Yao Ma Tei and Mong Kok

In some ways, the part of Kowloon north of the tourist ghetto of Tsim Sha
Tsui is more rewarding to walk around, with more authentic Chinese neighbourhoods and interesting markets. Yau Ma Tel, whose name, meaning “Place of
Sesame Plants”, rather belies its present appearance, is jammed with
highrise tenements and busy streets. The area begins north of Jordan Road, and most of the interest lies in the streets to the west of Nathan Road. You can walk up here fromTsim ShaTsui in about twenty minutes, otherwise take the MTR or, ifyou’re coming from Central, take the cross-harbour ferry to the Jordan
Road Ferry Pier.Temple Street, running north off Jordan Road a couple of blocks west of Nathan Road, becomes a fun-packed night market after around 7pm every day, although the market actually opens in the early afternoon. As well as shopping for cheap clothing, watches, CDs, tapes and souvenirs, you can get your fortune told here, eat some great seafood from street stalls, and sometimes listen in on impromptu performances of Chinese opera. A nfinute or two to the north of here is the local Tin Hun Temple, just off Nathan Road, rocked away between Public Square Street and Market Street, a couple of minutes south of Jordan MTR. Surrounded by urban hubbub, this old little temple devoted to the sea sits in a small concreted park, usually teanfing with old men, playing mahjong under the banyan trees. East of the Tin Hau Temple, just under the Gascoigne Road flyover at the junction of Kansu and Battery streets,the Jade Market (daily 9am-6pm) has 450 stalls in two different sections offering an amazing variety of items fi’om souvenir trinkets to family heirloomas in jade, crystal, quartz and other stones - it’s another good place for a browse. Nearby onTung Choi Street, between Argyle Street and Dundas Street, is the Ladies Market, flogging piles of cheap clothes, jewellery, toys and bags between noon and 10.30pm every day.To the east of Nathan Road, at the corner of Nelson Street and Fa Yuen Street, a specialist market of a rather different flavour, the Mong Kok Computer Centre, offers some incredible bargain software on CD, though be warned that much of this is pirated and, strictly speaking, illegal - exercise caution when importing such material into your own country. Not far from here is the Goldfish Market, on Fa Yuen Street and Bute Street, where you can find aquaria, corals, exotic fish and even some dubiously exotic breeds of snake, lizard and turtle. A few hundred metres from here in the direction of Mong Kok MTR, just to the north of Prince Edward Road, are two delightful markets, the Flower Market (daily from 10am), in Flower Market Street, and the Bird Garden (daily 7am-8pm), at the eastern end of the same street, where it meets the KCR flyover. The flower market is at its best on Sundays and in the run up to Chinese New Year, when many people come to buy narcissi, orange trees and plum blossom to decorate their apartments in order to bring good luck. In 1997, the bird market moved from some rather fetid lanes off Nathan
Road in Mong Kok to its purpose built site here. Over seventy songbird stalls are set in a Chinese-style garden, with trees, seats and elegant carved marble panels showing birds in the wild. As well as the hundreds of birds on sale here, along with their intricately designed bamboo cages, there are also live crickets food for the birds. Many local men bring their own songbirds here for an airing, and the place gives a real glimpse into a traditional area of Chinese life which is spiritually a thousand miles from Tsim Sba Tsui.

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