Food, Shopping and Transport on Hong Kong Island – The Malls.
Written: Jul 30 '07 (Updated Aug 08 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Hong Kong is one giant shopping mall.
Cons: There's not a lot else to do.
The Bottom Line: Great fun, spend loads of money, buy some pretty things, then get out. A 4 day at a time country.
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| travelgall's Full Review: Hong Kong |
Getting into the centre of Hong Kong from the airport is remarkably easy. There are numerous Busses that drop you off at the main hotels, the Taxis are plentiful (but will charge you way more than other forms of public transport), and if you want to die then you can get on a bike and risk heat exhaustion and being run over. I found the best way was to catch the Underground express train that drops you off in the centre of town at “Central” train station. It is beautifully air conditioned, which in Hong Kong is an absolute joy – especially in July where the temperature and humidity mean you have to chew the air before breathing it. It goes from outside terminal 1 where most of the flights come in and costs $100 Hkd. Another great thing the Tube system has is a Map on back of the plastic tube tickets you get from various vending machines - a very useful idea. It would be even more useful if the map itself was correct. Trains and tubes have one long carriage which is pretty cool, you can see from one end of the train to another, I guess this is designed to encourage muggings by saving the steaming gang the inconvenience of alighting each carriage, and allow you to ride down the middle of the train with your skateboard. Underground is survival of the fittest. Taxis with the exception of airport taxis are comedy cheap, especially with weak HK Dollar (which is linked to the US Dollar, another currency that has absolutely tanked recently), and I don’t think I spent more than 4GBP on a journey. In London this wouldn’t get you to the bottom of the street.
Obviously the traditional Chinese crafts like DVD players, shower flip flops and laptops can be found globally; but there’s still the odd piece that can only be found in China or Honkers. The Antique shops on the Hollywood Road are where most people shop, and again I would recommend a degree of Caveat Emptor before you buy that $200,000 4th Century Fu-Manchu Dynasty stone horse. All the top antique stores have a laminated sign next to the article proving the piece has been carbon dated and valued before they sell it. All the fakes have a laminated sign next to the article proving the piece has been carbon dated and valued before they sell it. The difference being the genuine articles get carbon Dated in the University of Oxford or at Sotheby’s; the fake ones at the University of Myanmar. Hollywood road also sells the Mao rubbish which China is happy to get shot of (which appeals to retarded students to go with their other mass murderer memorabilia – Che Guevara) and crafts that are very popular.
I’m sure I could have got the non-antique items, or similar ones slightly cheaper if I had gone to one of the markets that sell the arts and crafts rather than Chinese antiques. I hate the in your face feel of these places though, at least in a shop you’re not going to have to haggle, and as a Gweilo they WILL rip you off. Nothing is more guaranteed to make my D**k itch than some bloke going “I give you cheap prices” and frogmarching me in his shop or to his stall selling ground up Rhino so I can allegedly have a five hour stiffy. I feel sorry for the Rhino, never has so much actual Horn been sacrificed in the pursuit of so much figurative Horn. These markets include Stanley market in Kowloon and the Ladies Market which sells fake Louis Vuitton (HK Chinese seem obsessed with this brand).
I’m a huge Art Deco fan and was naturally pretty disappointed as any Deco stuff is usually found in Shanghai which was one of the centres of this art period (France for the statues, Austria and Czech Republic for the glass, Britain and the US for Architecture). I did find a beautiful silver box which was of the period but the guy was asking £500 which was a bit overpriced in my eyes, especially with the possibility however unlikely, of fakes. Nevertheless I picked up a couple of good Chinese pieces like a tea pot, a Female porcelain piggy (whom I named Jasmine), a pen holder and a doughnut box. The latter is not its real name but it is a box shaped like a doughnut so it will do. I also went to the Chinese Arts and Crafts warehouse where I saw a fantastic painting of a young Chinese woman. I fell in love with the woman in the picture, but assume since it was a couple of hundred years old, I shouldn’t hold out any long term marriage plans. The main Chinese arts and crafts warehouse is found next to my hotel – the Renaissance Harbour View.
