Triangle Trip

As a frequent visitor of Hong Kong, below is quick read on what to do there. Hong Kong Island is probably half the size of Manhattan and you can probably explore it in less than four days. It has great public transportation, especially the modern subway. Traveling by train is probably the best way to avoid traffic congestion on buses.

Central – The central business district. Lots of people. Lots of shopping – probably the most Chanel, LV, Armani, etc. store per capita in the world. There’s a building called IFC2 by the pier. It has lots of food and hip bar: Isola, Red, etc. IFC2 has a ferry terminal that can take passengers to Kowloon Island – the Star Ferry.

Lan Kwai Fong (LFK) – located in Central. It’s got a lot of historical houses built on slopes. It’s a place where Westerners go for happy hour. Tons of hip restaurants and bars. Very diverse crowd.

Soho – a 10 minute walk from LFK (more like elevator ride). It’s got more restaurants. More trendy…

Victoria Peak – Located in Central. Take the cable car up to the top of the mountain and get a panoramic view of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Causeway Bay – probably the busiest intersection in Asia. Causeway Bay has a Time Square. It’s the area where locals and foreigners shop.

Aberdeen – located on the other side of HK island (HK is separated by a large mountain). Arberdeen has great seafood.

Repulse Bay – a resort like area near Aberdeen. It’s got a nice beach and very quiet. It’s where the locals go to get away form City life. You can take a bus from Admiralty or Central to get to Repulse Bay. It is also on the way to Stanley.

Stanley Market – a walking flea market where you can pick up local art work and enjoy local food. It’s also off the beach. The Murray Building is one of the landmarks – old government building that was moved from Central. Not too far from Repulse Bay.

Kowloon Island is located across the channel from Hong Kong Island. I highly recommend taking the Star Ferry (US$2 or less) which takes you from Wai Chai or Central (IFC2) to Kowloon. At one point, the ferry was the only way to go from one island to another. While in Kowloon, check out:

Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade – the Star Ferry will drop you off at the Promenade. There are museums and shops along the Promenade. It also offers a great view of the Hong Kong skyline, especially at night. There’s also the Kowloon Walk of Fame (not quite Hollywood).

The Old Railway Tower – a landmark of Hong Kong is also located along the Promenade. It is also a concert hall and great place to get a panoramic view of Hong Kong Island.

Tsim Sha Tsui – perpendicular to the promenade are filed with shops – from brand names to local designers. The top floor of the Peninsula Hotel offers a great view of HK at night. They serve drinks and dinner up there. Felix and Aqua (on One Peking Road building) is good spot for drinks and view.

Temple Street Market or Mong Kok Market – it’s a flea market worth checking out. It has pretty good street food as well.

Tian Tan Buddha – located on Lantau Island (by the airport) would be a good hiking experience. You’ll have to take the ferry from HK to get there.

Amusement parks: HK Disney, Ocean Park.

I am a frequent car renter as I do not own a car myself. I use car rentals to earn airline miles to keep my frequent flyer accounts active as most have expiration rules. Car rental companies claim to be very flexible when it comes to earning points.

All car rental companies allow you to either:

1. Earn Car Rental points which can be converted to free rental days or upgrades
2. Earn Frequent Flyer miles
3. Earn hotel points

Of the three choices, the only one that is worthwhile is #2 — Frequent Flyer miles. Here are the reasons why:

1. Car rental points do not hold value. Most car rental companies (mainly Hertz) change their redemption policy on an annual basis and increases the number of points you need to get a free car rental or upgrade. All major car rental points expire after one year if you do not use them.
2. Although all car rental companies list hotels as partners but you do not get hotel points from your rental unless you are staying at the hotel. You will also need to book the hotel during your car rental or book the car rental from the hotel’s website. This is a huge scam. Most car rental companies will not give you any points if you do not meet the requirements which appears as fine print.

In summary, always bank frequent flyer miles whenever you rent a car. Additionally, bank it on Northwest’s WorldPerks account as NWA is the only airline that doesn’t carry a surcharge at Hertz, Avis, and National. All rental car companies will charge you $0.50 per day for accumulating points on other airline programs aside from Northwest.

I received an email from Delta today telling me that I can link my Delta and Northworst (NWA) account. I clicked on the link and it took me to a page where I can enter my Skymiles and WorldPerks accounts with my PINs. After entering the information, I received instant confirmation that the accounts have been linked.

The Delta site brought to my attention that my emails were different between the two accounts and asked me to select my preferred email address. I also got an opportunity to transfer miles between my Skymiles and WorldPerks accounts. You will receive an extra 500 miles from Delta if you perform a transfer before March 15. I took advantage of this perk and emptied out my NWA account to focus on earning Delta miles.

The Delta Skymiles/NWA WordPerks accounts merger has been awesome experience compared to the US-scare (USAir) and AmericaWorst (AWA) merger. For US-scare, I’d to enter my personal information on both sites and had to make sure they were identical — as the two systems weren’t sophisticated enough to rationalize accounts based on first and last names plus address.

Huge kudos to Delta as it’s their system that is managing the process!

After merging these two accounts, I have successfully consolidated all my alliances with Delta (SkyTeam), United (Star), and American (OneWorld).