Date: 4/27/2009 10:45:11 AM
Author: bagelboy
Well, I would tell your Mom to pack light. As you know HK is the gateway to China and therefore a huge shopping meca.Personally, I would take more money. HK is very safe for the average tourist.Almost ALL name brands are fakes, verry good fakes however. My wife bought a few fake LV purses as gifts. Tell her to haggle on the price too, they always come down and both sides are happy.I think that she might go thru $400 pretty quickly. Buying a cheap suitcase to bring all her booty home is a good idea.I hope she enjoys her trip and snaps a few photos for keepsakes. Hope that this is helpful.
Errhhh, sorry, wherre did you hear this from?!!
I'm afraid either I have to disagree with you or you'll have to be more specific and qualify your statement. I lived in HK for five and a half years, hubby lived there for eight years and I still go there to visit friends and to shop from time to time, at least once or twice a year, so trust me I know what I'm talking about. Lots of brand names in HK are fakes, BUT only if you insist on buying from street vendors. HK is one of the mega fashion hubs in the world, probably the second largest in Asia, after Tokyo. *EVERY* store in the main shopping malls, LV, Gucci, Chanel, Tiffany, Cartier, to name a few only carries the real McCoy's.
I do agree that HK$3,100 will not get the OP's Mom very far. Just to give you an example, the single fare for taking the express train from the airport to Central is HK$100 already. If yr Mom has to take taxi's for long distances, we can easily talk about HK$50-150 each time (though taxis in HK are amongst the cheapest in the world).
Eating out is not cheap. Noneek, you say she has "all other arrangements paid for", what does that mean? Does it include meals? If not, then I am sorry, HK$3,100 will not last her very long in HK, particularly if she's planning to spend 10 days there. HK is one of the most expensive cities in the world (despite the cheaper taxi fares). One can *easily* spend HK$2000-3000 per *day*, and am not even talking about anything extravagant, just enough for her to get by.
To further illustrate my point, an *average* meal out for two (with one or two drinks each) easily knocks you back HK$700-1000. Again, not talking about fancy restaurants or anything extravagant. If I were, then we'd be talking HK$2000-5000 each time easily!!
If you want yr Mom to be a bit more comfortable and not be stuck in some dire straits, I'd recommend at least HK$10,000 for a ten day stay, particularly if you want her to be able to buy a purse or two (BUT again, stay away from the real designer stuff!).
Sorry if this is a bit of a shocker. Just wanted you to have a more realistic understanding of how costly things are in HK.