The impending news of having visitors and guests at my new place has prompted me to begin the non-essential furnishing of my apartment. Everything outside of Bed is qualified as 'non-essential' in that I don't really need it. The first thing that comes to mind is sorting out the curtain/blind situation in my apartment. For the longest period I have been flashing my junk to the world as I step out of the shower, so curtains in the bathroom. The second place is the living room and some kind of privacy and more importantly blocking out light.
Whenever I need to get anything done in Hong Kong I follow the common Google query, "Something something in Hong Kong" and voila! This Time "Where to buy curtains in Hong Kong" pointed me in the direction of Queen's Road East, Wan Chai. This particular stretch of Wan Chai has at least 10 different curtain stores, with consistent prices. I eventually ended up at a curtain store in Yau Ma Tei where prices were a couple hundred dollars cheaper than the Hong Kong Island stores. From there I ordered two sets of venetian blinds and a piece of material.
Piece of material I hear you say? Just the material I hear the Curtain lady say? So after ordering the two venetian blinds I figured I might as well inquire about the small 50 cm x 70 cm curtain that I needed made for my bathroom. 220 HKD, for her to run a piece of cloth through a sewing machine four times? I had just bought a 150 x 150 cm and a 80 x 120 cm set of venetian blinds for 1200 HKD. I usually have an instinct for getting ripped off, and this reeked of highway robbery.
"How much for just the material?"
"100 HKD"
"Good, I'll take just the material."
"Just the material?"
"Yea, I'll make the curtains myself?"
This was met by confused looks and what can be best described as shock. "Ok ok, two hundred"...
I look at the material lying on the floor wishing I had just paid the hundred HKD and wasn't so stubborn and begin to investigate how to "sew" things without a sewing machine. The answer is Liquid Stitching or Fabric Glue, both which are impossible to find in Hong Kong. Thankfully the arrival of my dad from Sydney also brought with him the required tools to assemble my curtain.
The best part is, with that fabric, I ended up making two curtains for a hundred HKD. Win.
Whenever I need to get anything done in Hong Kong I follow the common Google query, "Something something in Hong Kong" and voila! This Time "Where to buy curtains in Hong Kong" pointed me in the direction of Queen's Road East, Wan Chai. This particular stretch of Wan Chai has at least 10 different curtain stores, with consistent prices. I eventually ended up at a curtain store in Yau Ma Tei where prices were a couple hundred dollars cheaper than the Hong Kong Island stores. From there I ordered two sets of venetian blinds and a piece of material.
Piece of material I hear you say? Just the material I hear the Curtain lady say? So after ordering the two venetian blinds I figured I might as well inquire about the small 50 cm x 70 cm curtain that I needed made for my bathroom. 220 HKD, for her to run a piece of cloth through a sewing machine four times? I had just bought a 150 x 150 cm and a 80 x 120 cm set of venetian blinds for 1200 HKD. I usually have an instinct for getting ripped off, and this reeked of highway robbery.
"How much for just the material?"
"100 HKD"
"Good, I'll take just the material."
"Just the material?"
"Yea, I'll make the curtains myself?"
This was met by confused looks and what can be best described as shock. "Ok ok, two hundred"...
I look at the material lying on the floor wishing I had just paid the hundred HKD and wasn't so stubborn and begin to investigate how to "sew" things without a sewing machine. The answer is Liquid Stitching or Fabric Glue, both which are impossible to find in Hong Kong. Thankfully the arrival of my dad from Sydney also brought with him the required tools to assemble my curtain.
The best part is, with that fabric, I ended up making two curtains for a hundred HKD. Win.
1 comment:
lol.. what would u do without the glue....nice job
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