As I'm clicking along Hong Kong streets in Google Map's street view, I'm looking up things about them, for instance,
Portland Street which runs parallel between Shanghai Street and Nathan Road. Because it has little shops, it looks interesting but Wikipedia says that it is also a famous red light district between Dundas and Argyle Streets. Good to know I suppose although it looks pretty innocuous in the Google street view early in the morning.
North of the swanky Langham Place mall, there are tile and building material stores. Perhaps we can go down
Shanghai Street and then up Portland Street and then down
Nathan Road. After all, Portland street is only 3/4 mile in length.
It might also be interesting to take a look at the "
shop houses" or tong-lau on Shanghai Street. The wikipedia article led me to Hong Kong University's
Hong Kong Heritage Stories. Fantastic! more for me to read!
Now I am at Yin Chong Street near Fa Yuen (Sneaker from Soy Street to Nelson Street) Street and going east it is full of fruit and vegetables stands. There is a waffle shop at 95 Fa Yuen just before Argyle Street, but then you can't cross Argyle street so I'll have to take a right. It is quite easy to navigate the street view if you make it full screen and then use the up and down arrows to move forward and back ward and the right and left arrows to change direction. After the right on Argyle you can take the next left on Sai Yee Street and at #121 there is a
Lei Garden Restaurant. That is where
CNNGo Top 40 article says to go for Chicken Feet. Then take a left on Fife Street and back to Fa Yuen. A right on Fa Yuen will take you another block or so but then you are foiled again by Mong Kok Road but that is near the Fa Yuen Street Complex with a wet market inside and a Mong Kok footbridge network overhead. Evidently the Mong Kok footbridge is the only way to cross Mong Kok Road, and it is also hard for cars to cross it. Tung Choi Street seems to be one of the few streets that goes through. Evidently the photos taken south of Bute Street were taken later in the day since all the store fronts are open. But north of Bute Street, Tung Choi is very deserted with store fronts closed up.
If you keep going north on Tung Choi you eventually run into Prince Edward and if you hang a right, you get to the Royal Plaza Hotel. If you keep going beyond the hotel, there is a right on Kadoorie Avenue which winds up into a residential area that is very pretty and quiet (and probably quite expensive) and would make a nice morning walk to get away from the hustle and bustle of the shops. This is a very wealthy and thinly populated area so I don't understand how they could say that Kowloon is the most densely populated area in the world. Kadoorie Avenue loops around the hills and then down to Argyle Street.
For instance, you can learn about the 
And it is definitely 239 Reclamation Street that has the store with lots of baskets, just north of Waterloo Road.
