Sham Shui Po Apliu Street

Pic from the net.

Letter from Hong Kong (23-5): Shawn P on Sham Shui Po, Apliu Street

Doctorjohn and I were chatting about 80s Sham Shui Po (“SSP”) a few weeks ago and he suggested that perhaps I can write an article on that. For those of you who are not familiar with SSP, it is one of the 18 districts in Hong Kong and what makes SSP special (at least for me and likely for doctorjohn as well) is that it includes Ap Liu Street (“ALS”), and Golden Computer Arcade (黃金電腦商場) (“GCA”) and Golden Computer Centre (高登電腦中心) (“GCC”).

The significance of these locations will be discussed further below but suffice to say for now SSP was the brewing ground for my geekiness and certainly paved the way for my engineering study.

My encounter with SSP began with ALS back in the early 80s when I was in Primary 4 (Grade 4 for the US). My dad first brought me there a couple of times and I would then go there by myself on a regular basis.

ALS is a straight road (must be at least a mile long) and a pedestrian zone for most of the day. The sidewalks are lined by dinky old walk-up buildings with ground floor electronic stores (many up those old stairs too). However, the street is also lined by stalls (which also sell electronic accessories) which usually block views of the ground-level shops. If you want to shop at the stalls; you need to walk/stand on the street (cars with permits do occasionally pass through the street and get really close to the stall shoppers). If you want to shop at the ground-level shops, you need to go behind the stalls. Luckily, there are gaps in between stalls which allow you to go behind the stalls in the middle of the street. Essentially, we have mile-long stalls and shops on both sides (a total of 4 miles of shops) which sell electronic components/equipment, audio equipment (including things we discussed here), second-hand articles, mobile phones, plus more.

As you can imagine, ALS would be quite interesting for a 10 year old kid; everything was new to me; I would discover new items every step I took. In fact, I did not know what most items were but they were all interesting to me nevertheless.

The category that interested me the most was PCBs with different functions. These PCBs would be placed inside transparent folded plastic boxes either with components soldered or loose components. Brand names and contacts would be printed on these boxes in golden letterings. I purchased these PCBs with no intention of integrating the same into any system, I simply brought them because their respective functions were Interesting. For example, a PCB with a photodiode which turned on an LED when I shined a flashlight on the photodiode. Why the purchase? Nothing specific but these aimless PCB purchases did get me familiar with electronic components at an early age.

I switched my focus to GCA and GCC (mainly GCC) not long after my discovery of ALS. GCA and GCC are both 5-minute walks away from ALS and these places mainly sell computer related items. The reason for my switch of focus was that me and my brother spent our entire life savings (at that moment) for a second hand and unofficial Apple II.

Why unofficial? Well, my understanding was that it was not an Apple made in the USA; perhaps it was made in Taiwan or Hong Kong. It was not nicely done and I could not completely close the back cover.

Needless to say, the most powerful tool/function of Apple II was computer gaming and GCC was the place to go for computer games.

Computer games were stored on cassette tapes and I had to type the command “LOAD” and then press the “Play” button on the cassette player in order to load the game onto the computer. It would take around 10 to 15 minutes to load; if I was lucky, it would only take one try, but usually it would take at least 2 tries; meaning, 30 minutes in total just to load the game.

These computer games were interesting, much better than those of Atari (IMHO). At least, the joystick was moveable unlike the Atari joystick which I barely had enough strength to operate.

I would spend more and more time in GCC and eventually I started exploring GCA (which mainly sold computer hardwares) and started noticing all sorts of computer upgrades. The upgrade that interested me most was the floppy disc drive. I was window shopping one day at GCA and noticed one shopkeeper typed the command “PR#6” and the LED on the floppy drive lit up. In less than a minute, the loading of a computer game was completed. I was not sure what it was but I was sure the loading only took less than a minute as it would not be possible for the shopkeeper to type any command during a cassette tape loading.

That was amazing! I had to have one - imagine how much time I could save with it! I asked how much and I was told HKD1800 (around USD230). I thought I would not be able to afford one during my lifetime.

