Business trips, FASHION, Hong Kong, Uncategorized SHOPPING IN HONG KONG 5 April 2009

So.. onto my Hong Kong trip! It was a whirlwind few days of packing in as many meetings as possible during the day, then dashing off at about 7pm to grab some dinner. Frankly, I wasn’t in a huge shopping mood (I know, SHOCKER!) because it was just so frantic and busy during the day, so all I wanted was to go home and sleep every evening. Still, managed to get some shopping in πŸ˜‰ I bought a few bits and bobs here and there, and on Saturday morning, I was determined to go for a huge shop and get my hands on whatever I couldn’t find in China (or which was exorbitantly) priced.

So off I went to Tsim Tsa Shui (geez it is near impossible to pronounce it properly… I wish they’d rename it something a little easier on the tongue!) where the huge megamalls and 13623432 side shops are. I went into the huge Harbour City mall (which is joined to 2 other malls, and combined is the biggest one I’ve ever seen), and SHOPPED UP A STORM. I mean, really shopped. I had a huuuuuge load and got ready to pay and passed over my Australian credit card (because I still can’t figure out how to get a China credit card). A moment later, the cashier said “Errr Miss, your card says Declined.”

WHAT!?!

My credit card limit is definitely not low or reachable (I didn’t ask for it to be so high, my bank just keeps raising it for the heck of it?) and I’ve not once not paid off my monthly credit card bill 100% in full (I cannot STAND only making partial repayments, being in ‘debt’ to a bank is my pet hate). So I was sure it had nothing to do with my account or whatever. But of course, the cashier didn’t, and gave me the shifty eye. Worse yet, the shoppers behind me gave me a sad look, like a “Wow.. this girl shops so much her bank cancelled her credit card”, or something. Major embarassment, not to mention piss annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grr πŸ™

Unbelievably, I had to give everything back and go back to the hotel empty handed. This also meant I didn’t have cold hard cash on me, and couldn’t even catch a cab to the airport, so the hotel had to do some fancy thing and give me a cash advance. *facepalm*

So later when I called my Aussie bank, grumpy as all hell, I was told that they blocked my card because of some fraud risk. Apparently I was one of the UNLUCKY ones that had my credit card number compromised.. so the bank shut down all these compromised cards. I’m cool with that, in fact, that’s a great service… but WHY OH WHY do they have to give the message “Declined” on the casher’s control panel?? Why can’t it say “Security – please call bank” or something? Well, that kinda sounds dodgy too. Hmm.. I can’t think of a non-dodgy message? Haha.

Sooo the long and short of it is, I didn’t end up buying all the stuff I wanted to in Hong Kong. Possibly a blessing in disguise because I probably saved an extraordinary amount of money (part of which included savings of a Chanel lambskin bag that I was eyeing but couldn’t buy). Still, depressing! Looking forward to going back to shop properly πŸ˜‰


Red and gold interior of the Hotel Kan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong

Corner desk in the Hong Kong office, overlooking the city

These prawn noodles I found downstairs. They look a bit blah
but man they were good! The best I’ve had in ages…. *slurps*

Crazy nightlife with shops and pubs all mushed together.
As you can see, it’s like an expat hotspot..

Random beauty stuff from Sasa, one of my favourite skincare/cosmetic stores

Hello Kitty lipbalm, for MAC Cosmetics. Tooooo cute, and it looks great on!

Aerosoles – yes, an American brand but they’re not available here. Soft sueded lining on
extra cushioned footbed and a flexible rubber sole. What more could you want?!?!

This one’s good for work. Yes, I’m fully aware I threw out 2 cartons of shoes
so you don’t need to remind me! These two pairs were totally necessary πŸ˜‰


Let’s Chat!




Let's Chat!

Not sure cos I can’t remember.. but have you checked out the Sasa hong kong site? They’ll probably have the price there! I remember it was super $$ though..

Not sure cos I can’t remember.. but have you checked out the Sasa hong kong site? They’ll probably have the price there! I remember it was super $$ though..

Ahhh…credit card hell. I’ve learned [like you] that using credit cards overseas raises red flags, even here in Japan. Everytime I travel overseas [or even out of Hawaii], I have to inform the credit card companies ahead of time to let them know what days and where I’ll be traveling. What a pain in the butt, right?

Ahhh…credit card hell. I’ve learned [like you] that using credit cards overseas raises red flags, even here in Japan. Everytime I travel overseas [or even out of Hawaii], I have to inform the credit card companies ahead of time to let them know what days and where I’ll be traveling. What a pain in the butt, right?

Oh that’s horrible! At least you saved some money, right?

