hong kong shopping
Jul 6th, 2004, 02:15 AM
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hong kong shopping
We are stopping in HK for 1 night on our way to Australia and 2 on the way back(from the UK) What are the good buys in HK?
We are going to be checking in on-line with Cathay Pacific. Having never done this before I am a bit worried and will probably still be at the airport 3 hours before the flight! Hoping we manage to sort out our seats on line though.
Thanks for any advice
We are going to be checking in on-line with Cathay Pacific. Having never done this before I am a bit worried and will probably still be at the airport 3 hours before the flight! Hoping we manage to sort out our seats on line though.
Thanks for any advice
Jul 6th, 2004, 08:58 AM
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On the shopping: Hong Kong is almost nothing more than shopping, shopping, shopping. There are probably more designer stores in Hong Kong than in any other major city in the world, Paris not excluded. (Just a guess, please don't flame me!)
It all depends on what you like - what are you shopping for? Also depends on your budget. There are night markets; there are markets in alleyways and major streets; there are tailors around every corner. If you give a few more specifics on what you are looking for, perhaps someone on this forum can recommend their personal favorite store, tailor, alleyway, etc.
On arriving at the airport 3 hours before flight time: that's really not necessary. Hong Kong has a very modern airport which is connected to downtown via a very modern Airport Express. The Airport Express is connected to the rest of Hong Kong via the metro system. You'll probably need about an hour to get from wherever to the airport, using the metro (which I would recommend, faster than surface traffic) in combination with the Airport Express.
When you arrive, get the Octopus card. This comes in different denominations (HK$100, HK$300, etc.). The Octopus card will allow you to travel on the Airport Express, on the metro system, on Star Ferry, on buses, trams, etc. It'll save you a lot of single purchases along the way and is really the cheapest means of transportation around Hong Kong. There is a HK$50 refund when you return the card at the airport.
In the Arrivals Hall, there is a circular desk service with live human beings, or you can opt for the bank of Octopus card dispensers lined up against one wall.
Enjoy Hong Kong!
It all depends on what you like - what are you shopping for? Also depends on your budget. There are night markets; there are markets in alleyways and major streets; there are tailors around every corner. If you give a few more specifics on what you are looking for, perhaps someone on this forum can recommend their personal favorite store, tailor, alleyway, etc.
On arriving at the airport 3 hours before flight time: that's really not necessary. Hong Kong has a very modern airport which is connected to downtown via a very modern Airport Express. The Airport Express is connected to the rest of Hong Kong via the metro system. You'll probably need about an hour to get from wherever to the airport, using the metro (which I would recommend, faster than surface traffic) in combination with the Airport Express.
When you arrive, get the Octopus card. This comes in different denominations (HK$100, HK$300, etc.). The Octopus card will allow you to travel on the Airport Express, on the metro system, on Star Ferry, on buses, trams, etc. It'll save you a lot of single purchases along the way and is really the cheapest means of transportation around Hong Kong. There is a HK$50 refund when you return the card at the airport.
In the Arrivals Hall, there is a circular desk service with live human beings, or you can opt for the bank of Octopus card dispensers lined up against one wall.
Enjoy Hong Kong!
Jul 6th, 2004, 09:39 AM
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We had 2 nights in Hong Kong on our way back from Australia. I loved it! (Actually it was a highpoint of the trip.) I bought some cheap pearl jewellery at the Jade Market in Hong Kong and I wish I had bought more as gifts. I got 3 bracelets - irregular shape pearls in different colours - which I love - I wear all 3 together. Also some earrings and a necklace - one with 5 threads with pearls placed along them (not a string of pearls). None of them were expensive. I had admired a pair of pearl earrings in Darwin, but decided against buying them when I found out they were from Hong Kong. None of this is fancy jewellery - more costume jewellery - but very cute. I think I paid about $30 CAD for all the jewellery.
We also bought some placemats, chopsticks, that kind of thing as gift items.
Other than the Jade Market, we went to the Temple Street Night Market the evening we arrived, the Stanley Market and the Ladies Market. We weren't doing 'serious' shopping - just small stuff. My husband looked at electronics (he wants a new palm pilot and our camera had died in Australia), but prices were actually higher than here in Canada.
We also bought some placemats, chopsticks, that kind of thing as gift items.
Other than the Jade Market, we went to the Temple Street Night Market the evening we arrived, the Stanley Market and the Ladies Market. We weren't doing 'serious' shopping - just small stuff. My husband looked at electronics (he wants a new palm pilot and our camera had died in Australia), but prices were actually higher than here in Canada.
