"On a Mission", "Celebrations and More Celebrations" and "Eating and Chilling"

Day 28 - "On a Mission" - Hong Kong, China

Today I was on a mission. My goal was to find an awesome wedding dress. I had some luck with Jenny on Saturday, but wanted to keep looking. We started the day late. Decided to sleep in a bit and then just take our time getting ready. We were meeting Eric's aunt Jamila for some wedding shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon in the afternoon.

First, we needed to run some errands - including changing our plane flights around. We decided to extend our stay in HK because of my skin allergy and because we were enjoying our time here. We are now heading out next Monday. Because the internet/computer in the apartment runs at snail pace, we had to find a wifi eating place. But how? Restaurants here for some reason don't advertise that they have this. So, we took out our laptop and walked up and down the street in search of wireless connection. Luckily, we didn't have to look too far. Halfway down the street, we found Fat Angelo's, an Italian restaurant. Pasta for me, sandwich for Eric. It was fine, not great, fine. We got to use all the internet we needed though, so it was worth it.

We then walked down to Queen's Road in Central to walk around the Landmark shopping center before we met Aunt Jamila for some afternoon shopping. It was quite an interesting experience shopping for wedding dresses. In Tsim Sha Tsui on Kimberley street there are tons and tons of wedding dress shops. They vary in quality and service. At some places, you get really great service and they let you try everything on. At others, they won't let you come in if you don't have an appointment, even if there's no one else there. Some places had the nerve to charge you a $500 HKD ($65US) service charge just to be able to try on some dresses. Out of principle, I refused to patronize any of those places.

The place I went to in Central with Jenny was really nice. We didn't have an appointment but she let us in. Also, even though my skin was a mess, she was nice and said it was fine for me to try on. She was patient and nice. They had a good selection, too. I liked their dresses, I don't know if I loved them. It's too bad, cause the prices weren't bad.

Anyhow, back to the day. The first few shops were abysmal. They tried to sell me a used, ripped, dirty dress for $12K HKD ($~1500). Who does that?! When I pointed out that the slip was ripped and the seams were falling off, she said she'd cut the seams and that no one sees the underside of the dress anyway. Seriously? Why is it that in the bridal industry they can get away with such poor service and expect people to just accept it? I was quite shocked and becoming depressed, because it was so frustrating. I also didn't see anything that I really liked. They give you a catalog book and tell you to look through it and point out which ones you want.If you pick more than 2, then they charge you the service fee. How can you find your dream dress in a catalog without being able to see and touch it?

After about four or five shops, I was on the verge of quitting when out of nowhere we were approached by this man on the street who only spoke mandarin. Claimed he had a team from Taiwan that had a ton of wedding dresses on the second floor of this building and that he could take us there. It reminded me of NYC chinatown when they say they'll take you to a remote building to sell you a fake Gucci bag. I was a bit skeptical but we thought we may as well try something different since what we were doing was not working.

Anyhow, we go up to this small space filled with wedding dresses. They were stunning! Hand embroidered with french lace and beading. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I only tried on two, that was all that I needed. They were both beautiful and fit me perfectly. I decided on the first one I tried on. Poor Eric, I think he was bored to tears. To be rational, we decided to hold off purchasing until my Aunt Donna and cousin Michelle came to give their opinions.

We took a break and went to dinner with Aunt Jamila and Uncle Lionel at Hong Kong Old Restaurant, which is Shanghainese fare. It was a good dinner, light, but tasty. After dinner, we parted ways with Eric's aunt and uncle and went back to the wedding shop to meet up with my aunt and cousin. After much discussion and negotiation, I decided to purchase the dress! They were going to make me a custom one but since we're traveling, we decided to forego the hassle of waiting for them to make it and then me trying on and sending back to them. We decided to just buy one off the rack and asked them to alter that one (it was brand spanking new anyway). I am going back on Friday to try it on and pick it up.

