Walking Tour 2

The Western District

Start: Pedder Street, Central District.

Finish: Lan Kwai Fong, Central.

Time: About 4 to 5 hours.

Best Times: Tuesday through Friday mornings, when markets are in full swing.

Worst Times: Sunday, when some shops are closed; Monday, when the Museum of Medical Sciences is closed.

While the Central District seems to be Western in style with its banks, high-rises, and smart department stores, the Western District is very Chinese -- a fascinating neighborhood of family-owned shops and businesses, with nary a tourist in sight. Traditional herbs, ginseng, antiques, preserved fish, name chops, coffins, funeral items, Hong Kong's oldest temple, and an interesting museum comparing traditional Chinese and Western medicine are just some of the things you'll see in my favorite area on Hong Kong Island.

Named after Lieutenant William Pedder, Hong Kong's first harbor master, Pedder Street connects two of Central's major thoroughfares: Des Voeux Road Central (with its tram tracks) and Queen's Road Central. It is most well known to visitors, however, for its shopping, including the not-to-be missed (yet easily overlooked due to its modest size):

1. Shanghai Tang

In the Pedder Building (tel. 852/2525 7333), this small, chic shop is a reproduction of a Shanghai clothing department store as it might have looked in the 1930s, with gleaming wooden and tiled floors, raised cashier cubicles, ceiling fans, and clerks wearing traditional Chinese clothing. This is a great place to shop for typical Chinese goods in mod colors, from lime-green cheongsams to stylish Chinese jackets, as well as funky home accessories and gifts.

Just beside Shanghai Tang to the left is the main entrance to the:

2. Pedder Building

At 12 Pedder St., this has been a shopping center since 1926. It is now famous for its dozens of small factory outlets and clothing boutiques; look for the elevator that services the first to seventh floors. Be aware, however, that just a handful of shops here are true factory outlets. The rest are simply taking advantage of the location to set up boutiques to sell their usual goods at regular prices; there are also some secondhand shops selling used designerwear. If you have the time, you might want to hunt for some bargains here. I usually take the elevator up to the sixth floor (there are no shops on the seventh floor) and then work my way down.

Across the street from the Pedder Building is the:

3. Landmark

This high-end shopping complex has brand-name boutiques, including Gucci, Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, and Manolo Blahnik.

Head west on Des Voeux Road Central (the one with the tram tracks); in about 2 minutes you will come to:

4. Li Yuen Street East and Li Yuen Street West

These two parallel pedestrian lanes, which rise steeply to your left, are packed with stalls that sell clothing and accessories, including costume jewelry, Chinese jackets, handbags, belts, and even bras. If you see something you like, be sure to bargain for it. Walk up Li Yuen Street East, take a right, and then head back down Li Yuen Street West.

After walking down Li Yuen Street West, turn left onto Des Voeux Road Central and continue walking west, keeping your eyes peeled for the:

5. Tak Wing Pawn Shop

Located at 72 Des Voeux Road Central, this is one of many pawn shops in Hong Kong, but it's easy to overlook them and walk on by. Unlike U.S. pawnshops which double as stores selling unclaimed personal belongings after a prescribed length of time, in Hong Kong pawnshops simply hold items in storage, selling them to another store if the owner is unable to pay. Hong Kong pawnshops, therefore, look like secretive affairs, with walls shielding customers from casual street observers.

Farther West on Des Voeux Road Central, you'll see the entrance to the:

6. Central-Mid-Levels Escalator

Opened in 1994 as the world's longest covered escalator, it stretches 780m (2,600 ft.) from Central to the Mid-Levels on Victoria Peak. Contrary to its name, however, it is not one long continuous escalator but rather a series of escalators and moving sidewalks, with 29 entrances and exits. Designed to accommodate commuters who live in the Mid-Levels but work in Central and beyond, the escalators operate downhill from 6 to 10am and then reverse their direction and go uphill from 10:20am to midnight (after this time, you have to walk down the hill -- there are stairs beside the escalators). If you travel its entire length, it takes about 20 minutes to go from one end to the other. Because of the foot traffic, the escalator has spawned a number of easily accessible new restaurants and bars, most in an area dubbed SoHo (more on this later).

