The Kowloon that has not been polished

Hong Kong is very good at making itself convenient. Central has escalators up the hillside. Tsim Sha Tsui has a waterfront promenade with a light show. All of it is pleasant and none of it feels like a city where people actually struggle, work and eat lunch on a plastic stool.

Sham Shui Po does. It is the poorest district on the Kowloon side, and it is also the most interesting part of Hong Kong I have spent a day in.

What it is known for

Three things: electronics, textiles and food.

Electronics

The Apliu Street market is the classic. Second-hand phones, cables, batteries, circuit boards, adaptors, things you cannot identify, all laid out on tables in the open. It is not a scam market, though you should still check anything before you buy it. Half the fun is that nobody is performing for tourists, because there are almost no tourists.

Golden Computer Arcade nearby is the indoor version, denser and air-conditioned, and worth a lap even if you are not buying.

Textiles and haberdashery

The streets around Nam Cheong Street are wall-to-wall fabric shops, ribbon stalls, button sellers and trimmings. Designers come here from all over Asia. If you have any interest in sewing or textiles, block out two hours.

Food

This is the real reason to come. Sham Shui Po is the best cheap eating district in Hong Kong right now, and it has been for years.

What to eat

• Beef brisket noodles at any of the older shops on Fuk Wa Street. Order the brisket with tendon. It is worth it.
• Egg waffles, freshly made, from a street stall. Crisp outside, custardy inside, nothing like the packaged version.
• Roast meat over rice from a cha chaan teng. Look for duck and char siu hanging in the window; that is your signal.
• Tofu pudding, warm and unsweetened, with a spoon of syrup. A local after-lunch habit.
• Tofu puffs and fish balls from a skewer stall, if you want the full street-food experience.

Bring cash. Many of these places are small and old, and a few still do not take cards or phones.

Getting there and getting around

Sham Shui Po station on the Tsuen Wan Line, which is a direct ride from Central or Tsim Sha Tsui. From the exit, walk. The district is dense but small enough that you will cover the good parts on foot in half a day.

Go on a weekday morning to early afternoon. Weekends are busy with local shoppers, and on Sundays the streets fill with domestic workers on their day off, which is a fascinating thing to witness but not the best time to browse.

An honest warning

This is a working-class residential district, not an attraction. People live here. Do not photograph strangers' faces without asking, do not block stairwells for a shot, and do not act surprised that the place is worn. That is the point.

Where to stop for a proper break

Halfway through the morning you will want to sit down, and Sham Shui Po is good at that. The old cha chaan tengs here serve milk tea that actually tastes of tea, thick toast with butter and condensed milk, and pineapple buns with a slab of cold butter inside. Order the set, which usually includes a drink, and pay about the price of a coffee at home for all of it.

There are also a handful of small independent coffee shops that have opened in the last few years, mostly on the side streets off Tai Nan Street. They are a good sign for the district: not everything here is being replaced, some of it is being added to.

What to buy, and what not to

Buy fabric if you sew, because the prices are the best in the city. Buy a phone case or a charging cable if you need one, and test it before you walk away. Do not buy branded electronics at a suspiciously low price, because they are usually exactly what you suspect.

The one thing I would happily spend money on is a cheap meal. Eat two lunches here, one at 11am and one at 2pm, and you will understand why locals are fiercely loyal to their own neighbourhood.

Getting out

The metro will take you back to Tsim Sha Tsui in about ten minutes. If you have energy left, walk south towards Cheung Sha Wan and then along the harbour, which gives you a completely different view of the Kowloon waterfront. It is not the postcard. It is better.

Come for the food, stay for the atmosphere, and leave with a phone charger you did not plan to buy. That is the standard Sham Shui Po experience.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.