Growing Old in Style - Mong Konk Ladies Market - or the "Hard art of haggling"

Growing Old in Style – Mong Konk Ladies Market – or the “Hard art of haggling”

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With me thinking I had lost my coat, I got out at Mong Kok MTR station, and headed to the Ladies Market.

The Ladies Market is one of the many street markets in Hong Kong. This markets focus is on fashion… although in Hong Kong, that’s taken with a pinch of salt as it’s got everything from souvenirs to Hover-boards.

And Bags.

Regular readers will know that I am not a fan of suitcases and their possibility of being defeated by a simple thing called “Stairs”. So I was after a backpack, and I wasn’t in the mood to spend more than HK$300.

Although this is Mong Kok. This is the land where Haggling is not a nicety of business… It’s a requirement so you don’t get overly ripped off.

Thankfully, my mothers side came into full fore here in my haggling skills, namely:

Muttering words
Smile lots
Looking mostly disgusted at the price
Walking away (fast)
Walk back when they start muttering better prices

(sorry Mum… was I meant to be nice through most of this aren’t I… I missed that bit 😉 ).

So lets have a look around and see what there is at the Mong Konk Ladies Market.

Editors note: My Canon EOS 6D decided this would be the *perfect* time to start acting up, with the autofocus motor deciding that “working” is not an option it likes any more. That 24-105 lens is more trouble than its worth atm…

Belts and coats? Covered.

Kids things? Check.

A lot of T-shirts proclaiming their love of Hong Kong.

Don’t like airline style sleep masks? This store has you covered.

Fans and umbrellas? Check.

More kids stuff… and I’d be surprised if any if it “correctly” licensed by the content owners 😉

Wigs? Check.

Racing jackets? Maybe.

Magnets and Trinkets? Why not?

Bears and bags. Not the sort of the rusksack I was looking for, but points for trying!

Soft toys

Fashion Sweetie!

I’ll take bets on how many of these bags are geniune.

Lucky cats and keyrings

… and cat faces on underwear.

Eventually, I found a store who was selling reasonable looking rucksacks (reasonable in this case means they’ll it would get back to the UK with my cargo intact). And thus the haggling begun.

From HKG$330 to start with… down to HK$300… and finally after walking away… HK$200.

Not bad for some bad acting and walking at speed.

And it pays to haggle in Mong Kok

With the cash handed over, and a new rucksack on my shoulder – there was the matter of a fleece. Thankfully, near Mong Kok East station there is a Uniqlo.

Uniqlo is pretty much a “Fast fashion” place – and perfect for a thing like a fleece jacket. With two in hand (because they were HK$129 each), I made my way back to the hotel to dump the rucksack and the jackets… as well as to rest for a bit before heading back to Causeway Bay to buy a Rice Cooker.

As I lied back on the bed – I noticed a Red and Black fleece sitting happy as anything in the corner.

The swear words coming out of my mouth were not pleasant.

Next: It’s evening time. Time to head over the water to Kowloon and watch A Symphony of Lights

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