Hong Kong: Night Market

Everywhere we went in Asia some sort of market activity was popping up.  Hong Kong proved no exception and it would be our first exposure to the market culture and a memorable one at that.  Let's be frank...call it what you will to get visitors to attend but I referred to them as "shit shops"  After our visit to Ozone (read post here)  we headed over to to the Temple Street night market.  Starting at 5pm a busy street transforms into a place where vendors hawk their wares, everything from t-shirts to jade to fruits/vegetables to any kind of street food one could imagine.  We were so excited to explore the colorful marketplace before us.

Prior to my leaving I was at a family gathering where my cousin's son (age 14) was asking his Aunt who is in the fashion trade to get him some designer knocks offs, for what ever reason she was ignoring the request so I innocently say to the kid, "hey, I'm leaving for Hong Kong next week and that's where they make the stuff, what do you want?"  His face lit up and off he went to punching up things in his iPhone to show me.  We agreed I would attempt to locate 1 Louis Vuitton belt and 1 Rolex on his behalf.  Now, I am no stranger to the New York City knock off scene where you tell someone on a street corner you want a his best Kate Spade items and 2 minutes later some sketchy guy shows up with a green plastic hefty bag loaded with Kate Spade and you follow him to some mysterious van in an alley way to take a look.  Hong Kong proved no different, after all this is where the knock offs are made/imported from.  The big thing here was there were signs all over the airport and other official places trying to stop people from partaking in this type of shopping.  Before I left I contacted a friend of mine whose parents visit Hong Kong and bring her back the latest knockoffs to make sure I could do this in the same manner as I have done in NY; she told me it wouldn't be an issue.

Back at the market, Diva and I are literally two stalls into this huge market place when I pop into a makeshift watch stall,  the vendor asking "You want watch?" "You want watch?"  I say "Rolex" he shakes his head no, I turn to leave and he stops me with "wait"  he makes a call on his cell and less than a minute later a guy appears from nowhere saying "You want Rolex?"  'What kind?"  Well, I didn't know what kind, so he goes away and comes back with a book containing several dozen Rolex models to choose from, I select one and say "how much?" he says "1000" meaning 1000 Hong Kong dollars which is about $125 US, and I'm thinking "too high", so I turn to look for Diva to get her opinion when it dawns on me we have no money and everything in the market is cash only, as a matter of fact everywhere except large hotels and real Rolex stores you had to pay cash.  Since we were leaving early the next morning for Bangkok we tried to keep our excess Hong Kong money at a minimum.  So if I get this watch I must find an ATM and withdrawl the agreed upon amount.

This is where things started to go from bad to worse.  The mystery guy comes back with a watch, it was ok I suppose for a fake Rolex,  cash in hand or not I wasn't paying 1000 HKD so I say "600" (about $77 US) which I feel is still too high but I know he's not coming down to 600.   I wave my hand saying no, grab Diva's arm and say "let's go".  We go a few more stalls away and the guy follows saying "800".   I'm firm to my 600HKD and keep walking, ignoring him. Usually they give up here, not this guy, so he says "700".   I tell him I need to go get money.  I have no big cash stash on me and of course he doesn't understand me, we're in the middle of a market, it's crowded, loud and there is a language issue. I continue to walk, but no matter how crowded it is one thing will certainly stick out... Diva is blonde.  Yup, we're marked.  

So as not to alarm Diva I try to push her along unknowingly thru the market but no matter how many twists and turns we take I can see the guy out of the corner of my eye following me and that's not good. Diva is innocently looking at Jade and whatever else suits her fancy and I'm trying to find the way outta there quick.  Then I see him coming toward me again, Diva is to my right about 2 steps behind and he if fast approaching her right from behind, then BAM!!!! right in the middle of the lively market place he catches up, shouts out another number, then "ok 600", which I can't do because I need an ATM and he does not understand and I say no and grab Diva's arm pull her close and say "GO" -   too late...guy gets his face between the back of mine and Diva's and screams something that had to be absolutely horrible in what ever the hell language he was speaking because it stops the entire surrounding market scene in their tracks and for a split second you could here a pin drop.

Now the hairs are standing on the back of my neck and we need to get the hell out of there, we quickly move and Diva is like "What was that?" I'm trying to find my way to the Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui so we can take their private shuttle back to our hotel and know for sure we'd be safe, but my nervousness gets the best of me and I can't find it, then I'm thinking we've got to find a metro entrance but not one close to the market.  Everyone looks the same and I have no clue who, if anyone is following us and of course we still stick out because Diva is blonde.  Watching too many James Bond movies are getting my mind racing down avenues they need to abandon.  We make our way a metro station, our stop is 30 minutes out and the farther we go the less crowded the train gets.   Some of the people look like they are watching us, even Diva makes such a comment, so once we arrive at the Sha Tin stop we have to find the right exit and walk alone to the hotel. I'm shaking in my shoes but not letting Diva know how frightened this situation has me.  We get off the train and walk quickly to the hotel, ok, almost run I should say.

Once inside I still don't feel totally secure.  We get into our elevators and this person gets in with us mind you its late, but the other passenger won't push the button until we do, almost as if she wants to see our floor before she pushes a number.  I couldn't get off the elevator to catch another lift  before Diva pushes 25 then the passenger pushes 19.  Fortunately you can't access our level unless your key is coded to that level and the person on the elevator when she pushed 19 swiped her key over the reader when you did not need to do so for that floor, (that was a red flag she did not belong there)  so we finally make it to the floor, quickly walking to the door and into the room.  Thank god we are leaving in the early morning, really thank god, I tell Diva, do not answer the door under any circumstances tonight, I make it sound innocent like oh they might slip our bill under the door or ring for a special service just don't answer the door.  I slept with one eye open all night and was thankful when we arrived at the airport.  Only when we easily passed thru security did I feel somewhat safe, then I proceeded to tell Diva, how dangerous the previous nights activities really were.  At least now we are  prepared for what lies ahead in Bangkok.



id you not two stalls into this huge