Market stalls that knocked our socks off

Shopping at open-air markets is often frustrating, sometimes rewarding, but always overwhelming. Here are some market stalls that we came across selling uniquely Hong Kong products and that we'll visit over and over again.

Tin boxes, Tai Yuen Street, Wan Chai 
 


Ah Fung needs to wait until the sun slips behind the highrises around his market stall before he can unpack his merchandise.

"If I put the tins out earlier, they will get too hot," he says. When he finally takes out his collection of tin boxes and piles them up on a folding table, it only takes a few seconds before a mob of passers-by descends on his stall. 
 


Fung sources his tin boxes and cans from a local holding company that stocks sample tins for well-known brands like Carnation Hot Chocolate. Many of the tins aren't available commercially; some are reproductions of old designs used for reference by illustrators or set decorators, like a large Fisherman's Friend tin made in Taiwan, which comes with a sticker that warns, in Chinese, "Prototype. Not for resale." 
 


Not all of the tins are branded, though, and some are of the plain grey variety you'd find at IKEA. Compared to the HK$30 you'd expect to pay for a tin from the Swedish decor giant, Fung's are a bargain selling for HK$3 and HK$10, depending on the size. 
 


Get there: From Wan Chai exit A3, walk straight up Tai Yuen Street. The stall is halfway between Cross Street and Queen's Road.  Found objects, Upper Lascar Row, Sheung Wan 
 


Most of the hawkers on Cat Street specialize in faux antiques, chinoiseries and kitschy Mao paraphernalia, but 'Uncle Szeto' sells something else: a chance to snoop through the lives of others. 
 


Mountains of old letters, family photos, postcards and miscellanea somehow make their way into the hands of this circumspect street vendor, who has been running his stall for more than 20 years. He's wary of giving away the secrets to his collection of personal memorabilia. 
 

"They're mostly old photos from families. But don't bother asking where they're from. I can't give away my sources," he says, nodding towards the neighboring stalls, some of which also sell found objects. 
 


However, one of the sources that Szeto will divulge, is from across the Pacific. When he's at his second home in Vancouver, Szeto often scours the local flea markets, which are full of old treasures from expat Hongkongers. He has also scored big at local liquidation sales: when Golden Harvest got out of the filmmaking business in 2003, Szeto bought all of their original Bruce Lee movie posters. 
 


There's one kind of artifact you won't find at Szeto's stall, though. "I've seen lots of Category III photos from Hong Kong prostitutes," he says. "But you can't sell them. It's illegal." 
 


Get there: Follow Hillier Street uphill from Sheung Wan MTR exit A2. Turn right on Upper Lascar Row. The stall is at the corner of Tung Street. 
  
 Vintage cameras, Apliu Street, Sham Shui Po 
 


Ng Wai speaks good Mandarin, which comes in handy when he deals with the mainlanders that frequent his tiny used camera stall in Sham Shui Po. His fluency is a remnant of his early years spent in Guangdong, where he lived through the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. 
 

"I came to Hong Kong two years after Mao's death, in 1978," he recalls. "I was working as a border guard and a bunch of us decided to make a run for it. Back then, the Hong Kong government was very welcoming to illegal immigrants from China. We all got residence cards." 
 


Now in Hong Kong, Ng decided to indulge his childhood passion for cameras. He sells everything from cheap 35mm point-and-shooters to sought-after rangefinders prized by street photographers for their quick, accurate focusing. Most of the cameras come from people who dig them up during spring cleaning and sell them for a bit of spare change. Many of Ng's cameras are broken -- some of his most frequent customers are African traders who fill up plastic bags with cameras that they take back home to fix and resell. 

But Ng has some gems too, such as a 50-year-old Canon SLR crowned by a 70-year-old flashbulb. Like most of his cameras, he says, the price is negotiable: "Anywhere from HK$70 to HK$10,000." 
 


Get there: Turn right from Sham Shui Po MTR exit C2. The stall is near 237 Apliu Street. 
 

 
 Chops, Ma Wan Lane, Sheung Wan 
 


Despite all of the fussiness of their stone handles, porcelain ink pads and delicate carrying cases, chops -- a traditional Chinese hand-carved stamp -- are still prized for the sense of gravitas they lend a corporate logo or personal signature. When you're looking for a chop, the best place to find one is a tiny lane near the clattering trams of Des Voeux Street, a spot as anachronistic as the stamps themselves.

"My uncle makes our stamps," says Cherry Lai, who runs Wing Yuen Chops and Printing, one of the stalls. "He's been doing it for 40 or 50 years. He sits at home and carves them by hand. You can't trust a young person to do this kind of thing with the right amount of detail." 


All of the stalls in Ma Wan Lane will carve a chop according to your specifications; if you don't have a Chinese name, the vendors will offer you books of transliterations, though if you've got a name like Blackwelder (transliterated as 布莱克衛兒德 or Bou loi hak wai yi dak in Cantonese), you might be better off finding something entirely new. 
 


Once you've chosen your design, you reach the most important step: finding the stall that offers the best carving technique. Prices range from HK$80 to HK$120, depending on the size of the stamp. 
 

Get there: Turn right from Sheung Wan MTR exit A1. Ma Wan Lane is just ahead, on the right.