LADIES MARKET OF HONG KONG

After Avenue of the Stars, we went to find our way to the first famous night market in Hong Kong. We thought we had arrived at the market when we entered a stretch of road that was closed to traffic. There were already a lot of people walking with varieties of activities going on. But that was not the actual market yet.

live street concert

they were filming something

street acrobatic show

One word to describe the place: HAPPENING. Other than people who were trying to sell their products or services by shouting through the microphones or loud hailers, there were also street performers, acrobatic shows and at one spot, they were shooting a film, or a commercial. Being the curious ones, we simply joined the crowd.

We knew we were at the exact spot when we saw rows and rows of stalls displaying all sorts of things. If you are familiar with Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, you will get similar experience here except there were more things to be bought and seen.

I wonder why it is called Ladies Market. The stall operators were both men and women, but they were mostly women when I was there. The goods were also for both sexes and everybody could come to this place, not just for ladies.

In order to get the lowest price for whatever items that you want to get, you should put your bargaining skills at test here. No matter how small the things were, like key-chains, fridge magnets and t-shirts, we still had to bargain. It was something difficult as we did not really know how low the price could get, or what would be the margin price for the items on sale. If you offer a price too low, the sellers will call you "CRAZY" and it seemed once you have agreed on a price but you simply walk away, they will shout (or curse) at you in anger. I guess this is how business transaction is carried out in this kind of place. I had similar experience when I was in Beijing last year.

cheap labour: translation, please?

By then, we had some ideas what we could buy from the night markets in Hong Kong. At the same time, there were other night markets that we would visit before going back to Malaysia.

waiting for the train

And that wraps up our first day spent in Hong Kong. And there would be more exciting trips to other parts of the country for four more days to come.

T O   B E   C O N T I N U E D . . .