Thursday, February 04, 2010
Google alerts follow up
I don't like it.
Not only has Richard Gere not commented on my post, today I got alterted to my own obituary.
Yuyuan, Shanghai Old Town
In this area any westerner is going to be hassled to buy fakes. But I was highly amused that each time we went from the hotel it was,"watches, handbags, looeevooton,". When we were going back to the hotel loaded with bags of cheap pashmina, the same touts would run up, "You need suitcase?' Just walk on and they go away. Or we tried speaking French as they walked past. That confused some!
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Using Google alerts
And so it was with Google Alerts. It turns out there is this neat little thingymajig that lets you see if other people are writing about you on the Internet. I should have known about this in the past because I commented on a post on Erica Spinks' blog about Mark Lipinski's magazine and he found it pretty quickly. But it was not until Ricky Tims left a comment on Brenda's blog that she mentioned that he probably used it too.
So I have been trying it out. So far I have been alterted to my own blog posts and the fact that a copy of one of my law books is on sale on ebay and that someone who is not me but has the same name was reluctant to be drawn into a planning permission debate. Yawn. Although I do think my namesake is sensible.
But I assume that the Mandarin Oriental also use it as they left a comment on my last post alerting me ( ha) to the fact that the development in Hong Kong that I thought would threaten their harbour views was going to be low rise. So I stand corrected. Although it remains the fact the harbour is much further from the Mandarin than from the Harbor Plaza where we stayed and is on a much busier road.
So anyway, I am having fun now wondering how many people I can drag here via Google Alerts?
Hi Ricky/Mark/The Mandarin/Brenda....hmm, Hi Michael Douglas. Hi Richard Gere, Hi, Patrick Dempsey..... oh I could go on all night... hi Meg Ryan ( that one was for Dennis) .....
Shanghai in the next post I promise.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Hong Kong architecture
Monday, February 01, 2010
Po Lin monastery
A lovely day out.
Silk in Hong Kong
Nope. I ended up in the flat of a very pleasant man, Angus Hardern, who keeps bolts of silk in his spare room and baskets of remnants under his dining room table. And sells them for give away prices. He also does very good mail order prices.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Teaser answer
We have all had suits made at Sam's Tailors in Hong Kong. Or, in my case, have had several suits made. I started with three, (two with both skirt and trousers) which was what I planned and which turned out to be only a little bit over budget. Ah well. When I sad budget I meant kind of rough estimate. And I didn't estimate for adding silk and cashmere to my wool cloth. Between ordering them (at 7pm) and my fitting ( amazingly at 10.30 the very next morning) I decided to add another jacket.
Boss man is not in fact Sam, who was the original owner of the store, but is son of Sam, although I am sure that that particular way of explaining it could be phrased better given the connotations! He is Manu Melwani. Dennis captioned this photo of us discussing lapel styles, "Just sign here. don't worry, its just like a sub-prime mortgage, that's all."
In fact his prices are very reasonable for what you are getting. There are many tailors around who offer cheaper packages ( and who solicit you off the street which Sam's does definitely NOT do - it doesn't even need to advertise that much) but I would doubt the quality of cloth/ workmanship in comparison. I have another fitting for the second order and then the results will be delivered to the hotel before we leave.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Hong Kong
Now, what shall we do today? Maybe the rooftop pool deck to finish my book and have a jacuzzi. That would justify hopping on the famous Star Ferry from just outside the for the scenic harbour trip across to Wanchai ( cost 50p!) to the Harbour centre branch of Dymocks bookshop to buy another one and to celebrate the fact that after outrageous book prices in Australasia we are back to normal here. Then what? Hmm, the ferry across to Kowloon for afternoon tea at the Peninsula I think. Oh I could get used to Sundays like this.




