The Holiday…..One Crazy Country

First of all and most importantly, I’d like to say a big thank you on behalf of my sister for all the well wishes. Some of you will know why I suddenly jumped on the next plane out of UK. She’s doing great and all went extremely well. Thank you.

I’ve been so behind in my blog reading, hundred of emails to read and reply and Ravelry, I’ve missed so much and I think I am getting there. Sorry for not reply, posting comments etc, I haven’t forgotton about you all.

It’s been a good week and half now since my feet landed back on UK soil and trying to get round the time difference, well has been difficult, waking up during the most weirdest hours, knodding off during dinner but finally, and a BIG finally, my body has returned back to normal, my sleeping pattern, my diet, my lazy days……. My head has found my body again or my body has found my head, whichever way, its back to my normal routine. One thing that still remains unchanged…….I go for the toilet handle on the left when my toilet hand is on the right!!! Don’t ask my why I am still doing this. I can’t explain.

So……I hear you asking, how was the holiday? Well, apart from being frozen during the first week on arrival, (weather was really cold) and not taking many photos cos I kept forgettng to, one word….CRAZY! This is one craaaazzy, manic country. The country is overcrowded, busy, manic and people rushing to get to their destinations. Trains often crammed with people, going to work, shoppers, tourists…..you cannot stop or you’d be left behind. Shopping malls so crowded, its unbelievable where or how they find time to shop. Restaurants crowded, you’d have to wait for a table. The smaller eateries, you’d often have to share a table with some complete stranger.

Every morning I’d wake up to the faint sound of a music, flute playing in the background and the smell of burning incense. It was like dreaming. An old lady in the next flat would wake up very early and pray. Then the hustle and bustle of the early morning market stalls would suddenly wake you up…..yeah I am still in HK. The street vendors make such a racket in the morning, totally impossible to have a lie in.

 APM Shopping Mall

My second day on arrival was to hunt down the yarn stores. I found quite a few on my travels. Some more well stocked in yarns than others but trying to buy without being pressured was hard. Nearly all the yarns were behind the counter in clear bags and in order to fondle, you’d have to ask to have a look. Then once you’ve done that…..well you’re in for the hard sell. They will try and sell you the yarn and tell you that  this colour is so popular and hard to find and a bargain price and it would be some bright fluorescent colour. Or they sell you some stock they are trying to shift!! I once asked for cashmere……trying to say in Chinese, but I totally made a fool of myself……caaass – eee – meereee, I was shown alpaca!!! I gave up looking for cashmere after that! Lots of yarns, acrylic, merino wool, alpaca, nylon, but nothing really smacked me in the face. I also found small market stores often selling cones of unlabelled yarn but you’d have no idea of what you’re buying. I did once stumble across a lady with a holdall of what looked like recycled yarn. They looked like she had maybe frogged a jumper and wound the wool to sell, the yarn still had kinks in it, just like noodles lol.

You know this thing about copyright? You can’t photocopy a pattern from a book etc right?…..well, they don’t know what copyright is!! You can easily request a pattern from a book if you’ve made a purchase or for 2HKD per photocopy!!! It’s not illegal. I notice a group of ladies knitting at a store and she openly asked if she could have a copy of this. The retailer just photocopied it. This is HK!

Bargains? yeah I did find and I wasn’t about to leave HK without a few of these….

Addi needles…..and guess how much? Amazingly cheap from £1.50 to under £2.00 per needle! Can you believe that?? Funnily, they only stock lengths 40cm to 80cm, nothing longer or shorter. They don’t knit socks or blankets there. So I bought the sizes I needed. How could I resist at that price???

A few balls of Japanese yarns Granbia by Hamanaka, and some Japanese crochet books. Yarn was slightly expensive with only 40gm per ball and yardage was not generous either but it felt like Malabrigo and very soft, I couldn’t let this get away.

One of the quietest shopping malls I have been to

Elements, newly opened aimed for the posher shoppers. It was here I found a copy of IK Holiday Gifts 2007. Possibly the only copy ever in HK and it was mine 🙂

……and something I found so hilarious

Queuing up to enter Louis Vuitton Store? Were they giving away a free LV bag?? Was there someone famous in there? No, my sister tells me this is normal on a weekend. LV is so popular in HK that the second biggest store in the world is opening just a few doors down! See that guy with the pink luggage? what does he think he’s buying…..a load of wallets? I wonder 🙂

Harbour City

The country is full of designer gear. I’ve seen girls dressed from head to toe in Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Mui Mui, Dior. I felt out of place in my scruffy jeans and t shirt. Girls, so thin, make up applied perfectly, designer bag in one arm, designer store shopping bag in other! How do they stay so thin when you see these?

and these?

very very yummy. especially that Mango fruit slice mmmmmm. Coffee is my morning fix for the day but not made with evaporated milk. Asked why they use this, cos its cheap and fresh milk is expensive. Ok….why so expensive? Cos there are no cows in HK, ok enough said. Starbucks and Pacific Coffee were “a must” and whenever I’d pass one, I’d grab one.

I could go on and on about my travels to HK but won’t bore you to death with it. I taught my sister to crochet whilst I was there and she is busy crocheting a small blanket. I lost my knitting mojo upon return, just didn’t feel the urge to knit or fondle my yarns. Since then, I’ve cast on a project. I’ll tell you more on that later and what yummy yarns arrived just in the last few days.

Have I bored you? Hope not 🙂