Chungking Mansions Christmas gifts guide

Chungking Mansions is known for a lot of things -- cheap guesthouses, good Indian restaurants, dodgy business deals -- but shopping isn't one of them. That's a shame, because this cavernous, polyglot building contains one of the most unusual retail mixes in Hong Kong.

With most of the shops catering to the South Asians and Africans who live and work around Chungking Mansions, there are plenty of treasures to be found.

Best samosas in town

$4 each from a snack bar, shop 94B

You don't want to wander around Chungking Mansions on an empty stomach -- that would be an insult to hundreds of years of South Asian culinary tradition. So start your journey at one of the ground floor's many small food stalls. The samosas at this particular stand are cheap and delicious, with a well-balanced mix of spices, potatoes and onions. Pick up a few dozen for the office Christmas party, or as a perfect gift for a greedy colleague. The pakoras are worth trying, too, and if you're particularly hungry, a variety of takeaway curries are available for about $30.

Indian spices for eating ... and drinking 

$12 from Chahil Provision Store, shop 103

The North Indian equivalent to lemonade, jal jeera (literally "water cumin") is a murky-coloured summer beverage with cumin, mint, rock salt, ginger and mango, among other ingredients. It's usually consumed before meals as an appetizer or in between dishes as a digestif. Along with more commonly-known spice mixes like garam masala, you can buy jar jeera masala in this small dry goods store run by an affable Sikh man. If you're not thirsty, the shelves are stocked with other subcontinental delights like canned ghee.

Hard to find Bollywood DVDs

$5 from New Catmando Store, shop 23

Where there are Indians, there's Bollywood. Several Bollywood movie stalls can be found within Chungking Mansions, but it's this one, tucked away in the back corner, that has a huge selection of astoundingly cheap DVDs. You can find them in a box just outside the shop's front door; the transfer quality isn't nearly as good as the more expensive DVDs on sale inside, but who can resist three hours of entertainment for less than the price of an MTR ride?

Obamania

$60 from Hip Hop Clothing, shop 54

Obamania has even spread to Chungking Mansions. This tiny shop sells hip-hop clothing -- oversized t-shirts and other such things -- but a large chunk of its merchandise is dedicated to the first black president of the United States. Some of the shirts are matched with baseball caps that say not-very-nice things about the police.

Stealth and faith 2.0

$750 from Nasaki Trading Company, shop 82A

Ever wanted to take a picture with your eyes? These sunglasses are as close as you'll get to actually doing it, thanks to a small camera built into the frames. They also come with an MP3 player and two gigabytes of internal memory, so you can listen to your favourite tunes while wandering around surreptitiously snapping photos. If simple voyeurism is old hat for you, try some of the shop's other wares, like the voice-altering mobile phone, which can make a man sound like a woman. Find that off-putting? Take solace in the Digital Qur'an, which can recite to you the entire contents of the Islamic holy book.

 

 

Chungking Mansions

36-44 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

See also A thrilling look at Chungking Mansions