Shopping and the Darker Side of Mong Kok

If your the type of person that loves shopping and getting new clothes, shoes, hats, electronics, etc and you happen to be in Hong Kong (or actually the Kowloon area) then drop by Mong Kok!

In terms of look and feel, Mong Kok is a mesh between Petaling Street in Malaysia and Times Square in New York.

There were like a million people shopping and buying as they walk along the Mong Kok area! These are photos of the "Petaling Street" area of Mong Kok.

Each streets in Mong Kok sells different things. Let me show you around:

Sai Yeung Choi Street-- The place where all things digital are concentrated at.

The ever popular "Loi Yan Kai" or Ladies' Market. Honest be told, if you are familiar with Batu Feringghi and Petaling Street, you can give this place a miss. It is full of designer knock-offs.

Fa Yuen Street or "The Sneaker Street"-- We're talking hundreds and hundreds of shop solely dedicated to selling sports shoes.

Arygle Street--A selection of food, clothes, and gadgets.

It's really cool how they use bamboo scaffolding when they construct or renovate their buildings which is pretty cool. However the creepy part is sometimes even when renovating, business still keeps on going like this hotel here. Talk about hardcore man!!


Can you see that business are still operating on the first and second floor?

According to the Guiness Book of Records, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world (mean 130,000 per km2) and with a development multiple of four. That's why you can't afford to close your business even for a day, even when you are renovating your outlet.


This isn't Petaling Street, this is the Ladies Market.


Here I am trying to find new clothes in Mong Kok because I had purposely travelled to Hong Kong with an empty suitcase so that i could buy new clothes. crazy right?!! Sometimes you gotta throw caution to the wind I would say.


I have to be honest some of the more established Hong Kong Brands were not as cheap as some people had lead me to believe and actually didn't really differ all that much from prices here in Malaysia. What was unique was that you would have access to the latest line of clothing and accessories. Really good if you want to be ahead of the curve fashion wise.

If your ever in the Kowloon area stay at the Metropark Hotel Kowloon, they have a free shuttle to take you to all the major places and saves you more money to shop!!!

However on the darker side of things, when your strolling around Mong Kok be very careful. In two years, there were three acid acttacks where an unknown individual was dropping acid off the top of buildings. We were also at Mong Kok when the 6th September 2009 acid attack happened at 5 o'clock. We were very fortunate to have left Mong Kok at 3:20pm as we were on our way to Causeway Bay.

Apparently what happened was that a couple who had a bag store along the "Petaling Street" looking area had a an argument with their supplier and was splashed with acid. A few people around the couple had acid splashed on them as well. We had found out all of this on the late night news after we had returned to the hotel.

Pretty scary... they even have the full story on Wikipedia.

The notoriety of life in Mong Kok as portrayed in the 2004 Derek Yee's hit film "One Night in Mong Kok" is not a fallacy. The movie portrays Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, as a hotbed of illicit activity.

Shop safely, people. The things that you won't pull in Petaling Street-- like bargaining and walk away without buying, do not pull it in Mong Kok. Same rule of thumb applies.

You do not want to be the cause of another corrosive liquid attack, lemme tell ya that.