Continue walking west on Des Voeux Road Central, past Jubilee Street with its Cyber Café at 12-13 Jubilee, and turn left onto:

7. Wing Kut Street

This is another small lane with stalls that sell clothing, handbags, and other accessories for women. More interesting, however, are the small shops behind the stalls, which specialize in costume jewelry in a wide range of styles and prices. Some shops sell only wholesale, but others will sell to individual shoppers as well.

After walking through Wing Kut Street, take a right onto Queen's Road Central.

Take a Break -- Located in the palatial-looking Grand Millennium Plaza, the upscale Gaia Ristorante, 181 Queen's Road Central (tel. 852/2167 8200), has a wonderful garden terrace, a contemporary interior, and very good Italian fare for both lunch and dinner.

Queen's Road Central will soon curve off to the left, but you'll want to keep walking straight westward onto Bonham Strand. Soon, to your right, just after the Hongkong Bank and Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant, you'll see an interesting street:

8. Man Wa Lane

Since the 1920s this street has been the home of one of China's oldest trades -- "chop" or carved-seal making. Sadly, the recent construction of many high-rises makes the stalls look out of place. Made from stone, ivory, jade, clay, marble, bronze, porcelain, bamboo, wood, soapstone, and even plastic, these seals or stamps can be carved with a name and are used by the Chinese much like a written signature.

You can have your own chop made at one of the several booths here, with your name translated into Chinese characters. It takes about an hour for a chop to be completed, so you may want to stop by again later after you've finished your walk. Calligraphy brushes are also for sale, and you can even have business cards made here with both English and Chinese characters; orders for that take about a day. Most stalls are open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm.

Back on Bonham Strand, continue west for 2 blocks. Just a few years ago, this area was known for its many snake shops, which did a roaring business from October to February. Now only a few remain, easily identifiable by cages of pythons, cobras, and banded kraits piled on the sidewalk, or by the wooden drawers lining the walls of the shop. Just past Mercer Street is Hillier Street (which is unmarked; it's the second street after Man Wa Lane, just past the corner fruit shop), where you should turn left for the:

9. Snake shop

You can recognize this open-fronted shop, at 13 Hillier, by the many drawers lining its wall. Eaten as protection against the winter cold, snakes are often served in soup. They are also favored for their gallbladders, which are mixed with Chinese wine as cures for rheumatism. Who knows, you might see a shopkeeper fill a customer's order by deftly grabbing a snake out of one of the drawers, extracting the gallbladder, and mixing it in yellow wine. The snake survives the operation, but who knows what other fate it awaits. The more poisonous the snake, so they say, the better the cure. The mixture is also believed to be an aphrodisiac.

Backtrack to Bonham Strand and turn left, where you'll pass medicinal shops selling dried organic products such as mushrooms and roots; a tea merchant's shop; and, on the corner of Morrison Street, a rattan shop with handmade wares spilling out onto the sidewalks and hanging from hooks outside the shop. It takes an apprentice 3 years to learn the skills necessary to become a master rattan maker; the rattan itself comes from a climbing vine found throughout Asia. As a sign of the times, the shop has branched into plastic housewares. Take a right here onto Morrison Street and walk to the end where, on the left, you'll find the handsome, redbrick:

10. Western Market

At 323 Des Voeux Rd., this market was built in 1906 and was used as a public market until 1988; it escaped demolition when the decision was made to renovate the imposing Edwardian/Victorian landmark into a bazaar for shops and artisans. On the ground floor are souvenir and gift shops that sell everything from Chinese seals to jade jewelry, with most shops open daily from 10am to 7pm. Up on the first floor, retailers sell bolts of colorful cloth, buttons, clasps, and other sewing accessories. On the top floor is The Grand Stage, noted for its afternoon ballroom dancing daily from 2:30 to 6pm. Stop for a peek at Chinese couples as they glide dreamily across the floor.

