Apliu Street

I think Sham Shui Po is one of the Last places where you can still find the traditional Hongkong. Far away from those big skyscrapers and the expensive restaurants. Herr you see big markets with infinite tiny stands. In Addition to dark and small lanes. Also very nice is the big food market where you can choose the chicken which will geht slaughtered for you. (And much more)
And in top of that there are nearly no tourists.
Its definitely a really nice experience to visit Sham Shui Po when you ate interested to know the traditional side of HK.

This is my DH’s favorite place to visit in HK.
We were back 4 times. If you have a need for phone covers, chargers and cables, for your phone. Or camera things, specialty lights, converter, etc. This is the place to be.
There are street stalls plus the shops on the street that is almost hidden by the stalls.
Don’t stop at the first stall, go through the whole street and side streets first and then go back.
This is one of the oldest neighbourhood in HK and locals and tourist come here.
One of the stalls have remotes for every brand of electronics you might have. Others have old junk that men will go through to find their treasure.
Most stalls sell things that you would order from Amazon for your iPad, iPhones, etc.
Best time to go is between 2 — 5pm, to make sure all the stalls are open. Most stalls don’t open until after 11am.

While people are promoting the Victoria Peak, Disneyland or Ocean Park, actually they have missed the real Hong Kong-​ness of this place. Hong Kong celebrate certain things, efficiency is one, but the other has to be versatility. Ap Liu Street locates in Sham Shui Po in between residential and commercial buildings, yet this place has already become a staple on its own. Not least because the items sell here is one of a kind, literally there aren’t many places sell things like that elsewhere; but more is that you would be very much amazed to see how complete the stock is.
I still remember when I was doing physics in high school, when discussing the topic of electricity or electromagnetism, the teacher always referred us to «Ap Kee» (鴨記) to look for wires and magnets to do experiments. Later in uni, when we have to make our own props for shows on stage, we would go to Apliu street to buy all the things we need: LED, light bulbs, wire you name them.
Other than electrical appliances, you can also find vintage, old school toys around there, some even are from my parents’ generation; so other than being a trip to look for the things that you really need, it is also a place of nostalgic values. Walking on the main road surrounding by different vendors and shops, it makes me think how this place was like decades ago when it first started. Especially seeing those antiques radios and TV sets, my thoughts were drifting further into the past…

This is a place girls probably seldom venture into, but it’s definitely a man’s paradise full of toys for adults… Don’t get me wrong, for that I mean all the mechanical gadgets you can get from here.
Ap Liu Street is another famous Market Street in Hong Kong. It, together with the Golden Computer Mall are probably the sole reason many locals go to Sham Shui Po for. Its name ‘Ap Liu’ means duck huts, and in 1920s, the place was actually full of fish ponds and duck raising yards. When Sham Shui Po was developed into ‘new towns’, this area was land-​filled, the street laid and named after its origin. At the beginning this is the place where low-​income locals come to sell second-​hand stuff from their homes like electric appliances, old toys and what-​nots.
By and by it is specialized into selling mostly electronic goods. Friends who were radio fanatics back in the 90s came here to buy dirt-​cheap bargain parts so that they can assemble a whole radio from scratch. Now the stalls are more commercial and sell goods that don’t require as much technical knowledge to be of use. Architecture students often come here to hunt for cheap gadgets to enhance their models, such as small light bulbs, wiring, circuit boards, glue guns, welding guns, etc. You can also find transformers for your appliances purchased in Japan, cheap mobile phone associated goods, camera & car gadgets, some Hi-​Fi cords and even vinyl vintage records as well.

Here is a street that I can spend both a ridiculous amount of time and money on. The street appears to be divided into sections and the section I spend most my time in is right out of MTR exit A. The photographer’s and videographer’s haven of gadgets. The other sections are filled with phone covers and I’ve seen enough of those to last a life time.
Directly down the middle of the street are market stalls that sell a whole bunch of cables; HDMIs, phone chargers, USBs, and so forth. There are also a few that sell lights, these I ignore, or try to if they were not so blindingly bright! And hidden behind the stalls, along the pavement are some of the real stores. Four of these stores are filled with camera shizzle that you won’t find in Fortress. I don’t quite know how to describe the products, they’re made in china but they are not complete knock offs of the real deal. Basically they are great for independent, budget film makers that still want to create something with production value. And if you take care of it properly you won’t need to go and buy a new one every other week. The quality might be low but so too are the prices.
Whenever I’m on the look out for a light stand, or a graduation filter Apliu Street is the place I go. I always end up buying things I don’t need, however… but they look so cool and it’s only $ 20! As you can probably guess my living room is filled with camera/​light accessories that I use more often at home than on a photo shoot.