Goldfish, turtles, rabbits, puppies and more…read more The Goldfish Market is such an iconic street market in Hong Kong. So much fun to wander looking at the giant colorful aquariums, tanks of turtles, and bags and bags and bags of goldfish. Located on Tung Choi Street, the shops and stalls line several blocks. Why goldfish? If you live in public housing, which is quite a deal in Hong Kong, there are restrictions on what kind of small pet can live in your apartment. More than that, goldfish are an integral part of cultural life in Hong Kong and China. Goldfish are believed to bring abundance and prosperity to the home. Goldfish also represent the Feng Shui of bringing richness, money or harmony to the home. Why are the fish in the bags? How do they survive? Since the stores are limited for space, the fish are placed into the plastic bags that are pumped with oxygen. Prices are marked on the bag. If they don't sell, they go back into the tanks at night. Seems like a lot of work. Don't want a goldfish? There are also lots of other cute choices. The puppies were so adorable. The fluffy bunnies just happily hopped or slept in their crates. Lots of turtles and cats as well. A very unique market to explore in Kowloon.

When you look at lists of touristy places to visit in Hong Kong, Goldfish Street comes up,…read morerightfully, as it is visually appealing. I myself included it on my list of places I wanted to visit when I arrived for my second visit to Hong Kong, which coincided with Mid-Autumn Festival of 2019. I was staying in Tsim Sha Tsui and wanted to explore more of the Kowloon area. (Of course at the time, I had no idea what "Kowloon" or "the Island" referred to.) Goldfish Street is in Mong Kok, which is the busy shopping central area of Kowloon, so one should expect to see people constantly walking along these busy sidewalks. I visited Goldfish Street when it was dark out, which I suppose enhanced the experience of viewing the fish, with the lights illuminating the fish's diversely extravagant appearances in order to entice prospective customers. Of course, I imagine there are just as many opportunistic photographers (including me) trying to take advantage of the free photo settings, though it should be duly noted that several of these fish stores have clearly visible "no photography" signs, which obviously comes from experience. Expect to get a lot of disapproving glares from store owners if you attempt to be a fish influencer without buying any fish.

It seems like every time I come back and visit Hong Kong, this place is a must on my list. The new…read moreaddition this time, was of course the baby panda twins. Even with a timed ticket, there was a wait and crowds of people. Ocean Park is a whole day adventure. I absolutely love riding the cable cars from one end in Aqua city to the other end in Marine World. The waiting line can get very long for the cable cars, and we were fortunate enough to have our own. What I love most about this park is how it feels like a mini Disney World, a mix of looking at animals and also having theme park rides like roller coasters and the raft ride (which you will very possibly get wet!). While my motion sickness limits me from riding theme park rides, I enjoyed the ocean park tower overlooking most of the area, offering spectacular views from the top and the different fun animal exhibits with penguins, meerkats, aquatic creatures like mini jelly fish and sea dragons. Old Hong Kong was a nice walkthrough displaying the 50s to the 70s. The antique shop fronts were beautiful to look at. Usually I would ride the cable cars back to the entrance to leave but this time I rode the Ocean Express which felt like an underwater submarine.

Ocean Park is a classic to Hong Kong. I have heard a lot about it growing up and I always have the…read morementality that everyone should visit at least once when they are in Hong Kong. I am glad we brought our young daughters, 6.5 and 5 years old, on a Thursday in November. The weather was in the mid 60s (approximately 18 degrees Celsius), so we thought it was very comfortable. We went on the carousel and some simple rides. The park was not crowded at all so there were no waits. We also checked off several exhibits: panda, red panda, sea otters, walruses, sharks, and penguins. The panda exhibit was probably the most popular and we had to wait in line for approximately 10 minutes. For food, we really enjoyed what they had to offer at the Old Hong Kong. We shared soy sauce stir-fried noodles, fried fish ball siu mai, fried chicken leg quarter, egg waffles, and iced milk tea. They are very standard, classic Hong Kong street food. I was a bit disappointed that two of the food kiosks were closed because I wanted a bowl of cold tofu pudding. We would consider revisiting when the girls are older because there are several roller coaster rides for older kids by the North and South Pole sections. A few other positive notes: The bathrooms are clean and well maintained. The MTR is super convenient.

Hong Kong Disneyland is very small, compared to the other Disney parks, but it's very easy to do…read moreall the rides and see some shows all in one day! We did not need a fast pass (we went during a slow period), though we did do early entry (which cost extra) but probably could have accomplished everything without it. I am a former Disneyland pass holder and have been to the parks in Florida a few times. In comparison, HK Disneyland is very easy to get to since they have an MTR station that stops right at the park. We stayed at the Explorer's Lodge and were able to use the free shuttle bus to the park. With early entry, we were able to do the Frozen Ever After, Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleds and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride all before the park opening. My daughter wanted to do a character meet and greet, which we queued up for as soon as we got into the park. The Disney parks in Asia have a set of characters unique to these parks and the character meet and greet waits can go up to 2 hours, so this was a bonus. We made sure to ride Mystic Manor, Frozen Ever After and the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway MineCars twice since we don't have these in Anaheim. Food was a mixed bag. Some places were closed so we ate at the Explorer's Club, which had a semi-buffet. Food was ok but it was nice to have a sit-down lunch. The snacks were better - like the Lotso waffle sandwich, Korean grilled squid and the HK-Style Flavored Tea Slush with soft serve. We even caught a couple of shows - Festival of the Lion King and Mickey and the Wondrous Book. They are both good, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Mickey and the Wondrous Book. If you are a family with small kids, this is probably the easiest of the Disney parks to visit!

I came on a Saturday and was very pleasantly surprised by the wait times. The longest lines were…read moreonly 30 minutes, the average wait time was only 15 minutes. It's a much smaller park than the California Disneyland that I grew up with, but that was really nice as well; nothing felt rushed. We arrived at opening and by 2:30 had gone on just about every ride. They had a lot of character interactions and many shows around the park. It's not as expensive as US Disney parks either - that's a huge perk!