Weather:

When is best time to travel Hong Kong?

It kinds of depends on what you focus. Generally speaking, autumn and winter are the better time to go to Hong Kong.

November is warm and dry and suitable do the tour. If you concern about the weather, it will be nice time.

December to February is the time for the big sales and the grand celebration events like Christmas and Lunar new Year period. If you concern the festive ambience and shopping, this period should be considered.

The late May through the middle September is hot, rainy and humid. It is the typhoon period, but the pollution is relatively lower. If you care about pollution more, then it is relatively cleaner time.

Note:

• The weather warnings and alerts will be announced on the local television. If not sure, just follow the locals and stay indoor till the warning is cleared.
• In summer, it is pretty hot outside and enough water, sunblock, breathable shorts etc are needed while the building indoor's conditioning are at full blast all the time, a light jacket may be required.

Hong Kong weather can also be searched here: http://www.weather.gov.hk/contente.htm

Safety:

Is it safe to travel in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is a safe place. Major concern is no rather than the pickpockets, especially in crowed place like market, metro, etc. But keep usual caution will be OK.

Tips:

• Try to wear your bag in front. Keep wallet in your bags put some small changes in the easily accessible place like your bag's side pocket or pant pockets to avoid flashing your wallets unnecessarily.
• Avoid walking phoning. If you do have urgent call to make or answer, try to find a place like the wall behind you to avoid the thieves to snatch from your back.
• Do some caution work when you take the overnight train, it is better to keep the valuable items inside your clothing. To enable you can wake up easily when necessary, sleep aids like sleeping pills, earplugs are not advised.
• Ignore the touts that approach you and try to get you to somewhere when you come out /to the train stations, bus stations or borders to avoid the potential robbery.
• Better to go to big shops or restaurants or hotel lobby to get your orientation if you loss your way.
• Get the Xerox copy of your passport and your Chinese visa to avoid the trouble of steal loss and respond the police's check.
• In emergency (only), you can dial 999 or turn to the police officer or nearby police stations for assistance.

Shopping:

Where are good shopping places in Hong Kong?

Main shopping places in Hong Kong are Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yaumatei and Mong Kok of Kowloon together with Central and Causeway Bay of Hong Kong Island.

Kowloon

Tsim Sha Tsui, the famous commercial and entertaining region, features all variety of the leading international luxury brand stores. Element in this region is the most luxury shopping mall in Hong Kong. The duty-free DFS has two outlets respectively in Sun Plaza and Chinachem (Golden) Plaza, both of which assemble the world top luxury brands.

Mong Kok, one of the bustling shopping centers, has assembled a load of electronic products and also is the young's favorite shopping spots. Lady's Street (open around 11am), Sai Yeung Choi Street, Dundas Street are touristy shopping places.

Hong Kong Island

Central: Here are many big shopping malls like the Galleria, International Finance Centre mall, etc.

Causeway Bay: At weekends, some sections of traffic lanes become make-shift pedestrian lanes and many shops open round the clock, so you can feel free to release your shopping desire. So Go, World Trade Centre, Time Square and Apple Mall are busy shopping places.

Shopping Tips:

1. Clearance sale in Hong Kong shares close relationship with the season. The winter clearance sale starts from December to March and become especially luring in the big celebrations like the Christmas, New Year and Chinese Spring Festival (always falls in late January or February). Summer slashing sale is on from July to September.

2. Most shop keepers value the first sale (especially the first one) and last sale. So if you are the first customer or last customer, you can get a great bargain. But please keep in mind: if you just like to window shop, tread carefully and avoid angering the shop-keeper.

3. It is better to buy the items with the marked price tag to avoid some overpriced scam.

4. Before the payment, confirm again and make sure that it is the exact stuffs you buy to avoid the switch scam and keep the shopping receipt.

5. Make certain the relevant details about the alteration policies before the payment since most of the Hong Kong shops don't accept the order cancel and complaint after the pursuit process is done.

6. Keep high alert when in the commercial places where the pickpockets frequent like shoe stores, restaurants, street, etc. The pickpockets even work in teams, sometimes someone pretend to talk to you or accidently strike you while someone else does the lifting.