Something similar happened to me on my last day in Mexico a few years ago.. I was at the airport getting some last minute shopping done before we had some lunch and got on the plane, and my bank decided to suspend my debit mastercard (I can’t be trusted with a real one haha) because of “suspicious activity” (though the EFTpos machine just said “declined”). I freaked out a bit, because I knew I definitely had a lot of money on my card and luckily I had some US & AU cash, otherwise I would’ve starved on my THREE planes back home.

Also, I LOVE the MAC Hello Kitty collection, it’s so cute! Have you seen their Dame Edna collection? That’s awesome too πŸ™‚

I didn’t wanna save money though, hehe

Those “declined” msgs are so cryptic and freak me out, argh!

I haven’t see the Dame Edna yet… I think I prefer Hello Kitty moretho πŸ˜›

omg that totally just happened to me recently! while i was traveling too! my account was compromised and I had no warning at all when they canceled my card =(!

I can’t stand these idiot fraudsters that do that to us!! Why can’t they just GET A JOB instead of pissing other people off and stealing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I get seriously embarassed too when I am told that my card is declined for reasons like these -_- I too had some silly ‘suspected fraud’ thing going on and they wanted to cancel my card for ‘security reasons. Very annoying.
Likewise, I always pay my bills totally – hate owing.

I get seriously embarassed too when I am told that my card is declined for reasons like these -_- I too had some silly ‘suspected fraud’ thing going on and they wanted to cancel my card for ‘security reasons. Very annoying.
Likewise, I always pay my bills totally – hate owing.

We stayed in TST this summer and managed to get lost in Harbour City because it was so much bigger than anything in the Land of Oz.

I wish I knew about the Aerosoles when we were in HK in February because I like the sound of the cushion-y sole!

LOL yeah you gotta basically follow the mall map and plan how you’re gonna walk, or you don’t cover the entire area – I love it πŸ˜‰

Oh you poor thing! Hopefully there will be more HK trips for you sooner then πŸ˜‰

I think TST is said jim sha jui? I’m probably wrong too πŸ˜›

Ahh I think that’s marginally better. maybe a “this has nothing to do with card owner. please do not look at her shiftily” will also be good πŸ˜‰

Oh that’s horrible! At least you saved some money, right?

Something similar happened to me on my last day in Mexico a few years ago.. I was at the airport getting some last minute shopping done before we had some lunch and got on the plane, and my bank decided to suspend my debit mastercard (I can’t be trusted with a real one haha) because of “suspicious activity” (though the EFTpos machine just said “declined”). I freaked out a bit, because I knew I definitely had a lot of money on my card and luckily I had some US & AU cash, otherwise I would’ve starved on my THREE planes back home.

Also, I LOVE the MAC Hello Kitty collection, it’s so cute! Have you seen their Dame Edna collection? That’s awesome too πŸ™‚

I didn’t wanna save money though, hehe

Those “declined” msgs are so cryptic and freak me out, argh!

I haven’t see the Dame Edna yet… I think I prefer Hello Kitty moretho πŸ˜›

omg that totally just happened to me recently! while i was traveling too! my account was compromised and I had no warning at all when they canceled my card =(!

I can’t stand these idiot fraudsters that do that to us!! Why can’t they just GET A JOB instead of pissing other people off and stealing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I get seriously embarassed too when I am told that my card is declined for reasons like these -_- I too had some silly ‘suspected fraud’ thing going on and they wanted to cancel my card for ‘security reasons. Very annoying.
Likewise, I always pay my bills totally – hate owing.

I get seriously embarassed too when I am told that my card is declined for reasons like these -_- I too had some silly ‘suspected fraud’ thing going on and they wanted to cancel my card for ‘security reasons. Very annoying.
Likewise, I always pay my bills totally – hate owing.

We stayed in TST this summer and managed to get lost in Harbour City because it was so much bigger than anything in the Land of Oz.

I wish I knew about the Aerosoles when we were in HK in February because I like the sound of the cushion-y sole!

LOL yeah you gotta basically follow the mall map and plan how you’re gonna walk, or you don’t cover the entire area – I love it πŸ˜‰

Oh you poor thing! Hopefully there will be more HK trips for you sooner then πŸ˜‰

I think TST is said jim sha jui? I’m probably wrong too πŸ˜›

Ahh I think that’s marginally better. maybe a “this has nothing to do with card owner. please do not look at her shiftily” will also be good πŸ˜‰

the room looks fab!!

OHWOWEEEEE i love the second pair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(pssst: been sometime since im the first commenter in your entries! *grinss*)

the room looks fab!!

OHWOWEEEEE i love the second pair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(pssst: been sometime since im the first commenter in your entries! *grinss*)