Temple Street Night Market By Day

One of the top things on our list in Hong Kong was the Temple Street Night Market. My friend Cecilia had spent a few weeks in Hong Kong working over the summer and sent back reports of all the delicious food she had eaten. I read every guidebook blurb on the market. I even watched Anthony Bourdain‘s Hong Kong episode on the Travel Channel. I couldn’t wait!

Temple Street (looking south)

The Temple Street Night Market is located in the Yau Ma Tei district of Kowloon. It’s about 3 streets west of Nathan Road and runs up from Jordan Road (closest MTR stop), north of Kowloon Park. Tin Hau Temple, which is one of the temples that gave the market its name, is located on Public Square Street. The market is open daily from about 4pm-10pm, but reportedly, gets hopping after dark. There are stalls selling food, fake designer bags, tacky souvenirs, toys and T-shirts among other things. According to guidebooks, up by the Tin Hau Temple you can find street performers and fortune tellers. Needless to say, we were excited to experience this for ourselves.

Apparently when I was dreaming of our sprint through Hong Kong, I was using my pre-mommy brain and not considering the jet lag effects on my 1 year old. Flopping his night and day was a bit of an adjustment. At home, I can usually stretch bedtime every now and then and no one suffers too much. However, after only 24 hours on a new time zone, it was not the time to push my little guy.

Vendors set up their stalls

I knew the Temple Street Night Market was within walking distance from our hotel, but I wasn’t sure how far. We went on a little scouting trip our first afternoon. It took a bit longer than I had thought, but all things seem to take more time than they used to now that we have a kid. We arrived sometime between 2pm and 3pm and vendors were starting to set up. There were a few food and juice shops that were in buildings, but not much else was going on that grabbed our interest. The real draw to this area, at least for us, was the market.

It was interesting to walk around this different part of town before the sun set and the crowds showed up, but it wasn’t the most productive use of our time. We grabbed a fresh juice and did a little people watching. We strolled back to the hotel, assuming we would take a quick nap and then head back out once the market got started.

We never did make it back. Dek was convinced that afternoon naps were actually bedtime so it was very hard to get him up, moving and in some state of happiness long enough for us to walk all the way back to the market and have a meal. Instead, we settled for kebabs from the Middle Eastern shop a few doors down from the hotel.

Once again, something we will add to our list of must-sees next time we swing through Hong Kong.

Tip of the Day You don’t need scouting trips on vacation. I have no idea what we were thinking. Just go visit sights you know are open and if you don’t hit every item on your list, all the more reason for a second visit.

A little fun in translation, at least I hope it's translation.