Insider tip: a hidden Hong Kong gem for a great deal on glasses

Fancy picking up a pair of new glasses during your next trip to Hong Kong?

Louis Baleros, chief concierge at InterContinental Hong Kong, tipped us off to a hidden gem on Hong Kong's Kowloon side.

New Fei Optical, located at 2-9 Mong Kok Road, will:

* pick you up from the hotel in their air-conditioned leather-seated peoplemover, and whisk to you their store

* copy your existing prescription or have a new one made up for you

* help you choose new frames

* and have them made up in around an hour

How's that for service?

You can be driven back to your hotel and return later to pick up the glasses from New Fei Optical, or just have a wander around the colourful Mong Kok area while your new specs are shaped.

The InterContinental's concierge desk has a stack of New Fei's cards, or you can print out this picture and take it with you for your next HK visit.

New Fei is open from 10am to 9pm (or 8pm on Sundays and public holidays), so you can pop by after your day's meetings are done.

I chose two pairs of non-branded glasses for distance viewing -- one plastic framed and one frameless -- and the bill came to HKD$1150. That's around A$140 for two pairs of glasses.

Sunglasses aren't much more expensive, so you can stock up on a few extra pairs if, like me, you're prone to losing the blasted things.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.