New Eyeglasses

Not that I needed new glasses but I thought it would be great to get a pair of glasses that I could wear when working on the computer. My progressives force me to tip my head back to use the lower section of the lens. I had read about this place in Kowloon, part of Hong Kong, that was set-up as a high production optical supply company. Were you could get a pair of glasses while you wait. I told another co-worker about it and she got a couple of pair of glasses and was very pleased.

Eric, another teacher at the school, and I decided to make a overland trip to see if we could get to Hong Kong any easier and less expensively than our current method of using the ferry. We found out we can in about the same amount of time and with a bit more flexibility and a cost savings of about 75%. The trade off is all the transitions you have to make. We took a taxi, bus, light rail, above ground subway, below ground subway, and a change of lines with the subway. You have to watch your stops very closely. And of course the reverse of this on the return trip.

Ok, so we found the glasses place located in an industrial area of the city. After entering the building which had an all marble entry, guard and very fancy directory, we went to the 12th floor of the building via a freight elevator that had a attendant to press the button for your floor. Nice work if you can get it. When we entered the space we saw that it had tables in the center area with chairs and lots of glass frames all around the outside edge. We were earlier than the advertised opening time and that was good since it was already open and only a few people had arrived. That changed very quickly. Erick immediately had an eye exam, I had to wait because I had worn my contacts and had to take them out and wait for my eyes to re-adjust before the exam. The entire process was set-up for production. There were four rooms for eye exams. After you had your exam and picked out your desired frame, they sat down with you to review the various lens options. Coatings, UV, etc. You make your choices they give you a price and then you enjoy looking at the sunglasses, wild designs, and enjoy a cold boxed tea. In less than 15 min. your glasses are brought back and the optometrist checks the fit and makes adjustments. They take your money and send you off with new glasses a plastic case, polishing cloth and glasses screwdriver.

Total time about 45 minutes, unless you take extra long making your frame choice. To give you an idea of the cost, Eric had UV coatings and extras, I didn't but I chose a more expensive frame and had a more difficult to grind lens. His cost in US dollars was $29.00 mine was $36.00, the eye exam was free if you buy glasses.

So far my glasses are great. I call them my apartment glasses as they work great for reading, computer work, or just watching TV in our apartment. The picture of me with the blue-dot frames are the ones I ended up with.

Check the link for more info.