Highlight of the day: Chasing a street vendor of cute Iphone cases down a super ghetto alley in Mongkok as he escapes from cops.
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Last night, Lucy took us to a delicious hole-in-the-wall down in Kennedy Town for dinner, and afterwards K & I decided to spend the rest of our night exploring Mongkok via the red minibus. According to my local friend, these buses are owned by HK gangs. They run without set stops will take passengers wherever they want to go within their designated area, and are supposedly one of the reasons the HK “Black Society” is cool with the HK government. After some quick shopping at Langham Place for makeup (no tax in HK!) and Ladies Market, we walked out of our usual roaming territory and just explored. Quickly, it got considerably seedy and darker. I’ll let a few pictures of speak for themselves.
The Red Mini.
Leggings for "Fat or Pregnant".
Massages in whatever outfit you choose *winkwink*
Today, Vincent, K & I headed out to Mongkok again to collect our Macau Ferry Vouchers at the Groupon Redemption Center, and finally ate lunch at this amazing dumpling place near Tim Ho Wan. I believe its a Taiwanese chain called Ba Fang Yun Ji, specializing in steamed/fried dumpings & Taiwanese rice noodle. Highly recommended with great food quality and reasonable price!
After some bargaining wars at Ladies Market, we experienced the highlight of our day. I wanted to purchase one of those super big Rilakkuma phone cases (selling for 80-100 HKD typically) just for kicks, and found the best deal at one of those pushable vending carts. Just as I was about to bargain, the vendor bolted with his cart and fled down an super ghetto alley with dirty water dripping down the walls. Determined to get my deal, I followed him without thinking. So Asian! At least I successfully bargained and got my case for 30 HKD. Success.
Poor Vincent & K confused..with vendor on the lookout for cops
Afterwards, we wandered through a very local live foods market, where chickens and pigs were hung up in all their bloody glory. A toothless old man smiled as he split his sugar cane, and a fruit vendor tried to advise K on how to take pictures. While I was definitely slightly uncomfortable with the juxtaposition of live chickens with their slaughtered counterparts, it was a very authentic piece of Hong Kong.
Word of advice to anyone who buys stuff through Groupon HK #1: Do not go on Friday afternoons to pick up your items. The line extended all the way down the staircase. Therefore, imagine our fury when the clerk informed us that our Ferry Vouchers weren’t ready yet. Tip #2: Always read the fine print. Epic fail!
Our next stop was Sham Shui Po, HK’s premier stop for all things electronic at rock bottom prices. We explored quite a few electronics malls and snatched up some snazzy bargains, including Hyundai Speakers (they make speakers?) for Vincent at 39HKD, a cute pink keyboard cover for me (29HKD), and a bunch of other cheap trinkets including a white Hello Kitty Iphone case at a whopping 9 HKD. I was so pissed, since 5 months ago I bought the exact same cover in black from Amazon for 10 USD. RAWR!!!
My baby all pretty in pink. For 25 HKD ($3.22)
After a nice dinner at our ever favorite Tsui Wah, as well as a nice stroll inside the World Trade Center, we MTRed back to IFC Apple Store, and quickly called it a night.
M
Ahhh how I miss Hong Kong! If you like shopping, Tsim Sha Tsui is a great place to go! It houses Harbour City, which is one of my favourite malls in HK!
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve been to Harbour City once and its definitely a really nice mall! I bought my Uggs at the Lane Crawford there, but it was like twice as expensive as what I could have gotten them for in the States. 😦 HK is definitely amazing for shopping, but I’m on a tight budget as I want to spend all my money traveling around Asia when its cheap/convenient. Any recommendations for malls/shopping areas with more budget prices but decent selection? Thanks!
HK is good for buying things that are from Japan, and Korea… but it’s ridiculous if you want to get anything that is common in north america! Harbour City is definitely one of the higher end malls in HK (along with IFC and a couple other)
It depends on what type of things you shop for, Mong Kok is probably the first place that comes to my mind for budget shopping. If you are looking for make up/ skin care… Sasa is pretty good. They have stores all around HK.
I haven’t been back to HK for a few years so I don’t know if there has been huge changes! I wish I could be more helpful! But it seems like you are in good hands with all your friends! 🙂