7. If you want to buy the expensive stuffs, it is advised to buy it in the big malls which will give you more security.

8. The shops generally open around 10am-7pm. And many close the business for first three days of Chinese lunar New Year (always fall in late January or early February). And it is better to avoid these days to do the shopping.

9. Avoid standing on the left side of the escalator since Hong Kong people value time and tend to rush even on the escalator and it is taboo to stand in the way of others.

Cuisine:

What is the Hong Kong Cuisine?

Hong Kong cuisine is mainly located at Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, Central, Causeway Bay, etc. The famous cuisine areas are Lan Kwai Fong, Soho, Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter, etc.

Dining Tips:

• 1. Avoid lunch around the typical office lunch hours (around 1pm--2pm) for the places will be packed with people jostling for seats.
• 2. If someone service you food with their chopsticks or spoon, it is polite to accept it by holding out your bowl or plate rather than accepting it with your chopsticks. Try a bit and it's OK to leave it on your bowl or plate if you don't like it.
• 3. Use the serving chopsticks/spoons to take food from the main dishes if they are provided. If none, feel free to help yourself with your own chopsticks.
• 4. Never stuck the chopsticks straight up in a bowl of rice. It resembles the incense stuck in an urn in the funeral.
• 5. Never point the chopsticks at something or someone.
• 6. Avoid going over or under someone's arm if he/she is picking from the table.
• 7. Bring along the tissue since many restaurants don't offer napkins except for more expensive ones.
• 8. Better prepare some practical medicines for the endemic problem.

Accommodation:

Which district should I stay in Hong Kong ?

Tourists frequent the hotels in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. But since the MTR in Hong Kong is pretty excellent and convenient, there would not be much differences staying in Hong Kong Island or Kowloon as long as your hotels are near the public transportations.

Accommodation Tips:

• 1. The hotel earliest check-in time is after 2pm while the Disneyland Hotel checks in at 3pm and out before 11am.
• 2. In many Hong Kong hotels, a deposit is required and will be refunded when you check out. Or the deposit amount in your credit card will be frozen till you have checked out in weeks.
• 3. The electricity is 220 volts and the plug socket is commonly flat three-hole type. Most of the hotels provide the electricity converter and some of them offer internet connection for the laptop guests.
• 4. Some of the hotels don't offer the toiletries like the teeth brush and toothpaste, etc. But it is easy to get in the convenient stores nearby the hotels.

Others:

Handy Tel Number:

• Emergency cases (fire, police or ambulance, etc): 999. It is free to dial this number on the public pay phones.
• Hong Kong International Airport : (852) 2181 0000
• Travel hotline: (8:00am-6:00pm) 2508 1234
• Weather: 1878022
• Loss of credit card: American Express (852)2811-6122 MasterCard (852)2511-6387 Visa (852)2810-803

Tipping:

How should I tip the service?

Most restaurants (except tea restaurant and fast-food store) charge 10% of the bill as the service fee and the customers can pay 5% of the bill as the tip. It is not customary to tip the taxi driver and hotel staff or restroom servants and the tip amount can depend on how feel about their service.

Language:

Which language do Hong Kong people speak?

Both English and Chinese are official languages in Hong Kong. The Cantonese dialect is the most commonly spoken language here while English is the language in business and service industries.

The followings are the common useful Cantonese phrases you can hear and say in Hong Kong:

• 1.Hello- 'Lay Ho'
• 2.Goodbye: "Zoi geen" or "bye bye"
• 3.Mmm Goi - The phrase means "thanks". It is a courteous phrase. Literally you are saying to people "you don't need to do that for me". But you say this only when someone does something for you, or when you ask someone to do something for you.
• 4.Dor je - Literally means "many thanks". But you only say this when you thank someone for giving you something, not for doing something for you.
• 5.Ho ho sik - this equals "yummy".
• 6. How much does this cost? — lei gor gei do chin a?
• 7. Paang d la: Be cheaper please.
• 8. Chee Saw Hei pin dor ah?-- this may be the most handy Cantonese sentence you can learn: where is the restroom.