More shopping

So many flea markets, so little time. 

 I wonder if flea markets are going to pall with me?

 Naaaaaaaaah...

 Next one's at the end of September.

Bedding wholesale shop in Mui Wo

 It's above the Thai restaurant.

Mike and Tess haven't formally opened it yet but if you ask the folks at Nitaya Thai Kitchen, they can call either one of them for you.

Super soft towels at HK$88, cushions at HK$88 and, best of all, entire duvet sets (duvet + 2 pillowcases) for only HK$499. They only have 12 sets left and once they're gone, they're gone. We bought to stock up for winter.

New shops in Mui Wo

The Mui Wo gossip mill is working at full speed. There are three vacant shops along the busiest stretch... what are they going to be?

Some say this is going to be a cafe.

Not sure about the former Typhoon Brewery.

Or the old Easy Reach office. And who is this Irene Linden who has her name up in many Mui Wo shopfronts recently?

Jamie Oliver comes to Mui Wo...

... or at least his spices have. 

Loi Chan Frozen Meat Company (Tel: 2984-8346) in Chung Hau has really grown since I last featured it.

It now has a much larger selection of meats, from US Angus rib eye to Brazilian pork butt (!) and New Zealand lamb shank.

In fact, we had to stand by the freezer for a full 10 minutes while deciding between the Cumberland and Lincolnshire pork sausages (HK$65 for 6). We got the Cumberland but I think we'll be going back for the Lincolnshire soon.

DB Handmade fair

The sun was out and the temperature was just nice for a fair: Handmade Hong Kong at Discovery Bay. 

I must say that, despite it being called "handmade", most of the items were pretty high quality – not surprisingly, some of the vendors also sell in mainstream shops such as Dymocks.

I coveted these bean bags so much, especially seeing as you can personalise your covers, but our flat is way too small for one.

Aren't these earrings lovely? At HK$20, they make wonderful presents for nieces!

Frilly beanbags... can they get any cuter?

The piazza was packed because they were also having an Action Asia Triathlon.

Renge House now takes credit cards...

... which is bad news for Buffalo Wilbur cos it means I'll be spending waaaaay more than when it was cash only.

Especially since it's having a winter sale of woollens.

Going local in Fu Tung

We were getting a bit tired of Citygate – there is only so much outlet shopping we can do – so we decided to try Fu Tung Shopping Centre on the other side of Tung Chung MTR station.

It has such a different atmosphere from the slick Citygate. For one, most of the offerings were very local.

The wet market portion came as a surprise. It sold everything from cooked food to duvets and toiletries.

Even kimchi.

The shopping centre itself has a disproportionate number of restaurants, clothes shops and mobile phone stores. There's even an entire shop dedicated to frozen food, which you can reheat on the spot.

And a supermarket selling health food and other unusual products such as this leg of cured meat.

DB flea market in January

Whoo hooo! The DB flea market is back! Over 130 stalls, crazy buys... I am so excited I can hardly wait. Hope PALS is going to be there setting up their ever-popular stall of donated items.

Date: January 8 (usually from noon)
Where: The Piazza

You can get more info here.

Bag this!

My home is filled with lots of shopping bags bought in the mistaken belief that it will save me plenty of 50-cent plastic bag levies. But that didn't stop me from getting this traditional woven bag from Wellcome.

It's only HK$29 and makes a good souvenir. I'd like to think it was handwoven by old women wearing traditional fishing hats but I strongly suspect it was machine-made somewhere in Shenzhen.

More ways to spend money

We've walked past this shop in Chung Hau village for the past two years and have never seen it open. In it was a pair of silver earrings shaped like the Chinese character for double happiness with a HK$28 price tag on it that I absolutely coveted.

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw it was open during our walk today, with leather curtains up and everything.

The shop isn't very big, just a small lean-to tagged onto the hairdresser's next door. But it has lots of quaint items such as earrings made of guitar picks and picture badges.

The owner, Arale, also owns the pet shop opposite so if the shop's closed and you see something you want to buy in the window, just pop across and ask her to open it for you.

If I'd known that, I'd have been the proud owner of those silver earrings two years ago.

Shoe sample sale!

Mui Wo has never seen so much excitement. Sample sale of Italian shoes... be still my heart!

The shoes are being sold guerilla-shop style by Octavia, who lives in Luk Tei Tong. Her brother is in the fashion business. They buy the samples from Italy and ship them back once a year so she gets a huge supply of samples to sell in Mui Wo.

Last year, she sold them in the village but this year, she's been lucky enough to get a shop opposite ParkNShop, a few doors away from Renge House. Well, that's lucky for us too.

As I entered, one woman came dashing out, chanting: "Better leave, better leave." Turns out she'd bought 20 pairs already and if she'd stayed any longer, she'd have bought 20 more.

The shoes are priced from HK$50 upwards and, in true bargain fashion, the prices go down the more pairs you buy.

Those funky boots you see above were HK$350... but, as most things there are one-off, I doubt you'll be seeing those in the shop anymore because I bought them.

Octavia will open the store till May 1, or until she runs out of stock.

Just my kind of shop

I have often maintained Mui Wo needs a shop for impulse buys -- like the ones you see lining Yung Shue Wan Main Street in Lamma. The kind where most things are below HK$100 so day trippers (and residents) can go in and feed their shopaholic tendencies with an accessory or two.

So I was absolutely ecstatic when Buffalo Wilbur told me of Renge House (Shop H, Sea View Building. Tel: 2406-8122) opposite Park N Shop.

The location isn't ideal. Impulse buyers normally stick to the McDonald's row or the cluster of stalls next to the public toilet. But hopefully, the range of cutesy stuff might tempt some to walk beyond the main street.

Run by a lovely couple (Aoso is from Japan, her husband is from Hong Kong and they have an adorable rosy-cheeked baby boy), the shop is full of stuff I want to buy: quirky T-shirts at two for HK$80, crinkly scarves for HK$38, Korean accessories at two for HK$100... I even managed to placate Buffalo Wilbur with a solar torch that fit on his keychain.

My worry now is earning fast enough to afford everything in the shop.