It was a rainy Sunday morning in Hong Kong when my phone buzzed loudly. Still asleep, I reached for it from under the duvet, thinking it was my husband calling from New York, where he was on a business trip. “Hi, are you up?” asked the voice on the other end. It was my old college friend, Ms Private Banker. Before I could reply, she continued, “Do you want to go to the Saint Laurent outlet?” I was suddenly wide awake. “Yes, of course, let’s go!” I said.
She came to fetch me, and in about 15 minutes we were on our way to Ap Lei Chau, or Aberdeen Island. My friend has been living in Hong Kong for 15 years and knows the island inside out. Whether it’s for shopping, food or recreational activities for the kids, she was an invaluable resource. Along with my other friends, Ms Supremely Socially Connected and Ms Generous Genius, these women ensure that Hong Kong is always a breeze.
Saint Laurent did not disappoint. Ms Private Banker bought four pairs of shoes, a bag, a shirt and I forget what else — all between 50% and 60% off! Alas, I didn’t fare as well, because of lack of sizes.
Although it had been a hideously wet week — I joked that I had brought the monsoons over early — my children and I still packed a lot in. Their favourite places alternated between the trampoline park, Rise, and Wan Chai Computer Centre, a close cousin to Mumbai’s Heera Panna market, which houses all the electronics (fake and real) someone may need.
We had made the trip because of a book event my co-author and BFF Mallika Kapur and I had been invited for, at the Asia Society, for the India by the Bay festival, an eight-day extravaganza organised by Sanjoy Roy and his Teamworks Arts company. Mallika and I were requested to be in conversation with one of the women profiled in our book, Changemakers, the celebrity stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania. The local Parsi community was beside itself with excitement about Anaita’s visit.
Despite the miserable weather, between Mallika and Ms Supremely Socially Connected, I was able to make the most of my sojourn. Apart from general loafing, this included a raucous dinner at the Foreign Correspondents Club and a dinner at the always dependable Café Gray, lunches at two new restaurants, Madame Fu in Tai Kwun and She, in the Lane Crawford department store, and a visit to the recently-converted Central Police Station Compound, now a museum and cultural space.
But one of my most memorable nights turned out to be a wildly fun dinner in a gorgeous home in the Chai Wan industrial area. When I mentioned to friends that I was going there, I got strange looks. Ms Private Banker had invited Anaita and me to her friend, Prerna Chainani Monsen’s home. Chai Wan, once a “forgotten suburb”, is slowly turning into an artistic hub. But it is gritty, raw and far from the more established neighbourhoods.
As the car dropped me off in front of a nondescript warehouse, I saw how desolate it was. Luckily, Anaita and I managed to find the right door. I was astonished to enter an impeccably-decorated, cavernous space, replete with sweeping water views. “It’s a hidden gem, isn’t it?” said Ms Private Banker, delighting in my shocked expression as she handed me a glass of Champagne. Prerna, a Hong Kong Indian, is a former banker-turned-creative entrepreneur. Her collection of centuries-old kimonos was hung across the living room. While she sautéed scallops and mushrooms, she told me she hoped to travel and display them around the world. Truly an unexpected night in a city always on the move.
This fortnightly column tracks the indulgent pursuits of the one-percenters.