Hong Kong and Bali

[Thunderbird One]

I'm thinking about planning a trip to Hong Kong and Bali.
If you have ever been to either I would be grateful of some info.

1) Any hotels you'd reccommend.
2) Location of areas to stay/avoid.
3) Sightseeing.
4) Info on Bali, what is there to do and are most of the hotels
in the middle of nowhere.
5) Is it expensive or reasonably priced.

You can e-mail me direct or on the forum.

Many thanks,
T1:cool:

[malanda]

Well I don't rate HK at all (I'm sure many will differ), but Bali is a top holiday spot.

You can't go far wrong with any of the hotels in or around Nusa Dua (the southern tip of the island). This is the touristy end. There are also some good ones inland - I wish I could remember the name of the one we visited. There are also plenty of cheap options - try www.lonelyplanet.com.

It is very cheap, so long as you eat outside of the hotels.

Take a tour of the island - there's some great scenery (mountains, paddy fields), and visit the temples. You can 'do' most of it in a day. Hire a car-with-driver.

I can also recommend taking an overnight trip to Borobudur/Yogyakarta. It's about an hour flight from Bali.

[ST.CRISPIN]

Don't expect a suntan in honkers, depending on whether you like to be in the middle of it all or not stay away from Kowloon with regard to accomodation. I found HK island much better and still only 5 mins boat away from the action in Kowloon. Try to Visit shenzen special zone, less commercial then HK, in China proper, but not too much Chinese. You can get a china visa in HK for about 20 quid single entry and 40 multi entry. Macau is REALLY nice and only about an hour away by Cat or ferry. Be careful clubbing in Honkers as some places are really dodge. Have stayed all over from the cheapest, IBIS on HK island around £20 per night incl breakfast to the Shangrila on HGk island, just back from there and i got a rate of £180 for a double room, right next to Pacific shopping centre, good for the Credit Card !
Fantastic places to eat and lots to do in honkers, get yourself a lonely planet or similar and keep a few days for chilling out/trips to Macau/China
My only experience of Bali was last year on standby for 3 DAYS in Honkers and no chance of getting on, so get backups!!!!!! I'm trying the OZ way next year!!!

[knobbygb]

I second what StCrispin says - you should definatley go to Macau for the day from HK - high speed catamaran ferries take about 50 mins and depart 3 or 4 times per hour - cost about £12 return. Just buy a ticket at the terminal and remember your passport. Quite a walk into town from the ferry terminal at Macau. You'll find it's much more 'European' than HK - very relaxed - good shopping and food. I wish I'd stayed over the night - if you're in an expensice HK hotel this'll save you some money too.

While in HK ride the Star Ferries across the harbour as often as you can. Best time is sunset - watch the sun go down and the lights neon lights come on etc. Has to be THE best value tourist trip in the world at about 12 pence each way.

Don't forget to visit the beaches at the south of HK island - Stanley is the biggest town - apparently where many of the ex-pat Brits live (and where the tourists go for fish and chips a pint of Guiness or John Smiths ) - the market there is the best place to buy cheap clothes and souveniers. Not my cup of tea to be honest - if I wanted Brit food I'd stay at home, but certainley a pleasant break from the bustle of Kowloon. Doeble decker bus taken about 30 minutes.

Don't know when you plan to go, but I found November the best value - cheapest airfare and hotels and the weather is still pretty decent. Much earlier and it'll cost more and might be wetter; later and the weather will be cooler. There seem to be lots of hotel deals (no single suppliment etc.) about this time.

Whatever you do, enjoy the trip.

[Thunderbird One]

Thanks everyone so far! I'm thinking about going beginning of Feb 03. The info is really appreciated. Anyone got anything else to tell?

T1

[HandyAndy]

Tbird One

Watch out - Chinese New Year is right at the beginning of Feb next year so hotels/travelling will be more expensive at that time of year. It is one of the rare public holidays in HK where the locals do take time off so there may be a few places that are closed.

Having said that, CNY is a good time in HK with the festivities and all.

Enjoy your trip.

Best!
HA

[Far canal]

Tbird 1

Hong Kong at that time of the year will be expensive. The prices of airflights into and the cost of hotels will at a premium due to the CNY. It will also mean that many of the shops that tourists come to Hong Kong for will be closed for the three or more day period. The Firework display will be as good or most likely better than any you have seen before!

Macau is a good place to go for a day or two. Try the Hyatt Regency on Taipa Island if you have kids they will love it there. If you don't have kids then many of the macua island Hotels can be had for a good price.

Shenzen is good for getting a suit or two run up. Or if you want a designer rip off coat just take a picture choose your material and it can be run up over night although it is best to leave it a couple of days and go back later. They will be cheap and good quality too. Lots of things Chinese can also be had for a fraction of the price they are in HK.

One point to remember about Shenzen if you have a British pasport they will not give you a visa at the border - you will be turned away. Virtually any other main stream passport and you can get one at the border. The costs posted by a prevoius contributor are about right - probably best to get a double entry visa as you may want to go back for your suit etc.

Bali - this is one superb holiday spot. It has everything is cheap the food is good the Indian Ocean crashing in on the beaches and the trip to the Volcanoe at first light is breathtaking. Much arts and crafts together with the scenery will keep you interested for a couple of weeks.

Nusa Dua is the place to go for beach type resorts.

The hotel near the volcano is cheap and has a colonial feel about it.

Away from Nusa Dua (can't remember the name place) but the Meridien Hotel on the west coast is outstanding. Has one of the best Golf courses in Asdia and is right next door to the Island Temple.

Cannot recommend Bali highly enough. It is not subject to the same turmoil as the rest of Indonesia - I went there when all the riots were on in Jakarta and was welcomed with great hospitality wherever we went. No threats or intimidation - they are mainly Hindu's and not wrapped with the Muslim troubles of the rest of Indonesia.

Be careful of the money changers I personally would now only use the banks having caught some of the scams that go on fortunatley before i was ripped off but that probably goes for most places in these parts. You will also need a whellbarrow to cart your money around - not so bad now as a few years ago when the exchange rate was 16000 Rupiah to the US$ but even so you will still be walking around with a million or so if you change up 100 GB pounds.

Enjoy

[christep]

Since this PPRUNE thing is supposed to be about flying...

You might want to look at some of the deals Cathay has on flights, particularly from mainland Europe, where the prices are much lower than from London. So if you have a cheap and easy way of getting to Amsterdam, Paris or Frankfurt you can probably pick up a better deal there.

For example, out of France, Cathay has a thing called "Pass Asie", which gives you the round trip ticket to HK, plus four sectors in Asia (e.g. CDG-HKG-DPS(Bali)-HKG-BKK-HKG-CDG) for a very reasonable price (1372 Euro in economy, 4008 Euro in Business). Two of the sectors could be Dragonair into China.

For a slightly higher price (1450/4330 Euro respectively) you can include sectors to Australasia.

They don't want everyone in the UK to know about this because LHR-HKG is a "cash cow" for BA and CX, so they only talk about it on the French version of their website (http://www.cathaypacific.com then follow the link to "Worldwide sites" then "Offres Speciales" then "Pass Asie").

And of course, for only a little more (4500 Euro in business, don't have the exact figure to hand in Economy) you can get a OneWorld Explorer 3-continets RTW ticket, which allows you 4 sectors in each of Europe, Asia and N America (plus the connecting intercontinental flights) on any OneWorld airline. This price is the same in all the European countries, but bought in London the ticket would be 3699 Pounds, which is over 5800 Euros, so you can pay for all your hotels out of the saving!