My friend with the pictures is in India at the moment. Hence not many / bad pictures. Sorry. I'll have them soon.
I should really rename this "How to make a phanny pack look cool". Which I probably didn't do. At least it kept my money and passport safe when I cashed in my travellers checks.
Of course, Hong Kong is famous for many things but up in the top ten at least is the shopping.
One of the highlights of my trip to HK was the amazing place that is Causeway Bay. Amazingly, it was a short shuttle bus trip away from Jane’s flat.
A renowned shopping area, brand names like PRADA are also a short stroll away from independently owned inlets which sell everything from clothes and accessories, to food and money exchange. It was truly a beautiful place especially as all of the New Years Decorations were up. Being the year of the dragon, most were Dragon Themed and lovingly created and treasured by the civillians.
We visited many malls and shops which I will now tell you about.
Sogo is an upper class mall that was open practically ALL OF THE TIME. Although I noticed that many places in HK start late and finish late (paradise for night owls like me as I don’t particularly like early mornings) this place was still full of people even at 9:30pm. Maybe because New Years was close? Anyway, the bottom floor – very confusing as unlike England they call the first floor up the first floor instead of the second floor – hosted brands such as MAC and Gucci, so you get the general idea. Ach level had a different audience such as menswear, household items and furniture, and it was on the 3rd floor (Young Adult Wear) where I enjoyed the most. Some brands were quite small and some exclusive to Asia, such as this little gem.
LIZ LISA is a Japanese brand whose concept is: “A fashion fusion of the retro and the trendy that accentuates a girl’s charm – that is our proposal. Retro and girlish.” Needless to say I fell in love. The only thing is, love comes at a price. Brand prices are the bane of my life. Still, I had saved up for this trip, so the last full day of my holiday when I was sure I had enough money left to spare I bought a beautiful brown blouse that was so soft and lovely. I will use it as a Lolita blouse and will take very good care of it, as it cost aprox. 665$HKD. I also brought an equally beautiful pearl cross with diamond centre for 220$HKD which would go perfectly with some more gothic prints like Vampire Requiem. There were awesome babydoll chemises, a very tempting set of “English Rose” and “Brittish Girl” T shirts, cool belts and accessories, gorgeous dresses / half dresses (one which I thought was better value as it came free with a pretty bag in the same print) and very cute bags and shoes. In their Japanese stores they even do Yukata as there was an advery of them in the brightly coloured summer kimonos advertising some adorable but slightly small suitcases. Here is their official website in English: http://www.lizlisa.com/en/index.html
In other malls there were small spaces that people oculd rent to try and start their own brands and mini businesses. A few examples of shops were “Cat Cat Land” which sold cat related goods (really?) such as stampers, notebooks and mechanical pencils, and a slightly more erotic shop that I am used to selling outfits like maid and school girl to dress up in to please your other half. I bought some very reasonably priced clothes in a few mini shops (as I like to call them) and it was fun looking through and browsing. I saw a cool pair of Hello Kitty glasses but unfortunately many places do not allow photos.
Sasa is the Asian version of Boots or Superdrug but pinker. And it’s everywhere. There were at least three within a stones throw of each other in Causeway Bay, and even in Macau and the ferry terminals and underground there were several lurking. They have a lot of imported goods from Japan and Korea as well as native products. I had a field day and it became one of my favourite stores almost instantly. I got waaaay too many cosmetics (the Japanese Onsen Bath Salts pictured with them bellow were from a shop called Log On where I also bought some Premier Dead Sea face cream though) and got some really cute perfume that was based on Star Signs. I got the Leo version (because, surprise surprise, I’m a Leo) and I love the cute bottle which is like Gwen Steffani’s Harajuku Lovers range. The scent itself is really bold but not too intense and what I liked was the smell is vastly different for each perfume in the range, and were created bearing in mind the supposed ‘character’ of the people born under each sign. You even got a free smaller bottle of the character dressed in a summer outfit! (See picture. The far left bottle is J'adore By Dior which I got in Doha's Duty Free). One of my favourite buys there had to be the lip shine with a happy rabbit shaped lid. http://www.sasa.com/SasaWeb/eng
The markets were also fabulous. I was a typical tourist and got two I <3 HK and HK Rules T shirts for under a tenner. Just off a market was a really sweet store called Pinky Swear where I got an amazingly warm and cute spotted cape (more on which later when I went into an aquarium and looked like a manta ray).
