Hong Kong

[Tradewynd]

I wasn't sure if I should post this here or in the general forum, so if it's in the wrong place please move it to the appropriate forum. I am planning a trip to Hong Kong during the last week of February and I have some questions/seeking advice both from people who live in Hong Kong and for anyone who's ever been there before.

For people who have visited Hong Kong before, did you get hassled by customs on your way back in? I'm going to be buying some DVDs and VCDs while I'm there, and don't want customs siezing my stuff when I come back in. They've never seized anything that's been shipped to me from Hong Kong, but I would assume they're more strict when you bring stuff across in person. Technically you're aloud "to bring one knock off item of each type (i.e. one shirt, one pair of sunglasses, but not two shirts)" back with you from Hong Kong according to US customs, but whether HK DVDs are considered knock off or not is debatable, as the discs are legal in Hong Kong. I was also wondering since the stuff I'm buying is sold openly in Hong Kong, i.e. in malls during plain daylight, if that made it a legal Hong Kong good that I could legally import. I'm not worried about paying duty, you don't have to pay duty until you bring more than US$800 of goods back with you, and even at that point the duties won't kill me. So I guess my main question is, how do you get the stuff back to the states without it getting confiscated? Are there just some goods to avoid? Mailing the stuff back to myself isn't an option, as you can only mail US$200 back to yourself and forfeit the right to bring anything else back duty free.

For people living in Hong Kong, where are the places to buy HK DVDs and VCDs? I was planning on stocking up on stuff while I was there. From what I'm hearing, I can expect to pay about HK$35/disc for DVDs and less for VCDs, which would be awesome. I'm not really concerned about going into "shady" parts of town, but if certain places are more filled with pickpockets I'd like to know about it. Do street vendors and/or stores haggle more with big purchases, because when I come to buy, I come to BUY. I'd be looking for anime, AV, HK movies and Japanese movies and TV shows. Any recommendations on the best places to go would be greatly appreciated. I've also been told it's a LOT cheaper to go to China to buy this stuff. Would it be worth it for me to buy a one time visa to go to China to buy stuff there instead of places in Hong Kong? And if so, where would be the best place reasonably close to Hong Kong to go? My DVD player can play VCD, SVCD, NTSC, PAL and all regions so format of discs is not an issue.

I'd also be looking for advice on some of the best things to do while I'm in Hong Kong. I'm going to all of the tourist things, like Ocean Park, riding the Star Ferry, taking the tram up Victoria Peak, Hong Kong Museum of History, HK Museum of Art, Po Lin Monastary, etc. I don't want to just do tourist stuff though. If there are any amusement parks other than Ocean Park in or around Hong Kong I'd appreciate the info. I could also really use some advice on non touristy stuff to do. Like best places to see HK movies in theaters, info or links to theater performances, info on any *ahem* gentlemen's establishments or just anything else cool in general to do.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me out at all.

[Sam]

Hey. Glad to know you're going to HK. I'm probably the only person who actually lives there that comes to this site. It's mainly because I'm a Hong Kong person that isn't Chinese.
Anyways, I'm on vacation in Africa right now. But if you want HK anime DVDs in Hong Kong, go to a place called Sino Center in an area called Mong Kok. Sino Center isn't exactly the most high-class place in HK, but it's not like triads, assassins and drug dealers hang there. It's filled with around 30 HK anime shops, and some porn stores. There's also some Japanese stores that sell Japanese music and movies. There's a few comic book stores too. Don't worry about getting pickpocketed, that's just an urban myth.
Anyways, DVD's of single movies cost around HK$30.
Better quality movies cost around HK$50-80.
DVD sets are about HK$120. (For 3 disc sets-others cost more)
The DVD shops sell their stuff openly, like HMV sells Cd's. Buying them is not illegal in HK. The only problem is the fact that none of the shops carry FX sets, since FX sets are mostly pure R1 rips. The shops only sell sets that have Chinese subs. I have no idea how to get FX sets in HK. If you find out, TELL ME!
That's about it then..don't go further into Mong Kok than Sino Center, which is on a main road. The inside of Mong Kok is full of brothels. I don't have much experience with those, but if you want to go, do so by all means. Anyways, Sino Center is 100% safe.
As for Gentlemen's establishments, um, check out an area called LAn Kwai Fong. Full of bars, and a few strip bars. "High class" ones.

[Tradewynd]

Africa, eh? If you wanna poach a few elephants for me while you're there I'll make it worth your while when I stop in Hong Kong I'm familiar with Sino Center and the Mong Kok area, and those sound like good bets to me. Trivial question, but do any of these stores give reciepts? I don't want to have to argue about how much I paid for stuff with customs. Do the majority of the store owners speak decent English? Because my Cantonese is well...really awful at best.

Have you ever gone into China to look to for DVDs? I've heard there are places of dubious legality right across the border that you can get FX stuff for about HK$50/disc, but the most detailed info I've found only tells me it's right across the border and run like hell if you see any cops in the area.

Have VCDs pretty much dried up and died in Hong Kong? Call me crazy, but I actually like the format. Speaking of VCDs, do you know if the Outlaw Star and/or Cowboy Bebop coffee table VCD sets are still sold in Hong Kong? I've always regretted not getting one and haven't seen either set online in quite some time.