There are numerous shopping centres around Hong Kong Island. The IMC Centre and Landmark holds very little thrall for the average man unless he is buying something for a Fiancé or a wife who has caught him with a mistress. It’s full of outrageously expensive shops like Hermes. The only thing that the IMC centre has for blokes is the odd tailor and Pret A Manger. I saw a local man being measured up for a suit in a very (read only) famous American tailors. As you know I’m not a knee jerk lefty that hates everything American because he is angry at his own failures in life, so I don’t usually castigate America. Americans produce many fine products, Coca Cola, TV shows, Computer Software, a decent steak, pornography, and zippo lighters being just a few of these examples. They also produce very good casual wear such as DKNY, Gant, Abercrombie and Fitch etc. Americans cannot however produce a decent suit to save their lives. When I went through the work wardrobe of an American expat and he asked me what I thought of his attire, my answer involved a lead lined trunk and the Mariana Trench. I was half tempted to lean in the shop and shout at him “don’t do it”, but I didn’t know the Mandarin translation.
I have no idea why it is that American designers produce suits that belong on Rodney Dangerfield. I have an image of the late great Rodney in those Blue Checked jackets and feel that -unlike Mr Dangerfield- these suits should be buried or cremated. He was a Comedian; he’s supposed to look like a fool and got paid good money to do so. You are paid for your ability to work out the risk on Short Dated Zero Coupon debt for a Structured Product at Citibank, therefore you should dress accordingly. Even more infuriating was the fact that there was Gieves & Hawkes round the corner; the colour-blind Chinese chap should have gone there. I’m only doing this for both Britain’s and Americas own good. This is basic economics as written down by Adam Smith – The Division of Labour, and is designed to maximise happiness. America does the Kansas City strip Steak and “Crime Scene Investigation”, England does the single vented Grey Pinstripe with working cuffs and the beer.
You go to Honkers for the shopping as I said earlier, they even have shopping festivals where you can get stuff on the cheap as a tourist. What particularly amused me was the Hong Kong government is running a promotion to get the people of Hong Kong to be nice to the tourists. I can imagine how well this would go over with the people of London. They tried it in nearby France and as you can imagine it has had a negligible impact on French manners. Obviously this reminded me on several huge faults of my own country – being overrun by the vile chavs who use the word “respect” rather than manners. Electronic goods aren’t as cheap as they once were – the internet has put paid to that. Avoid Nathan Road especially as it is seen as a rip off joint for gullible tourists. I went to Time Square in Causeway Bay which definitely has a more Chinese feel than the IWC; despite the Time Square being as Western a shopping mall as one can possibly find. It’s the surroundings that make this place feel like you’re in mainland China.
The main shop in this mall is Lane Crawford which is the equivalent of Macy’s or Selfriges and sells the designer stuff that costs the same as a small family car with all the optional extras. I didn’t buy much as again I was just finishing a good bout of unemployment and the fabulously expensive designer clobber on the bottom floors didn’t appeal. Ditto the electronic sprout shavers, computer games where spotty adolescents can type Ctrl,up, up, down, left, right, right 3 times to remove Lara Crofts clothes, and LCD TV’s the size of Monaco on the rest of the floors. I’m not a nerd. I did however do a lot of shopping in G.O.D. – “Goods of Desire” which is just round the corner. GOD is the much cooler version of Ikea where they sell vintage radio sets and Chinese propaganda posters along with the modern furniture that fits in the Post-modern operating theatres the trendy call home.
http://www.god.com.hk/index.php
http://www.timessquare.com.hk/
In the foyer of the World Trade centre Bayern Munich (who plays in the most boring league of a really dull game – the Bundes Liga) had a great big stall pushing soccer to Asia. All the Kevball teams in the European capitals are desperate to tap the Asian market because the rich ones have the same amount of disposable cash as Russian Oligarchs. The Asians are nuts on European football as the footballers are so well paid betting circuits can’t bribe the goalie to let 10 in the back of the net, and they can’t loose a packet through anything other than putting on daft bets. I hate Soccer, or any game where the players wear more beauty products than their wives; so I hope it ends in failure.
