Walking, Shopping And Haggling In HK

Today….it’s a day for walking, walking, walking and more walking. From the hotel, we took the free charter bus to Times Square which is where we spent most of our time that day. Whole day, in fact. From sun up till sun down, we shopped and shopped and shopped. Thankfully, not a lot of people now because it’s a weekday. Had yummy wanton porridge and one of the best barley drinks I’ve ever tasted with ginger and a kind of dates! We tried to figure out how to make that drink. Still confused with the complicated buildings and structures. So confused that I left the girls at Esprit to find a toilet, got lost, wandered into the next building, went outside and walked back to original business. It’s strange, you know, but when you keep your eye level straight ahead, you see all those very high class places. But the moment you look up, you see undies drying out in the sun.….very strange. I wonder how these people take naps or sleep with all that noise downstairs? Especially when there are pubs and entertainment outlets there.

Bought meself a pair of Levis which was about RM140+…..where to find in Malaysia? Levis in Malaysia is usually RM200+ for this kind of material and cut lah. And then bought Kate Moss perfume….OK deal just RM20-RM30 bucks cheaper than in Malaysia. I went with friends who are all very rich and they don’t blink when spending. They, I think, spent so much money grabbing everything they can find there. I don’t have many things to buy and discovered that I am not much of a shopper. I just grab things I want, not everything in sight that is on sale! Come to think of it, I think I am more a man than I am a woman! Ergh! Disregard that comment. But seriously, I think I could be holding someone’s Gold limitless credit card with me and yet, there’s nothing that I was crazy over wor. Strange hor? I just wanna watch the people go about their business, buy unique stuff that I cannot find in Malaysia, eat their specialty food and stuff like that. I think I make a very good Lonely Planet traveler.

Weather is about 12 – 16 degrees out that day…cold wind from some part of China is making winter time in HK a lot colder than it should be. Every time the wind blows, I feel like peeing. If the wind don’t blow, then everything is okie dokie. According to weather report, the week we were there was the coldest winter week for the year. Choon-choon the timing, right?

Went to Ladies Market which is HK’s Chinatown or Malaysia’s Petaling Street. Very interesting but I am not used to their kind of business practice. Have to haggle about everything! I prefer to just ‘how much?’….‘$10’….‘OK. here.’….‘thank you. Please come again’. Instead here, they mark up the price so high that you cannot possibly buy anything without haggling a lot until everybody pissed off mad.

For instance, I had this experience that I will remember for a long time to come.

“How much this one?”

“$340”

THIS IS A MUST! “WWWWAAAHHHH…..so expensive. Cheaper lah”

“How much cheaper you want? OK, I give you 280 lowest price. I don’t earn a lot of money from this lah. We all doing business, we also want some profit. That’s the lowest price”

Friend jabbed me from the side and whispered into my ear, “She’s lying! Don’t buy. She will go down MUCH lower wan. Just walk away….say you don’t want it. Too expensive”

BUT I WANT THAT BAG! My friend proceeded to pull me away from the stall. Then we came to another stall selling similar handbag. I dread going through the process again.

As we start the haggling process, a woman from behind me poked me.

“You want the bag just now ah? How much you are willing to pay?” She’s holding on to her ear which indicates that she’s on her Bluetooth wireless. High-tech-nya! Wah, they all conspiracy these days. My friend winked at me, I shrugged.

“200”, my friend answered her for me. The woman whispers into her phone or something in her hand.

“Ok Ok OK. 200-lah”

After checking out a few other bags at the second stall, we walked back to the first stall.

“Where’s the bag? You’re selling it for 200 to us, right?”

“No No No….no 200. 250 at least!”

HANG ON A MINUTE HERE! Tiu nei lah….you make me walk all the way back here and tell me that you’re not giving me for the price you said you are going to give me! Steam coming out of my ears liao!

This time, we walked away for real.

Very eye-opening experience for me lor. Miss my boys like crazy by now. Their calls have dwindled down to two a day complaining about each other, complaining about being bored, complaining about wanting to go home, complaining that ah-mah shouted at them, complaining that the bed is hard, complaining that the other brother won’t let him have the Nintendo DS….everything. That day, I only got 3 phone calls from them and I am thinking they’re starting to forget their mummy liao. Sob sob.

I sat down after all that walking around and took some pictures of the crazy scene. Crazy people doing business, man. But heck, it was fun while it lasted, I have to admit. But I still prefer the ‘how much, this much, ok sold, thank you’ kind of shopping lor. I not so very panai with all this haggling thing leh.

At the end of the day, my legs hurt so much that I had to grab something to make them feel better.