When night falls and neon buzzes, Hong Kong's liveliest market rattles into life. Covering multiple city blocks from Man Ming Lane in the north to Nanking St in the south, Temple St is cleaved in two by the Tin Hau Temple complex. In the 1920s, vendors gathered there to serve temple-goers; a century on, the crowds descend nightly for cheap clothes and watches, street food, trinkets and teaware. Marked prices are mere suggestions – this is a place to bargain.
Tourist trap? Absolutely, but don't let that stop you. Yau Ma Tei remains Hong Kong's most thrillingly ungentrified district, where, if you veer away from the bare-bulb stalls, you might encounter Canton singing houses, fortune-tellers, herbalists, dai pai dong street eats and prostitutes lurking in the shadows.
For street food, head to Woo Sung Street running parallel to the east of Temple St, or to the stretch of Temple St north of the temple. Pull up a chair at an open-air kitchen for wok-fried seafood, noodles, roast meat and plenty of ice-cold beer.
The market is at its bustling best from 7pm to 10pm; after that, if you want more, head to the hyper-local wholesale fruit market, a hive of nocturnal activity.
To reach the market, take exit C2 from the Jordan MTR station and walk along Bowring St, or exit C from the Yau Ma Tei MTR station and follow Man Ming Lane.
