Mong Kok is where Hong Kong lives when it is not performing for tourists. The most densely populated district in one of the world's most densely populated cities, it is a warren of street markets, small restaurants, electronics stalls, noodle shops, and pharmacies running from Nathan Road east through a grid of narrow streets.
The Ladies' Market on Tung Choi Street sells cheap clothes and accessories. The goldfish market on Tung Choi Street North is something else entirely — hundreds of tanks of ornamental fish piled in a narrow alley, with the sound and smell of circulating water. The flower market on Flower Market Road is at its best in the early morning. Fa Yuen Street is known for sportswear. None of these require spending money; all of them reward wandering.
Come at night when the streets are most alive. The hawker carts, the basketball courts, the cha chaan tengs (Hong Kong-style cafes) open until 3am: this is the Hong Kong of films and memory, still very much in operation.