Jul 6th, 2004, 11:35 AM
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With Cathay Pacific you can check-in at Hong Kong Station if you choose to ride on the Airport Express. This is very convenient, and cuts down the time in advance you need to be at the airport by at least half an hour.
What may appear to be Octopus card vending machines at the airport are actually machines for topping up this stored-value card. You'll need to purchase the card from the counter. But as a short-term visitor you may be better to buy a Hong Kong Transport Pass. This looks like an Octopus stored-value card but is specially programmed for visitors, which for HK$300 includes two Airport Express journeys, unlimited travel on the MTR for three days, and HK$20 of bus and ferry travel. Since the Airport Express is HK$100 each way (to Hong Kong Station), and since $50 and any unused credit is returned to you if you hand the card in on departure, this is a pretty good deal, especially for the two-night stop on the return visit.
Good buys in Hong Kong (if you are not going to the mainland) are anything made in China. There are plenty of stores specializing in nothing but goods imported from there--but you'll find these much cheaper on the mainland if you go there.
Electronics are little cheaper than in North America, as already pointed out, but may well be considerably cheaper than in other countries, depending on import duties, sales tax regimes, etc. However, avoid the sharks in Kowloon.
One trip to a branch of Fortress is all you need to get a marked price no different from what it will take a day and a half of bargaining to achieve in a Kowloon retailer, and Fortress actually has the item whereas the Kowloon clown will often try bait-and-switch, last-minute surchages, and other tricks. Fortress had branches throughout Hong Kong, and is clear on such matters as multi-voltage versions, international warranties, etc. Blank CDs, MDs, cables, converters, and other electrical accessories are usually cheaper in Hong Kong even than in North America.
Luxury items can be much cheaper in Hong Kong: Prada bags, Cartier watches, etc. etc. But you should identify the exact item you want (as with the electronics, by the way) and price it up at home before you leave. Buy bags and other accessories in proper stores or the brand's own shop--there are plenty of fakes around if you want to pay less, however.
When bargaining for items like watches be prepared to spend considerable time to get the price you want, and shop from an HKTB approved dealer. Be sure you are bargaining for the identical model to the one you looked at at home, with the same internal mechanism, and be clear from the start on your method of payment--credit card payments usually attract a surcharge of a few per cent. You might save one third off the price of a good watch at home.
Hong Kong is about the only place anywhere in China it's (relatively) safe to shop for Chinese antiques. You can own a figurine that's 1400 years old for as little as US$100. To be sure there are sharks, too, and care must be taken. Having some knowledge of the field is obviously best, but shops such as Dragon Culture in Hollywood Road are reliable, and if you are looking to buy something really priceless, better shops offer thermo-luminescence testing for which they will pay should the laboratory's result differ from their own assessment. Better overall to stay beneath $500, perhaps, unless you really know what you are doing. But there are plenty of beautiful things in that range. Supply is finally drying up, however, as mainland China's middle class, tiny as a percentage of the population but still numerous, is beginning to buy domestically. Dragon Culture has already closed one of its three shops in Hollywood Road as a result, and plans to close another.
DON'T shop at branches of DFS (Duty Free Shopping) or at 'duty free' shops at the airport, where prices are considerably higher and may be even higher than at home. All Hong Kong is duty free.
As a mecca for shopping Hong Kong has long been over-rated. Take time to visit outlying islands with no cars and tiny populations, to walk on the spine of Hong Kong Island on the Dragon's Back, to visit some of the excellent small museums, back street tea houses, etc.
Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html
What may appear to be Octopus card vending machines at the airport are actually machines for topping up this stored-value card. You'll need to purchase the card from the counter. But as a short-term visitor you may be better to buy a Hong Kong Transport Pass. This looks like an Octopus stored-value card but is specially programmed for visitors, which for HK$300 includes two Airport Express journeys, unlimited travel on the MTR for three days, and HK$20 of bus and ferry travel. Since the Airport Express is HK$100 each way (to Hong Kong Station), and since $50 and any unused credit is returned to you if you hand the card in on departure, this is a pretty good deal, especially for the two-night stop on the return visit.
Good buys in Hong Kong (if you are not going to the mainland) are anything made in China. There are plenty of stores specializing in nothing but goods imported from there--but you'll find these much cheaper on the mainland if you go there.
