I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

Been uploading some old pics onto Flickr
Man, time sure flies. But some things always stay the same.

Like how despite spending five years together, KF still can’t get my birthday right.

Getting cheap
I love shopping in Chinatown – you can get close to anything there, like

• Toilettries: dotted along Eu Tong Sen Street are tons of little toilettries stores which sell soaps, powders, shampoos and cosmetics for something like 20% or more less than what you’d get at the supermarket or the department stores. People’s Park Complex houses another truckload of them, and the newly refurbished People’s Park Textile Centre (the one behind Chinatown OG along Upper Cross Street) houses another bunch. It’s a fun place to visit especially if you’re the kind that needs retail therapy.

• Chinese herbs: the stuff you put in your soups for herbal teas can all be found here. It’s a no brainer, right. But the lovely bit is, the further you walk, the more choices you have, and the cheaper it gets. Always shop around. KF likes to get Luo Han Guo from the stores here. They store owners have varying opinions about which fruit are better, but generally, dark coloured fruit are riper, and they should be sort of bouncy. Anyway, you can get good ones at the medical halls down Smith Street, small ones cost $0.40 cents a pop, and medium ones about $0.50 each. If you like the drink, just wash one fruit, crack it in half, and leave it in a pot of water to boil. The longer you boil, the darker the liquid will get. 20-30 minutes is all it takes. You don’t have to add sugar, because it’s sweet. You can add in a couple of slices of American Ginseng (you can get it where you get the Luo Han Guo – sliced up, 400g or so for $16) into your cup as you spoon the hot liquid in, or boil the fruit with Chrysanthenum. KF drinks it straight. It is very low in calories despite the sweetness, and is suitable for diabetics, apparently.
• Household items: CK Department store has loads of neat plastic household items, like the little suction hooks, soap holders, dispensers, sponges, shower curtains, I’m sure you get the idea. I like getting those suction holders for holding up sponges and stuff in the kitchen. Those go for $1.90 each. I usually get my batteries (button cell, alkaline, that sort of thing), tissues, liquid soap (shokobutsu!) there. What you really don’t want to get there would probably be like shoes, underwear or bedsheets – stuff you really don’t want to skimp on.
• DVDs: during Chinese New Year, you can get some of the older Hong Kong movies for $7 a pop. Most other times they cost between $7.90 and $12.90.

It’s a good thing I work a couple of streets away from Chinatown.