I love Singapore as a place to live. But I love Honkers as a place to visit. I am languishing in the Mandarin Oriental (sorry, the ‘M.O.’ as it’s called here by those who know; I didn’t, but have now been told) as I write this, having arrived late last night. 

Whilst H works, to keep us in rooms, I have two whole days to re-explore one of my favourite cities that I haven’t been back to for about a year.  All sounds good…except for the small fact that I have a rotten, stinking cold. Sitting in bed as I write this, surrounded by a mountain of tissues, (note: I am not a teenage boy…this may be an anonymous blog but I am strictly female, I promise, and in my world tissues are used first and foremost for voracious nose blowing) I have picked a good place to be ill.

The room is a suite and it’s fabulous:

The best bit of all I think is the bath:

And the bubble bath to put in it (which I immediately locked away in the hotel safe in order to get full replenishment at next sheet change.  Does anyone not do this? It’s what hotel safes were made for, isn’t it?)

And the view’s not too bad either:

I can even see Cartier and Prada when I’m brushing my teeth.

The bedroom is impossible to photograph but suffice to say it’s a bit like being on board a yacht (think small, cosy and luxe) crossed with a chalet (wooden walls, wooden ceiling). This is the most interesting I could manage:

But HK is too exciting a city for me to lie here all day feeling pathetic, so I stumbled out into the warmth to do some minimal shopping in central. It would have been rude not to.

I haven’t done too badly considering the very small amount of ground I covered. If you are one of my few high end readers, please remember that I am not like you (I did go into Vivienne Tam but everything looked a bit small so I walked out again).  I’m a girl who loves a bargain. I like street fashion. I want to look good but to only spend $20 doing it. Ok, well maybe a bit more but any smarty pants shops are generally not part of the game plan.

The first stop was The Lanes which I love for cheapo child-friendly buys: a pack of x20 children’s cotton pants (as in underwear) for SGD$7 anyone? I bought three lots and suddenly felt very clever and very much better.

Next in line, just a few stalls away was an Auntie selling incredible J Crew wool and cashmere blended sweater dresses that I got down to HKD$260 for one (that’s around SGD$40, provided I have worked it out right).  The snag is it’s brown and I really wanted black.  But, as I remembered between mopping my brow and blowing my nose, brown is allowed in English country houses, black is not. Done and home it comes:

(belt is a year old, bought from Lamb in Kowloon which I hope to make it back to tomorrow; sparkly bracelet a Lane purchase today, along with the dress)

Then, as I can’t ever walk past it without going in, H&M was a last stop before I crawled back home.

Ill purchases can be very hit and miss and I may wake up tomorrow, devastated with what I have bought; but in my current frame of mind my H&M success story includes a black peplum top which I am sure I will wear a lot…but we shall see.

And to think I had such grand plans of a trip on the lovely Star Ferry (the pier is a stone’s throw from where we are staying) with a morning spent on the left bank (Rive Gauche or Kowloon as it’s otherwise called – LT I am thinking of you as I write this). Sustenance between wandering from reasonably priced boutique to reasonably priced boutique could have been had at the lovely Agnes B cafe. The Jade Market would also have been a great foraging ground for Christmas presents.

Oh how I love Kowloon. But tomorrow, I am ever hopeful.