Hong Kong - Shopping

The customer is king

(photos of 2006-2009)

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Hong Kong and shopping are synonymous

Shops, shopping malls and restaurants are inescapable in Hong Kong. They pop up at every turn and especially at every metro stop. Simply admiring the variety of wares on offer is a delight.

The first order of business is to catch the eye of the customer, as shown in Mongkok (map), Kowloon's busy and crowded shopping district.

Food comes first

Eating gets top priority, starting with live seafood, often selected by the customer outside the restaurant, as shown next in the fishing town of Sai Kung (map).

Eating outside is an attraction in traditional markets, such as in Kowloon's Temple Street (map).

Not to be missed in Hong Kong is dim sum, delightful Chinese snacks steamed in bamboo baskets, like those offered on the island of Cheung Chau (map) and seen in a Mongkok restaurant, together with all sorts of other delicacies.

Dried fish is a regional specialty. The next two pictures were taken in the colorful fishing village of Tai O (map), the third in Cheung Chau and the fourth in Mongkok.

Fruit and nuts are also plentiful, as well as photogenic. The next picture is from Cheung Chau, and the following two from the so-called Ladies' Market in Mongkok's Tung Choi Street.

Traditional markets

Hong Kong still has many local and colorful markets. We start with a bird's eye view of Mongkok's Ladies' Market (also shown above) and a buyer's view of some of its clothes stalls.

Next we move to Mongkok's Bird Garden in Yuen Po Street (map), and then its "wet market" in Fa Yuen Street where fresh meat and produce are available (map).

Below is a street market in Wanchai (on Hong Kong Island) (map), followed by Mongkok's Flower Market (map), which becomes especially busy before the Chinese (Lunar) New Year.

Modern shopping malls

Upscale modern shopping is exemplified by Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong (map), shown in the next circular panorama and the following pair of vertical panoramas.

Festivals prompt impressive seasonal displays, such as the following decorations of Festival Walk for Christmas/New Year and Lunar New Year, respectively.

Since Mongkok is very crowded, its Langham Place shopping mall is built vertically, as seen in the next two vertical panoramas (map). The first view looks from a food court up along a long escalator toward many levels of shops, arranged as a sloping spiral (or screw). A second escalator, seen in the second view, then rises inside the spiral of shops.

The last picture shows a surprise that awaits the unwary in the Hung Hom district of Kowloon (map). Even though it appears to be a ship, it is a department store. It is certainly not sea-worthy and can't even float (being made of concrete), but was designed to symbolize the former Whampoa Shipyards that were located here in earlier days.