Land of the Rising Sun

Hi there,
Just returned from the land of the rising sun, China of course!
Tess and I spent 2 days finding our way around Hong Kong, which was mindboggling, then 2 days up in Guangzhou at Canton fair, visiting suppliers.

Hong Kong highlights:
On Hong Kong Island, there is a tram that travels from the shops up to Hong Kong Peak, from where you can see just about every part of Hong Kong and Kowloon. Of course, there is an enormous shopping mall at the top of the Peak, in case you  need to fit in more shopping, kind of weird really!
There are also ponds up there with black carp that nibble the dead skin off your feet, if you happen to take your shoes off and take the plunge. A DJ from Sydney told me about this on the way down in the tram, we didn’t try it ourselves. Next time!
We also found our way to Stanley Market, on the other side of HK island, which was a treat. The town side of HK is covered in enormous high rise apartment buildings, but as soon as you drive over the hill, the scenery becomes beautiful coastline, with white sandy beaches and cafes. Even though they have sad names like Repulse Bay! And Stanley market, which is great for picking up last season bargains for kids, men, and some women’s fashion. Tess bagged a bargain ski suit, which will be used next winter by the whole family.
We didn’t get to the Ladies Market, as we ran out of time, but it sounds like a visit may be necessary next time.
The stores in HK city are amazing, beautiful retail, and all just releasing their winter seasons, even though it doesn’t get below 15 degrees there. I was excited to see that my forecast for colours and themes was bang on for next winter, with lots of plaids, velvets, and florals in great 70’s colours, kind of Indy mixed with Starsky and Hutch! Tan cord and denim blues will be big next season, as well as hand knits just like we made in the 70’s.
We stayed on the Kowloon side this time, at the Holiday Inn, which was good, but next time would rather stay on the island where all the action is.

Guangzhou was great, every time we go there, the city gets newer and bigger. There is a brand new train station now which wasn’t there a year ago, and the Pearl river has lots of new amazing high rises along it leading to the exhibition centre, where we attended Canton Fair. This is the biggest export fair in China, where everything made in China is bought, sold or traded. As you can imagine, it is huge. Our section, home textiles, took 2 full days just to walk around, with a few stops to practice our pigeon English. There were buyers from every country in the world trying to speak English to the Chinese traders, very amusing to watch as tempers rose!
We had some great massages in the hotel, the Grand Royal, and had dinner at the Banana Leaf in town, which has a cast of camp waiting staff who serenade the diners. There other feature in Guangzhou is the smog, which is sadly getting worse each year. It is always lovely to come home and go running along the beach and through the bush to clear my lungs.