I am still a little skeptical as to whether the shop is legit. The dress was too good to be true (they also provide the veil as well). I have this fear that when I show up on Friday the shop will be closed up and they will have run off with my 50% deposit. Hmmm, crossing my fingers.

Well, I must agree, the saying is true. Once you try it on, you know exactly whether it's the one or not. I tried on a few that I thought were nice and pretty, but none that made me feel beautiful. This one did. I can't wait to pick it up.

They are also bringing me material for making a chinese dress and bridesmaid dresses. Will take a look at that on Friday as well. I don't think I will be able to sleep well until I have the dress in hand and shipped back to Florida!

Wanted to give a shout out to Eric for being a patient and kind fiance, Aunt Jamila for taking the time to shop with me and introducing me to these shops and to Aunt Donna for driving a hard bargain! Let's hope it all pays off! :)


Day 29 - "Celebrations and More Celebrations" - Hong Kong, China

As usual, we slept in a bit. I really don't think we can physically leave the flat before 10 a.m. Eric had gone to this restaurant, Tsui Wah, with his aunt and uncle for a snack a few days ago and liked it, so we decided to go there for lunch. The place was a mad house. We kept getting told to go up a floor, finally found a shared table in a small corner on the third floor. Eric had pork chops with sweet corn and spaghetti and I had beef, tomato and egg on rice. The place was buzzing with activity. In fact, the whole city is constantly buzzing with activity. It reminds us a lot of NY but with more color and shorter people. Like Bangkok, you smell food everywhere. But in addition to that, the city is full of lights and movement. People are always on the go and everything is lit up with neon lights. Reminds me of Times Square NY, but not isolated to one spot. The whole city is lit up in lights. Guess they don't have any energy conservation initiatives here....

We then took the MTR to Causeway Bay to meet up with cousins and aunts and uncles. Then we headed to Mong Kok to go to Ladies' Market (Lieu Yan Guy) with cousin Willy. I bought dresses for $100 HKD. They try to upsell, but back down when I start complaining that I can pay the same or less for the same thing in the US. There are not as good of bargains as in Thailand, but they do have more modern stuff, and not just trinkets.

We were pretty exhausted from all the walking and shopping, so we headed back to the apartment for a break. Then we got ready for Aunt Donna's birthday dinner at the HK Golf Club. We had a traditional multi-course chinese dinner. Eric and I were introduced to "goose web". As you can imagine, since I don't eat regular chicken, I was surely not going to eat goose feet! Eric was braver and attempted to eat it. Said it didn't taste like much.

We finally rolled ourselves out of there around 10pm. Then the cousins all headed out on the town. We went to this played called Racks to shoot pool. Eric and me vs. Michelle and Willy. We creamed them 10-5. They won the last game, which they seemed to think gave them the license to gloat, heh. We had a few beers and shots (OK, I had half a beer and a quarter of a shot) - so please excuse the pictures. There are some silly ones in there. Turns out my cousin Willy turns purple just like me!

We left around 2:30 am and went for a late night snack at Tsui Wah. Looks like we went full circle. Started there and ended there. We somehow managed to get ourselves ready for bed and finally retired around 4am.


Day 30 - "Eating and Chilling" - Hong Kong, China

We're going to keep this one short. Our day consisted of waking up late, having wonton mein for lunch, catching up on email, and lounging around and taking the occasional nap. We eventually met up with Jenny and Eugene for dinner at a shanghainese restaurant called Xiao Nan Guo in Central. We had minced pork stuffed sesame buns, shanghai dumplings, rice cakes, soup with chicken and wontons. All the dishes that Jenny and Eugene ordered were really good.

Afterwards, we took a walk through Lan Kwei Fong, an area with lots of bars and clubs, mostly patronized by ex-pats. We'll probably end up spending more time here before we leave HK.

For the pictures of Days 28 to 30, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=theresang1977&target=ALBUM&id=5395322812004015057&authkey=Gv1sRgCJ7o8q6-qPeJowE&feat=email