Take a Break -- There are several places in Western Market for casual dining, including eateries offering sandwiches and desserts. The top floor The Grand Stage (tel. 852/2815 2311) offers dim sum for lunch until 2pm daily and Cantonese fare from 7pm to midnight. But if you're on a budget or like adventuresome dining, head to the Cooked Food Centre on the second floor of the Urban Council Sheung Wan Complex (described), Bonham Strand, where the second floor has food stalls selling various noodle, vegetable, and other Chinese dishes. There are no English menus, since most of the patrons are neighborhood residents, vendors working inside the complex's market, or nearby blue-collar workers. It's open Monday through Saturday from 6am to an astonishing 2am.

From Western Market, backtrack on Morrison Street to Bonham Strand, where across the street you'll see the large:

11. Urban Council Sheung Wan Complex

One of Hong Kong's largest neighborhood markets, this complex, also called the Sheung Wan Civic Centre, open from 6am to 8pm, features fish and poultry on the ground floor, meats and vegetables on the first floor, and a large dining hall with stalls selling cheap, cooked meals on the second floor. Early morning is the best time to come, when women buy the day's food for their families and chefs purchase ingredients for their daily specials. Following the Chinese penchant for freshness, chickens are killed on the spot, boiled, and then thrown into machines that pluck them. Almost every part of every animal is for sale, including the liver, heart, and intestines (live chickens will be banned from Hong Kong's wet markets by 2009). Wicker baskets may contain the discarded horns and skulls of bulls, with even the brains carved out -- this is not a stop for the fainthearted.

Exit the market building back onto Bonham Strand, turn left, and continue straight ahead on Wing Lok Street. This street is nicknamed:

12. Ginseng and Bird's Nest Street

Obviously, shops here specialize in ginseng and bird's nest, both valued for their aid in longevity, energy, and a fair complexion. The kings of trade in this wholesale trading area are clearly ginseng, with more than 30 varieties on offer. The most prized are the red ginseng from North Korea, white ginseng from North America, and a very rare ginseng that grows wild in the mountains of northeastern China. Red ginseng is supposed to aid male virility, while the white variety helps cure hangovers.

By the way, this area has long had an exotic atmosphere -- 150 years ago it buzzed with activity as merchants from Shanghai, Canton (Guangzhou), Fujian, and other Chinese provinces and cities set up shop here, selling products from their native regions.

At the end of Wing Lok Street, turn left on Des Voeux Road West. Along this road you'll see:

13. Shops selling preserved foods

Dried and salted fish, flattened squid, oysters, scallops, abalone, sea slugs, fish bladders, starfish, shrimp, and many other kinds of seafood have been dried and preserved for sale here. You can buy bird's nest here, as well as shark's fin, and in winter there's also pressed duck and Chinese sausages made from pork and liver.

Continue west on Des Voeux Road, keeping your eyes peeled for a Park'n'Shop convenience store and Princeton Tower apartments on your left, at 92 Des Voeux Rd. Just past it is Sutherland Street, where you should turn left. Almost immediately you will come to a somewhat larger street, Ko Shing Street. This street is nicknamed:

14. Herbal Medicine Street

for its many shops dealing in the herbal medicine trade. Based on the Asian concept of maintaining a healthy balance between the yin and yang forces in the body, the range of medicinal herbs is startling, including roots, twigs, bark, dried leaves, seeds, pods, flowers, grasses, insects (such as discarded cicada shells), deer antlers, dried sea horses, dried fish bladders, snake gall bladders, and rhinoceros horns. The herbalist, after learning about the customer's symptoms (most will not likely speak English) and checking the pulses in both wrists, will prescribe an appropriate remedy, using perhaps a bit of bark here and a seed there, based on wisdom passed down over thousands of years. A typical prescription might include up to 20 ingredients, which are often boiled to produce a medicinal tea.

Return to Sutherland and continue heading south (toward the playground). A few years back, this neighborhood was renovated and the Li Sing Street Playground was built in its midst, displacing some of the narrow alleys favored by one of Hong Kong's oldest professions -- street-side barbers. Once plentiful, street-side barbers are now going the way of the rickshaw, but just past the playground and basketball court, to the left, is the only makeshift barbershop remaining in this area. At the top of Sutherland Street, on busy Queen's Road West, I used to see an elderly woman who set up shop on the sidewalk, using only a couple of stools and a string. She used the string to pull out the facial hairs of her customers, an ancient method that some salons still perform. But like much of old Hong Kong, she and her sidewalk business have vanished.

