Hong Kong Redux - The do's and don'ts of travel here

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 Image: Boat ride from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon
Trip 1 (how not to visit Hong Kong)
"Mumbai" - it looks a great deal like Mumbai and I discarded it. My first trip to Hong Kong was a mess. I was on a Marketing team offsite, alone and had apparently serious issues in my life. This brings me to my first rule (As an engineer I fall back on rules more often than makes any logical sense):
a. Travel is as good or bad as your frame of mind
My colleagues were more obsessed with shopping and I have faint memories of remaining on Lan Tau (the airport island) with a brief forgettable visit to the local Office near Causeway bay. Towards the end, I felt bad for wasting away a golden opportunity and visited the Buddha temple in penance. Which brings me to significant point 2
b. The cable car and Giant Buddha are good and worth a visit: score: 8/10. Views from the cable car were appreciable - rolling forests lay underneath as the cable car winded it's way peacefully to the top to pay homage.
With that Trip 1 came to it's blessed end and so did rule #3
c. If thou doesnt plan and research thy trip- it will go to waste

Trip 2 (with practice does one become better)
Trip 2 was awesome. Among other things: my wife accompanied me (yes- the company does count - tip of the hat), the weather was good (February) and we planned it well. So without further .. I give you the top things to note while travelling to Hong Kong:
1. Hong Kong has 3 principal islands: Lantau, Hong Kong, New territories. Hong Kong (child node) is where the action is
2. Summer gets warm, so if possible go in the colder season. February was amazing
3. Top 6 attractions you must see:
i. The Peak by Tram (go at night - queues are long - but worth it- take warm warm clothing)
ii.The bus ride from north hong kong (near Causeway bay MTR) to Stanley harbour (+stanley harbour itself)
iii. The Dragon back trail - very few locals seemed to be aware (very strange!) - gorgeous sunbaked vistas of the Hong Kong topography (hills and water and greens dashed with bits of brown)
iv. DisneyLand (I'm in my late - sigh -20s- and yes- it was absolutely worth +Stick to the Danger rides and you'll have fun.). Remember to see the fireworks in the end - straight out of the movies
v. The boat ride from Hong Kong island to Kowloon island (dirt cheap and Kowloon culture is a unique blend of the Oriental, Indian, and western mixed with Money and Seediness in equal measure with the sharp tang of History )
vi. Giant Buddha and cable car ride (great vistas, peaceful but yes- nothing deeply historical about this place)
Travelling..
Getting there: we travelled by CX - got some good airfare from the regional OTAs. Remember to check both HKG and SIN OTAs. Sometimes the fare for the same route is different on SG vs. HKG OTAs (i.e. say OTA.com.sg vs. OTA.com.hk).
 Pics..
Stanley Bay (above)

Disneyland

Views from the Dragonback

CausewayBay Views

Hong Kong in a nutshell: A good all round destination - great for shopping and foodies, good for nature and culture freaks. Definitely more cultural/exotic than Singapore (which has it's own charm - in a separate post). Solid 8.5

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