Hong Kong Trip June '11 - Shopping!

Shopping is 

Great Fun 

in Hong Kong!

Happy Shoppers!

The reason shopping is fun in Hong Kong is that you'll never know what you'll find or see as you walk through the main roads and side streets. Ben and Jerry's next to an old style Hong Kong Dessert shop, Starbucks next to 'Tea Cafe' (Char Chan Ting) selling egg tarts, Watson's at the bottom of run down flats, high fashion shops next to open air night markets. Somehow they all seem to co-exist naturally - it's what I call "Ordered Chaos". 

All this makes for very good shopping for Singaporeans; and Singaporeans do like shopping -

Evidence No. 1

My wife, Marie, has her name on VIP accounts of several shops in HK - one of them a hat shop even (I find this a most interesting and intriguing nugget of information about her - how does she achieve this seeing that we neither stay in HK nor are likely to visit HK more than once a year. How many hats do you have to buy to get onto the VIP datatbase?)

Marie's hat shop

Evidence No. 2
My best friend Chee Meng's wife and daughter were in HK while we were there. Our trips overlapped by one day and we were wondering if we would bump into each other even though we had not formally arranged anything. On that day, Marie and I stepped out of the HK MTR (our MRT equivalent) to find a gigantic H&M shop (this is a cheap, trendy clothing shop for the uninitiated). We thought we weren't doing too badly for time so how could we resist going in? And once we got in there, who did we see but Chee Meng's better half and daughter. Lesson being? If you want to meet Singaporeans, go to shopping centres.

Shopping is not a guy's thing
Before I go on any further and mislead my readers into thinking that I am saying that shopping is for the ladies only, I must confess that I do shop and enjoy it too. I know, Singaporean guys are not supposed to say that like shopping. They are supposed to say they hate shopping and love football.

Now this is the part I don't understand. Football stars like David Beckham,  Ronaldo and Hidetoshi Nakata  who are revered by their legion of football fans in Singapore are fashion trend setters. Beckham was looking mighty dapper recently at Prince William's wedding; and these days scores of all types of athletes fight to be on the covers of GQ magazine.

http://davidbeckham.fans-online.com

The reality, my fellow Singaporean bros. is that these millionaires probably have professional shoppers choosing their spiffy outfits for them. That is why they're never seen in shopping centres - not that they don't shop.

Guess who introduced me to MUJI?

MUJI (http://www.muji.com/message/) is a Japanese lifestyle store and I love it because they are able to make all the things we use everyday look 'stylo' through clean, simple designs. Everytime I go to HK, I try to visit the MUJI store because it's much bigger than the one in Singapore.

The one who introduced me to MUJI is my best friend Chee Meng. (Yes, you Chee Meng - the one whom I know has been sniggering and rolling your eyes from the time I started writing this piece on shopping; the one who does not shop).

MUJI Nailcutter - mine

Chee Meng introduced me to the MUJI nail cutter. Not only does this nail cutter look chic, it works great and it lasts forever. How can anyone ever make the common nail cutter look great? Can you see why I'm hooked onto MUJI stuff?

So really to cut a long story short, I guess the REAL reason why I'm writing this piece is to justify why I ended up shopping and buying more than I should in HK. No way is Marie going to let me get away by not showing everyone what I bought. So here are the two most expensive items I bought and be kind :) 

Epilogue: The kids got to enjoy our shopping too. Egg Tarts from Honolulu Cafe that we brought home - not to be missed!. They even made a  Jackie Cheung movie at the Cafe (Crossing the Henessey).

Hong Kong Trip June '11 - some thoughts

A lovely cafe in Hong Kong Island - quiet chats with no boys. 

"A Pit Stop – a short, quick recharge. "

A week after our return, I realised that was the best description of the Hong Kong trip that Marie and I took. We’d been working hard in the past six months at home, at work and at church and were exhausted. We slept, ate and shopped – it was great! Best of all, it was just the two of us :)

For those of you who have not 3 boys, the significance of being able to have a holiday without them may be lost on you. It is not easy to find people willing to take 3 active boys at a go. Happily, the boys and my parents have developed mutually enriching routines when they visit. So they were happy to take them for a few days but of course, this was also the reason that we could not have a longer trip – Marie and I are careful not to wear out our welcome.

Hong Kong Desserts - just for two of us to enjoy!

Marie also found a swim camp for two of the boys during that time, to take them off my parents’ hands somewhat as well. Marie is really good at this. When we were first married, Marie’s friend asked her why is it that she did all the organising of our holiday trips and I did nothing (Just to let you know friend – you’re not helping ...). Well the reason is because she is way better at it than me. Left to me, all our trips would be beach holidays – give me a nice beach, a good book, a cup of cappuccino, long hours for naps; and I’m good. Every day at work I make so many decisions, I want not to make any decisions planning holidays or during holidays. That is also why I avoid driving holidays if I can – driving is making decisions.

Marie is very good at organising trips. She says she is not because she thinks she needs to anticipate every possible turn of event. That is where over the years, we have learnt to be a good team. I have learnt that while I do not actively organise the trips, it helps to be interested and to give useful suggestions. When unanticipated events occur, I should not ask why but should swing into action. Once at Heathrow Airport when our luggage was unequally loaded, I swung into action, threw open the luggage right there and then and re-packed. After we had successfully checked in I was feeling rather pleased with myself that I reaslied Marie was still feeling emotional about the situation. It certainly would not have helped to question her about the packing.

What the two of us ate (OK, so they're all food photos - so?)

The mistakes and lessons we have learnt about going on trips is in a small way a mirror of the greater learning of our marriage and making it work. The bonus of learning our lessons well (listen to this kids) is that after 13 years of marriage we still find a thrill in going on trips together.

Oh by the way –  it’s not quite true that we were on this trip alone. There was someone else with us. That enigma will soon be revealed, together with the eating and shopping in Hong Kong...