Yesterday was my shopping day. I know, I'm a grown man, I should HATE shopping. I should be standing outside, or sitting on those little chairs outside a dressing room, waiting for "the wife". As we all know from the tv ads, women shop and men can't work washing machines. Well I'm no stereotype and I like to shop for stuff. As long as I know what I want, I'm not too good at just shopping as a pastime, which makes a trip to Hong Kong, or any Asian megatropolis, a challenge. Mainly because the shops I want to specifically go to are spread around four or five different huge shopping centres, also because most of the shops here are of the high-end variety as I mentioned before.
In fact there are some amazing shops here that I'm not sure I can work out how they make any money. For example this one:
Yes dear reader, that's a Gucci store for kids. Just kids. I know I'd love my five year old running around in $2500 couture at free dress day. I mean who buys this stuff? I understand that conspicuous consumption is all the go but Gucci for kids? My understanding is that children grow out of things quite rapidly. Either there are some amazing op-shops in Hong Kong or someone is getting the fanciest hand-me-downs ever. I used to get my mum's friends son's hand-me-downs. They lived in London so I was thrilled to get stuff that was unlikely to ever appear in deepest, darkest Gloucestershire, but I never got any Gucci. I did have the first pair of red Kickers in the primary school though. There must be a market however as this particular mall had an entire floor of children's couture. Armani, Dior etc. A whole floor! It's a different world for the rich.
I did manage to find the normal shopping areas though and got the stuff I wanted. We'll almost got the stuff I wanted. The usual issues with Asian sizes arose in a few places. Large here is not like large where I come from. And buying XL really brings down your day. Jeans too; "actually they only go up to a 30" waist". I'm "big 'n' tall" here (which is retail code for freakishly tall or hugely fat).
The other surprise is that quite a lot of stuff here is cheaper in Perth right now. How this happens is beyond me seeing as nearly everything for sale comes from just across the border in Shenzen. It pays to check the prices for the stuff you want before you get here. Of course that only applies to things you can buy in Australia AND buy here. Which is where the differences show as there is so much choice here and brands we never get in Oz. Rough guide: shoes are much cheaper, cologne is a little cheaper, some fancy European brands are the same price and glitzy stuff is more expensive. Don't say I didn't warn you. Oh and always pay in the local currency with your credit card. I ticked the wrong option once and it has cost me.
Because most of yesterday was spent at the shops I've not much to report so here are some observations that I don't know where else to put.
It seems that the population of Asia are keeping the Crocs shoe business alive. They love 'em here. And not just kids, grown adult are wearing them. There's even warnings on the escalators to keep your Crocs away from the edge so you don't get sucked into the machinery.
Elderly Chinese ladies seem to occupy some alternate space time continuum. When you follow them along the pavement they seem to be going really slowly but should you try to walk past them you find it's impossible as they are moving too quickly.
The Chinese flag on the buildings is always significantly bigger than the Hong Kong flag. To be honest that's the only indication I've seen that shows who is really in charge. Even the police cars still look like British ones. Hardly a hammer or star in sight (I can't spell the crop harvesting tool so it'll have to be star).
There are a lot of pet dogs here and they are all huge. Where the hell do they fit them in the tiny Hong Kong apartments?
There are a lot of cars here but you never see them parked on the street. Where the hell are they all kept? I've seen two car parks so far (both of which were cheaper than the ones in Perth!). It's a miracle of organisation.
When you buy a sandwich here you only get half a sandwich. This may go some way to explaining the lack of 32" waist trousers.
You can spot the mainland Chinese by the clothes they wear. Not dour or communist just very, very odd. I thought there was some sort of dress up day on for the local children but was told that it's just how the mainlanders dress their kids. A bit like they did it in total darkness from a random selection of colours, fabrics and logos. And odd English phrases, for example "love habitat rabbit!". Maybe that's just lost in the translation.
I found out where they dry the fish:
That's the main road outside the hotel. Not exactly of the banks of the mighty Yangtze. The bus exhaust must add a certain piquancy. Oh and those were squid once upon a time.
So today I'm off to the museums (or Disneyland, I haven't decided) and then to the highest bar in the word if they'll let me in wearing jeans and T-shirt. It's in a spectacularly fancy hotel so they may not.
In the meantime if you want a jar of dried caterpillars just ask as I know where the shop is now.
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