I have recently returned from just under two weeks to Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. As I’ve done previously, with Canberra, NE England and Singapore, here are some random facts about Hong Kong…

1. The Taxis have these contraptions installed to open the rear left door automatically.

2. The multi-trip travel smartcard, Octopus Card, can be used to buy lots of other things, like from vending machines and stores. The cleverest thing ever!

3. There is a shopping centre called Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa that has a building shaped like a boat.

4. There are no ferry or MTR timetables. That’s because they are ridiculously regular, so there’s no point.

5. It’s legal to drink standing on the footpath or sitting on a curb outside a pub or club.

6. You can even get served outside, as we did (see previous point)

7. Cans of Coke cost $9 out of a vending machine. I know the exchange rate is good, but it is still a shock to see.

8. The trip from Hong Kong to Macau takes about an hour on ferry, plus customs time at both ends.

9. There are literally hundreds of gates at the Hong Kong Airport.

10. As per point 9, I caught an underground train to get from the arrival gate to customs!

11. They are serious about Typhoons. We had a typhoon signal whilst i was there, and just about every foyer has a sign go up warning people.

12. Although Cantonese is the main language, most people speak Mandarin (and English) as well.

13. Sundays are the maids day off. You can see thousands of maids flock to public spaces such as parks on Sundays.

14. The Big Red Bus tours are seriously cheap, and worth the ride.

15. Make sure you visit ‘the peak’. It’s a grand view of Hong Kong from up there (see the photo above as an example).

16. Hong Kong has over 7 million people in 1,000 square kilometres, making it the “world’s most vertical city” – it sure is packed in!

17. Because of the SAR (Special Administrative Region) status of Hong Kong, Facebook and Twitter are accessible. The infamous Chinese internet filter doesn’t reach Hong Kong, yet.

I would definitely recommend visiting. The east meets west feel to the place makes it comfortable for someone who doesn’t want to face culture shock, but still different enough for those who want that shot of culture.

I’ve covered Singapore before, and although I spent most of a day in Macau, those facts will have to wait for another blog post.

It’s no secret that I enjoy going on journeys both across Australia and overseas. During the next two months, I am off to Wellington, New Zealand in February and then Bali, Indonesia in March.

I was speaking to a few people the other day, about what each of us do for planning. Here are the five main websites I use to discover the area I am visiting, before I get there.

Wikimapia
This is a great site, which is literally a wiki overlay to Google Maps. You can select areas and tag them and write short descriptions, and then others can explore a city or area from above. Here’s the Wellington, New Zealand wikimapia section.

Trip Advisor
This is a great review site, and a very active forums community as well. I’ve reviewed a few places on there in last 12 months, and even have my own travel map, showing where I have been (fairly limited, I know!). Here’s their Bali, Indonesia section as an example.

Flickr
This may sound like an odd choice, but you can find out a lot about a city by the photographs of it on this great photo sharing site. The easiest way to search is by keyword, such as ‘Wellington, New Zealand‘. You can see my photos here.

Wikitravel
This is another wiki-based website, with succinct articles about thousands of locations around the world. They tend to be written by people who have vast experience in the area, and I’ve used their recommendations on previous trips. Here is the Wikitravel page for Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

Delicious
Social book-marking pioneer website, Delicious, is a great place to see hat others are bookmarking and tagging by the destination name. Here’s an example of people tagging websites with ‘Sanur‘, one of the places I am staying in Bali.

What sites do you use to research travel destinations before you leave?