Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [98]
Hong Kong’s customs agents have cracked down on the fake cameras and electronic goods, and the problem has been pretty much solved. However, counterfeit brand-name watches remain very common and are constantly being flogged by the irritating touts patrolling Nathan Rd. If you discover that you’ve been sold a fake brand-name watch by a shopkeeper when you thought you were buying the genuine article, call the police ( 2527 7177).
If you have any trouble with a dodgy merchant, call the HKTB’s Quality Tourism Services (QTS; 2806 2823; www.qtshk.com) if the shop is a tourist-board member; the HKTB logo will be displayed on the front door or in some other prominent place. Otherwise, contact the Hong Kong Consumer Council ( 2929 2222; www.consumer.org.hk) for advice Monday to Friday between 9am and 5.45pm.
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Photographic Equipment
Never buy a camera without a price tag. This will basically preclude most of the shops in Tsim Sha Tsui. One of the best spots in Hong Kong for buying photographic equipment is Stanley St in Central, where competition is keen. Everything carries price tags, though some low-level bargaining may be possible. Tsim Sha Tsui has a couple of shops on Kimberley Rd dealing in used cameras and there are plenty of photo shops on Sai Yeung Choi St in Mong Kok.
Watches
Shops selling watches are ubiquitous in Hong Kong and you can find everything from a Rolex to Russian army timepieces and diving watches. Avoid the shops without price tags. The big department stores and City Chain (Click here) are fine, but compare prices.
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HONG KONG ISLAND
Central and Causeway Bay are the main shopping districts on Hong Kong Island, with Wan Chai lagging pretty far behind.
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CENTRAL, LAN KWAI FONG & SOHO
Central has a mix of midrange to top-end shopping centres and street-front retail; it’s popular with locals and tourists alike. This is a good place to look for cameras, books, antiques and designer threads. The Landmark shopping mall in Central has designer boutiques, shops selling crystal and so on. The IFC Mall is for high fashion.
ARCH ANGEL ANTIQUES
Map Antiques
2851 6848; 53-55 Hollywood Rd; 26 Though the specialities are antique and ancient porcelain and tombware, Arch Angel packs a lot more into its three floors: it has everything from mah-jong sets and terracotta horses to palatial furniture. It also operates an art gallery, Arch Angel Fine Art ( Map; 2854 4255; 38 Peel St) across the road, which deals in paintings by Vietnamese artists.
HOBBS & BISHOPS FINE ART
Map Antiques
2537 9838; 28 Hollywood Rd; 10am-5.30pm Mon-Sat; 26
This shop smelling of beeswax specialises in lacquered Chinese wooden furniture from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its taste leans towards the sleek and handsome rather than gilded and showy pieces.
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TO MARKET, TO MARKET…
For budget shopping, there’s no better place to start than at one of Hong Kong’s busy covered markets or street markets.
The biggest one in the territory is the Temple Street night market ( Click here) in Yau Ma Tei, which basically runs parallel to (and west of) Nathan Rd from Jordan Rd in the south to Man Ming Lane in the north and is divided by Tin Hau Temple. It is the place to go for cheap clothes, watches, pirated CDs and DVDs, fake labels, footwear, cookware and everyday items, as well as dai pai dong (daai pàai dawng; open-air street stall) food. The best time to visit is between 7pm and 10pm.
The Tung Choi St market ( Map; noon-11.30pm), two blocks east of Nathan Rd and the Mong Kok MTR station, mainly sells cheap clothing. It is sometimes called Ladies’ Market to distinguish it from Men’s St (the Temple Street night market) because the stalls in the latter once sold only menswear. Though there are still a lot of items on sale for women on Tung Choi St, vendors don