Electronics are little cheaper than in North America, as already pointed out, but may well be considerably cheaper than in other countries, depending on import duties, sales tax regimes, etc. However, avoid the sharks in Kowloon.
One trip to a branch of Fortress is all you need to get a marked price no different from what it will take a day and a half of bargaining to achieve in a Kowloon retailer, and Fortress actually has the item whereas the Kowloon clown will often try bait-and-switch, last-minute surchages, and other tricks. Fortress had branches throughout Hong Kong, and is clear on such matters as multi-voltage versions, international warranties, etc. Blank CDs, MDs, cables, converters, and other electrical accessories are usually cheaper in Hong Kong even than in North America.
Luxury items can be much cheaper in Hong Kong: Prada bags, Cartier watches, etc. etc. But you should identify the exact item you want (as with the electronics, by the way) and price it up at home before you leave. Buy bags and other accessories in proper stores or the brand's own shop--there are plenty of fakes around if you want to pay less, however.
When bargaining for items like watches be prepared to spend considerable time to get the price you want, and shop from an HKTB approved dealer. Be sure you are bargaining for the identical model to the one you looked at at home, with the same internal mechanism, and be clear from the start on your method of payment--credit card payments usually attract a surcharge of a few per cent. You might save one third off the price of a good watch at home.
Hong Kong is about the only place anywhere in China it's (relatively) safe to shop for Chinese antiques. You can own a figurine that's 1400 years old for as little as US$100. To be sure there are sharks, too, and care must be taken. Having some knowledge of the field is obviously best, but shops such as Dragon Culture in Hollywood Road are reliable, and if you are looking to buy something really priceless, better shops offer thermo-luminescence testing for which they will pay should the laboratory's result differ from their own assessment. Better overall to stay beneath $500, perhaps, unless you really know what you are doing. But there are plenty of beautiful things in that range. Supply is finally drying up, however, as mainland China's middle class, tiny as a percentage of the population but still numerous, is beginning to buy domestically. Dragon Culture has already closed one of its three shops in Hollywood Road as a result, and plans to close another.
DON'T shop at branches of DFS (Duty Free Shopping) or at 'duty free' shops at the airport, where prices are considerably higher and may be even higher than at home. All Hong Kong is duty free.
As a mecca for shopping Hong Kong has long been over-rated. Take time to visit outlying islands with no cars and tiny populations, to walk on the spine of Hong Kong Island on the Dragon's Back, to visit some of the excellent small museums, back street tea houses, etc.
Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html
Jul 6th, 2004, 04:23 PM
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Sorry, I forgot (not that the reply above is comprehensive), that shopping for clothing in Hong Kong is worthwhile, and I often go with a largely empty bag and stock up on basics. All the standard high street/main street stores are there in large numbers: G2000, Aritza, Benetton, etc. And whether or not you consider these stores in your style or age range you can pick up basics like packs of cotton underwear, packs of three T-shirts, etc. for next to nothing. Shoes and runners/trainers are also very reasonably priced.
The areas to look are away from the centre (this is true of much of the big brand name clothing, too) in, for instance the Causeway Bay area (which is on the MTR a few stops east of Central). The Time Sq multi-story mall, reachable directly from the MTR station, has just about everything under one roof, as does nearby Sogo, and the streets around this area have many more choices (and at least one branch of Fortress, too).
Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html
The areas to look are away from the centre (this is true of much of the big brand name clothing, too) in, for instance the Causeway Bay area (which is on the MTR a few stops east of Central). The Time Sq multi-story mall, reachable directly from the MTR station, has just about everything under one roof, as does nearby Sogo, and the streets around this area have many more choices (and at least one branch of Fortress, too).
Peter N-H
http://members.shaw.ca/pnhpublic/China.html
Jul 7th, 2004, 06:36 AM
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Thanks everyone, I will print this out and take it with me. Had not got anything specific in mind to shop for, It is useful to know which shopping areas to go to. I expect we will do most of the shopping on the way back,restricting my packing so I will have rom for shopping. Our luggage allowance is only 20 kilos so I will be travelling light!
Thank again
Julie
Thank again
Julie
Jul 9th, 2004, 07:47 PM
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I have been using CX's online check in regularly and you are only required to be at the check in (or a dedicated one) counter 45 mins prior to departure. To make it safe, one hour or so should be enough.
Regarding tickets of the airport express, there is a promotion for group ticket - HK$150 for two, HK$200 for three etc. Even if you're travelling alone, you could approach anybody in the queue to consolidate for a group ticket.
