Cheers all!
I am back from my Christmas holidays in Hong Kong and I must say it was amazing. Although the city is a bit expensive (taxi fare starts at 18 HK$ and goes up every 200 meters or so, by 2; the MTR (subway) is comparable to that in Shanghai (around 6-9$)), it is also one of the nicest cities I have visited so far. It never gets boring there: you can party at night in Lan Kwai Fong (exit central station of MTR), go shopping in big malls with every store imaginable (like Elements at Kowloon Station), visit street and night markets in Stanley, Mong Kok and almost every street corner or spend a day or two in the amusement parks there (the Disneyland Resort or Ocean Park).

But what I especially enjoyed, was island hopping. From the Central Ferry Piers on Hong Kong Island you can get to the main outlying islands of Peng Chau, Cheung Chau, Lamma and Lantau, including Discovery Bay.

Peng Chau is the smallest of all, and has a wonderful little harbour town. The beaches are not that nice there, but you can go up finger hill and have a nice view over the little island.

Cheung Chau is bigger (they even have a Mc Donald’s on that island, but the Mc Flurry machine is broken). It has more to offer than Peng Chau like a pirate cave, pancake shaped rocks (I can’t remember if it really was a pancake, I just remember a lot of steps and a nasty tasting water melon) and a haunted house.

Lamma Island is the biggest of these three islands and really worth visiting, although there are a lot of tourists. The beaches are very nice and you can have a fantastic hike there (if you wander of the main trail, there aren’t even any people! Awsum!)

Yes and Lantau island (which apparently is even bigger than Hong Kong Island) is a must visit. The landscape is breathtaking, the beaches clean, white and beautiful and the best thing is the biggest outdoor, sitting Buddha of the world.

You also can take a ferry from Wan Chai to Macau, aka Las Vegas (which is about 150$ per trip and person). Once there, don’t mind taking public busses, just take the shiniest bus provided by the casinos at the ferry pier. They are free of charge and depart frequently.
If you want to visit the ruin church of St. Paul, take the casino bus to Grand Lisboa. You can walk from there.
Ohja, on a side note: you can use HK $ or the local currency over there. Both works fine.

Yes, that’s it for now and from my little trip.

Simon.