In Mong Kok (the most densely populated area in the world) is the world famous Ladies Market which is an awesome place to buy clothes, shoes, home items and decorations. It was so long – at least four street lengths. The prices were overall quite good although I am so grateful we had Jane to haggle for us (because despite my best efforts at Cantonese, a few broken words weren’t convincing the stall owners I was serious and knew to barter). I got most of my friends’ souvenirs there and also a few interesting pieces for me as well. Ruth got a stunning silk painting wall scroll and I got my friend the pretty traditional tea set she’d asked for. I seriously can’t put into words how impressive it was.
Fans from Mong Kok.
Trinkets from Lantau Island.
There are many pet related places in Mong Kok (I got my much missed animals some goodies) with dogs and cats available to buy straight from there. I am not a big fan for keeping puppies and kittens in cages but they seemed to be looked after well enough and melted my heart so much I wouldn’t have been able to do more than coo anyway. The goldfish market also runs along the street with fish in takes, fish in bags, fish in buckets and to my surprise, turtles (from terrapins to very rare species) and tortoises were chilling. (Not like frozen chilling. Hanging about chilling.)
One of my best stores was Jusco where everything, unless specified was $12HKD (about £1). The was a bigger one in North Point, but after getting on the wrong tram, we went to us at the time. I was ecstatic! My favourite Cantonese, Korean and Japanese products were pretty much gathered there and I took full advantage of that. Needless to say I bought a lot – a few gifts, tabi socks, some make up, hair accessories, interesting bits and bobs and a bright orange Hapi which I randomly did the LOTTE Fits dance in on Jane’s balcony against the skyline. There were also lucky cat and dragon figures, fake flowers, cute bowls for rice and noodles and basic cookware, clothes, kitchen utensils, slippers, creams and lotions (including some with disgusting ingredients in) and smog and cold masks which I am sad I overlooked. I got a face mask with Argan Oil and some natural colouring which made it black. Don’t ask me what. I looked very strange putting it on and wearing it XD Ruth got some sweets which she then proceeded to struggle to open down the street whilst I bought some Chinese cosy trousers and made the cashier lady happy by speaking in Cantonese ;)
Hair accessories from JUSCO and Premier Skin Cream.
Capsule Machines! Not only are they dotted around HK's streets, but on Lantau Island there was a whole room dedicated to them. You could pay by Octopus Card, or just with 5$ or 10$ coins (less than 50p and £1 respectively!) I got two Chinese New Year animals with bells; one was my own year, the Rooster, so that must be super lucky! I also got a Hello Kitty in a monkey suit, a cute puffy cat and an openable cupcake which you can store tiny things in. Back home, I noticed there was one in Sainsburys so I got two crystal Hello Kitty phone charms! They are so cute >_<
Japanese styled bags from JUSCO and cute phone charms from Capsule Machines.
The Grand Hyatt (hotel where we stayed in Macau) was connected to two other hotels, two theatres and a designer shopping mall, and another hotel, The Venetian also seemed more of a Shopping Centre than a hotel. It had a fantastic shop that was quirkily decorates (giant black birdcage, pink lightning bolts etc) that was called something like KARA which sold drastically priced Hello Kitty items of clothing. I didn’t buy but it was great fun to look. There also was a LIZ LISA nearby. More about this when I talk about Macau though. Which hopefully will be very soon as I am feeling very motivated :D
In other news, my friends and I are performing (as Cinnamon Purrin dance group) at the London Anime Con's Main Stage on 11th February 2012 and we are also on the website.
http://www.londonanimecon.com/guests.php
I have 23,000 YouTube views and 112 subscribers! :) I'll have YouTube videos up about Hong Kong very soon.
http://www.youtube.com/user/finnythewise?feature=chclk
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