What to buy in Honkers

[echt]

Going to Hong Kong for a week.

What are the good fashion and beauty buys?

Try again.

Hmmm... What are you looking for? HK is so international so you can spend days looking at all the same shops as in the Uk. Some of the designer stock is different.

Asian beauty brands will come up cheaper - Shu Uemura (have you their lash curlers??), SKII...

I lived in Asia and was disappointed with the shopping in HK and much more into the shopping in Shanghai! HK has all the ubiquitous designer stuff and cheap Chinese tat and not much independent boutique stuff.

Plus it's all very small sizes!

Even the high-end Japanese beauty brands (suqqu, rmk etc) weren't actually that cheap.

I do like Taiwanese designer Shiatzy Chen (which I think you can get there) Shanghai Tang is of course there, all the fugazzi handbags you can think of.

If you have small feet shoes were a good buy, I found.

Enjoy. I found eating there the really enjoyable thing, the shopping was frustrating.

Oh, tailoring is cheap and good, so if you have any tailored dresses/skirts/shirts to copy, take them with you and get copies made.

thought this was a new shop I hadn't heard of.

Obviously just the posh way of saying Hong Kong!

cashmere and silk is cheaper-the styes will be very different though but pashminas a-plenty.

Chinese Arts and Crafts on Pacific Mall is great for the best of chinese design- knitwear, gifts, arts, silk clothes. here

the food is the beat thing!

best not beat

I thought honkers was that chain of topless restaurants?

I'm SOOO not posh, bigTillyMint but it is the posh way, apparently.:o

I'd heard about the tailoring and am taking some stuff with me.
I'm a size 12 so maybe some off the peg will be OK.

Am going to Shanghai for a week at the same time, so thanks for the tip, otchayaniye. I fully intend to eat!!

Too bad about the small feet; I'm size 6/6 and a half UK.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

If you go to Shanghai buy some beautiful silk slippers at Suzhou Cobblers. I've got three pairs with little Chinese goldfish on them, bamboo patterns, etc. Gorgeous. Just off the Bund. You'll be able to get a 6.

www.suzhou-cobblers.com/

And then there's a day shopping in the overrun outlets/boutiques in the French quarter.

There's a Shiatzy Chen on the Bund too.

be warned about clothing, I am a size 8-10 and I found shopping sometimes dispiriting.

"We might have the large sizes out the back, madam," was a familiar refrain.

LOL YY to "I think we have that in a large..."

The cut can be different too so less room in boob & thigh IME.

Planning on doing any big dinners whilst in Shanghai? I can talk about food for far longer than I can about shopping :o

Oh, yes, tell me about din-dins.

I just told DH about the "large" 8-10. He snurked.

I thought honkers was that chain of topless restaurants?

That's Hooters . Funnily enough, when I opened this thread, I did think it was a shop for the more buxom among us...

Oh, another vote for Suzhou Cobblers form me!
I also spent a lovely afternoon in Shnaghai buying...beads. Yes indeed. Not the hippy-dippy type, more the chunky necklace type. There was 'literally' every bead in the whole world to choose from (possibly), you just pick and choose - and bargain - and have them strung exactly as you like.

echt when I was in HK a few years ago, I found it was better to have big feet as they had loads of pairs in the sale that nobody fitted into :)
I bought a pair of Louboutins in the sale, can't remember how much they were now... just ask the sales assistants to get them out of the stockroom as they're generally not on display. Us big footed freaks - oh and be prepapred for the shocked looks when you do ask!

If fake designer bags are your thing, don't miss the Ladies Market in hong Kong. Bargain hard!

Good idea, crazybutterflylady. How odd to be in the reverse situation to here, where my size sells out in sales so quickly! except in the "comfy" style. (Read vile).

Ok... Shanghai restaurants!

My favourites are Mr&Mrs Bund (Chinese fusion, unbelievable), M on the Bund followed by a drink at glamour bar (ask for a window table/outside table at M on the bund), Din Tai Fung for brilliant dumplings. My bf who lives in Shanghai suggests the following (but I've never been)
Stillers at Cool Dock's
Mr. Willis
Goga
El Willy
Jing'An at Puli Hotel
Yong Foo Elite

You'll have a blast!

Thanks for getting back on this; I'm taking notes. The Rough Guide is one thing, but this is splendid.

Second the Mr&Mrs Bund and Din Tai Fung - you have to try the Shanghai soup dumplings.

There's a bar called Face in the French quarter set in a big mansion it's like transporting yourself to stockbroker's Esher with a huge lawn. That's a nice stop off after shopping.

Regarding beauty items, you can get huge bottles of Cetaphil (brilliant cleanser) from Watsons branches.

Avoid buying foundation as it's usually. I learned the hard way and several not-quite-right bottles of VitaLumiere....

Skin creams, well, it's mostly whitening and they are expensive.

Look out for Suqqu (brushes are amazing) and RMK though.

I would recommend massages while you are there. Hotels, little step in parlours, they tend to be very good and quite, er, intensive! Manicures and pedicures also are a very high standard.

I am SO jealous. I had to leave Asia before I was ready and constantly dream about the food and climate (and having a housekeeper....)

Avoid buying foundation as it's usually yellow toned.

Otchayaniye that branch of Face is gone :(

granville road in kowloon had some good independant type shops last time i was there and this might help you a bit?

Try Chinese wine when you're in Shanghai. I know, sounds mental, but it can very really, surprisingly good.

Oh, and there's a wonderful Szechuan restaurant in the French Concession, I'll try and find the address. That said, my Mandarin is crap and I got lost for ages before I found it or could direct a taxi driver there.

boo hoo about Face. Definitely have to do the bar at M on the bund. I remember going there just before the financial crisis and it was like the pre-fall of the Roman Empire. Women dancing on the bar swigging from champange bottles pausing to be sick in the ice bucket before carrying on dancing again.

I'm making it sound horrible but it was quite a party!

If you don't fancy that, a drink in the world's highest bar at the grand hyatt in pudong -- I was there during a thunderstorm and could feel the building swaying!