By Aqua Chiu

Arriving at the Yau Ma Tei MTR station at 5pm, we've decided to embark on an exploratory adventure on 'The Darkside' before the light is gone completely. 'The Darkside' is what expats sometimes jokingly call Kowloon because it seems  unfamiliar and you have to (gasp) cross the harbor. We will soon find out that Kowloon, full of fascinating corners and hidden treasures does not deserve its derogatory nickname- rather, it's where the true Hong Kong can be found.

Walking two blocks away from the station, we arrive at the legendary Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market at the corner of Reclamation Street and Waterloo Road, a place known for its almost 100-years-of-history as well as its cameo appearance on classic Hong Kong gangster flicks like Infernal Affairs (For those of you unfamiliar with Hong Kong cinema, the US based –movie The Departed is a remake of Infernal Affairs).

The Fruit Market is a large complex made of one or two stories of small brick or stone buildings. Constructed in 1913, the buildings are classified as Grade III Historical Buildings. The pre-war structures have carved stone signs showing the names of the individual fruit stalls that have been in operation for generations. The wire fences enclosing the stalls, the dark alleys, the dogs barking, and the subtle sound of mahjong tiles being shuffled evokes an image of menace and mystery. There are mobsters running these fruit stalls and it’s time to pay the piper.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, we have no luck in finding the Godfather of Yau Ma Tei. At 5 pm, the Fruit Market is so quiet that you cannot possibly imagine that everyday starting as early as 3am (Yes, when you are still dancing in Dragon-I/Volar/Drop, or eating breakfast at the Flying Pan) that the fruit mafia is already carrying out their trade operations.

Everyone understands the unwritten rules which govern the market. Cars which do not belong to any of the stalls in the Fruit Market cannot enter the complex. If you want to place your fruits on the stalls for sale, then you have to park your car outside and wait for the Big Guys with the Big Tattoos to carry your stocks with their custom-made carts - $3/carton is the standard price for fruit protection. It's an offer you can't really say no to, if you want to be a player in the Fruit Market. If you come in the noon time, you may be able to see the fruit gangs taking a rest, or playing mahjong with their brothers.

As much as the workers there look like mobsters, they are actually very nice people. They shout, they yell and they have dragon and tiger tattoos all over their bodies, but as soon as they see ladies, they become very polite and gentle. We believe it's not just because we are pretty but because they are genuinely very good and well-mannered- otherwise there wouldn't be a private kindergarten opening right next to it.

Around the corner from the Fruit Market, there are 2 primary schools, a few retirement homes, the Broadway Cinematheque, an alternative movie theater, and its sister cafe and bookstore Kubrick. This combination is really amusing if not paradoxical. Within a block, we have witnessed the gangster-like daily fruit trade, a quiet and laidback residential village and an alternative art hub living together in one public square.

We enter Kubrick and see a full house of young intellectuals hanging out with their friends, talking about their recent favorite movies or checking out the most updated design magazines. Kubrick serves a very reasonably priced All-day-Breakfast and they make decent coffee. No wonder it is packed on a Sunday afternoon. The book collections there are mostly film, art or culture related and published by independent labels you may not find in Page One or Dymocks. The place also has a small film library offering DVD loans to the Broadway Cinema members. Again, they have rare collections that are hard to find in mainstream stores like HMV.

As soon as we exit to check out the adjacent art cinema, we find a university professor conducting a creative visual project with his students. Hiphongkong grabs this chance to interview him about his project and get his insider opinion about this cool public space.

We also bump into another hipster, guitarist of local indie band Chochukmo. Here is what he says about the place:

We don't think it's a coincidence. Arty places attract intellectual and creative people. In the end, we concluded that 'The Darkside' has a bright energy that gathers together hipsters, artists, musicians and philosophers.

A street away from the cinema is a cool colonial building that may explain why the fruit mafia haven't really turned real mafia - The Yau Ma Tei Police Station. The station was built in 1922, safeguarding the order of the Fruit Market, Temple Street, and the numerous neighboring mahjong clubs and ‘spa/ sauna’ venues on Shanghai Street- where “The World of Suzie Wong” still exists.

We continue our adventure at the Mido café, which is now facing us when we stand in front of the police station. We go inside this 50s Hong Kong style cafe to try the famous Baked Pork with fried rice, white toast with butter and condensed milk and some beer- just like the police do when they are taking a tea-break at 3.15pm. The interior of the cafe has stayed the same just as it first opened in 1950. Every piece of furniture, including the tiles, the chairs and the cash register are antiques. There are also photos of the cafe and its neighboring streets from different periods on the wall, showcasing the history of the area. With its neon sign filtering in red light from the outside, Eating there makes you feel like you’re in a Wong Ka-Wai movie. For more about Mido Cafe, click here.

Stomach filled, we head to Temple Street Night Market. This place is packed with tourists who are looking for jade, antiques, 60s postcards and posters that double as souvenirs but may look a bit cliche for Hong Kong veterans. If you are bored with this tourist activity when you are showing visitors around, you may go to check the one and the only one sex toy stall that sells dildos, neon-colored mankinis, fish-net man-thongs or a g-strings with a fake marijuana leaf. If you are not into that neither, then you may visit one of the fortune tellers. They are of various genres, from Tarot to palm reading, from face reading to fortune-telling birds. We've opted for the less traditional one and got a fortune-telling bird to read our fortune on love and marriage.

The bird hops out of its cage and picks a leather packet out of a pile. Inside the leather packet is a piece of paper advising our fortune in Both Chinese and English and with the words "Thanks for your $50". 

The fortune seemed to be quite accurate in an ambiguious kind of way. I mean- all those fortunes can just be interpreted the way you want to interpret it anyway! 30 dollars paid, we leave quite disappointedly. Could it be due to the huge $20 discount that we don't get the sort of we-know-it's-not-real-but-at-least-give-us-a-little-bit-of-bullshit performance?

Next to street of fortune tellers, we find several open-air-karaoke stalls. Men and women in their 50s are preparing for the big night. Some of them are practicing the Mandarin oldies. Some of them are putting on their Chinese costumes. Seeing us taking photos, they come to us and invite us for a song.-$20 a song. More expensive than a song from a jukebox! Later then we realized that they meant $20/song to be perform by us! Unfortunately it takes 20 cups of Chinese rice wine for us to do it. "Perhaps next time." We say, the typical Chinese way to mean no.

Our adventure in The Dark Side now comes to an end. On the way back to our island, we couldn't help but think about the recent Detour Exhibition in the Former Married Police Quarters in Hollywood Road. We wonder what they are going to do with this heritage building once this one-off art and design exhibition is over.

If Yau Ma Tei is the past and the present, it may well be the future of Hong Kong as well. The charm of Yau Ma Tei is that it has developed organically. Neighbors' lives are inter-dependent on each other. The kids and elderly can walk to the Fruit Markets for bargains. Police can take a break in Mido cafe. Restaurants get their equipment on Shanghai Street. Musicians and intellectuals find their muses in BC Cinematheque and Kubrick.

Real tourists come here for the fake jade stones as souvenirs as well as to see kids and grandparents living their real lives. Fake tourists, like us, come to see the real Hong Kong. The reason why the 96-year-old Fruit Market and the 59-year-old Mido cafe are still operating is because they are needed, not planned. We hope it doesn't take a fortune-telling bird to tell us how to create sustainable development in the Central Police Station and the Former Married Police Quarters. May The Dark Side shine some light on the future of these historical heritage buildings in Hong Kong.

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS FROM YAU MA TEI, TEMPLE STREET AND MIDO CAFE