Nathan Road

Back in the day, when I called Hong Kong home, Nathan Road was one of my first encounters with shopping; it's the main street that runs north-south, from Tsim Sha Tsui all the way to Sham Shui Po, and is basically lined with shops, and side streets also mainly lined with even more shops.

As for the above photo, I took it early in the morning before most of the shops opened, the crowds really gathered, and the traffic went from its current "very light" state to the usual "busy/dead stop" state. Er, by early morning, I meant about 10 am. And yes, I did crop it to make it usable on this page, the original can be found here

Fading Neon Signs & Heritage top

Before moving on back in the early 90s, I took this shot from close to the same place as the new one above. Just check out the neon, and yes, more on that later.

Since my first visit, as expected, there have been more changes than I can really describe, with one of the more notable ones being the iconic neon signs, which used to be everywhere, have almost totally gone away. It's not a positive change if you ask me, as it's one of the things that make Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Not sure of the thinking behind this, very unwelcome change, maybe it's an energy usage thing?.

After some googling, it seems it's not really have anything to do with energy usage, but a government regulation thing; check out this article or this one, for more details.

Shopping Experience: Local Stores vs. High-End Brands top

Another major change is the shops, whereas they used to be mainly smaller local stores with the odd chain in the mix, but now, especially at the south end, there are many more high-brand stores, which are of no real interest to me, but judging by the queues outside some of them, they have plenty of business.

One thing that has not changed is the sellers trying to sell copy watches, yes, fake Rolex, etc. Not that I should need to tell you, but avoid these at all costs.

I remember walking on Nathan Road back in the 90s and being followed by these people; it was very annoying, but while they were still there, at least they no longer followed me and seemed to actually take no for an answer. Yes, that's one positive change.

Heading north along Nathan Road, things started to look more like the Kowloon I remember; the high-brand stores thinned out to nothing, and old favourites became more common.

Before I move on, when it comes to those high-brand stores, if you want those sort of places, head over to Canton Road, which runs parallel to the south end of Nathan Road. You will find just about every one of these stores you could want.

Exploring Jordan Road Junction & Side Streets top

I took the following shot at the junction of Jordan Road and Nathan Road, and yes, for once, even the traffic cooperated; it shows some of the old Hong Kong I remember.

Just like in Singapore, if you want to see something interesting, look up; in this case, you see the older apartment blocks with the hi-tech new high-rise in the background.

Yes, I did do the walk for the whole length of Nathan Road, ending up in Sham Shui Po to release the inner geek and go technology shopping.

If you are going to do the walk on Nathan Road, I strongly recommend you take the time to explore the side streets, which contain yet more shops, the odd street market, and, from personal experience, are good places to bargain hunt.

Walking the Length of Nathan Road & Crowd Insights top

Now for the question: how crowded is Nathan Road?

I have done the walk many times, both on weekdays and at weekends, and yes. At the same time, things are crowded, just how bad things are depends not only on the time of day, weekday vs weekend, but where you are, the south end of Nathan Road can be nightmare crowded, especially on weekends, whereas the north end tends to be busy regardless of when you visit.

According to my watch, the step count just getting to Sham Shui Po was a little over 3000, which Samsung Health tells me is a little over 2km. It's going to be way higher when I finish checking out the bargains in Sham Shui Po. I am expecting 20-30km for the day.