Regarding tickets of the airport express, there is a promotion for group ticket - HK$150 for two, HK$200 for three etc. Even if you're travelling alone, you could approach anybody in the queue to consolidate for a group ticket.
Jul 9th, 2004, 10:44 PM
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Peter, I was interested to hear about the HK Transport Pass. Are the Airport Express journeys limited to a maximum stay of 3 days, or is that just the free MTR travel - i.e. if I stayed for a week, could I use an Octopus card on the MTR etc for the last 4 days and still use the pass to go back to the airport or would I lose the return journey if I stayed longer than 3 days?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Jul 10th, 2004, 04:56 AM
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Xenos - Here's how the Airport Express Tourist card and the Octopus system works...
The Octopus is a stored value card. It can be used on almost any public transport in HK, and for purchases at vending machines, convenient stores, supermarket, etc... You pay a HK$50 deposit on the card plus the value on it, and you can get your HK$50 back when you turn in the card.
The MTR/Airport Express tourist card is a sub-type of Octopus. It has basically three seperate content on it:
- One or two Airport Express trip(s).
- 3 days of MTR travel. Note, it's only MTR, not any other transportation.
- HK$20 of regular Octopus value that you can use for anything that accepts Octopus.
All the contents are seperate, and not linked. The 3 days (or I think it's actually 72 hours) of MTR travel starts when you use the MTR for the first time, not including the Airport Express trip nor the one allowed connection to the MTR at Tsing Yi, Kowloon or Hong Kong.
And just like other Octopus card, you can easily add value to it at train stations and convenient stores. You'll need to do that as HK$20 is just US$2.5, and you'll use those up pretty quickly.
The Octopus is a stored value card. It can be used on almost any public transport in HK, and for purchases at vending machines, convenient stores, supermarket, etc... You pay a HK$50 deposit on the card plus the value on it, and you can get your HK$50 back when you turn in the card.
The MTR/Airport Express tourist card is a sub-type of Octopus. It has basically three seperate content on it:
- One or two Airport Express trip(s).
- 3 days of MTR travel. Note, it's only MTR, not any other transportation.
- HK$20 of regular Octopus value that you can use for anything that accepts Octopus.
All the contents are seperate, and not linked. The 3 days (or I think it's actually 72 hours) of MTR travel starts when you use the MTR for the first time, not including the Airport Express trip nor the one allowed connection to the MTR at Tsing Yi, Kowloon or Hong Kong.
And just like other Octopus card, you can easily add value to it at train stations and convenient stores. You'll need to do that as HK$20 is just US$2.5, and you'll use those up pretty quickly.
Jul 10th, 2004, 06:53 AM
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Thanks rkkwan
I've been to HK 3 times (and hope to go again in the not-too-distant future) so I know about the Octopus card, but had never heard of the Transport Pass. So, if you can top it up like an ordinary Octopus, then that would be all you need for a week's stay, right?
I've been to HK 3 times (and hope to go again in the not-too-distant future) so I know about the Octopus card, but had never heard of the Transport Pass. So, if you can top it up like an ordinary Octopus, then that would be all you need for a week's stay, right?
Jul 10th, 2004, 07:21 AM
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Xenos - Yes, that's correct. However, that card usually only makes sense if you've already decided to use the Airport Express as your means of going to/from the airport. I don't think people should limit themselves to the AE because of that card. There are other hotel shuttles, Cityflyer buses, taxis, etc that may make more sense than the AE to/from the airport.
Also, there are special offers from the Airport Express from time to time. Early this year, there was a deal for family travelling together, etc... If there's some specials going on when you're travelling to HK, then getting the Tourist card may not be the best deal.
Also, there are special offers from the Airport Express from time to time. Early this year, there was a deal for family travelling together, etc... If there's some specials going on when you're travelling to HK, then getting the Tourist card may not be the best deal.
Jul 10th, 2004, 02:04 PM
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Thanks again rkkwan,
Yes I realise all that. We haven't even started to plan our next trip to HK yet, or even when it will be, so I've no idea yet how we'll get to and from the airport. Just wanted the facts on the card so that I can bear it in mind as an option if necessary.
Cheers!
Yes I realise all that. We haven't even started to plan our next trip to HK yet, or even when it will be, so I've no idea yet how we'll get to and from the airport. Just wanted the facts on the card so that I can bear it in mind as an option if necessary.
Cheers!
