Traversing the Pearl of the Orient

We decided to travel to Hong Kong just for the reason that it has a lot of attractions for the kids to be kept engaged. The heavily-populated city also has its unique heritage and being a bridge between China and the rest of the world, was even more exciting for us to travel there. Like any other metropolitan cities, Hong Kong has its buzz and has a busy life. Though there are many attractions, we decided to stick to three places — Symphony of Lights, Ladies’ Market and Po Lin Monastery.

Symphony of Lights is the world’s largest permanent light and sound show and is displayed every night around the Victoria harbour. We watched the show from outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as we knew it was the spot where we could also listen to the music. We watched it on a Friday night because the narration was in English. It’s in different languages on different nights! Watching the show is one of the fun things to do in Hong Kong for families. The kids had never seen anything like it and they thought all the flashing lights were very cool. We loved the atmosphere and were well entertained.

Symphony of lights

Another attraction was the Ladies’ Market. This lively market seems to be one of the city’s most famous with many stalls. You might not think of visiting this market with kids around, but trust me, they will thoroughly enjoy the long strolls. The market has a good variety of clothes, accessories, shoes, electronic items and the best part is you can bargain and get as low as 30 percent of the quoted price! Interestingly, the bargain happens through the calculator as most of them don’t speak English. My son picked up a few fidget spinners as a souvenir for his friends.

Located on Lantau Island, Po Lin Monastery is a huge Buddhist Monastery and temple complex. It’s home to a Big Buddha statue that draws big crowds. The statue is so impressive but you need to climb 268 steps to get to the top. If you plan to visit the place, be prepared for a hike. You can get here by a gondola lift (a means of cable transport which is supported and propelled by cables from above) from Tung Chung to NgonPing Village.

Ladies’ Market

You can also let your kids free at these two theme parks — Disney Land and Ocean Park. The theme parks have some exciting rides. Most of the rides are quite interesting and unique in its own way. We did try some of the  wildest rides like the hair-raisers and the 360-degree turn which pushes your limits higher.

— As told to Merin James