Hong Kong, China • Travel

We had 17 days in this beautiful country and not a second to lose.

We had been looking forward to this trip for nearly a year. I couldn't wait to experience China, especially knowing this was the country Andy came from and remembered so fondly from his childhood.

And when I say we prepared, we prepared.

We watched so many videos about where to eat, what to order, where to shop, which spas to visit and everything we wanted to see. Our list kept growing until we weren't even sure we'd have enough time to fit everything in.

But I'd rather be overprepared than underprepared!

Hong Kong was the first stop on our China adventure, and almost immediately, I started noticing the contrasts.

My First Impressions of Hong Kong

In some ways, Hong Kong felt surprisingly familiar.

There were KFCs, McDonald's and 7-Elevens seemingly everywhere. But then I'd look up.

The sheer number of buildings was incredible.

Tall residential towers filled the skyline, many with exposed pipes running along their exteriors. Some buildings showed the effects of Hong Kong's humid, typhoon-prone climate, but I didn't think it made them unattractive. If anything, the weathering gave parts of the city character that felt completely different from home.

And Hong Kong was alive.

We arrived late Thursday evening, nearly midnight after our delayed flight, and there were still people everywhere. People were eating, shopping, working, taking pictures and walking through the streets like the night was just getting started.

Coming from a small town in Wisconsin, where practically everything shuts down around 7 p.m. unless it's a bar, I was fascinated.

The lights, the smells of food coming from seemingly every direction and the constant movement of people made me want to stay outside and see everything, even though we'd just gotten off a long flight.

Our First Night at Victoria Harbour

We checked into the Hyatt Centric Victoria Harbour, and our room overlooked the water toward Kowloon.

The view at night was beautiful.

We had hoped to catch A Symphony of Lights, Hong Kong's nightly light show over Victoria Harbour, but our delayed arrival had other plans.

At that point, though, we were starving.

So naturally, our first meal in Hong Kong was...

McDonald's.

But hear me out.

Before the trip, we had watched videos of people trying Hong Kong McDonald's menu items that we don't normally get back home. We were especially curious about the spicy chicken wings, seasoned fries, Hong Kong-style milk tea and iced lemon tea.

We ordered delivery, and I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

The chicken was crispy, everything tasted fresh, and even something as familiar as McDonald's felt like a completely different experience from what I was used to in the U.S.

I had also seen a chocolate McGriddle on Xiaohongshu that I was very intrigued by, but sadly, that one never made it onto my plate.

After eating, we attempted to stay awake to fight the jet lag.

We lost.

A girl needs her beauty sleep.

Unfortunately, jet lag would continue winning that battle for most of our trip.

Waking Up Hungry in Hong Kong

The next morning, there was really only one question on our minds:

What are we eating?

We pulled out our ever-growing list and decided to start with a traditional Hong Kong-style breakfast.

I ordered pineapple buns, Hong Kong milk tea and toast with chunky peanut butter and condensed milk.

The toast sounded almost too simple to be memorable, but it was SO good.

The condensed milk added just enough sweetness while the peanut butter made it rich and nutty. It's one of those combinations that makes you wonder why you haven't been eating it your entire life.

Andy isn't nearly as into sweets as I am, so he went the savory route with an egg and bacon toast sandwich.

We intentionally didn't eat too much because we had a full day of foodie stops ahead of us.

Thank goodness we saved room.

Eating Our Way Through Causeway Bay

We headed toward Causeway Bay ready to shop, explore and eat our way through the neighborhood.

There was just one problem.

It was about 9 a.m.

We quickly discovered that many of the stores we wanted to visit wouldn't open until 11 or even noon. Apparently, our excitement had gotten us out the door a little too early.

Instead, we explored the smaller bakeries and businesses that were already open.

And then we found Bakehouse.

I'd seen this bakery in what felt like every Hong Kong vlog I watched before the trip, so obviously I wasn't walking past it without trying something.

I ordered the famous sourdough egg tart.

I know what you're thinking.

Sourdough? In an egg tart?

Trust me.

It was delicious.

The pastry was flaky and crisp, the custard was creamy, and I immediately understood why everyone online kept talking about these things.

I also grabbed a mango pomelo pastry because apparently one pastry wasn't enough.

YUM.

The Comic Shop That Wasn't Quite a Comic Shop

While exploring, we wandered into an indoor shopping center filled with tiny individual shops selling all kinds of things.

Then I spotted a sign for Clark's Comics, complete with a Superman symbol.

As a Superman nerd, there was absolutely no way I wasn't going inside.

I immediately started imagining all the unique comic-related gifts I might find for family back home.

