Privérondleiding door Hong Kong - First timers

This tour was a brilliant way to be introduced to Hong Kong. Our knowledgeable and pleasant guide was full of enthusiasm and we were astonished what she included into our one day introduction. She gave us insights as to how Hong Kong has become the international city it is today and explained its evolution clearly and in a very interesting way to simply explain its history from Opium Wars to the present day. It was just astonishing how much there was to see and learn. We walked and travelled by different forms of transport including the MTR, Ding Ding Trams and Ferries. Our guide taught us to feel confident about being new to Hong Kong and by using and learning how to navigate the MTR (underground system) it became and easy and inexpensive way to travel around. This was so useful for the rest of our stay. Alexandra our guide, was a font of knowledge. All her explanations were full of detailed local knowledge and her affection for the place was infectious. Amongst many other things we learnt about how the architectural design of Hong Kong’s iconic buildings was influenced by the principles of Feng Shui. For example, it was really interesting to learn that Sir Normal Foster’s design of the HSBC Asian HQ has no ground floor only escalators to take customers to its 1st floor. This openness is to allow evil spirits to flow under the building then having no adverse effect the building’s prosperity. Nearby a competitor’s building is shaped angularly to direct the spirits onto their rivals in the hope of bring misfortune! We travelled all over the city and took the Peak Train up to the top of the Peak to gain a great view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. It was a special trip and one not to be missed along with the views including the house of the wealthy on the hillside. When we returned, we hopped onto the Ding Ding tram to visit the old town to visit the Man Mo Temple, learn about our Chinese Zodiac signs. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together and then took the Star Ferry to cross Victoria Harbour Kowloon where we learnt about the development of the area and visited the Opera House and the Penninsular Hotel and saw their Rolls-Royce’s, lion dog statues and bellboys. We went into the foyer (amazing who you see there) where the very British Afternoon Tea is served. Our guide was great and helped accommodate our own ideas of places to visit. We said we wanted to go to the Ladies Market, so she took us to Mongkok and the market there and from where we then confidently made our own way back to our hotel. She was so good that we booked her for another private tour day later in the week. It was an itinerary we agreed with her including things we were interested to see. Then we went to Diamond Hill visited the Chi Lin Convent, then Prince Edward and saw the flower market in full bloom ready for Mother’s Day, the bird’s market where people exercised their pet birds and then the goldfish market. We went back on the MTR to Hong Kong park and had a wonderful late lunch at the Lok Cha Tea House (they do wonderful vegetarian Dim Sum. We cannot praise Alexandra and Hong Kong a la carte tour company too highly and we recommend them unreservedly. - 5 stars all the way. We will use them again when next we come to Hong Kong.

Deze tour was het hoogtepunt van onze reis! Als eerste - keer bezoekers uit de VS , wisten we niet de eerste plaats om te beginnen met het plannen van onze sightseeing. Onze gids Alexandra zorgde voor dat alles en bracht ons rondom op een uitgebreide tour. We hebben er zo van genoten dat we zo terug zouden komen naar Hong Kong, en na deze tour voelen we ons helemaal op ons gemak om alleen rond te navigeren.

I booked 3 tours with Hong Kong a la Carte and was extremely excited for all 3. The tour guides were extremely informative about the history, culture, traditions and locations to visit. Absolutely great to make sure I got to do and see everything that could in the time I was there. Would definitely recommend their great service