Day 1 of Amazing Race with bro: Hongkong shopping and fun 2007

I have been anticipating writing about my short shopping and sightseeing trip with drew in hk since the moment I landed manila soil. But now that I am actually supposed to blog about it, I can't even think of how to start! Ironic, isn't it? How indeed do I start yapping about such an exhilirating trip! hehe. Well, let me just put it this way... It was indeed an amazing race--"fashion and fun" version with my fellow expert-shopper brother as partner (who's also in track and field btw so can you just imagine his pace and endurance? hehe). Anyway, we really made a great team and our self-concocted itinerary was better than any travel agent can possibly lay out for us! *grins* So ladies and gents, the next time you're going to hk for a shopping trip, you can definitely ask me to make an itinerary for you at a very minimal fee. hahaha, i kid, i kid! Well anyhow, I decided to try to talk about the trip on a day by day itinerary basis. I will probably miss out a lot of the small details but if you have a map of hk or have been there more than once, you can most probably re-trace our steps by following the entry. Oh and please forgive me for the lack of pics on the first day (some here are stock pics from google). Drew and I were too focused on shopping and exploring at the time!

Basically we allotted the first day for shopping and simply feeling the hongkong pulse within our veins (meaning no formal sightseeing yet). Upon arriving at the CLK airport at 10 am, we proceeded to take the airport express which is the quickest way to get to your area of destination from the airport. To those of you who are planning to go to hk anytime soon, I definitely recommend getting the HK$300 airport express return octopus card (it's actually $285 if you buy online). It is very convenient and comes with complimentary unlimited mtr rides for 3 days and free shuttle use to and from certain hotels. It only took us around 20 minutes to get to the Kowloon station and then we took the k5 free shuttle to our hotel which was roughly a 10 minute ride (it stops right in front of it.)

Off guard pics of me and Andrew taken by each other. I was on the walkway to the airport express entrance whilst drew is shown riding in style inside the train.

We were able to check in right away at our hotel at around 11am. It was all very smooth and hassle free, indeed a sign of good things to come! We really were pretty much set up to go around hk within 50 minutes of landing! Oh yeah, we stayed at a 4-star hotel called The Kimberley Hotel--

We stayed in the 16th floor! One of those square things on the top was our room’s window, haha.

which is located in kimberley road in tsim sha tsui (which btw, seems like the wedding gown central of hongkong haha) right across the luxe manor hotel. Location is perfect if you love hip and trendy clothes which is the main thing in granville road right beside it (more on that later). And also if you're looking to get vivienne westwood or uniqlo stuff as well because the miramar shopping center is a mere 2 minute walk from the hotel. We then unpacked our stuff and fixed up a little before heading outside and had authentic hk roasted duck and beef brisket noodles for lunch.

Here's drew wolfing down his yummy beef brisket noodles (I forgot the name of the small resto, we were hungry!). XD

After lunch, drew and I explored stores along granville road. According to the In-style HK guide (the one with daniel wu on the cover and was free with a preview issue), in the 80's and 90's granville road was once famous for its export surplus goods outlet where you could pick up "samples" of brand name goods at a fraction of retail prices. However, these outlets have been gradually replaced by edgy local casual wear brands such as b+ab and izzue.com under the i.t umbrella, as well as 2%, Modern Girl, and stores specialising in goods like japanese casual wear Evisu, US skateboarding brand Stussy, and Supreme. Other stores I personally loved were pe:tite, zuccoz, toonia, E.G.O. (for cute chucks and sneakers) and the shops at the Rise Shopping Arcade. It indeed was an area for fashionable youth! Warning: money flies fast here. I bought a lot of nice stuff!

Some random pics taken in granville:






I got cute tops here!

Andrew loved the egg balls being sold on the streets of granville for HK$10. It reminded him of waffles!

We then walked along nathan road where andrew got a super cute jacket from chevignon and I got bf a dressy long sleeved shirt at crocodile (this are among other things for the both of us hehehehe). Afterwards, we shopped along carnavon road and humphrey's ave which houses one of my favorite shoe stores called autinori. This store is owned by a stylish local guy named mickey zo who designs the shoes he sells himself. They are all leather made and intricately detailed and prices are around $300-400. His designs are also exported to japan and so his shoeboxes mostly has jap characters in them. I love his creations and only discovered them last year! He even remembers me now. haha!

Here’s drew texting in front of Area 0264, a quirky store in carnavon road that sells commes des garcons, paul smith, anna sui, and other stuff. I got a cute stranger brand bifold wallet there!

Here’s Autinori’s ads from viaclub.com.hk, I’m sorry for forgetting to take pics! Mickey would have obliged. :)

At around 7:00 pm, drew and I dumped all our shopping stash back at the hotel and then went back out to ride the mtr to Central. Guess where we went? Yup! H&M!!! (But of course not before we looked inside LV at the landmark. haha). There was a very fast queue when we arrived but upon entering there the real ruckus began. I was like, carrying 10 articles of clothing in my hands along with 2 pairs of shoes and there was nowhere to lay them down at. The line for the fitting room and the pay counters were also insane. Thank God though that this is HK and not manila. No matter how long the line was, it was still a bit organized and was moving quite efficiently. The store is desperately in need of shopping baskets though!

Entrance of H&M, the same Madonna poster/billboard is still up.

An understated pic of how insane it is inside. The store was brimming with cute merchandise!

After 1 huge paperbag of h&m stuff, around 8:30 pm, drew and I ate at Cafe de Coral which is 1 minute away from h&m. He got the white chicken and roasted duck combo with soup and green veggies in brown sauce whilst I got the spareribs meals also with white soup and boiled cabbage. It was filling and fast!

Drew didn't look tired at all! Here he is whilst waiting for our order at cafe de coral.

Some stock pics of cafe de coral signs so that you can try it also when you go there!

After dinner, around 9 pm, drew and I then headed on to Mongkok to look at the Night Market and Ladies Market (which also actually has guy stuff). Yes, we were on a roll! hahaha. He was able to get a chinese collar silk costume top (which he absolutely had no use for but just wanted for fun) for HK$100 which the seller was initially selling at $180. (Crazy price drop from haggling, huh!) On the otherhand, I got 2 pairs of shoes for HK$99 each, as well as some things from very company and some other stores. haha, I really can't say everything we got simply because it's too hard to enumerate and remember! Oh and we also ate mango sago pudding at Hui Lau Shan. It was yummy and refreshing!

Stock pics of ladies market and hui lau shan. :)

After a little more (guess what) shopping (hehe) we then headed on home at around 11 pm and that concludes our first day in hong kong. Whew! I swear I heard my toes cursing me as I reached the hotel room. Hahaha! And that’s only day 1. XD