A bad case of wanderlust

It's barely a week since I returned from Hong Kong and already I'm planning for my next trip there. Haha. I love travelling too much for my own (bank account's) good.

Hopefully, this summer I can hit Hong Kong and maybe Taiwan. Shanghai is a consideration too (thanks to a recommendation from the GoonFather). If anyone else is interested, let me know! I'll bring you to all the places that sell trendy, inexpensive clothes in HK - Argyle Centre, Fa Yuen Street, the wholesale markets around Sham Shui Po, factory outlets (Esprit, I.T., Adidas, Nike) , cosmetic & skincare shops around Mongkok & Granville, the trendy shops in Island Beverly, Pedder Street ... the list goes on & on! I'm also now researching the potential buying areas in Taiwan. No boring "cookie-cutter" shopping centres & tourist traps (Ladies' market, temple stree) for my travelmates and I! We go where the good stuff is! Hahaha!

Hey, I pride myself on my research, ok? :)

A couple more pics from the HK trip:

This was the first pair of boots I bought in HK, only $30! The material is leather-like.

I couldn't resist this second pair because of the nice suede-like material and the cute fur trimming! The shoes cost just $17. (The pic doesn't do the shoes justice, the color is much nicer than that but I couldn't get a better pic because my room was dark)

Besides these, there was a pair of black chunky boots that I loved, it was what I had been looking for and the height was just nice too! The only problem was the price - it cost around $65 and the material wasn't of the greatest quality. It looked like leather but I suspect it was some synthetic stuff. In the end, I decided not to get them :(

Ok, on to other stuff.

My colleagues and I were commenting on the heavy rainfall this January - usually, the monsoon season ends in December, does it not - and how it would affect the CNY "trade fair" vendors in Chinatown. I think these folks hate the rain 100x more than we do. Each day of rain for them = low sales, no profits, loss in terms of rental & labor costs. And it's not as though they can keep their stock past CNY, coz much of their stuff is "nian huo" (festive stuff) such as CNY cookies, yang liu, potted plants, decorations. They either have to do a firehouse sale in the wee hours of CNY eve or chuck out the stuff.

So, if you're cheapskate and don't want to pay $1 for yang liu or $0.50 for decorations on CNY eve, go to Chinatown on CNY morning and the throwaways are yours for the picking :P

Anyway, the (kinda) good news is that, despite the rain, there still seems to be a crowd at Chinatown. My friend Qiaoyun mentioned she was there yesterday (Friday) and it was packed. So I guess this will be a happy new year for them too :)