This week in PostMag: our home-grown Christmas gift guide, a special ferry trip and an art festival
In this week’s print issue, a selection of Christmas gifts from Hong Kong brands, the fourth edition of the Bangkok Art Biennale and a 55-hour trip on a ferry
Recently I told my four-year-old how we didn’t get her any gifts for her first Christmas because she was only a month old. She was horrified. “Was I sad?” she asked, almost in tears on behalf of her younger self. “No, you were blissfully oblivious.”
Each December, for anyone who isn’t an infant, it’s hard – nay, impossible – to occupy a state of blissful oblivion about the holidays. Even if you try. In the end, leaning into it might be your best option – so that’s what we’ve done here at PostMag.
Over the past few weeks, our editorial team has dived into spreadsheet madness for our 2024 gift guide. What should we get the friend who’s always ahead of the trends, the aunt whose discerning taste means everything could always be better, the happily cohabitating couple we barely see any more? We whittled it down into a tight edit of spotlight-stealing presents from under HK$100 up to HK$8,000.
While I would gladly accept Bamford’s advent calendar or a box of Fortnum & Mason festive chocolate truffles, I’m most excited about the selection of excellent gifts from Hong Kong’s own home-grown brands and artisans. (This might be me manifesting a box of Oddity fragrance under the tree, shhhh.)
Hot take? It’s not the thought that counts – the actual present you give is also important. That doesn’t mean that it needs to be expensive, that it needs to be stuff (we are already swimming in too much of it), or even that you need to give a gift at all. But that if you do, it should be a truly thoughtful act. One that shows you really know the other person, one that might say something about what you believe in the world – is it local? Is it eco-friendly?
How we travel is also a choice that says a lot about our beliefs and personality. Kristian Odebjer journeys on a ferry from northern China to South Korea. It’s a trip that takes 55 hours and is very much, let’s say, an alternative travel method. His wife? She just catches a short flight to meet him there.
