Tragedy in the Lanes

We returned to Hong Kong after a delay in Manila but an easy-breezy flight on Philippine Air in a big 747. Manil really is the perfect weekend getaway from Hong Kong, although our stay was weekday...giving us a final weekend in Honkers.

The Conrad Hotel was waiting, a luxury reminder of why we love this brand and how good it is to have a view of the harbour from this side of Hong Kong and still be perched on top of a shopping mall (Pacific Place).

The glories of shopping Central beckoned our notebooks, so we set off for Shanghai Tang and Blanc de Chine on Pedder Street (both still great) and then headed to The Lanes to checkout Sam Wo, a handbag broker (so to speak). Alas, Sam has moved from his basement shop up to the 6th floor (room 601) of the building above and frankly, he should have waste his, or our, time. It was pathetic. Old fans of this store may consider a good weep.

Further down the Lane used to be a shop called Ribbon Company that sold junky Chinese souvenirs at everyday low prices. They have either changed their name or been bought out by Elegant Tang, but the stores are in the same locations and much the same.

The Lanes are much changed over the past years (as is all of HKG) and have little charm left.

Sarah hits the Streets of Honkers

Born to Shop Editorial Director Sarah Lahey got to Hong Kong several days ahead of me, having not injured her L4-5 vertabrae in the process. She tested new hotels, went to some outlets and had a wild time in the name of a serious research trip, leaving me this note on the pillow when I arrived, three days later:

Welcome Home to Honkers, Suze

What a trip so far! As you know, one of my travel tricks when flying home from Bangkok (always on that 6am United flight through Tokyo) is to book my final night at the BKK Novotel Hotel. It's five minutes from the terminal and has a frequent shuttle right to United's check-in counter. It's also a fab 4star hotel, with secret ties to the Peninsula Group.

Since you weren't meeting me for a couple days, I decided to give the Novotel Citygate hotel in HKG a try, this one five minutes from the international arrivals gate at HKG. Not only was it covenient to Hong Kong's airport, but the Citygate outlet mall, (Hong Kong's only outlet center) begins just off the Novotel lobby. My flight arrived in the evening, so I hobbled off the plane, onto the hotel shuttle bus and was in my bed, dreaming of the next days' outlet adventures within an hour of touchdown.

After a great sleep and even better buffet breakfast, I headed straight to the shops. It was late Sunday morning and the mall was in full swing. Little did I know that this outlet center is a weekend destination for Hong Kong's young trendy fashionistas and families. It was mobbed! I began to weave through the shoppers, and decided that while there were bargains to be found, Sunday wasn't the day to do it.

Most of the clothing was small; US sizes 0, 2 and 4 were the norm, but I did find larger sizes in the two Max Mara outlets. The Aerosoles shoe store had current styles for about the same price as in the US.

The problem was that all the shops were crowded and jetlag was making me grouchy, so I had no patience for waiting around for a fitting room, or standing in a queue of 10 or so people to pay. Exhausted, I headed to the lower level to Taste, the big upmarket and of-the-moment-chic supermarket. This was where I bought my Sunday dinner - sliced roast duck, French cheese, fruit and a baguette - all for about US$13.

I went back to the hotel, packed up my bag and picnic and transfered to the Novotel Nathan Road in glorious downtown Mong Kok, on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. It's a boutique hotel, much smaller than the large stay-and-fly hotels, and the location is perfect for shopping Kowloon. It's a five minute walk to the Jade Market, five minutes to the Temple Street Market, and five minutes to the Jordan MTR.

Now that I was in the Heart of Hong, I had the brilliant idea to leave town. That's right, I decided to hop on the MTR to return to the Citygate outlets on Monday morning. I felt I hadn't given it a fair shot on my first visit, as the crowds and jetlag made me crazy. I'm so glad I did. Weekdays are the way to do this mall.

My second visit to the mall was fun, successful and easy;it was a 25 minute ride from the Jordan station on the MTR to Citygate station which is located right in the middle of the outlet center.

The Citygate complex –more than 90 shops in all-- is the first and only outlet mall in Hong Kong, where most shops offer discounts of 30 – 70%. The mix includes international big names such as Burberry, Escada, DVF, Kate Spade and Bally. There's Mango and Pedder Warehouse, a local firm that sells mostly catch me if you can shoes and bags. I found great prices on last years' bags at Lancel.

