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.

Video tour of Mui Wo

Ever since I started this blog, I've been getting queries about Mui Wo from a few people considering moving here (yay).

I will be posting some Mui Wo FAQs later but, in the meantime, Youtube has a video that gives you an idea of the faces and place in the area.

I can't figure out the code on blogspot that will ensure that the right side of the screen isn't chopped out but you can view the high definition of the video on Youtube.

Opening up

Lantau Outlet, the shop at Scenic Crest selling bits and bobs you never thought you needed, is closing down. But never fear, you'll still be able to get your ceramic pine trees and lengths of chain.

It's just moving a few doors down, says the woman in the shop. She also says the vacated space will be taken up by an Italian deli.

I really hope it's true. Ever since the deli in Mui Wo Centre closed down, I haven't been able to assemble a decent sandwich.

But what's even better is that it hopefully heralds the start of Mui Wo becoming more happening. It will be great if the waterfront up to Sea Crest starts opening up with shops and restaurants. At the moment, it's a bit of a dead space past Wellcome.

In place of the old deli is Deer Horn restaurant and bar. Initially, we watched the sign going up and thought it was going to be some Scandinavian joint serving stuff like ice beer and vodka.

But no, Buffalo Wilbur popped his head in while the renovations were going on and found out it's actually going to serve Nepalese/Italian place. I'm not sure where the deer horn bit comes from (perhaps there are lots of deer in Nepal?) but I am game to try out a new spot.

Deer Horn opens today. Will keep you posted.

Mongkok madness

I know this is supposed to be a blog on Mui Wo living but honestly, you can't talk about doing up a flat in Mui Wo -- or anywhere else in Hong Kong -- without mentioning Mongkok's famous Tile Street. Unless you are a money-no-option person who has left it all to your interior designer, you will eventually end up here. It's the place to go for all your renovation needs.

Our contractor said he would show us some tiles his company had for sale but for bathroom and kitchen fixings, we were on our own. So, after getting some sketchy details from renovation-savvy friends (along the lines of "somewhere in Mongkok, you'll never miss it. It's got all those tiles on the sidewalk"), we girded up our courage to cross to The Other Side.

Located in Portland Street, near Argyle and Bute Streets, Tile Street (that's just a nickname, not a real one) has rows and rows of shops selling bathroom fixings, tiles, window frames, mirrors, wallpaper, cookers and lights. The busiest area is between Exits A2 and C2 of the Mongkok MTR station.

It is any budding interior designer's dream. You can get anything from tiles that cost HK$10 per piece to taps that make you gulp at HK$20,000. Those daring enough to venture through dingy corridors into rickety lifts (escorted by some of the most persistent touts I've ever seen) might just be rewarded by the sight of shops selling custom-made kitchens finished off with the holy grail of countertops, Corian.

You can spend an entire day just walking in and out of the shops in a daze... as we did on our first trip there. Should we have colour-changing LED lights for our ceiling? Or maybe a shower door etched with dolphins? How about a sandstone slab for the living room, with a tasteful little waterfall? Ooooh, that mosaic looks just like something from a Greek church!

On our second trip, we were smarter, zooming in exactly on what we needed: a toilet and a bathroom sink. Veterans now, we grabbed cards and noted down dimensions, looking so purposeful the touts knew to avoid us. In the end, we bought our very first item for our new flat: that Grohe mixer you see in the picture.

One down, another 100 more to go. And we haven't even started on our kitchen yet.

<---- Guard cats. Some assembly required.

Home at last

The day is as lovely as only a non-polluted summer day in Hong Kong can be. The sun is out and tourists streaming out from the ferry terminal tilt their heads to enjoy the full warmth of its rays.

Tony the hairdresser waves to a regular from his salon while Tom enjoys a quick gossip with his customers outside his cafe. At the bus station, two dogs hold up an incoming bus from Tung Chung by refusing to budge. The driver just waits patiently and finally one dog lifts his head and ambles off, followed by the other. There's no rush, everyone seems to slow down the moment they emerge from the pier.

Ahhhh, this is why we have decided to move to Mui Wo, the southern gateway to Lantau island. People population: 5,000. Dog and buffalo population: Probably just as many.

I fell in love with the town the first time I saw it. We'd just done a two-hour hike from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo and, knees trembling from the long stairway down from the mountains, we stopped for a snack at a beach hotel that looked like a throwback to the 70s, complete with kitsch fountains and chipped statuary. I ordered spring rolls and orange juice. The drink was as flourescent as a safety vest and tasted like those Tang drinks I had as a child -- the one which made you feel like an astronaut. It was absolutely delightful.

With such an introduction to the town, it was no wonder that I was predisposed to it even before I saw it. I loved that it, like the orange drink, looked like a throwback to the 70s, when life was slower, quieter and unplugged. My husband was won over by the very professional looking second-hand bookshop on the corner, known as The Bookshop. Duh.

That was three years ago. And finally, after a lot of humming and hawing, we are going to move here. We've bought ourselves an absolutely tiny flat with a sea view. Many people have asked us why we bought somewhere in the town, their attitude being: "If you want country living, why are you not getting a village house instead?"

The reasons are:
1) We can't afford the minimum 30 percent downpayment on a village house.
2) With so many Cathay pilots snapping up the village houses, the prices are so high we can't even get a mortgage on one.
3) Lazy gits that we are, we like being three minutes from the ferry pier so we can see the ferry coming in and run.
4) The Wellcome supermarket is just downstairs. Told you we were lazy gits.
5) Most village houses don't have a sea view and the ones which do have are perched so high on the mountainside they take ages to get to.

More on Mui Wo living later.