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Travel tips for shopoholics
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Travel tips for shopping freaks by Germanystartup
1. Hong Kong
Hong Kong has a lot more to offer shoppers than electronic gadgets these days – and visitors will find street markets, designer boutiques, and mega-malls laden with everything from jade to silk, in addition to cutting-edge technology, of course. Local designers like Vivienne Tam, William Tang, and Walter Ma are always popular, as are the vendor-rich streets of Li Yuen East and West, and the lanes of historic Stanley Market, favored for their collectibles like porcelain vases, silk garments, and Chinese artwork. The Jade Market in Yau Ma Tai is also a must – 500 stalls display the green gems that symbolize long life and good health. Each year, the Hong Kong WinterFest, a winter duty-free shopping nirvana, happens just in time for Christmas – so you can fill those holiday stockings at a discount.
2. Bangkok
Bangkok is renowned as one of the best shopping cities in Asia and it’s surely worth the trip, if only for some superb retail therapy on the way to the beaches of Phuket or the cultural temples of Chiang Mai. High-quality silk, jewelry, and traditional crafts – everything, really, from sizeable bling to tailor-made suits – at a fraction of stateside prices draw millions to this Thai capital every year. The city’s several chaotic markets, and especially the Chatuchak Market, are bona fide treasure troves, whether you’re scouting for clothing, home goods, or art, or live roosters, pythons, and even multi-colored chicks.
3. London
Whether you choose to shop the trendy boutiques of Covent Garden, follow in the steps of princesses by visiting Sloane Street, or pick up a bespoke suit on Saville Row or tailored shirt on Jermyn Street, you’re bound to shed a few pounds (of the monetary variety) when shopping in London. That said, you’ll save a few quid by visiting the stalls of Camden Market, the shops of Oxford Street, where Selfridges and Topshop maintain addresses, and Portobello Market, a haven for antiques and hand-me-down treasures. But also don’t forget to stock up on foodie treats at Fortnum and Mason, a veritable gourmand’s delight of beautifully presented teas, biscuits, cheeses, and more, and stop at the venerable Harrods – at least to buy a shopping tote to carry everything home in.
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India travel tips for shopping freaks by Germanystartup
India is known around the world for many things: the Taj Mahal, curry, call centers, arranged marriage, Rajasthan and the caste system, to name a few. But it ought to be known for bespoke.
Foreign tourists dutifully flock to custom tailors in the bazaars of Hong Kong and Bangkok. When they come to India, it is more often spiritual wares they seek. But India, and Bombay in particular, is a haven for tailoring, and getting custom-made clothes here is a blissfully affordable luxury. Labor still is cheap in India, and importing clothes-making machines still is expensive. So it is possible that your $20 custom shirt – slim-fit, Italian collar, French cuff, concealed buttons, no pocket – will cost less than a frumpier, worse-fitting, off-the-rack shirt in one of the city’s new malls.
A word of caution: This is not for the impatient. Getting it right requires a few days for an initial fitting and a few more for completion. If you are risk-averse, bring in an existing garment and have it copied. That almost never fails. But what you’re really paying for here is the chance to be creative and craft your own concept. Sometimes it works miracles; sometimes it painfully disappoints. This is fashion roulette.
Take advantage of the fact that this is India and not Hong Kong: Hunt for raw cotton or silk or linen or embroidered fabrics you might not find elsewhere, and ask your tailor to make you something fusiony: an Indian kurta, or tunic, shortened in length to form a shirt; a Nehru-collared suit in Italian wool; a cocktail dress with fabric from the parched desert of Kachchh, which you might pick up at a local street market. Most of the tailors keep fabric in their shops, but, if you’re daring, venture to Crawford Market’s fabric bazaar and buy capra, as it is known here, directly off the spools.
Two tips:
Michele Boutique is where to go for more creative endeavors. He makes good suits, too, but the special pleasure of his shop is that you can sketch your own concepts – invent a new style of belt loop, bring in Vogue cut-outs of three dresses and merge them into one. Mukesh, as the owner was once known before he started going by “Michele” for his Italian clients, makes excellent shirts for about $20. Once again, specify your variables, lest you get the standard, Gap-issued fare. For women, this is the most friendly tailoring outfit in town. Many shops are gruff operations that know how to cut a fixed male pattern but cannot dream up more idiosyncratic women’s wear. Michele is different, and many women I know have relished spending an hour with him, sketching concepts on his countertop and coming away with skirts and dresses and tunics they couldn’t get anywhere else.
Yaseen, run by a local cutting-and-stitching legend, Ahmed Ansari, is perhaps the best place in town for a suit, men’s or women’s. He makes excellent Indian wedding clothes and shirts, too, but his suits are buttery. Be ready for one or two fittings, because he is more interested in the perfection of your suit than you are. And ask for exactly what you want. If you say just a suit, he will make you just a suit. If you insist on double vents, a hand-stitched lapel, surgeon’s cuffs and pockets precisely the size of your hand phone, he will oblige. The service can sometimes be surly and snobby for new customers, an attitude that flows from knowing he’s the best. He charges 7,000 rupees, or about $175 at the present rate, just for stitching. He also sells fabrics or you can bring your own, a suit length of which is typically $100 to $500, depending on how smooth it is. (On Bhulabhai Desai Road, formerly Warden Road, a two-minute walk south from the U.S. Consulate. +91 22 2364 1471 or +91 98200 27792)
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China 2008 - Olympics
Take a look at Beijing airport: a glass-and-steel creation built to accommodate a surge in visitors for Olympia 2008.
On the opening passengers from the first domestic flight to arrive at Terminal 3 — an hourlong jaunt from Shandong province in China's east — were welcomed with flower bouquets.
A group of musicians played string instruments at an opening ceremony attended by Chinese officials. Floors were highly polished and glass windows gleamed.
The 1.3 million square meter- (14 million square foot-) terminal and ground transportation center are the centerpiece project for the Olympics designed to relieve the overloaded airport's other two terminals and accommodate expected rapid growth in the number of visitors to the capital.
Terminal 3, its runway and most of the related infrastructure were built in just under four years, with a compressed timetable to ensure it was ready for the Aug. 8-24 Olympics, a source of immense pride for China.
The building's deep red pillars and matte gold roof are meant to evoke Beijing's imperial palaces and temples. Triangular skylights which open out onto the gently sloping roof give an airy feeling to the terminal, which houses 64 Western and Chinese restaurants, 90 retail shops, and a state-of-the-art-baggage handling system.
A high-speed commuter train will whisk passengers into the city, while the runway is capable of handling Airbus' huge A380 superjumbo.
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