7 Free (Or Nearly Free) Things To Do In Hong Kong

by Jessica Marati on

By many measures, Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities in the world.

But for every five-star hotel, luxury boutique and gourmet restaurant, there’s a budget room, quaint flea market and cheap dimsum stand waiting in the wings. In fact, apart from high accommodation costs, Hong Kong is a great destination for budget travelers, with its cheap public transport, vibrant street food scene and plentiful sights and attractions. Even if you’re low on cash, there is never a shortage of things to do. Here are seven of the best free (or nearly free) ways to experience Hong Kong on the cheap.

Take the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour.

Some call it a commute; others call it a bargain way to cross one of the world’s most scenic harbors. The Star Ferry has been shuttling people across Victoria Harbour for more than a century, with its most popular route connecting Central Terminal on Hong Kong Island to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. The view from either side is breathtaking.

Fares run between HK$2 (US$0.25) and HK$3.40 ($0.44), depending on what day you’re traveling and whether you’re sitting on the upper or lower deck. Drink medicinal tea with healing properties.

Locals line up around the block for a cup of the famed ya sai mei at Good Spring Company Limited, one of Hong Kong’s oldest herbal pharmacies. The bitter tea is said to have immunity-boosting powers, and Good Spring’s formulation is a result of years of experimentation by the pharmacy’s original proprietor, whose grandson now runs the shop. A cup of the cure-all will cost you HK$7 (US$0.90).

8 Cochrane Street, Central

Ride the world’s longest covered escalator.

The Central Mid-Levels escalator system is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, extending 800 meters and connecting the hilltop districts of Hong Kong with the rest of the city. The system, made up of 20 escalators and three moving walkways, acts as free public transportation for Hong Kong’s working classes. Tourists can hop on the escalator at any time, but be advised of its schedule: service runs downhill from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and uphill from 10:30 a.m. to midnight.

Starts at Cochrane Street and Queen’s Road Central and ends at Shelley Street and Conduit Road, with multiple stops in between.

Take a tour of Hong Kong history.

Learn about Hong Kong’s fascinating past through a magnificently curated exhibition called “The Hong Kong Story” at the Hong Kong Museum of History. For just HK$10 ($1.30) you can journey from prehistoric times, to the Opium Wars, to 1960s pop culture, straight through to the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. It’s the perfect indoor respite from Hong Kong’s suffocating heat.

100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui

Eat at the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant.

Tim Ho Wan might be the only place on earth where you can eat a Michelin-starred meal for under US$10. Chef Mak Pui Gor, formerly of the Four Seasons, opened this non-descript dim sum joint on a back street of the Mong Kok district to bring high quality dim sum to the masses. The waits are legendary, lasting two, sometimes three hours. But if you don’t mind getting squeezed into a table with a family of five, try venturing there solo between the off-peak hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. I did and managed to get in immediately.

2-20 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok

Hit up happy hour in SoHo.

Short for “South of Hollywood Road,” this up-and-coming neighborhood has a more quaint, intimate feel than other parts of Central Hong Kong. But don’t be misled – SoHo comes alive in the evenings, when its trendy bars and restaurants fill with young professionals taking advantage of Western-style happy hour specials. The deals usually kick off at 5 p.m.

The best way to arrive in SoHo is via the Central Mid-Levels Escalator; get off at Staunton Road.

Watch the world’s largest sound and light show.

Hong Kong’s “Symphony of Lights” isn’t just one of the best tickets in town; it’s also free! The nightly spectacle, run by the Hong Kong Tourism Commission, features sound, lights and lasers from 40 buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour. Stake out a spot on the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade for the best view, and toast to the fact that the best travel experiences can still (sometimes) be free.

The “Symphony of Lights” runs nightly at 8 p.m.

[Photo Credit: Jessica Marati]

“Budget Hong Kong” chronicles one writer’s efforts to authentically experience one of the world’s most expensive cities, while traveling on a shoestring. Read the whole series here.

Delta Air Lines Changes Mileage Program, Budget Travelers Lose

by Grant Martin on

The announcement came quietly last week, amid bigger, louder clamor over another airline’s new branding. Delta Air Lines will be changing its mileage program for the 2015 status year, and in a very big way. Coming up, passengers will soon be required to spend a minimum amount of money on the airline per year in order to reach elite status. So, for example, for one to reach Platinum status, it will soon be required to earn either 75,000 miles or 100 segments and spend a minimum of $7,500 on the airline per year. The full qualification table pulled from Delta’s announcement is below

MEDALLION QUALIFICATION

Silver

Gold

Platinum

Diamond

MQDs

$2,500

$5,000

$7,500

$12,500

and

and

and

and

MQMs

25,000

50,000

75,000

125,000

or

or

or

or

MQSs

30

60

100

140


This change shouldn’t be a surprise for regular travelers. Skymiles has been eroding for several years now, and this is the next step in completely trivializing the program. Options for low-cost mileage redemptions have nearly evaporated, and many passengers are holding onto stockpiles with nothing to buy. One disgusted passenger on the forum Flyertalk puts it this way:

“[Delta]… rarely has the seats to begin with. It’s of such limited utility to me that anytime I see even the most mundane 25,000-mile award within the U.S., I’m tempted to grab it.”

