If Hong Kong is really
the ‘City of Life’, then life is a
mall. Some speculate that Hong Kongers need to go shopping to escape
their cramped living spaces. Others simply attribute the shopping
craze to greed and disposable income. The many missionary churches
in town may owe their business to guilt, coming from the widespread
habit of shopping right through Sunday. The main shopping areas
are frantic at weekends and merely chaotic during the rest of the
week.
Once popular for bargain electronics and imitation brand-names,
Hong Kong is not as as cheap as it was in the past and prices are
now closer to American and European. Serious bargain hunters would
do better shopping in Bangkok. Shops offering Chinese art
objects and souvenirs are set
up around the escalator up to the Mid-Levels and on nearby Cat
Street. Any bargain hunter also wanting to visit mainland
China should do their price checking and research in Hong Kong but
save their purchases for north of the border. Within Hong Kong,
Shanghai Tang, close to Central MTR station, is
possibly the best place for quality Chinese goods – fabrics,
silks, furniture and ornaments.
Mallrats in Hong Kong have lots of warrens to choose
from. Pacific Place, in Admiralty, contains three
floors of almost entirely luxury brands, and the Landmark
and Prince’s Arcade vie for the custom of
chic Central. Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong MTR station,
situated in northern Kowloon, is well worth the long trip from Central,
for its variety and good quality. Causeway Bay
has the large Japanese department stores, Sogo
and Mitsukoshi, and the towering Times
Square. Tourist items and souvenirs, often quite
tacky, are best bought either along the hotel strip of Nathan
Road on Kowloon Side or at Stanley Market.
Causeway bay has computer stores, Wanchai and Mongkok,
full of small booths offering the silicon equivalent of Hong Kong
tailoring and teenage hustlers selling pirated software. However,
for most electrical products, there are worse locations than the
many branches of the Fortress chain.
Hong Kong also has its share of markets. One of the best is the
Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, located on Prince Edward
Road West, in Kowloon. Open daily 07:00–20:00,
this market is mainly concerned with the sale of song birds.
Close by, on Tung Choi Street, is a golfish
maket and a flower market.
Opening hours are daily 09:30–19:00 and later
in some cases. Hong Kongers bridle at the very thought of a sales
tax, so visitors can forget about saving their receipts until the
government decides to plug its deficit this way.
Bamboo
Garden Dragon Beard Candy, the most representative souvenir
in Hong Kong. Dragon Beard Candy was a Chinese
Emperor’s best favor over two thousand years. The
crafted candy is made from thousand crystalline threads of maltose
with tasty ingredients. Bamboo Garden Icy-crispy Dragon
Beard Candy at the Hong Kong International Airport
brings you the essence of traditional Chinese edible art
as a representation souvenir from Hong Kong. |
