Walking tour and exhibition showcase colourful Sham Shui Po

People can be a bit snobby about Sham Shui Po. It's seen as poor and working-class, which it is. But it's also one of Hong Kong's most colourful districts and one, as a current exhibition shows, that is beloved by many.

A regular walking tour also shows off the tenement buildings, shophouses, the streets where film director John Woo got his inspiration, and the hair salons - which sometimes offer more than a cut and blow-dry.

"I grew up right across from this street," said Olivia Tang Yiu-sum, a guide with walking-tour company Walk In Hong Kong.

The street she was referring to is Ap Liu Street, now a popular place to buy new and second-hand electronics. But the street derives its name from the words "duck cage". "In the 1900s all the area used to be farmland next to the waterfront," she explained.

She and Haider Kikabhoy, the founder of Walk In Hong Kong, have set up a tour of Sham Shui Po that takes the visitor past a series of interesting landmarks, some beyond the district, including the early public housing of Shek Kip Mei, the Garden Bakery building, and the Kung Wo Tofu Shop.

They are also collaborating with Chloe Lai Wing-sze, who works for the heritage NGO Urban Diary. Lai has curated an exhibition in a shop in Tung Chau Street that puts together the stories of those living in Sham Shui Po, former residents and regular visitors, with photographs by Robert Godden.

Lai said she was overwhelmed by how many people felt a connection to the district.