After almost 4 weeks of work/vacation in Manila, I find myself back in HK, writing this blog from the Internet Cafe near my flat. After getting used to waking up to my own bed and seeing my family in the morning, taking the MRT to Makati or Ortigas to check out the malls, meeting friends both old and new, meeting photographers and arranging shoots, today, I'm back here in my "other reality."
Traveling to a nearby country is a funny thing. Just this morning, I was in Francis' studio with Maricar, and her 2 very able talents - Joel and Ynez. We were shooting this print ad, and for first timers, both Joel and Ynez performed really well. At 15 before 2, I quickly hailed a cab and headed to the airport. Check in was quite fast, the flight was relatively on-time (this was PAL, so it's a big thing), and by 6:15 pm, here I was. Chek Lap Kok, taking an Airport Express train to Kowloon, then riding a cab going to Pak On building, my "other home."
When I arrived, a couple of pleasant surprises greeted me. First, was a couple of Christmas cards from the US, and it's always nice to open and read Christmas cards. Second, the building guard said: "Where have you been?" Which means my absence was noticed. Third, I found out that I left a pack of bread in the flat - and it transformed into a hideous, mouldy monstrosity. I had to make a beeline to the trash can to dispose of it. Thank goodness the pack was sealed, so there was no smell.
After checking out the apartment, I proceeded downstairs to see if there's anything new in the neighborhood. Taking a walk along my usual route, it was pretty much the usual stuff. Stores on sale, people shopping, and salary men on their way home.
Next stop was Harbour City. When I got there, my two favorite four-letter words greeted me:
ZARA
SALE
Like a dog who hasn't been fed for 3 weeks, I quickly ran in and sniffed around for good buys. There weren't that many, although there were a couple of promising choices. This got me a-thinkin', since the IFC branch is better stocked, maybe they have more stuff there. So quickly, I took a ferry to Central and headed off to the original Zara store in HK.
Zara Men wasn't too exciting, though the women's store yielded a couple of great finds. The Gujrat wedding skirt I was lusting over was there, from $1299, it was now $399. But as I was about to snatch and pay for it, I noticed that some of the beadwork at the hem were gone. That's the reason why the price is that low - it was damaged. I decided to forego buying it, maybe they have better ones in Pacific Place or Times Square.
But I did walk away with 4 items of clothing: 2 beaded jersey blouses (one each for my two sisters.) It had one of my favorite color combinations - aqua blue jersey and brown embroidery and beadwork. The workmanship alone is worth the price tag, and since it's 50% off, who can resist. I was also able to buy an green empire cut blouse for my pregnant sister, and a brown bolero made of corduroy. For this stash, I only paid $479. Since this is Zara I bought, that's really a great buy.
Let me see, I've been in Hong Kong for less than 3 hours, and already I've shopped at Zara for my sisters.
Yup, I'm back indeed.
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