Back to the tailor's shop, Hong Kong

View of Hong Kong Island from the ex-Regent Hotel       At the end of each new posting, blogger.com (with no urging from me) proposes a selection of previous musings which have had the highest number of hits.  The number of viewers doesn't usually have any obvious correlation with whatever reaction I may have personally received, so it is often fairly baffling why some pieces do so much better than others. Hong Kong seen from Victoria Peak      There is no selection proposed for the least  read musings, which is hardly surprising.  This being said, one of my early favorites has the distinction of having attracted the fewest readers.  You could certainly say in theatrical terms that it flopped.      Anyway, I'd like to give it another chance.       It's the Hong Kong piece.  It was the shortest of any of the musings, and it ran in October of 2012.  Hong Kong is one of my special travel memories.  I've been there four times in all, I've always liked returning to familiar destinations,  and it has never lost its appeal for me.  As money gets scarcer and travel more expensive, I imagine it unlikely I'll be returning to that part of the world. Hong Kong by night      So I trust you'll put up with this repeat.  For all those who didn't read it first go-round, I hope a few of you will give it a try this time.

THE KOWLOON SHANGRI-LA, Hong Kong

Main lobby seen from the mezzanine

       I have always stayed at the Shangri-la Hotel on the Kowloon side when in Hong Kong.  It is not the very grandest of Hong Kong’s many grand hotels, but it is nevertheless extremely comfortable, managed with elegance and excellent value for money.

The elevator carpets --one for each day of the week-- are changed daily, appearing promptly at one minute after midnight.

A funny little memory  remains engraved from my first visit to Hong Kong in 1997.  I had never been to a tailor (there are many thousands of them in this exotic metropolis, and virtually every hotel boasts its resident tailor) and had found my way into the Shangri-la’s shop mainly out of curiosity.

A rather grand old woman who looked much like the late English actress, Gladys Cooper, was giving clipped, precise instructions when I arrived.

   

The real Gladys Cooper (Google archives) 

Johnny

 It was the last year of    British colonial   rule,  and I gathered the lady  had lived there for a long time.  She clearly had a lengthy experience with Johnny (Hong Kong tailors all appear to take Anglo Saxon noms de  plume, presumably  bearing no resemblance to their Asian birth names).

She was accompanied by her twenty-ish granddaughter whom I guessed to be on the point of marriage.  The English dowager had ordered at least a half-dozen outfits for the young woman who sat shyly in a corner, never voicing an opinion.

“Johnny” showed no emotion as the order became increasingly important.

As far as I could make out, there was no mention of price until the very last moment.  As “Gladys Cooper” was exiting the little shop, she glanced briefly in my direction with just a hint of impatience, as though I might have had the good taste not to be there.

She then turned with supreme self assurance to the tailor and said, “Now I don’t want you getting any foolish ideas about asking for a lot of money, because that is entirely out of the question!”

Did  I detect just a flicker of irony in Johnny’s response?   “Certainly not, Madame, I quite understand.” 

Our last trip to Hong-Kong was in 2008 (photo by ?)

Your input is welcomed:  hotel-musings@hotmail.fr

[Photos are mine, unless otherwise credited]