A Dialogue With K

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Originally uploaded by: eleric

A week ago, I made this whole idea of giving my family a holiday treat to visit me here in Hong Kong this Chinese New Year, but it ended up with a little arguments over the phone. Sometimes, when it comes to family matters, I just want to keep my personal things, well, more personal. But this morning, my Mom told me not to spend the money for these tickets, instead why not just send it home? I think she meant that it’d be more practical to send them the money than giving them the tickets. The thing is, I had already set aside a few bucks for the tickets but now that it made me sort of mad and disappointed, I went out at ten this morning, had my breakfast at Jollibee, ate the food I hate, met an old friend there and asked me why I always go out alone. At some point, it got me thinking, wasn’t it the reason why I asked my family for a visit so that temporarily, I will not be all alone? Now I’m thinking whether I should or should not pushthru these plans.

As I tried to think things over, I didn’t realize I have already wasted my time at the Lane Crawford in IFC mall. The sales staff there sucks. They probably have scanned my dirty looking converse shoes and they can’t help me at all. I didn’t ask for help, I’m not mad at the sales people, just little disappointed. The place isn’t as warm as the people at the Pacific Place so I thought I’d go somewhere at the lower floor. But before taking the escalator down, I saw this HUGO BOSS shop and they still had few 50% sales on some items. Guess what I got? A leather vintage-looking belt. It was size 32, the only piece left. It was funny because I was really not in the mood for anything until I buckled it in and it looks perfect. The belt got an extra hole so I could tightened it to fit into my jeans. Neato.

I went past the Zara Men’s shop and found out their New Arrival for the Spring. White & brown jackets are back. It looks like the season is going to be really nice. It wasn’t even cold anymore. So I tried their jeans, not nice. I saw that Gola-style vintage soccer sports shoes, not nice. I escaped from there and took a ferry to the Harbour City. As usual, the entrance looks amazingly RED. It’s the peach blossom decorations, a flower that signifies to the coming of a new season. Is it a Chinese national flower? It’s hard to pick, Orchid, lotus, chrysanthemum, or a plum blossom? Fook, I don’t know.

I detoured to the Gucci, there were few dozens of people lining up so I assumed it was still on sale. The guards would then let a few heads in to keep the shop in order. They have three security guards, yes I counted, like as if you are in an American Consulate getting your visa denied. To keep a closer look at the shop, I went in. Whatelse, Gucci bags will certainly drain your wallet down. And it’s always painful to see people here wearing all those big logos, while it’s their thing, I remained an onlooker. One pushes me over to the corner just because she was trying to walk back and forth to see if the bag will totally change her looks. Bullshit. I moved over to the shoes section and hell it certainly made me look poorer. I couldn’t even touch it, for $4000.00 a pair? So I asked myself, what am I doing in this place? Of course, out of curiosity, I asked the price of the wallets which I think, I could afford at least - but I was again pushed by this two brats pointing out the wallet I also want to check. I said, my four year old Gucci wallet still very much ok, so I skipped to that. I went out the shop gasping for air.

I checked on the LV shop, again people are lining up for bags, bags, bags and more bags. There were men and women in the store, mostly from the Mainland. No Brits, no other Asians except the Mainland. Screaming, talking so loud, paying crispy, flashy bulky thousand bill in rubber bands. I was like, where do these people get their money from? What do they do for a living? Why the bags? Infact, you can see them regularly in these kind of shops. And oh, Bally, leave these people alone. I had enough there. Those shoes are nice, but it doesn’t have my size.

And finally, the TOD’s is just few steps away. “Hey Tod’s, here I am”. I took three styles from the shelves, the loafer, the black leather, the one with a buckle and I asked, “I want size 5 1/2 for any of these three to try on”. My mind started to count how much I have in my cash-card, “just perfect”. The saleslady came back at me and said, “Your feet is too small, how about trying one of the ladies”. Say what? No, thank you. I left and laughed at myself. What is wrong with my feet? How am I gonna find a decent shoes? You know, there’s a lot of nice, expensive & decent shoes but no decent feet such as mine.

I returned to the Harbour City malls, the CK shops looks rubbish. I don’t get it, their styles are becoming so Giordano-ish. They used to have nice shirts & jeans. The only thing that made me return was their underwears, it’s classic. Around 20% of their men’s underwears makes me feel like one of their image models, it’s just that they do not give discounts on these items, like never at all even up until now.

From the Harbour City, I took a train to Causeway Bay, feeling like a real asshole. It was already seven in the evening when I reached the place. I previously went to the Replay store and found few of their jeans a worth to own. I went there this time not for the jeans. I opted for their footwear. And because Replay doesn’t sell much footwears, they have a new style which I’d think was gonna be it. The price is quite practical, just less than a thousand dollars, and infact they look both sporty and probably have the available size. The saleslady, tried their stocks, check other shops for my size & found no avail. I remembered, the Lane Crawford shop has few Replay shoes & so I asked them to check Lane Crawford at Time Square.

I was determined, I could find it there. Outside the building, the decorations was not similar from the Harbour. There were several decorated, painted pigs around on display (pictured above). They look cute literally, no offense but pigs looks really cute. Inside the Time Square, the Burberry Shop was being attacked too. So I went there and a lady was making choices whether she would take the jacket or the bag. Again, they are from the Mainland. I’m like “please leave me alone”, they are making me really really jealous. Am I really punishing myself why I intended to visit these shops?

I succesfully put all the garments down and headed to the shoe sections of the Lane C. I found the shoes. It was merely 2 hours before I clearly settled to get the shoes I like. It was size 6, well a little close but not the way it looks praying it would fit my no-too-decent feet, so I tried it on, walked around, picked another few, tried another style and finally gave up. I closed my eyes and did a peek-a-boo. “Ok, I’LL GET THIS”. Believe it or not, I used it right away leaving me no choice but to carry my dirty Converse shoes inside the paper bag.

Alas, I got the shoes. End of the day, I’d say, being mad just made me broke. I wish I was rich so I won’t worry about another important things, but other things whispering at the back of my head, “you got the shoes, so hush up”.

You’re Gonna Get It
by: Angie Stone