I Traveled to Hong Kong As Soon As It Reopened to American Travelers, Here’s What It Was Like

Soon after nearly a few a long time, Hong Kong’s entry restrictions have been entirely lifted, tests specifications are no more (besides for the adverse COVID-19 exam demanded when returning to the U.S.), and inns, bars, and restaurants have their doorways extensive open. United Airways also announced designs to restart flights to Hong Kong in March, and flag provider Cathay Pacific will improve potential throughout 2023, achieving 70 percent of pre-pandemic passenger figures by close of year.

Though adjust is inevitable just after yrs of isolation, tourists to this fiercely metropolitan town will discover so considerably to love. Now is the time to pay a visit to — or revisit — this cosmopolitan megacity.

What It is Like in Hong Kong Suitable Now — and What to Know About Entry and Exit

The route to Hong Kong’s reopening has been significantly from straightforward. Considering that 2019, Hong Kongers have faced seemingly insurmountable troubles. 1st, the authorities outright suppressed a pro-democracy motion, banning political demonstration and arresting individuals who defied. Then, the outbreak of the pandemic, along with subsequent serious limitations, forced the city’s citizens into lockdown for months on end — and stored tourists at bay.

It is no doubt the a single-two punch of political turmoil and a pandemic knocked Hong Kong down quickly. But for the first time in decades, Hong Kongers — and those checking out — have superior purpose to get back up swinging (and discovering) once more. Which is due to the fact there is a resurgent cultural and museum scene, new or refurbished landmark luxury accommodations, and at the second, much less crowds to get in the way of it all.

I arrived in early January, nostalgic and keen, to a quiet Hong Kong Intercontinental Airport to find out that, at the very least on the surface, not much has adjusted considering that my final take a look at in mid-2019. There are no checks to just take, no paperwork to fill out, and no applications to down load. Whilst holidaymakers have nonetheless to return in droves, the metropolis still has a continual pulse. I felt that electricity as I criss-crossed Hong Kong Island from Kennedy Town to Causeway Bay on a “ding-ding tram” and sailed through Victoria Harbor on my preferred mode of transportation, the extensive-beloved Star Ferry, in between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. In quite a few means, it feels like the ideal problem the working day-to-day fast-paced lifestyle of Hong Kong stays with out the out-of-towners incorporating frustrating quantity to the metropolis.

Tale carries on

The city’s vivid streetscape — with throngs of pedestrians sharing the exact same thoroughfare as double decker buses and signature crimson taxis — has not modified also substantially both. Hong Kong is a transportation lover’s desire wherever multi-modal transit and pedestrians coexist in organized chaos. Des Voeux Street at hurry hour is nevertheless loaded with the community immediately after-perform office crowd on their way to content hour and supper. Just after all, Hong Kongers, by the really mother nature of their small residences, love to try to eat and consume out. It’s not all the identical, even though. Although some of the city’s most well-known pre-pandemic markets have thankfully survived — like the Temple Road Night time Market in Jordan or Flower Sector in Mong Kok — they never have the bustling electricity and crowds that they utilized to, at the very least not but.

The New Destinations to Keep in Hong Kong

Quite a few high-finish luxurious lodges have possibly appear on the scene, or carefully refreshed their offerings considering that the city’s pandemic-induced lockdown. Both of those Rosewood Hong Kong and the St. Regis Hong Kong debuted in 2019, considerably less than a calendar year right before journey to the region came to a halt. Very last May perhaps, the Fullerton Ocean Park Hong Kong opened with 425 rooms and an inviting infinity pool overlooking the South China Sea. And soon after its major transformation in 30 decades, Regent’s flagship Hong Kong lodge (the former Intercontinental) is in the midst of its a great deal-expected gentle reopening.

What to See and Do in Hong Kong Suitable Now

On the culture and heritage entrance, there has been a trove of new developments. Handful of neighborhoods are extra symbolic of Hong Kong’s new museum renaissance than West Kowloon. This cultural district developed from reclaimed land, established across 100 acres, will be house to 17 arts, society, and efficiency venues when finish. The centerpiece is the M+ present-day art museum, Asia’s to start with location focused to visual lifestyle, which opened in November 2021.

Across the harbor on Hong Kong Island, there is a hum of exercise, far too. Tai Kwun Heart for Heritage and Arts, in which 16 historic colonial-period structures in the center of the metropolis ended up converted to a multi-objective enclave of buzzy exhibitions and galleries, alongside an array of worldwide dining establishments and bars, opened in mid-2018. An art exhibition focused on LGBTQ perspectives, named “Myth Makers – Spectrosynthesis III,” was a own Tai Kwun spotlight and should not be skipped.

Just up the road from Tai Kwun is the new, sixth-era Peak Tram, Asia’s oldest funicular railway and a single of Hong Kong’s most popular sights pre-pandemic. The refreshed panoramic tram, with potential for 210 passengers, opened in August 2022. For a minor a lot more journey, contemplate climbing up to the Peak, enjoying a Hong Kong-type milk tea at Hong Kong Working day, and getting the scenic tram down.

Digging further into the hearts and minds of many Hong Kongers, you may perhaps locate a less rosy image of the town, a single in which leaders have limited the legal rights to comprehensive flexibility of expression. Even so, the persons in this article are rebellious by character, and they openly spoke of their frustrations when prompted. Good friends even advised me how they have their very own silent approaches to revolt, this kind of as supporting modest enterprises that embrace the color yellow, a hue symbolic of the pro-democracy movement. For all that Hong Kongers have experienced to endure (and will continue on to endure), now feels like the greatest time to pay a visit to and show your aid. Every little thing else the metropolis gives is just the icing on top. 

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