Pegasus8228: I am salute to you for bring this story (a ring on my head now). I know this story but forgotton to post it.

Yeah! Believe it or not, my mum have different brandname stuff from Fedi (spelling?but it is a real one), LV, Burberry.... but she always say that sometimes the real stuff is not as convinent as the fake or no-brand stuff.

Just like Kelly's bag, it is a CUTE LV "Fabric" bag with design that (possibly from another brand or "designed" by the SZ factory people) that suit girls in HK. Small enough to be cute and portable while just big enough for Moble phone (Hey, a lot smaller than US's counterpart) and other girl stuff like lipstick, etc.. Unlike its real "sister" sometimes to bulky or (please forgive my language, cannot find the right word)... just not Cute!

another little vignette.....

they sell cheap VCD players a couple years back (now DVD players)...some 400RMB (aorund $50).....the funny thing is: after u made the deal (picked the brandless machine, they would ask what brand you like most...then STICK the brand label (e.g. Sony) onto that machine!! i heard they also do this to some handbags...

Pegasus8228...like it! (Hadn't heard that one before...guess I've been travelling way too much in the past 4 years)

[This message has been edited by Eric the half a bee (edited 01-30-2001).]

Wow. I can't believe that this thread is still going. I actually spent last week in HKG and I'm back. Unfortunately, I did not read anything beyond geo1004's post. Here is what happended.
First, the "bad" news. I was pressed for time and decided to take the one day "Shenzen/Guangzhou" tour mentioned by one of the posters. It was OK, but I was somewhat disappointed as I did not see the outdoor markets in Guangzhou and other things I had hoped for. I guess this reinforces my dislike of tours.
I found Shenzen fascinating. We went to the zoological gardens, the display of the terracotta warriors, and drove past the theme parks, one with a massive 1/3 scale Eiffle Tower. I would like to see these parks with more time.
Incidentally, as an aside, after touring the terracotta warrior museum we we led to the attached "Friendship Store" for some shopping. These used to be owned by the government and may still be, but they are probably the most expensive place in China to shop. Even, here, though, EVERYTHING is negotiable. I was looking at a 3x5 silk rug with a $850US price tag. I am reasonably competent to evaluate these for quality and it was very good. By the time we left, they were offering it to me for $500 US and I had the feeling that I probably could have gotten it down to around $400 if I really wanted to try. I didn't, but in retrospect, I should have.
On to Guanzhou. I was impressed with about 100 miles of residential/commercial development I saw while riding the coach between thw two cities.
I found Guangzhou intertesting for what we saw and the typical CHinese lunch we had a a group. I defintiely found it older, more crowded, and not as clean as Shenzen, but that was to be expected. We were put on the thru train back to HKG first class, which was nice after 11 hours on the road. Incidentally, the cost of this ticket is $190HGD one way, about $25US.
Now for the good news. I can't pass up taking advantage of Continental's $600 EWR-HKG roundtrip and plan tomorrow to book a return, probably, March 28-April 1. I will definitely use one of the days on this next trip to back to China, probably Shenzen for the day.
Thanks everyone for all the nice suggestions.
I plan on doing a full trip report in a few days, once I get back on schedule.
Ed

one day trip must be a rush, buyt glad u enjoyed it ;-)

in your april trip, make sure it does not colide with hk holiday (long weekend, where too many people try to pass the border), but i believe week of 4/1 is fine (but not hte following 2 weeks)

for the carpet and stuff like that, a rule of thumb is at most half the price of simialr product u buy in the state (most likely 1/3). there is no correlation what the 1st quote is (for chinese the quote is usually double the final price, for u foreigner the quote is usually more than double)

now u know the place, u can spend a whole day in those theme parks. the best one is the minority nationality village (which i had not been to)...then window of the world (the effeil that u went), and window of china (miniature china)...do stay there in the evening as there r good live shows!

Pegasus:
Thanks for the input. I suspect that you are right about the weekend of April 1 being a holiday. Before booking the flight, I checked on hotels (I like the YMCA Kowloon). Most hotels (Including the "Y") are full that weekend or have extremely high rates. I have enough flexibility to switch. I'll probably go March 15-18.

in fact, apr 1 is probably not too bad, but the hotel rate does indicates the market demand...
the correlations are: long weekend in hk means congestion at immigration to shenzhen (not neccessarily bad if you only plan to stay in hk though)

however, defintely avoid the easter (4/13-16) if u plan to go to shenzhen/guangzhou

Pegasus .. I always wondered when it comes to things like rugs, carvings etc, HOW much to try and bater down to. A (genuine) brand name watch or Palm Pilot or Laptop etc or camera we all know pretty much what the exact duty free lowball is, but on a rug it really is a guessing game. Try for UNDER half asked price you are saying??




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~ Glen ~

Vulcan:
I took the same one day tour to Shenzen/Guangzhou and settled to see the few terracotta warriors at that museum because I didn't have the time to go to Northern China when I went to Hong Kong. I also found the prices at the Friendship store too high. I want to see the miniature park with the world's wonders. If you see them during your next trip, please give a report.

I will do a report if I go there. I am trying to write a report to post on my recent trip this weekend.
I definitely want to spend some time at the Lo Wu shopping complex and depending how much time is left, go to at least one of the theme parks.
Oz:
I think something like a rug is very subjective. I think I'm fairly well qualified to judge quality, since have a small collection. Assuming the quality is good, then I look at it more like buying a painting and I want something that I will enjoy looking at on the wall for years to come. Of course I want to pay as little as possible, and in my estimation, around $400US for a silk rug that was probably at least 300 lines and about 2 1/2 x4 to 3 x 5 feet in size is a good buy, based on prices/quality in the US and in HKG. I did look in China Arts and Crafts in HKG and the prices for a similar rug in size/quality taht was "on sale" at $5,500HKD(~$700US).
Finally, if I know I'm going to be trapped in the store for 1/2hour, I wouldn't even think of getting serious until the last 2 or 3 minutes. I want the pressure to be on them to make the sale.
AND, If I really thought I got a great deal at $400, as I was completing the sale, I would say " By the way, would you like to do two for $600?" You never know.

Vulcan -

I have to bring this great thread back to life. Im planning the same trip and this gave me loads of information.

Dont plan on buying any rugs, but well see.

One question I would like to throw out to the group. Is it true that I can get a visa at the Lo Wu border for my daughter so we can visit Shenzhen on a day trip? I've read where this is possible for 100 HKD. It would certainly be easier than hunting one down in HKG.
Thanks

i myself am not a good bargainer.
for these artifacts you really need to understand the quality.
(under half of what you can get in other countries ia a rule fo thumb, otherwise why bother?

but if you see the same item across a few different shops, you could benchmark the prices then. but bargaining is a hard topic i have to admit ) sometimes they will sell 30 to some customer but insist on 50 for me.....when you bargain hard, also make sure there is no one around (if there are some other potential customers they could charge higher, giving in on you means giving away also for everybody else)

Vulcan has the most painless way of looking at it. Buy it as you would a painting, and you can never go wrong! Coming from the west we often spend 5 minutes trying to beat the poor vendor down $5-10HK (or fill in 20 other currenices in this same space!) that we would think nothing of tipping even at a Wendy's!

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~ Glen ~

White Swan Hotel is bad because the river is smelled stink. I suggest Garden Hotel.