The food court, as I mentioned is superb. I had Brunch in the “Garden of tranquillity/desire/zen/happiness” (delete as applicable), stuffing myself stupid with Dim Sum. Chinese restaurants are not that original when it comes to names, and you’ll get about 10 “something Dragon” restaurants on every street. The ones that really stood out were the Barbeque Pork balls wrapped in bread, and the prawn balls which were absolutely superb. Avoid the Iced Chicken, I thought I would be daring and instantly regretted it once this dish tipped up. The Dim Sum is pretty filling but you will probably need at least 3 different meals if you’re a chubby person like me. The other place that took a lot of my Hong Kong Dollars was the restaurants in Elgin St & Shelley Street. I expected this area to be really busy, but it was pretty quiet when was eating – although I eat at strange times. They have a good spread of food, I had a pretty good Mexican one night, other than that I stuck to Cantonese and other Southern Chinese restaurants. But there’s Italian, American, Thai and pretty much every other nationality on this street. Food Hygiene in Hong Kong is like mainland China, there are numerous added chemicals, preservatives and the food is kept in conditions you wouldn’t call sanitary (animal or vegetable). The ubiquitous MSG is a huge problem to Westerners, they add it to everything to make the food taste saltier and it gives you the runs if you’ve not built up a resistance to it.
Pacific Place is another huge mall in Admiralty. I loved this place as it has a cool little toy soldier store on the third floor called King and Country. They have British Troops fighting the Japanese, the US troops against the Germans and all sorts of colourfully painted Chinese forces. https://www.kingandcountry.com/home.jsp There are the usual collections of mall shops you find pretty much everywhere in Honkers. Chanel, La Perla (which has produced some pretty awful skimpies this season – 2007 , usually they’re very good), yet more Louis Vuitton and there is a shop selling Chinese gifts. Despite what the otherwise very good Rough Guide says, there are no antique stores of note in this shopping centre. I should know, I went through every nook and cranny trying to find them. Unlike practically every other mall in Hong Kong, this actually had some public seats that you could use without having to buy a coffee. I sat down and watched the world drift by; families from China with eyes the size of dinner plates – and the ex-Ghurkha guards marooned by the fall of Empire eyeing them suspiciously; wives spending their husbands money to cure boredom until the pool boy arrives; depressed western ex-pats looking for the sights and sounds of home. Then there were the local rich families getting their kids some new clobber for the next term at their boarding school; and people like me - the white guy killing time until he started a new job or on their way back from the gap year.
All the Chichi shops are centred around or on Peddler Street. These include Louis Vuitton, Hermes, a Swiss watch seller and Marks and Spencer for middle of the road prices. However if you want something truly in the Chinese style I can recommend Shanghai Tang. It’s expensive but very cool, and is where you can pick up your Chinese style jumpers made of Cashmere, Mandarin Collar suits and various silk scarves which look absolutely fantastic. They also sell a very cute Cashmere Pig. I couldn’t justify the price of it but it was a cool souvenir celebrating the Year of the Pig. If you can’t make it to Honkers, they have a store in New York on Madison and in London on Sloane Street. They also have a place in Admiralty and a shop at the airport but the flagship store in Peddler is by far the coolest. I will say that a lot of their clothing is on the loud side of the colour chart, but even I’ll wear something loud every once in a while. Upstairs is Blanc de Chine which offers the more expensive versions of Shanghai Tang if that is at all possible (Shanghai Tang ain’t cheap). The clothing here is great, classic 20’s and 30’s with a Chinese twist. I bought a nice purse - obviously not for me - and a scarf here.
http://www.shanghaitang.com/shanghaitang/index.jsp
Hong Kong is fantastic for all these things, which is why I can’t help but give it 4 stars. But at the same time of you’re looking for something else to do in Hong Kong then you’re kind of limited. Other attractions are distinctly lacking, even the tourist attractions involve looking at tall buildings, and not a lot else. Granted there’s the odd temple on the outlying islands, and you can get on a boat if you want to go to Macau to gamble. In the days of Empire bored Brits would while away their time on the Cricket Pitch or throwing extravagant parties. Nowadays with real estate prices the way they are there aren’t any Cricket Pitches, nearly all the History is gone to make way for the high rise and you have a vast metropolis that is designed solely to make money. Obviously making money is important – despite what whining public sector workers tell you – but it’s not the only thing in life. I know why the ex-pats feel sad; they either work or spend their life as a Footballers wife, buying anything that isn’t nailed down. Fun for a while, but you wouldn’t want to live like that.
Hong Kong island http://www.epinions.com/content_399151042180
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Sep - Nov
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travelgall
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Location: London, Great Britain
Reviews written: 104
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About Me:
Ex Army Stockbroker who spend all his cash on traveling.
Corruptissima Republica, Plurimae Leges.
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