Take a Break -- There's no better place for Western food in this immediate vicinity than Sammy's Kitchen, 204-206 Queen's Rd. W. (reached from Sutherland St. by turning right and walking about 2 min.; tel. 852/2548 8400). A landmark for more than 3 decades, it's owned by the gregarious and friendly Sammy Yip, who treats foreign guests like royalty. It's a good place for inexpensive lunchtime fare, an afternoon snack, a soda or ice-cream sundae, or, in the evenings, fresh seafood, steaks, chicken, and house-invented specialties.

At the top of Sutherland Street, cross Queen's Road West and turn left, heading east. Here you'll pass several open-fronted:

15. Funeral and incense shops

Note the paper replicas of household goods and other items (such as houses, cars, running shoes, handbags, and even computers) hanging from the shops' eaves and ceilings. These are sold to accompany the deceased into the afterlife.

After the funeral shops, follow the sidewalk up and down a small hill. Shortly thereafter you will see a road leading uphill to the right. It's the famous:

16. Hollywood Road

This long road, which runs all the way to Central, is a strange mixture of shops selling coffins, funeral items, furniture, and antiques. In fact, there are more antiques shops concentrated here along this rather long road than anywhere else in Hong Kong, and you'll find everything from woodblock prints and rosewood tables to Neolithic pots, Ming dynasty ceramic figures, silk carpets, snuff bottles, porcelain, and round-bellied smiling Buddhas. Built in 1844 to accommodate British troops stationed here, the road takes its name from the woods of holly that used to adorn the area.

First, however, before hitting all the stores just mentioned, to your left will be:

17. Hollywood Road Park

A pleasant garden oasis with a children's playground, a pond with goldfish, and Chinese pagodas, this park makes a nice stop for a few moments of relaxation before continuing.

Just past the playground, to your left, you'll soon pass a historic landmark:

18. Possession Street

There's no need to enter it, but you might be interested to know that it was here that the British first landed in 1841 and planted the Union Jack to claim the island for Britain. At the time, of course, this was part of the waterfront. One of the first antiques shops you'll come to is:

19. Dragon Culture

One of Hong Kong's largest and most respected shops, it's owned by Victor Choi, who has given lectures on Chinese antiques for the HKTB's Meet the People program. Browse his shop, at 231 Hollywood Rd. (tel. 852/2545 8098), for everything from Tang pottery to Ming porcelain. If you want to learn more about antiques, pick up Choi's book Collecting Chinese Antiques in Hong Kong, which answers frequently asked questions about antiques, including how to ship them home.

After Dragon Culture, turn left at Lok Ku Road and then right onto Upper Lascar Row, better known as:

20. Cat Street

For almost a century, Cat Street was famous for its antiques, which could be bought for a pittance; now, however, with the new antiques shops on Hollywood Road and the nearby Cat Street Galleries, Cat Street vendors offer a fantastic mix of curios and junk. Pleasantly dotted with potted palms, this pedestrian lane is worth a browse for jade, snuff bottles, watches, pictures, copper and brass kettles, old eyeglasses, bird cages, and odds and ends. You should bargain with the vendors who have laid their wares on the sidewalk; most of them do business Monday through Saturday from 11am to about 5pm. You can also bargain at the surrounding antiques shops, where prices are rather high to begin with. If you're not an expert, be wary of purchasing anything of value. During one of my visits, it seemed that every shop was offering fossilized "dinosaur eggs" for sale. How many can there be?

