Night Markets, Hong Kong

Hong Kong, by day, is... shopping, so, nothing better for a brake in the night than... shopping!

However, I had a compensation: I think that I was the only foreigner to notice the temple that, probably, gave name to the street (Fernanda is in the picture but didn't see it - her eyes and thoughts where in... well, you know!

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During Qing Dynasty there has been a temple to a chinese Goddess here, that where the name is from.

Temple Street is an amazing shopping sight, featuring rows of brightly lit stalls hawking an astonishing variety of inexpensive items for men and women ─ including clothing, pens, watches, CDs, cassettes, electronic gadgets, hardware and luggage. Fortune-tellers cluster at the Yau Ma Tei end of the street, as do Chinese opera enthusiasts seeking kindred spirits for impromptu performances. It is open from 4pm to midnight, but really comes alive after sunset.

Of course many foodstalls offer a large variety of seefood and other Chinese Specialities.

Dress Code: No dress code

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Fairly similar to the Ladies Market, the Temple Street Night Market is the more famous and larger of the two. The market is located in Temple St which is just to the west of Jordan MTR station in Kowloon. The market is sometimes known as Men's Street as it is very popular for men's fashion. The market starts at 2pm in the afternoon, but is lively at dusk daily. Traffic is closed on the street at that time, and visitors swarm into the street. There are more than hundred stalls with colourful lights in the market. There are carts bulging with goods from clothing to mobile phones and watches. Stalls have items mainly for men, jeans, t-shirts, pants, lighters, shoes and men's accessories. Cheap merchandise is common in the night market. Cheap second hand goods such as cassettes, video tapes, old newspapers, antiques are also sold there. The night market is famous for its snacks and roadside dining, which serves local street cuisine. It sells a wide range of delicious local delicacies.

Both nights I was in Hong Kong my friends and I headed to the night markets. We started out heading through normal shops and checking out a whole lot of cameras (as my friends were interested in buying). I swear, if you pause enough and 'um' and 'ah' over a purchase, they just keep adding things for free. My friend got a camera with a bag, memory card, free batteries and mini tripod, they also took a little bit off the price for her because she took so long to make up her mind! :)

So for electronics Hong Kong is a great place to shop.

After that we headed to the markets. Anyone looking for cheap clothing, shoes, bags, accessories or souvenirs - then these markets are for you. The owners of the stalls always try to get you to come into their stall to have a look at their merchandise. So it makes for a fun evening out. Plus there are other shops nearby, selling music and DVDs (not sure which ones are legal or not - so just be aware of that).

Dress Code: No dress code - it's a market.

Temple St is an eye opener indeed. There is flea market selling all softs of things clothes, watches, accessories, everything. And if you turn to a corner you will see this a street selling items that is good for the pleasure...like sex toys. haha

Further down, there are fortune teller, of all softs from the palm to tarot card readings. You will be surprise how popular some teller are...you have to queue about 30mins for the popular one.

One thing for me walking tt street gave me a little shiver, maybe its the fortune tellers

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If you walk up the major streets at night, you'll see why they don't need street lights! It's because the advertizing signs are enough to light the street!

Walk as though you're on your way somewhere, so solicitors that approach you do not have luck with getting you to buy something, or that they can't pick your pockets! A moving target is harder to handle.

Dress Code: Dress according to the weather. The front desk and newspaper usually have the forecast.

This is one thing i absolutely loved about Hong Kong- The night markets!!

They are all much the same- you can buy anything and everything! all designer rip offs, food- oh the food- YUM!!!, i mean this place is a retailers heaven!!!

The two i visited were The Stanley Street Markets and The Temple Street Markets- both were awe inspiring!!

These markets extend for kilometres and kilometres- as far as the eyes can see and beyond.

Its also great to be amongst all the hustle and bustle, bargaining and debating prices... everyone gets into it!!!

After dinner which consisted of really tasty Clay Pot Rice, Fried clams, Fried Kankung (a green leaf vegetable) and Fried egg with oysters at Temple Street, we moved onto the obligatory dessert! We headed off further down the road to Nanking Street near Jordan MTR to taste these wonderful delights!

Dessert was a mixture of things! We started with sago in coconut juice with chunks of fresh mango, then had sesame paste (the black liquid in the bowl!), some cute little dumplings rolled in coconut, sesame seeds and sugar and finished off with sweet potato in a ginger soup!

The winner as backpackerbaby has already pointed out on her page, was undoubtedly the sago with mangos! Really juicy and refreshing! So much so that Oli told me the name of a chain of shops which sell this dish as a drink! The following day I managed to hunt down one of them and indeed had the best drink ever!

There's a first time for everything in life, right? And mine for eating SNAKE SOUP was last week! I was walking the back streets of HK (as you do!) and VT friend (backpackerbaby )suggested Charles and I have some! I am normally scared of all those things, but after being told it tasted like chicken, I thought 'what the hell!' and went for it! I was sitting with my back to the drawers and cupboards where the snakes were kept which was somewhat scary in itself, but I was so surprised that the soup was not slimey at all! I imagined something quite gross to be honest, but it really did taste and even look like chicken! So what's next to eat then....hhhmmm...think I'll take a break from eating strange creatures for the time being!

Dress Code: Do I HAVE to keep telling you that there's no dress code!!!!

When youve spotted this sign, you know youre walking in the right direction!

Temple Street can be reached by getting off at Jordan MTR and walking around the back streets where you just stumble on it, or geting off at Yau Mei Tai MTR and being stright in it. The market you see is split in two, so whichever method you choose to get there, you'll come across one half of the market at least. And its very easy to walk to the other half!

Dress Code: Once again...NO dress code!