China Travel Forum

[Edmund]

I will beginning a month long Asia trip in Hong Kong. I will only be there a few days, but want to dress nicely and do some shopping. After Hong Kong, however, i will be doing manual labor/volunteer work in India for 10 days, so i would prefer not to tote my "nice" or "new" stuff along in my backpack for the remainder of the month. Ok, experts:
1.) How easy or difficult will it be to send a package back home to the US? Where can i do this? How can i do this?
2.)Also, best shopping places for handmade items? Best shopping places for authentic brand names at discount?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[Alvin]

It's easy to send packages from Hong Kong, it's a service economy here and everyone speaks some level of English. There are post office branches all over town, the main Central Post office is right by the Star Ferry pier...it's the drab building across from Jardine House (the white swiss cheese building). The best place to shop for Chinese handmade items, I'd say is the China Arts and Crafts store - either at the Wanchai ferry pier or in Star House by the Kowloon ferry pier. But things are not especially cheap there. Stanley Market also has some stuff, but more geared towards tourists. Prices in HK for this stuff is much higher than in mainland China. It's always interesting to browse the antique shops in the Hollywood Rd. area, but they are very pricey. Authentic brand name stuff - not too knowledgeable about that, Granville Rd. for low-end brands. Hope you find all you want, and thanks for supporting the economy!