I finally arrived into HKIA and customs was pretty much a breeze. (They hand out 90 day airport visas there.) I noticed a spot to change some money and while I was doing this, they asked me if I wanted to take the train into town. They deal was something like $160 HKD ($20 US) for a round trip ticket and then they also had a shuttle at Kowloon Station or Hong Kong Station that would take you to select hotels in the area. Luckily my hotel (The Regal Kowloon) was on the list and it was the second stop on route K4.
I also remember Wallstreet recommending taking the train in. The airport was pretty far out so I also figured this would be a faster way to get into town anyway. The only problem was that the buses stopped running at 11:10 pm so I had to hurry. It was around 10:30pm by now. But it would not have been a big deal even if I missed the bus because taxis are still an option.
The cool thing about the train was that they had a route indicator showing how far you had gone and how much farther it was to your destination. The seats also had displays in them with news, sports, etc as well as information about the airport and flight arrival and departure times.
Once I arrived at Kowloon Station I just followed the signs to the buses and got on bus K4. The lady at the money exchange place where I got the ticket handed me a flyer with the information on different bus routes and which hotels they go to.
In case someone needs this for the future, here is the schedule:
From Hong Kong Station
H1: Island Shangri-La -> Conrad International Hong Kong -> Pacific Place -> JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong -> The Empire Hotel Hong Kong Renaissance Harbour View Hotel -> Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
H2: The Wharney Hotel -> Novotel Century Hong Kong Hotel -> The Excelsior, Hong Kong -> Regal Hongkong Hotel -> The Park Lane -> Luk Kwok Hotel
From Kowloon Station:
K1: MTR Jordan Station (alighting, Tak Shung School) -> KCR Hunghom Station (alighting) -> Whampoa Garden (Tak On Street, Wing On Department Store) -> Harbour Plaza Hotel -> KCR Hunghom Station (boarding) -> MTR Jordan Station (boarding, Union Church Kowloon)
K2: The Marco Polo Prince -> The Marco Polo Gateway -> The Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel -> Sheraton Hong Kong
K3: The Kowloon Hotel -> Hyatt Regency Hong Kong -> Great Eagle Hotel -> Royal Pacific Hotel / China Ferry Terminal
K4: New World Renaissance Hotel -> Regal Kowloon Hotel -> Hotel Nikko Hongkong -> Grand Stanford Inter-Continental Hong Kong -> Kowloon Shangri-La
K5: Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong -> Park Hotel -> Hotel Miramar -> Windsor Hotel -> The Empire Hotel Kowloon -> BP International
The service hours are 6:18am to 11:10pm. H1, H2, K4 and K5 run every 24 minutes. K1 through K3 run every 12 minutes.
The MTR Site is located at http://www.mtr.com.hk/
Here is a good MTR Route Map. The MTR is a great way to get around Hong Kong. I started using it a lot later in the trip.
There were about 5 people on the bus all together and with all the luggage the five of us had there wasn’t much room for anyone else. The Regal Kowloon was the second stop and the bus finished emptying there. That left me with check-in and the obligatory room and toilet pictures. To my surprise (since I got a cheap rate on Priceline.com), I got a room with a slight view of Hong Kong Island. It wasn’t much of a view since the viewing lane was sandwiched in between two other high rise buildings, but it was still a slight view nonetheless.