If you like American style malls, this one won't disappoint. Having just traveled to Europe to visit the stunning Chic Shopping Outlet villages in Barcelona, Brussels and Paris, it was difficult and unfair to compare the two styles of shopping.. I was disappointed that I didn't find more clothing in larger sizes (for big gals, like me)at Citygate, but afterall, this is an Asian market. All said, however, I'd go back to Citygate. Combined with a convenient first or last night at the airport Novotel, it's a good bet.

Head to the E-spa and meet me for tea in the lobby of The Pen,
love, Sarah

Blogging From the PRC

Excuse gaps in reportage but I have been unable to get onto the blog and thought perhaps I was in Dutch with the Chinese, but today-- voila, here we go!

I'll try to catch up in order as it's now Monday morning (very very early, love that jetlag) and we are in Shenzhen in the most glorious hotel suite Ritz Carlton ever built. But I digress.

Our hotel suite at the InterContinental in Hong Kong wasn't shabby either. So I will flash back to a few days ago and fill you in on what you've missed.

I've been going to InterConti since it was The Regent. It's the same room I've enjoyed for a period of almsot twenty years and it is wonderful to come back to a hotel where they know you, where you have certain rituals and habitsnad ways of working. Even thugh we had horrible, terible, miserable jetlag for the first days, the InterConti made it much better. And gave us the first lesson in how things are changing in town, in just tiny details. Instead of Bulgari amenities in the bathroom, we had l'Occitane, nothing wrong with that, bien sur, but seems like someone is trying to economize. There was no personalized letterhead waiting for me on the desk as in years gone by. Everyone who is still in business is cutting back.

Hmmm, maybe that's not true. Shanghai Tang is going gangbusters and has opened several new stores, including an adorable one built from an old police station next to The Peninsula Hotel on Salisbury Road in Kowloon and alongside a new, glitzy mall and hotel-combo called Heritage. There's also a new Shanghy Tangy in Pacific Place Mall.

Few seem to be doing as well as Shanghai Tang and there is much down-sizing going around. This is the motto for all of Hong Kong-- stores that haven't closed have moved, downsized, tried to re-invent themselves to live to fight another day.

I've told you about the wonderful new showroom that Wah Tung China has in Western; then we found that Sam Wo-- a handbag guy-- moved from his basement hovel in The Lanes to the office building above, 5th floor. There's less stock and little that looked amazing. Still, his prices are in the under $100 USD range for those who want an easy shopping experience.

The Lanes also used to have a wonderful junky touristy Chinese stuff shop called Ribbon Store. That is gone but a few doors away is Silk Dynasty-- a similar kind of place. This is where you load up on cheapie souvenirs and $5 diamond rings.

We headed forlunch at Sevva, the hottest new 'in' table in town, right there across the street from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. This cafe, owned by Joyce Ma's sister Bonnie, reminds me of the old Joyce Cafe, for those Old China Hands among you. The restaurant is enormous, with wrap around terraces providing views of Hong Kong and the harbour. The style is glam boudoir, with petit sitting areas, cubby holes for more private dinning, stacks of art books, little tea tables, wrought iron candle-labra filled with votives and beautiful people everywhere.

Best of all was brunch-- I ordered French Toast Dai Pai Dong style. A dai pai dong is a street vendor with a cart, so this must be a popular street food that I have never dared to test. Between the two pieces of fried bread rested a layer of peanut satay sauce. It was all served with fresh butter and warm maple syrup and changed my life. I will try to re-create this for friends and family and I think surely Alain Ducasse.

After our meal, we fell into birthday celebration mode and a cake of green tea slathered in butter cream and meringue arrived at the table, with one candle and a pouf of hot pink cotton candy on top. It was not only a don't-miss-it-for-your-life experience, but the best argument ever on why we travel.

We ended up at Times Square, a mall beloved by teens in the Causeway Bay area of Honkers. We spent two hours prowling City Souper-- a gourmet grocery store that also sells health and beauty, novelty items, gifts and was pushing back to school items. I found a selection of 3M branded TM scotch tape dispensers in the shape of chocolate donuts (who could make this up?) and bought them as gifts to take home. The Shopping Detective never rests. Unfortunately, they were sold out of the chocolate scented tape that goes with it.

We had dinner with dear friends Glenn and Lucille Vessa of Honeychurch Antiques on Hollywood Road and only got there because some where in the back of my brain I remembered the address in Chinese. Years ago, Glenn taught me how to get there and once I saw our driver head off toward Kennedytown and way off base from where we needed to be, I knew I had to say something besides 'oops, wrong way, buddy.' I spoke Chinese, he understood me, and we were saved. Amen, brother.