The Four Little Dragons neighbourhood, just off Lai Chi Kok Road, feels something like a film set. It's as if a developer's perfect little property model has sprung to life, 60 storeys into the sky, with life-size potted trees along the clean but disturbingly empty pavements.
But what's to be expected from an area that was named by property agents and is surrounded by roads? What used to be the site of small shipyards along the Sham Shui Po waterfront has been reclaimed and hemmed in by the West Kowloon Highway along the coast to the south and the West Kowloon Corridor to the north.
Sandwiched in between are the megatowers of the beasts themselves. You can't fault their convenience, a short walk from Lai Chi Kok MTR station. And, hey, it's easy to get on the highway. The 'four little dragons' are Banyan Garden, Liberte, AquaMarine and The Pacifica, which opened in 2003. They are on the dividing line between Lai Chi Kok ('lychee point', named for the river that once ran through the area) and Cheung Sha Wan ('long sand bay') - though the fruit and sand have long since been replaced by concrete and tarmac.
Critics fault this style of neighbourhood for failing to allow the 'organic' growth seen in old parts of Hong Kong.
Besides the shipyards, this part of town used to be used for temporary housing - low-rise timber blocks for squatters or homeless people who didn't qualify for public housing. The neighbourhood was also a significant processing centre for produce. The wholesale vegetable market on Lai Chi Kok Road is still doing brisk trade.
The contrast with Cheung Sha Wan, for example, is remarkable: the busy streets to the north bustle with industrial and residential blocks. They may be crumbling, but they're full of life.