Carcation in Hong Kong
3 day HK car-cation starting at HKD2K
After Staycation, Daycation, I would like to introduce you to Carcation 😀😀.
I am Sze Yeen Lim. Like many others, this is the first time we are spending our entire summer in Hong Kong. What to do? Where to go? We are not into staycations. We like the flexibility to explore places and try local food during our vacation. We love driving on holidays. Why not do it here in HK for our summer 2021 vacation? Let’s explore HK and do things we would not do without a car in HK.
So, my other half googled and chose a local car rental and made the necessary arrangements to pick up a compact car for the next 3 days. Found and booked a car within 15 minutes. The next day, we picked up our rented car from a parking lot in an industrial building in Kwun Tung. Check out link below for car rental company. It was 4 pm and we decided Sam Tseng roast goose was calling out for us.
After our highly satisfying roast goose meal, we googled for dessert places around the vicinity. Found nothing. Decided to expand our search to somewhere against the after work traffic direction. After a 20 minute drive and 5 mins circling around, we found a parking space nearby main street Yuen Long. We walked passed yelling vendors trying to sell their produce to after work crowd. The entire scene reminded me of familiar sights and sounds of pasar malam (night markets) in Malaysia. The main street with its neon lights and chained retailers, felt almost like mini Mongkok. We got home around 10 pm and found a metered parking nearby our building. Lucky day one!
Day 2. Dropped off our daughter at Pak Sha Wan Pier, Saikung for her fun dives.
With the rest of the day to kill, we decided to check out Lobster Bay at Clearwater Bay. Lung Ha Wan hike was gorgeous. About 2 hours to get back to the car park. If you can do High West or Dragon’s Back, you can certainly do this hike. Check out link below for trail reference.
Decided to splurge a bit on a nice seafood dinner since we have saved from flights and hotels.
After dinner, we strolled along the small back lanes downtown Sai Kung and thought they kinda reminded us of quaint little Japanese streets. Yes, we miss Japan so much!
Got home really late and decided to sleep in the next day. Well, we couldn’t really “sleep in” as one of us had to feed the parking meter at 8 am. Good thing there’s an app which allowed us to top up another 2 hours.
It was the 3rd and our final day with the car. We wanted to park ourselves in a café somewhere with a view. Somewhere we would not get to if without a car. Away from the crowd and ideally waterfront. Google failed us this time. Just when I was was going to settle for Gold Coast, my hubby suggested Art Park at West Kowloon. We found ourselves trying out one of the cafes and strolling along Art Park waterfront facing Sheung Wan. It’s a different perspective seeing our own neighbourhood from the other side. Old and new buildings facing the newly built Western Harbour Promenade with lush green and mountain behind. Hong Kong is so beautiful. Will be nice to catch the sunset from here one of these days.
Our last evening with the car, we decided to enjoy the scenic drive to Tai Tam and have dinner at Stanley. It was 6 pm and all the shops in Stanley market were closed. It was quite and relaxing time to be in Stanley. Didn’t realise Stanley could be so pretty at night. Perfect sight to end our last evening with the car.
Breakdown of our car rental 3 days car rental – hkd900 toll – hkd350
Parking – hkd350
Gas – hkd400 To rent a car in Hong Kong, you will need to have a HK driver’s license or an international driving license. Here’s the link to HK Transport Dept for information on how you can convert your driver’s license https://www.td.gov.hk/en/public_services/licences_and_permits/driving_licences/how_to_apply_for_a_driving_licence/index.html Lung Ha Wan trail and route suggestion https://droneandslr.com/travel-blog/hong-kong/lung-ha-wan-country-trail/