two things I researched about this was how to get to this place via public transport because it is quite a distance from the mainland, and whether it was feasible to club it with Disneyland because both are on Lantau Island. I will get to all this later.
Having done this quick research and bookings, we were finally ready to leave for Hongkong. Click here to read further: Part 2
Last week my mom and I travelled to Hongkong and Macau. We had discussed visiting Hongkong some two years back, but the plan got dropped and then we never brought it up until about a month back. This time we decided we will just make it work. My mother generally prefers taking a package tour with one of these travel agencies like SOTC, Thomas Cook etc, but I for one am more comfortable doing my own research and customizing the trip my own way. She was game to trust me and drop the idea of a packaged tour even if it meant trying to hunt for vegetarian meals (which would have been provided for in a packaged tour) and opting for public transport most of the times as opposed to the pick up and drop coach transportation.
We didn't have much time planning since we went pretty much as soon as we'd decided to go. But Google is such a blessing and it made every single thing easy. I was able to plan a rough itinerary and book for most of the tours within HK right before we left. Which is good, because things are cheaper online than if you want to buy them from the counter. Here I must also thank a couple of my friends I took some tips from as well, in terms of what to cover and what to leave out.
As Indian Nationals we don't need to apply for a Visa, although you do need to submit a rather long Pre-arrival form which, if it gets approved by the authorities, would enable you to travel and make you eligible for an On-arrival Visa from HK Immigration authorities. This link gives all the information: http://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/services/visas/pre-arrival_registration_for_indian_nationals.html
The next thing I did was to book the hotels, flights and some of the tours within Hongkong. I was careful to book refundable tickets even if at a higher cost, because for some reason I was uncertain
whether this trip would happen or not. So I kept my options open.
I was very particular that we fly Cathay Pacific as it would mean an uninterrupted flight without any layovers anywhere. As for the hotel, Google maps helped me in finding the right one. I wanted something very close to an MTR station (Mass Transit Railway - their local metro), as well as an Indian Vegetarian restaurant (so that my mother feels at home.) We booked our room at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile hotel in Tsim Tsha shui area. The location was fantastic, because it was at the tip of Kowloon and walking distance to an MTR Station, shopping districts, Star ferry to take you to the Island and of course the Indian Vegetarian restaurant, which by the way, we ended up eating at just once - on the first day of our visit.
Here are the list of things I booked for in advance, before we made the trip:
- Flights (To and fro) with Cathay Pacific (You get some tax refund on your return. Yay!).
- Travel Insurance: You can do your research and see what suits your needs best. I chose to sign up with ICICI Lombard for our travel insurance: ICICI Lombard
- Hotels (Holiday Inn Golden mile at HK and The Venetian at Macau). I booked via Expedia and Booking.com respectively.
- Big Bus 48 hour deluxe tour (more on this later. Here's the link: https://www.bigbustours.com/en/hong-kong/48-hour-hong-kong-tour-and-night-tour-ticket/)
-Tickets to Disney Land (https://www.hongkongdisneyland.com/)
- Ferry tickets from Macau to Hongkong International airport for the last day of our tour. We can of course buy these at the counter (which is how we got the onward tickets), but I didn't want to take that risk in case we were told the ferry was full. http://www.cotaiwaterjet.com/index.html
In case you intend to visit the Madame Tussauds at Peak station and Ocean Park, you can get these online too. But we didn't buy them in advance because we decided not to go to Madame Tussaud's and only go to Ocean Park if we had the time. We couldn't go and this was disappointing because Ocean park is huge with so many things to see and experience. Maybe next time.
Also, if we hadn't planned on doing the Big Bus tour, we might have had to buy a couple of additional tickets in advance - like the Peak tram passes and Harbour ferry tour as these come free with BigBus.
The other important place we wanted to visit was the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island. This did not require us to buy any tickets in advance. The only two things I researched about this was how to get to this place via public transport because it is quite a distance from the mainland, and whether it was feasible to club it with Disneyland because both are on Lantau Island. I will get to all this later.
Having done this quick research and bookings, we were finally ready to leave for Hongkong. Click here to read further: Part 2
2 comments:
Waaaow nice!
It's definitely a guide for anybody traveling to HK. Well written.
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