Do any places still sell bootleg Sega Saturn games by chance? There are a ton of games I want that I can't even find legit copies of anymore. And premodded PS2s or X-Boxes for that matter.

I'll ask the guy I do my DVD ordering through now if he has access to FX stuff. He seems to sell every other bootleg made in Hong Kong, so he just may have the hook up. He charges me US$5 per disc plus shipping(which wouldn't be an issue for you) with a minimum of 11 discs.
Is stuff from Animation and censored hentai cheaper than the rest of the stuff in HK? He only charges me US$4 for those. I'm yet to buy any of either from him, but I always thought it was strange that those were cheaper than everything else. Although I suppose the stuff I have from Animation is all about the Engrish.

I ask about the strip clubs because a friend of mine wants to try to recreate a scene he saw in some low budget Kung Fu movie where the dude got fresh with one of the hostesses and took out all of the bouncers with wrestling moves. Granted, we're both professional wrestlers and MMA fighters, but even I think he's a little off his rocker on that one. I'll be right there to laugh as they knock him into next week though. Speaking of which, are there any pro wrestling, MMA shows or any other kind of martial arts competition in Hong Kong or not too far into China? Since it's something I've decided to dedicate my life to, you could say that I'm a bit of a fan. Underground fighting shows really are the best though.

[Sam]

Any store there will give you a receipt.No matter what you buy. Most shops there are "respectable" in terms of integrity towards customers.
They'll even replace faulty discs for you.
They speak decent English. I've never had to use my fractured cantonese with them.:p
If you see a disc that costs less then HK$40, it will be of lower quality-bad subs, and the the video is a nightmare. As for Hentai, I don't buy it, I just download it. So I don't look at the hentai DVD's at the stores.
For Sega Saturn games, and other old games, go to a mall called "188 building" in Wanchai. The building is on Wanchai road. It's a little hard to find, but it's really popular among locals, so just ask people on the street. Also, Sino center sells bootleg PS2 and Xbox games, and you get premodded Ps2's Xboxes and Gamecubes at 188 building.
I've never been across the border, except for this one time on a tourist trip to Beijing. I don't plan on going to Shenzen either, since I've heard store owners there can be shady bastards. They force you to buy their second rate crap, and if you don't, they don't let you leave the store and threaten you with physical violence.
VCD's-they are still big in Hong Kong. The legit ones that is.
They are cheap, and have good quality. The catch is that no one uses bilingual features on VCD's, so it's always one voice track, and one subtitle that you can't turn off. The legit anime companies in HK are asshats. Sometimes they don't even do a Japanese dub, only a shitty Chinese dub and chinese subs. Don't bother looking for English subs on a VCD. Maybe one out of a hundred million will have English subs.
That being said, there ARE legit R3 releases done by the big companes, like Columbia tristar. But they cost as much as they would in America, heh.
Anyways, here's a suggestion, about your customs issues. I'm assuming you don't want to sell your DVD's and you aren't buying them for that purpose. If the DVD's are for your own personal use, just stick all the discs in a nice CD album. Pack the empty cases if you want them, and tell the customs you took em off your cousin because you liked the artwork. HK boxes, especially gatefolds aren't worth the hassle though. They come apart in about a year, since they're just plastic holders glued onto cardboard. If you are planning on selling, I can't help you. I have no idea how you sell illegal stuff in America

[dvd_master]

How much is $40HK? I heard they were massivly cheap in Hong Kong.

[Shinn Asuka]

40.00 HKD [Hong Kong Dollars] = 5.12854 USD [United States Dollars]

[Tradewynd]

Thanks foir all your help Sam. Domo arigato a million times over. Sadly, your answers seem to only lead to more questions Do you know approxx. how much that stores sells MODded X-Boxes and PS2s for? Used is fine, as long as it works. I was also wondering about the type of power used in Hong Kong. If I buy a PS2 and/or X-Box, will I be able to plug it into my outlet in the US, do I need to buy some kind of convertor or is it simply impossible? That would help me out a lot, since I'm trying to decide between slightly skimping on the hotel(Newton instead of New World Renaisance) to have more money to buy stuff while I'm there. And how much they sell Saturn games for? I just may have to clean them out. Bwahahahaha. I'm old school so for me the Saturn was the last "real" game system.

Another kind of genreal question, is the MTR a good way to get around Hong Kong? I have no desire to rent a car while I'm there(talk about excercises in futility), but would you consider an Octopus card/MTR combination to be the overall most efficient way to get around Hong Kong?

If anyone here has ever visited Hong Kong and brought stuff back I'd really appreciate any info you can give me. I've tried emailing and calling customs, emails get no response and "I don't know" is about as helpful as people who answer the phones get.

[rugrats1]

Where power is concerned, HK is 240v 50hz (the US is 120v 60hz), so you'll need a power converter, at least. That is, unless they have some sort of switch that can toggle between the HK and US standards, like computers. The only other concerned is that the games and consoles in HK are made for TVs with PAL color (the US has NTSC), so you'll need a TV that can support PAL color.

[isisCdXVi]

If you like VCD's, check this site. They sell legit (Singapore-made) VCD's and DVD's at a cheap price. Outlaw Star is $19. Don't know how that price matches up with HK prices though...

Sorry about the necropost :p