What more did I discover while walking around GCA and GCC? I discovered that, in addition to gaming, I could also do BASIC programming with Apple II. Initially I could do no more than the “Hello World” but one guy told me that I could buy some cheap programing books at a Mong Kok “upstairs” bookstore near “Gala Shopping Centre” (I believe). The programming books were affordable and I decided to get the one with the most colourful cover. Even though I was already in Primary 6 by then, the contents were too difficult for me to understand. Nevertheless, I did some trial and error and mainly just copied the program examples and see if I could produce the same results.

Eventually I was able to duplicate the results after pressing the “Enter”. Those were the triumphant moments, as if I actually knew how to program in BASIC when it was nothing more than copying. That said, I did eventually learn the BASIC syntax by reading and copying these programs.

That led to something I mentioned in my first article, the 31-band equalizer and all the myths and misconceptions in the 80s. These were my secondary school years, when yutes like me would very much like to get their hands on boomboxes and hifi rack systems. Naturally, I would go to SSP, in particular ALS, to find out all the latest information and products. Thanks to the time I spent in SSP earlier, I knew my way around and would navigate ALS with ease.

I personally think the 80s was the age of exaggeration. It had all the elements to nurture the same, the competitions were getting more serious, the information was not yet widely available, and people had more money to spend. As a result, exaggerations/misconceptions flew around and I learned that each boombox would crack out at least 100W, an amplifier with more dials would sound better than one with less, a speaker should at least have 6 drivers, the best arrangement for the 31-band equalizer was one with “W” formation etc...

These were misconceptions, but the craziness did get my interest going. I actually believed these numbers/information and hence genuinely felt amazed. Now, I can rarely get the same eye-opening feeling from reading an article on the internet. Perhaps it is even more so when information is so widely available as it is difficult to get a learned person (relatively speaking, not absolutely) to feel eye-opening again.

If you do have a chance, go have a walk at ALU, GCA or GCC. It is unlikely that you would find the amusement I experienced but it will certainly be different from merely reading information on the internet. Perhaps, you may discover something special.

Postscript by Doctorjohn
I was in NYC in the 80’s and so missed the SSP Shawn described, and I’m almost envious. But, ALS was one of the first places I got to know after I repatriated to HK in ‘92 (my audiophile student took me there first). I frequented the place, less so the GCC and GCA. In fact, around the mid 90’s I lived for more than 2 years on Shun Ning Road,,a stone throw from ALS. Those were Golden Years for Audio, and Apliu Street had many high end second-hand stores piled high with stuff. Nested inside those old buildings were also many very quirky sifu’s (“artisans”) who DIY and do repairs and sell vintage too. I bought my first solder kit there, and then loose cables for self-termination, various adaptors and then caps for mods and supertweeters. The scene is a little different now, as the high end is gone, but the stores selling retro vintage, mostly Japanese solid state stuff (like Sansui), are still there. One always found things there. Imagine a pair of beat up but fully functional Yamaha NS-10 for HKD 1k! I still have it! Of course, it’s still the place for accessories, adaptors, components etc. 

麻甩佬吃饭 The area also has many hole-in-the-wall eateries that are legendary. No comfort, no nonsense, but great food. Kweilin Street 桂林街 is the best. Starting from Apliu Street, one can have, in rapid order, the best Hong Kong style rice roll 肠粉 (opposite the public toilet, store in an alley, next to electronic store), good noodles and congees at 新香園 - 堅記, and a cup of the iconic Milk Tea 奶茶 with “pineapple bread” 菠萝包 at 华南冰室。BTW, across the street from 华南冰室 is the government wet market. On the second floor daipaidong, food is good and cheap. I had recommended 大利!  BUT a friend told me THEY ARE CLOSED NOW. So it has become memory. Slippery floors. Surprisingly good roast goose 烧鹅. I had only eaten there at lunch time. Not everything was good, but portions were HUGE. I favored the Singapore Noodles 星洲炒米 and egg foo young rice 芙蓉旦饭 (shredded pork fried noodle 肉丝炒面 pretty good too). Portions were so big that it would kill you and you didn't have to eat dinner!

I miss SSP! Next time I'm in HK, I shall go there!

BTW, the best Yunnan rice noodle 云南米线 in HK is this store close to where I used to live, 云南风味. 谭仔 is garbage. Better than all stores in Shenzhen too.