We followed the signs, rounded corner after corner and finally...

found a man sitting at the end of a hallway with his laptop and a small cart containing a handful of comic-related items.

That was it.

Not exactly the treasure trove I had imagined.

Nothing really caught my eye, and there didn't seem to be much else to browse, so we headed back out.

I wanted to see everything.

We had waited almost a year for this trip, and I wasn't about to waste a minute of it.

Taking the Peak Tram to Victoria Peak

One of the things I randomly added to our Hong Kong list was a trip up to Victoria Peak.

And when I say randomly, I mean I saw the views, thought that looks beautiful, added it to the itinerary and apparently forgot to consider one very important detail:

You have to go really, really high to get those views.

I am terrified of heights.

Somehow, that didn't cross my mind until we were already making our way up the mountain on the Peak Tram.

The Peak Tram has been carrying passengers up the mountain since 1888, when it became the first cable funicular railway in Asia. Today, the tram travels along a 1,278-meter track and climbs from 33 meters above sea level to 396 meters, or about 1,300 feet, at its upper terminus.

The journey takes about six minutes, and at its steepest point, the track reaches an incline of 25.7 degrees.

So yes.

It is steep.

As we climbed higher, we could see the skyscrapers below us getting smaller and smaller. At certain points, it felt like we were looking directly down onto the tops of buildings that had towered over us from street level.

For someone afraid of heights, this was perhaps not the activity I should have chosen on a whim.

But then we reached the top.

And wow.

Seeing Hong Kong From Above

The view was magical.

From The Peak, we could see what felt like the entire city stretched out below us. Skyscrapers packed together along the waterfront, Victoria Harbour cutting through the landscape and mountains rising behind the city in the distance.

The Peak reaches 552 meters, or about 1,811 feet, above sea level and is the highest point on Hong Kong Island.

Looking down from that part of the city really puts the size and density of Hong Kong into perspective.

I couldn't stop staring at the buildings below.

We had spent our time walking between these enormous skyscrapers and looking up at them from street level. Now we were high enough to see their rooftops.

It was one of those views that photos don't quite capture.

Coffee With a View

Of course, even at The Peak, I somehow managed to find another Bakehouse.

Since it was still early, we grabbed coffee and another pastry before continuing to explore.

At this point, Bakehouse was quickly becoming a recurring character in our Hong Kong trip.

What surprised me most about The Peak was how much there was actually up there.

I had pictured taking a tram to a scenic overlook, looking at the view and heading back down.

Not even close.

There were restaurants, cafés and shops, with an entire shopping complex connected to the experience.

There was even a Starbucks because apparently you can be hundreds of meters above Hong Kong and still get your coffee fix.

People Actually Live Up Here?

What fascinated me even more were the homes.

There were houses and residential neighborhoods along The Peak.

I couldn't believe people actually lived that high up.

Imagine this being your neighborhood.

The thought of waking up every morning surrounded by those views sounded incredible.

Then I remembered my fear of heights.

Maybe I'll just visit.

Don't Skip Victoria Peak

If you're planning a trip to Hong Kong and you're thinking about skipping Victoria Peak, don't.

Seriously.

Even with my fear of heights, I would do it again.

The view is absolutely breathtaking. Standing that high above Hong Kong and seeing the skyscrapers, mountains and Victoria Harbour together was one of those moments where I just had to stop and take everything in.

Pictures are beautiful, but they don't do it justice.

You really have to see it for yourself.

One thing I would do differently is go a little later in the day. We went pretty early in the morning, which meant a lot of the stores, restaurants and shops hadn't opened yet.

There was even a bubble tea shop called SILK that looked SO good, and I was a little disappointed that we were too early to try it.

Thankfully, Bakehouse was open, so coffee and pastries held us over while we explored.

If shopping and trying some of the restaurants and treats at The Peak are important to you, I'd plan your visit for later in the morning or afternoon.

But honestly?

Having fewer people around and getting to enjoy those incredible morning views wasn't a bad tradeoff at all.

Victoria Peak started as something I threw onto our itinerary on a whim, and it ended up being one of those experiences I'd tell anyone visiting Hong Kong not to miss.

Our First 24 Hours in Hong Kong

Looking back, I think that's what I loved most about our first day in Hong Kong.

There was so much to take in.

One minute we were eating peanut butter and condensed milk toast at breakfast, the next I was hunting down a tiny comic shop because I saw a Superman sign, and a few hours later I was hundreds of meters above the city wondering why my fear-of-heights self had voluntarily gotten on the Peak Tram.

Hong Kong felt familiar in some ways and completely new in others.

And this was only the beginning of our trip.

We still had so much to eat, see and experience.

If our first 24 hours were any indication, we were in for an adventure.