My mother recently had her birthday and to celebrate it the girls in our family went to Hong Kong. My dad and Lloyd stayed behind since they both have work. My sister on the other hand was going to start on her new job in a few days and wanted to take a vacation. I was a bit hesitant to leave baby J alone with hubby and the yaya but turns out he was fine all the time I was gone. In fact, I think he barely registered that I wasn’t around.
Anyway going to Hong Kong became a good opportunity for me to test out my new Nokia 5800. Our hotel had free wifi at the business center so I would pop in there in the mornings or evenings to check my Twitter and my Facebook accounts.
Arriving at the new HK airport I was taken aback. I haven’t been in HK for several years and the airport I last used was the old one where you were scared at the high-rise buildings whizzing past you as the plane landed. The new one is very modern and is huge. It is however a bit far from our hotel and the ride took around 30 to 45 minutes.
Upon arrival at immigration I was experiencing some allergies and indicated as much on my health form. Little did I know that the HK immigration officials would panic and take me to a medical section to check my temperature. My mom got a bit worried when I disappeared from her view for a few minutes and was excitedly talking with an immigration person when I made my return to the immigration section. I do not have AH1N1! Mom was relieved at my return and told me that I shouldn’t have indicated my nasal congestion on the health declaration. Sigh.
Anyway, I was suitably delighted staying at the Marco Polo because once you go down from your room it is the mall already! A lot of shops were on sale. However I wanted to make sure I squeezed every last dollar from my shopping budget so I followed several rules.
1. If you can buy the same thing in Manila for around the same price then do not buy it!
2. Check if it is on sale. July to September is the Hong Kong summer sale season and there are a lot of bargains if you look around.
3. In relation to rule no. 1, try to visit stores that aren’t in Manila. The best example of this is H&M. My gosh, I could spend half a day there.
4. If you bought something but once in your hotel you didn’t like it anymore, check the returns policy of the store. I got carried away at H&M but since they have a generous 30 day policy I was able to exchange a blouse for some toddler sleep suits. I always fit the stuff I buy but sometimes you change your mind. He he.
5. Again in relation to rule no. 1, I noticed that beauty products like skincare stuff and make-up was cheaper in Hong Kong than in Manila. So if you need to restock some beauty supplies you can do it in Hong Kong.
6. Try to buy in bulk. I went with my family so we pretty much like going to the same shops and buying similar clothes. Cotton On became a big favorite with their buy 2 for HK$99 deals. Unfortunately my mom ended up buying some of the same stuff I got.
7. Eat in the food court! The more money you save on food, the more money you can spend on clothes!
8. Check out all the shops, there may be cheaper versions of that cover up or blouse you’ve been thinking about purchasing in a different store.
It was quite exhausting walking all over the place and our feet ached so much. I even got to go to Macau for the first time. However I was thinking if maybe I should have just used my ferry money for more clothes ha ha!
My next post will be on Macau.
