Sham Shui Po for a dose of reality

If you want to know a bit more about Hong Kong, other than visiting the sightseeing spots, go to Sham Shui Po. This area, according the latest government census, is the poorest area in Hong Kong. 

The result should not come as a surprise. Sham Shui Po has, as always, gathered many low-income households, including those of immigrants from mainland China and old people. Its household median income is HK$13,800 per month. The richest area in HK – Wanchai – is HK$30,000.

Hong Kong started its compulsory pension fund scheme only a few years ago. For the elderly, they don’t have pension funds to rely on and it is a common scene in Hong Kong that the elderly collect free newspapers/paper cardboards and bring to the recycle shops for a few dollars a day, just to make a living. In Sham Shui Po, you can easily see a scene of this, as elsewhere in Hong Kong.

And if you tour around Sham Shui Po and look carefully, you do feel that the area smacks a bit of poverty. There are shops and stalls that boasts cheap price everywhere. I went into a snack shop for breakfast. For a cup of soybean milk and four rice-dough sticks, I paid only little more than US$1. But I looked at the bottle of black sauce on the table. There was something moving on the surface of the liquid sauce. I could hardly finish my breakfast and I left. 

Tip:

Besides seeing bits of reality of Hong Kong, you can visit Sham Shui Po for another reason – to visit its famous flee market Apliu Street Market, which sells all sorts of electronic stuff, from radios, clocks, to hifi and batteries, at low price.

How to get there:

MTR Sham Shui Po station. 

For going to Apliu Street Market, Exit D2 of Sham Shui Po station.