Delta’s spin on the change, for their part, is that they need to make room for their most valuable customers. From their release last week, they state:

“These changes are a result of considerable research that we’ve conducted including conversations with hundreds of customers, many of whom expressed a desire to see the Medallion program truly target our best customers”

Delta would never release data on the ranks of their Skymiles program, but this suggests that their stables may be bloated with elite (and thereby costly) travelers and that they need to be thinned. It makes reasonable business sense: reward the travelers who spend the most money on the airline.

But what about the budget traveler? Delta is effectively moving its focus to high-paying passengers with this change, and budget travelers – some of whom are the biggest fans of the airline – will be left in the cold.

Proof will come when the budget travelers shift their business away from Delta and the costs of running their elite program drop over the next two years. If elite ranks stagnate and the frequent fliers keep coming, the airline can move forward with a smaller, more robust and profitable mileage program. And if membership spirals down to a handful of deranged loyal fliers, they’ll know that their mileage program is officially dead. In the end, that may have been part of the plan.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user redlegs21]

Sacramento Serves Up Second Annual Baconfest

by Laurel Miller on

Pork products may have reached their tipping point, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate their existence. The second annual Sacramento Baconfest, held January 20-27, pays tribute to “pork from pigs who lived healthy, happy lives at farms where farmers value ethical and sustainable food production.” I’ll scarf some pork belly to that.

All bacon and other charcuterie served at Baconfest are made in-house by “Sacramento chefs who give a damn about quality natural foods.”

So besides cured meat products produced by introverted industry people with tats of butcher’s charts on their forearms, what can you expect at Baconfest? Besides lots of saturated fat? For starters, there’s an opening night party at Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co., featuring a special menu by chef Brian Mizner. There there’s the BLT Bike Crawl; Baconfest-vs-Sacramento Beer Week; a Chef’s Competition; a “secret event,” and a multitude of special dinners and happy hours. And let’s not forget the “Second Annual Kevin Bacon Tribute Night,” which features local bands playing songs from the actor’s films (“to the first degree.”).

Sounds like a blast, and the makings of a swine time. And hey, check this out: most of the events are free; those that do charge minimal fees give back to local chefs, restaurateurs and the very fine Center for Land-Based Learning in nearby Winters.

[Photo credit: Flickr user ChefMattRock]

Outtakes From Delta Air Lines’ New Safety Video

by Grant Martin on

Late last year you may remember that Delta Air Lines produced a new on-board safety video. It was a replacement to the now-famous Deltalina video, updated with new hosts and a dash of humor. Widely applauded by the community for balancing light-hearted content with informational rules, several versions of the video are now in place among the 722 aircraft in Delta’s fleet.

As a bonus, this time the airline also collected the scraps from the cutting room floor for a series of outtakes and bloopers. The deleted scenes include plenty of line-reading errors as well as a few goofy scenes cut from the main video for one reason or another. Take a look at the exclusive video above.

Use These Programs To Shorten The Airport Security Line

by Grant Martin on

The security situation in this nation’s airports is in a constant flux. Checkpoints differ from terminal to terminal and it seems like there’s always a new rule or restriction governing luggage. It’s actually partially built that way for a reason; part of the Department of Homeland Security’s strategy involves variety in your checkpoint experience. That’s why sometimes you’ll be directed through a millimeter wave detector while other times you’ll go through a magnetometer. Without a regular security cog in place, it’s hard for opposing forces to plan in absolutes.

Thankfully, a few measures have developed in recent months to relax part of the security runaround for many travelers. Some of these are backed by the DHS while others are facilitated by the airlines or third parties. Each is built to reward the prepared traveler with shorter lines and faster transfers at the airport though, and those minutes can be critical.

TSA Pre Check
A new program from the Department of Homeland Security is now being offered for frequent flyers of many airlines with proven travel records. Called TSA Pre Check, the program collects additional data about a passenger and his itinerary and then works with the airline to track the passenger and provide expedited screening.After registration, a Pre Check passenger is allowed to go through a special line at security with reduced screening. Shoes and belts, for example, need not be removed, and many electronics (including laptops) can be left in their carry-on. Lines at these checkpoints are almost always nonexistent and magnetometers are used instead of advanced imaging technology.

To enroll in Pre Check, first join your airline’s frequent flyer program and sign up in its Global Online Enrollment System. After that, contact your airline and ask to opt-in. At American Airlines, you can opt-in by contacting customer service.

An alternate route to earning TSA Pre Check involves enrolling in Global Entry, the program for expedited customs processing when crossing international borders. Since that program already collects the data that Pre Check needs for enrollment, the benefits can be extended.

Clear
The private security-expediting program Clear has been around for several years in fits and starts and its current incarnation is operating at a half-dozen airports around the nation. In a similar fashion to Pre Check, Clear works by collecting several pieces of biometric data on the passenger for use as a screening measure at the airport. Once verified by a kiosk local to the security checkpoint, Clear members can cut the line at the X-ray and zip straight through, saving the effort of waiting in long lines. Where lines are shorter this may not be a useful benefit for all passengers, but when the terminal gets crowded, this can be a lifesaver.

Priority Access
If volunteering extra personal and travel information isn’t your thing, there’s still a decent way to shorten the wait at security through a priority access line. Set up by the TSA and the airlines, these lines are normally reserved for business- and first-class passengers, but access is slowly expanding. Certain credit cards, for example the United Mileage Plus Club Card, give you access to expedited screening as well as a host of other benefits. If you earn elite status on almost any carrier you’ll also automatically get access to a priority line.

Bear in mind that passengers going through a priority line at the airport are subject to the same screening as regular travelers. Priority access lines are just much shorter.

[Flickr image via joiseyshowaa]