Batgung

Prices also vary by when you buy. SK-baba frequently comes home about 7pm w/ some very inexpensive fish fillets that a fish monger in our local wet-market was practically giving away at the end of the day, because he wanted to close up & would not be able to sell the fish the next day.

This is of course, not a phenomenon only known in HK. When I was young and living in Boston, I would go to Haymarket at about 4pm on Saturday afternoon and get trays of strawberries and other goodies for "Dolla a box!"

If you live near Sai Kung you can also buy reasonably priced organic bell peppers at the Lions Nature Education park market.

I suppose the response of Hong Kong's famous free market was inevitable: just a couple of days after I posted this article on comparative produce prices, I noticed that the new Park N Shop in my neighborhood mall had introduced a new line of organic vegetables. Its brand name is 'Sarinah', and the label says it's grown in China. The prices seemed to fall right in between the expat stores' stratospheric heights, and the down-and-dirty normal supermarkets.

Here are a few examples of Sarinah organic produce prices (priced in Hong Kong dollars/US dollars):

• Package of three large carrots: 16.00/2.05

• 300g package of choi sum: 12.00/1.54

• 300g package of yin choi (aka 'Chinese spinach'): 12.00/1.54

• Package of two large potatoes: 18.00/2.31

Then I realized a few days later there was yet another line of fresh produce right next to the Sarinah stuff. This one, branded 'Grace Cup', is from Malaysia. It didn't seem to say it was precisely 'organic', but it did heavily feature the rather unsavory term 'compost-grown' on all the packaging. Must be good, I guess? Anyway, this stuff was clearly more expensive yet, almost in line with prices at the expat supermarkets. Some samples:

• 1 red pepper: 26.50/3.40

• 500g package of carrots: 24.90/3.19

• 200g package of green beans: 19.90/2.55

I expect the growing (sorry for the pun) demand for organic produce will result in quite a few more options appearing both in local supermarkets and wet markets.

I have been buying the Sarinah organic products, in my search for organic products for my pregnant wife to eat. Though how can one be sure that they are indeed organic and pesticide-etc-free? One gets the impression that in China anything goes...

Indeed, living in Hong Kong is way cheaper than in Europe or in North America. I stayed for a month in Vancouver and was shocked by the prices of produce there. And the reason is very simple: NAFTA. The produce of South-Asian origin is not favored via higher import duties and may be certain other non-tariff barriers. The same probably is applicable to the EU zone. 

If there are several wet markets in your shopping range, it can be worth looking to see if particular ones are relatively cheap; if certain kinds of things may be more expensive or harder to find in particular markets; and how navigable each market is. (Maybe this is really obvious, but in case there are others out there as clueless as myself...).

In our area (Tseung Kwan O/Sai Kung), for example, the Po Lam wet market under Metro City tends to be cheaper than the Hang Hau one in the Hau Tak shopping center, especially for common meats/fish and vegetables. I am told this is because 1) the Hang Hau market burned down some years ago, and the costs are still being passed on in slightly higher prices; and 2) there are relatively more affluent people in Hang Hau than in Po Lam, which caters to a more "average" population. Fruits are sometimes cheaper in Hang Hau, especially if it is something a little out of the ordinary (e.g. peaches); on the other hand, soybeans in the pod are more frequently available in Po Lam, and the same amount of money will often buy a flat of 36 eggs in Po Lam but only 30 in Hang Hau (comparing eggs from the same country (Chinese/Thai/German)). Sai Kung wet market in my limited experience is a bit more expensive than both Po Lam and Hang Hau. The Choi Hung wet market,  which is quite big since it's in a more populated area with lots of housing estates, is supposed to have a better range of and prices for fish; it also has more in the way of cheap children's clothing and household items. But we haven't found the difference enough for other things to justify making a special trip. Since I first shopped almost exclusively in the Hang Hau market, I didn't realize for a while that some markets also sell clothing.

Some wet markets are much easier to walk around than others. I was quite surprised by skmama's suggestion of a wet market visit to entertain small children until I visited the Sai Kung one and saw how wide the aisles were and how uncrowded it often is. Shepherding a couple of children through or even -- my goodness -- pushing a stroller seemed completely doable (and indeed, I have since done it, and the kids quite liked looking at all the soon-to-die forms of life). MANY ARE NOT LIKE THIS. I used a sling to shop with our second when she was a baby and then a small toddler; it was exhausting, but not as bad as trying to get a stroller through. It is of course possible -- you see women pushing old people in wheelchairs through the narrow aisles of Hang Hau market all the time. But having done that myself through the New York City streets and markets, all I can say is that they deserve a special place in heaven and a large raise on earth.