switchin'
Got back home nearly about 2 hours ago. Making your way back home in this city late at night is quite a refreshing experience. You get to see another side to HK actually, the total opposite to the commonly crowded, fast-paced sceneries (well du-uh, are you dense??! Of course it'll be more quiet with less people when it's late at night D=) *
( Read more... )
ah yes, there were cases of such when HK was beginning to become a popular spot for shoppping a few years ago. But getting ripped off unless you know the local dialect, that happens alot more in Mainland China to be honest, not saying that it doesn't happen here as well but it happens tons more when they're out of HK. Once you speak another language or if they know right away that you're a Westerner for eg., they start rising the prices like crazy, up to 5x more in some cases, and since foreigners find that the prices that they offer is so much lesser than what they usually paid for in the their own country, they don't bother bargaining. Then there are times when the touring agency fooled the tourists into going into these uncertified shops, where the profits sought from the goods bought also goes to those tour guide people, so it's like a joint illegal agreement thing. Then there's also the problem of fake goods, i'm not saying this in an animation merchandises perspective, but more like those other goods that people would go shopping for, such as jewellery. One of the solution that the govt. did was to issue a Quality Tourism Services scheme. Certified shops have those labels in their window shops. And the locals and those who's lived here long enough to know, we all pretty much know what's fake or not. And like what x-reggg have said, it does depend on where you go to buy things, HK Island and Kowloon both have respectable shops but lots more "shady shops" exists in Kowloon rather than HK Island.
Well if you ever want to visit HK, you should go to the HK Tourism website and have a read first =) or just ask me lol.
Reply
Reply
No matter what, especially if it's in Mainland China, it's best to go shopping with someone who knows the place well and is able to speak Mandarin. My mom can be really scary when it comes to bargaining x__x and although i can bargain, i'm not exactly very good at it. In HK since there's so many foreigners and everything, most shop attendants don't really bother asking as to where you come from but in Mainland China, they're such nose-y people, there is a high chance that they will ask you as to where you come from then try to get friendly with you, although many are genuine but you do get annoyed by it. As for prices, it's very different now since many brand shops are invading into China. Before, you basically can get anything according to their "bulk" price ie. the price that the factories pay in order to obtain those goods in order to manufacture it again to be used for parts of another more expensive item etc., think of it in a cheap labour sort of way, it's exactly like that, so the goods can be extremely/too cheap compared to how much we usually pay for them in proper shops. They're becoming rather stoic in keeping the prices that they propose now however so it's hard to bargain.
O and something else you'll have to get used to if you don't exactly blend with the Chinese people over here, it's the staring. Yep. People like to stare at other here, and at first i thought that maybe they realised that i'm not exactly one of their people because it is normal for people to do that right? But then after awhile you realise that it seems too much, after so many years of being here, i finally realised that it's just this Chinese thing? *shrugs* XD People are so conscious of each other here that it's just insane. I look/glare at them back till they look away because by this time i'm already rather irked. It's less bad in HK but still bad =x
Reply
Leave a comment