Travelling from Hong Kong: Part 2

By Ellen Smith, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

South Korea
Vietnam
Malaysia

South Korea

An easy mini-trip from Hong Kong is Seoul, the flight is short and the city is beautiful! I went to Seoul during early January and it was absolutely freezing. However, I wrapped up warm, bought some gloves and loved seeing the city in such a snowy setting. I flew into Incheon airport and spent one day there before getting a taxi over to Seoul. To be very honest, Incheon is a city can that be missed, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but it was a ghost town. If you’re pressed for time, definitely just go straight to Seoul. My Seoul trip was very busy, here’s what I got up to:

Myeong-Dong Night Market (a foodie dream!)
Seoul Lantern festival
Bukchon Hanok Village
National Museum of Korea
Gwanghwamun Square Market
Gyeongbokgung Palace
Heungnyemun Gate
Changgyeonggung Palace (hire traditional outfits here for some amazing photo opportunities)
Changdeok Palace (and the secret garden here)
Demilitarised Zone between North and South Korea (Majang Lake suspension bridge included in this tour)

Lots of the things I did in Seoul were dependent on when I went, for example the Lantern festival. There was also multiple wholesale clothing and jewellery stores which you can spend hours in (I would recommend Mimiline and Nyunyu). The best thing undoubtably that I did in Seoul was a day trip to the DMZ, it took us to a viewing platform very close to the border allowing us to look out into North Korea, while providing lots of history.

Vietnam

To break up the weeks I did a long weekend in Da Nang, Vietnam. I only spent a few days here however don’t worry I still did plenty. Da Nang is not quite as busy as other areas in Vietnam, however the weather was lovely and the food to die for! The main thing to try in Vietnam is Bánh Mì, its a French style baguette typically filled with meat and pickled vegetables. Now for the recommendations:

Dragon bridge (prepare to get wet! This fake dragon breathes fire and water at set times some evenings)
Lady Buddha
The Marble Mountains
Golden Hands Bridge (including the cable car up and sunworld!)
Ba Na Hills

It takes around 45 minutes to get from Da Nang to the cable car that takes you to the Golden Hands Bridge. If you’re comfortable with it, you can order Grab motorbikes and have drivers take you there through the Ba Na Hills for around £5, providing the most incredible views and open roads. Give yourself a full day for this trip as once you have visited the Golden Hands Bridge you can take another cable car further up to Sunworld, which is a giant amusement park with rides, activities, sights and restaurants. There is plenty to do there, reasonably priced and has some incredible views.

Malaysia

For my most recent trip, I visited Malaysia initially going to Langkawi for a few days and stopping in Kuala Lumpur for a (very) long layover on the way back to Hong Kong. The only way I can describe Langkawi is a tropical jungle paradise, it is a small island in Malaysia with breath taking beaches. I went during off season, so despite the beautiful weather, there were very few tourists. Again I saw A LOT here:

Dream forest (tales of Langkawi folktales)
Mangrove tour (through Kilim Geoforest Park)
Kompleks kraf (craft shopping centre with glassblowing demonstrations)
Adventure and extreme park
Oriental Village
7 Wells Waterfall (you can swim in the lagoons here)

Following this I flew to Kuala Lumpur and stayed even busier:

Independence Square
Little India (lots of Hindu temples in this area worth seeing)
Jalan Alhor Night Markets (another foodie dream!)
Kwai Chai Hong (the most impressive street art)
Petronas Twin Towers (there is a light show in the park in front at 9pm each night)
Batu caves (cave network full of Hindu temples and monkeys)
Petaling Street markets (the best place for clothing and fake items)
Thean Hou Temple

The only issues I had in Malaysia was some difficulty in sourcing food as it was Ramadan so lots of restaurants were not open during fasting hours, however food at convenience stores and some Western style restaurants were still open.