Sunday, October 14th

"OOOOOH'S and AAAAAH'S"

jo-san (good morning) to all of you!

before i start putting you all to sleep, i thought it best to remind you that although you can reply/send an email to us through this site, if you do, it will be for ALL to see - so for those more personal conversations, please use our email address (ydspreadbury@yahoo.com). dave is saying (ALREADY) in the background: "yat-ding, yat-ding" (meaning "sure..whatever" - cannot you not just hear this in your mind - english or cantonese, it's all the same isn't it?!)

NOW on to more important things ... like our day in hong kong for one ...

this was actually our second trip to hong kong, but really, the first trip did not count (we had just arrived to china, and the main purpose of that trip was to "finalize" our banking - something that i am not sure can ever be achieved. for instance, after setting everything up for macau and hong kong we were to receive our security devices in the mail - well, we did in a round-about way - they were sent off to calgary first!).

our trip over yesterday was really our first time for pleasure A.K.A. shopping. and we were prepared, having done much "homework" - a very wise and trusted source had the foresight to give us the book "born to shop" by suzy gershman - what a little gemstone that turned out to be. so with book in hand, gel tylenol near and my "personal sherpa" we headed off. the jet boat from macau to hong kong is just excellent, the type of service they provide reminds us more of airline travel than say the bus or train; it takes about an hour to get there and you arrive right near the MTR station (metro/railway).

our mission for the day was to discover kowloon (there is so much to see, so much to do - really you need a day per area - well ... if you aren't doing any shopping that is! ... when i say "kowloon" we actually .... truth be known ... got through only about 2 full blocks ... should i be admitting that?). but what fun it was! we were surprised that shop owners/sales persons were as aggressive as they were (not like bangkok of course, but close). i guess i was not expecting that - in the "central" area where we did our banking you did not encounter that at all, but then i suppose it is more of a business area; certainly kowloon has the same upscale shops, but maybe more street vendors and maybe more ordinary stores.

first on my ... oops! i mean "OUR" list was to go to "ashneil", short for "the best place to find a purse" or "the place that offers the most choices for something you have seen SOMEBODY wearing without having to take out a second mortgage or sell your firstborn" [note:] by SOMEBODY, i mean SOME BODY ... HENCE today's title "oooh and aaah". now it must be mentioned that these particular terms are meant to convey a sense of "delight" and "amazement" if you will; and it must be also noted that they are not awarded haphazardly; careful consideration is given.

the shop is on a side street (on middle road, just off nathan road) and is on the 2nd floor. you wind up this stairway and cannot help but think "i am going to get out of here alive? am i going to catch anything?". you make your way around a few more corners and as you are finding door #114 you pass several closed up shops, all loaded from the floor to the ceiling with boxes of purses and each door adorned with "ashneil". quite the stock the man has! we arrive to a tiny little store - and immediately are taken aback - anything and everything in that "special kind of line" if you know what i mean - you know - that those SOME BODY'S probably drop between $8000-25000 on - aaaah! - now you know what kind of SOME BODY'S i am talking about don't you?!!!

but seriously, i had spent a lot of time doing my homework, had clipped quite a few pictures out - it actually took me quite a long time to come to a decision on just which purse to look for - after much turmoil and many "yat-dings" from dave - i decided on a first choice: a burberry, and then second choice: a birken. well! right off the bat, ashneil does not make burberry's BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT EXPENSIVE ENOUGH ... please remember i am new to this.

now to all of dave's "buddies" out there - it MUST BE SAID and the RECORD MUST SHOW - he was firing off suggestions left and right - he was the one to ask for a particular prada and IN FACT it was HE that reminded me of what my original (choice) burberry bag looked like.

they have quite the clientele - one lady earlier that morning had purchased 9 bags ... yes 9 ... for Christmas presents, we think! it was such a difficult decision - i would like to blame the heat (but the temperature was cooler that day) or perhaps exhaustion (we had just started out) BUT for the life of me, i could not decide between a dark tan colored "chloe" or the gorgeous red "birken" ... so ... i just kinda .... got them both!

hence the "oooooh" and the "aaaaah". again, used to express "great delight" "amazement" or "wonder" if you will.


we then pressed on to our next mission - an underwater housing for our canon camera. again, great success! a third mission which shall remain nameless (due to the approaching Christmas season) was a hoot! same scenario - up this little stairway (to the third floor i think) and when you get to the shop, you actually have to ring the bell to enter, even though it is normal business hours. we looked through their "wares" and when we had decided what we wanted, the lady goes "how many you like?". we said "-----". she said "-----?". we said "yes". she then says, "how many daughters you have?" we say "2, and we also have a son". she says "well, you take 10 then"... it was so funny! i guess you just have to be there - which i hope you ALL get the chance to do - it is incredible!

before i close here, dave just said that "you could mention the fact that we had to go find a bank machine to get enough money to buy our ticket home" ... he says "SOMEONE" spent it all!

we miss you all! we think about you each and every day!