Having visited Hong Kong three or four times a year for 15 years, columnist, author and translator Ploy Chariyaves has decided to share her intimate knowledge of the island with others.

The recently launched 160-page "Where & Why Hong Kong: Lifestyle Shopping Guide" is her first guidebook but Ploy says it's different from usual travel guides.

Rather than focusing on tourist information, she's concentrated on where to catch up on trends and the best shopping destinations.

Thais heading to Hong Kong - a favourite destination for short breaks - will discover where to hunt for the latest in clothes, leather, accessories as well as books, souvenirs and food.

"But the book doesn't present only shopping information. It's also a lifestyle guide that informs readers about the local culture through fashion and design.

"I don't suggest readers buy blindly or spend for the sake of it," she insists.

The 37-year-old author places emphasis on the art of shopping. She believes that money isn't the only factor involved in pleasurable purchasing, but that the ideas behind the designs as well as the background of the companies and products also add value.

A graduate of Chulalongkorn University's law faculty, Ploy started her career in the financial world, preparing reports for businesses that wanted to go public.

Her job brought her into contact with various sectors from garments to agriculture, from export enterprises to chicken farms.

Her firm was one of many badly affected by the 1997 economic crash and she was made redundant. But with crisis came opportunity.

When a former colleague founded Corporate Thailand magazine, she asked Ploy if she could write a few features about future business trends.

Ploy came up with in-depth business articles, full of information and charts that were fun and easy to understand.

The daughter of prominent academic Dr Chaianan Samuthavanich, Ploy grew up with books.

"When I was young, my grandpa picked me up from school. But he always dropped me at thesupermarket for a few hours before heading home, as he was busy.

"He would tell me to spend time reading the labels of products on the shelves and to give him the information on the drive home," says Ploy of her primary-school days.

She remembers envying her school friends being able to play outdoors while she was stuck in the supermarket.

"But supermarket 'classes' made me selective and I'm still benefiting today."

Since leaving the financial world eight years ago, Ploy has been a regular columnist for many magazines including Living etc, Sakulthai and Harper's Bazaar, focusing mainly on lifestyle, shopping, trends and travel.

She often recommends new places to relax over tea and pastries, snap up new books and buy aromatic candles.

She also runs her own business, a consultancy that comes up with new business concepts. Urbanista Concept Studio's clients include the Dusit Thani's Devarana Spa, Royal Porcelain and Krungsri GE Card.

Urbanista's latest project is CentralWorld's Gift Specialist Studio. Ploy and her three partners have chosen 100 trendy gifts for clients who want to save time shopping.

The gift studio also provides product information and ideas for mixing and matching.

The translator of Sophie Kinsella's "Confessions of a Shopaholic", Ploy is regarded as a shopping guru but says she's not a faithful follower of fashion.

However, she has a passion for buying household products like ceramics, candles, bed sheets and pillowcases, so much so that her husband has banned her from buying anymore bed linen.

"I also buy a lot of books and stationery. I'm addicted to notebooks and diaries. I find tea and ribbons quite irresistible too."

"I'm not a shopaholic, though. I'm not rich and don't live an extravagant life.

"But I do enjoy the art of shopping. I love taking my time and using my imagination."

Tanaporn Tangcharoenmankong

The Nation