We were so amazed to find that so many, especially cultural events were free. Every museum we went to was free. But even major attractions like the Big Buddha or the Victoria peak are free except for the ride with the bus, you don’t have to take the expensive train or the cabin. Hong Kong is definitely one of the cities where you don’t have to take a guided touristy bus tour. Just hop on that double-decker bus whatever and drive around, get off and take a different one back. The same with the double-decker tram, how amazing are those. Also, the ferry is magical especially by night and almost free. And of course, the selfies you will take here are amazing and free.
It’s a pretty popular tourist attraction in Hong Kong and we didn’t want to miss out on it. I was a little opposed to the trip at first, I didn’t want it to turn into a whole day event and I also didn’t want to hang out there in the brightest sun, no way to get a good picture. We took a cable car around 3 pm and went back around 6 pm and had the maximum fun for a not too substantial time investment.
Big Buddha is a part of the Po Lin Monastery, a huge Buddha statue on the Lantau Island a 25 min ride from Tung hung Town Center MTR station.
Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery
It depends on the type of cabin you choose. You will get a discount if you preorder your ticket online beforehand. It is It is definitely recommended to buy the ticket online to skip the ticket line. There are 2 more lines though, the ticket redemption line and the waiting line for the cabin.
We went just in time to catch the last cabins around 6 pm. The lane for the crystal cabis was much shorter than the one for the standard cabin, so we were lucky to have the crystal cabin round trip ticket.
If you find the cabins too expensive, you can take a bus for far less, the bus 23 is around 20 HKD and will take 50min. Hiking is also an option and will take 3 h across the mountains. We didn’t try these options through this time, but hiking there is definitely on the list.
This shop is attached to the Greenwoods Raw Cafe in the center of Hong Kong. They sell some organic fruits and veggies, the availability really depends on the season and the day of the week. We found some great raw products here like raw nut butter, raw dates, and organic raw nuts.
They had a 5 years celebration and therefore everything was 20% off. Here are some beauty products, organic spices and organic nuts.
Raw almond butter.
Organic buckwheat.
What we bought at the store: raw organic almond buttter, raw granola, raw organic dates, raw organic brazil nuts.
The former Police Married Quarters was turned into a base for creatives and designers, artists and small shops. There are art events taking place and we were here during the festival deTour “Trial and Error”
Tai Kwun Contemporary is a new gallery showcasing impressive modern art and it is free to the public.
The building itself is incredible, the concrete spiral staircase is modern, the art rooms spacious and inviting.
2 movies were showcased, on was instantly captivating, La Town, a dystopian vision of a town in the future. The other movie showcased the life in the prison, the cinema theatre was equipped with prison-like bunk beds for the maximum immersion into the story.
Small bulk store with organic products. Nuts, fruit, organic chocolate. Natural detergent, cosmetics, reusable straws, and containers. There is a fridge with organic greens.
Staying in Hong Kong for 3 weeks, we had to visit the first and only raw vegan restaurant in Hong Kong on the Hong Kong Island. We liked most of the food and think you should try it out.
The Greenwoods raw cafe is easy to find if you have google maps on your iPhone and know that you have to look for a building where you have to take the elevator up to the 13th floor. There is no sign on the building, you have to find it by the address.
We ordered the menu and a la card. There is a daily special for the menu and we were lucky, Saturday seems to be the day with more options overall.
We took the set menu, there were not many options otherwise. We got one menu with the soup and the other with the non-fried vegies. The menu was 16,71€/148 HKD.
Banana, apple, spinach, lime leaf.
The smoothie (5,08€/45 HKD) was delicoius, I loved it. The consistancy and the taste was great. Lemony fresh, but creamy.
Chia, coconut, miso, kimchi, corn.
The soup was surprisingly delicousa and not the usual smoothie-in-the-bowl dish. Savoury and creamy, a little slimy maybe due to the chia and coconut.
Raw bread, avocado, raw mayo, veggies.
The bread was amazing, made with nuts and coocnut flour, super fluffy and airy. The mayo could have had a little more flavor, the vinegar taste was a little too much. The sandwich overall worked super well and was a nice size for one person.
Lettuce, dressing, cracker.
The salad (9,94€/88HKD) was fresh and yummy, the dressing was great and the toppings flavorful.
Bell pepper, egg plant, cauliflower.
The non-freid veggies (8,8€/178HKD) don’t deserve a mention imo, no taste, mushy wet texture, abslutely non-tasty green bell pepper and egg plant. Absolutely overpriced and not worth it.
Cabbage, sea weed, carrots, lettuce.
The kimchi (5,42€/48HKD) had the potential of being very good, but for my taste not fermented enough at all, quite “raw” and flavorless. It wasn’t too salty, which was great, but absolutely not for me.
Cake roll with cashew and coocnut cream.
The cake (11,07€/98HKD) was very special and delicous. We were told it’s pricy bacuase it’s all organic, I find the price absolutely justified, however, I don’t believe it’s all organic, organic berries are very expensive and this restaurant is not certified organic. The berries are the first thing a restaurant would try to save on. I am not emplying the possibility doesn’t exist to get all organic ingredients in Hong Kong, even berries, it’s just unlikeley for a restaurant to do it 100% of the times.
Cashew cream with cooc sugar, almond date base.
This cake (6.55€/58 HKD) was very delicoius and a perfect size for a raw cake. The consistancy was a little too firm, more like a chocolate bar, could be softer for sure.
The menu is relatively small but changes daily, so it’s enough to choose from if you come here once but fun enough if you come regularly.
We arrived right at the opening on a Saturday, we had a nice chat with the owner and were about to order as the runny nose of a lady who explained to us the menu (probably the owner as well) started to drip on our table uncontrollably, she tried to contain her nose with her hands, the same hand she used to touch the menu and the cutlery a second later. She seemed not to care and whipped the snot only after I explicitly asked her to. From here on, we battled with the idea to just to leave, as this lady were in and out the kitchen with her runny nose doing nothing about it, but we got served our smoothy unexpectedly by someone else and we were just hoping our food to come would not be contaminated. The hygiene otherwise seemed great, but the careless behavior we just witnessed was a no-no hygiene wise and a manifestation of the carelessness I guess.
We had no special requests here, we were kind of set off by the nose incident and pretty much wanted to get over with the meal and leave.
The waiting time was short. There were just a few other guests, so the food came out quickly.
The food is partially organic, the raw ingredients were fresh.
Some dishes were awesome, some not great at all.
The dishes were somewhat creative, the soup was pretty unique, the cake rolling method great.
The portion sizes were on the smaller side, the menue is ok as a light lunch, but it is also very affordable and and additional cake or bread can be added.
Scale 1 (lowest possible rating) – 5 (highest possible rating). More about how I rate the restaurants here.
