Temple Street Night Market & Ladies Market

Temple Street is the most famous night market in Hong Kong and still the best way to feel the energy of old Kowloon. Named after the Tin Hau Temple that sits in the middle of it, the street in Yau Ma Tei fills every evening with rows of stalls selling cheap electronics, phone cases, T-shirts, jade, watches and souvenirs, under strings of bare bulbs and the neon signs that once defined Hong Kong. The goods are the least of it. Around the temple, fortune tellers set up tables to read palms and faces, and in some years amateur singers perform Cantonese opera songs in the open air. The food is the main event: open-air restaurants with plastic stools spill into the street, serving clay-pot rice cooked over charcoal until the crust crackles, chilli crab, stir-fried clams in black bean sauce, grilled skewers and steaming bowls of noodles, with cold beer to wash it down. Stalls begin to set up in the afternoon, but the market comes alive after dark and runs until late at night. A short walk or one MTR stop north, in Mong Kok, the Ladies Market on Tung Choi Street is about a kilometer of stalls selling clothes, bags, accessories, toys and souvenirs for everyone, not just women, despite the name. Mong Kok is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and the surrounding streets are worth wandering: Sai Yeung Choi Street for electronics and buskers, the Goldfish Market on Tung Choi Street North with bags of fish hanging in the shop fronts, the Flower Market and Yuen Po Street Bird Garden a little further. Together they make a perfect evening: shopping, people-watching and a cheap, delicious dinner in the street.

Go hungry and go late. The best time to arrive at Temple Street is from around seven in the evening, when the stalls are open and the dai pai dong-style restaurants are filling; the atmosphere builds until about ten. Walk the length of the market from Jordan in the south to the Tin Hau Temple at its northern end, then choose a busy restaurant with charcoal-fired clay pots and sit down. Prices are posted on menus but seafood is priced by weight, so ask before ordering. For the Ladies Market, the late afternoon and early evening are the most comfortable, before the crowds peak; most stalls stay open until late. Bargaining is expected at both markets: start well below the first price, be friendly, and walk away if it does not feel right. Most stalls accept cash only, though some take mobile payments. Branded goods are, let us say, not always what they claim to be.

The Tin Hau Temple complex in the middle of Temple Street is worth a look by day or in the early evening, when you can step in to see the smoky interior and the altar to the goddess of the sea. Yau Ma Tei around the market is full of old Hong Kong: the Jade Market, the restored Yau Ma Tei Theatre for Cantonese opera, and traditional shops for herbal medicine and dried seafood. Hong Kong's markets have evolved; some stalls have gone, the area has been refreshed, and the government has worked to keep Temple Street alive with events and better lighting. It is less wild than in its heyday but still unmistakably Hong Kong.

Practical notes: the markets are safe but crowded, so keep an eye on your bag and phone. Wear comfortable shoes and expect heat and humidity in summer. Heavy rain or typhoon signals close many stalls. Getting there: for Temple Street, use Jordan or Yau Ma Tei MTR; for the Ladies Market, use Mong Kok MTR. From Tsim Sha Tsui, walk up Nathan Road in about twenty minutes, or take one or two stops on the MTR. Combine the two markets with the harbour lights earlier in the evening for a complete Kowloon night.