ATTRACTIONS
JADE MARKET AND JADE STREET
Here in Hong Kong, jade business is most active at the Jade Market in Kowloon. While there’s been a lot of redevelopment in the area in recent years, some vestiges of its past have been saved, such as the colonial-era police station.
Nearby, a three-tone jade stone marks the strip of Canton Road known as Jade Street. However, if shopping takes your fancy over architecture and monuments, you won’t be disappointed with the quality and quantity of jade being sold by the stalls here.
LADIES MARKET
With over 100 stalls of bargain clothing, accessories and souvenirs, the Ladies’ Market on Tung Choi Street provides a one-kilometre stretch on which to practise your haggling skills. It gets its name from the huge amount of clothing and accessories on sale for women of all ages; however, with watches, cosmetics, bags, home furnishings, CDs and trinkets also up for grabs, you don’t need to be just in the market for a pair of nylon stockings to find something within its crowded aisles.
LANGHAM PLACE
The biggest mall in Mong Kok and a Hong Kong shopping hot spot, Langham Place draws in the punters with its more than 200 shops, most of which tend towards youth fashion. But the mall itself is interesting too. Its Digital Sky and live performances aim to keep shoppers amused, while the building’s unusual corkscrew design allows you to ascend or descend its floors without using an escalator. But if you want to jump ahead of the crowds a bit, there is an 83m escalator that will take you up quite a distance.
SNEAKERS STREET
What has to be the greatest gathering of sports shoe and sportswear shops on the planet, Fa Yuen Street is where Hong Kong’s image-conscious youth have come to get their statement-making footwear since the 1980s. They come for the latest designs and limited-edition releases from all over the world.
TEMPLE STREET
When the sun goes down, the traders have already laid out their wares and the opera singers and fortune tellers begin to emerge. Welcome to the Temple Street Night Market, a popular street bazaar, named after a Tin Hau temple located in the centre of its main drag, and a place so steeped in local atmosphere that it has served as the backdrop to many a memorable movie.