At the end of Cat Street, turn right and go up the stairs. Across the street you'll see unmistakable:

21. Ladder Street

This extremely steep flight of stairs was once a common sight on steep Hong Kong Island. Now, of course, Hong Kong Island has escalators and the Peak Tram, but you're going to find out exactly how steep and tiring these stairs are by taking them almost to the top before turning right and following the sign down the short flight of steps to the:

22. Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences

This museum is housed in a stately, 1905 Edwardian-style brick building, at 2 Caine Lane (tel. 852/2549 5123), that once served as the Pathological Institute, founded to combat Hong Kong's worst outbreak of bubonic plague, which eventually claimed 20,000 lives. With most rooms left intact and devoted to various aspects of early medicine practiced in colonial Hong Kong, it is the only museum in the world to compare traditional Chinese and Western medicine. You'll see acupuncture needles, an autopsy room, an X-ray of a bound foot (once considered a sign of beauty for Chinese women), Chinese medicinal herbs, and the Halvo Pelvic Distraction Apparatus, a Hong Kong invention for treating humped backs. Very fascinating. It's open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 1 to 5pm.

Head back down Ladder Street and turn right onto Hollywood Road, where you'll immediately see the:

23. Man Mo Temple

This is Hong Kong Island's oldest and most well-known temple. It was in this area that the movie The World of Suzie Wong was filmed. The temple, which dates back to the 1840s and is open daily from 8am to 6pm, is dedicated to two deities: the god of literature (Man) and the god of war (Mo). Mo finds patronage both with the police force (shrines in his honor can be found in all Hong Kong police stations) and members of the underworld. Two ornately carved sedan chairs, dating from the 1800s and kept in the temple, were once used to carry the statues of the gods around the neighborhood during festivals. From the ceiling hang huge incense coils, which burn as long as 3 weeks, purchased by patrons seeking the fulfillment of their wishes. In a room to the right of the main hall is a small souvenir shop and an English-speaking fortuneteller.

Return to Hollywood Road and turn right to continue walking toward its eastern end. Here you'll find more chic and upscale antiques shops, selling furniture, blue-and-white porcelain, and goods from other countries, including Korean chests and Japanese hibachi. One of my favorites is:

24. True Arts & Curios

Located at 89-91 Hollywood Rd. (tel. 852/2559 1485), this is a tiny shop packed with all kinds of surprises, from antique children's pointed shoes to porcelain, jewelry, and snuff bottles. It also carries about 2,000 temple woodcarvings, most of which are about 100 years old and small enough to carry with you on the plane.

Farther down, at 47 Hollywood Rd., just before the Central-Mid-Levels Escalator, are a couple of ancient-looking hole-in-the-wall shops selling bric-a-brac, old photographs and postcards of Hong Kong (including portraits of women engaged in that ageless profession), snuff bottles, and other interesting stuff.

Walk under the elevated people-mover, and just a bit beyond, to the right, on Old Bailey and Hollywood Road, is the former:

25. Central Police Station

Originally built in 1864 and expanded in 1919 and 1925, this is one of Hong Kong's largest clusters of Victorian-era buildings, built in the classical style. Plans call for the building's renovation into a new heritage center by 2009.

Return to the Central-Mid-Levels Escalator. Here, on the steep lanes flanking the escalator and on narrow side alleys, is Hong Kong's newest nightlife and dining district:

26. SoHo

Though SoHo stands for "south of Hollywood," the popularity of this area has made it blossom into side streets on both sides of Hollywood Road. Most establishments are tiny affairs, serving a great variety of ethnic cuisines at reasonable prices.

If you wish to return to Central, walk downhill on Cochrane Street (which runs underneath the escalator) to Queen's Road Central, where you should turn right.

Winding Down -- Since establishments are opening up in SoHo literally overnight, I suggest you simply walk along Shelley and Elgin streets and their side streets until something catches your fancy. Otherwise, at 10 Shelley Street, is Life (tel. 852/2810 9777), a vegetarian restaurant with a relaxed, casual atmosphere. Uphill from Hollywood Road, on the corner of Shelley and Staunton streets, is Staunton Bar & Cafe (tel. 852/2973 6611), one of the first venues to open in SoHo. For Mexican food, head up Shelley street to !Caramba!, 26-30 Elgin St. (tel. 852/2530 9963), in SoHo, reached by going uphill on Shelley Street and turning right on Elgin Street.