Hong Kong Snapshot (19)(With Video) – Portland Street, Red Light District of Hong Kong, a place of fallen 香港隨拍(19)(附有視頻) – 砵蘭街，香港的紅燈區，墮落的真相

砵蘭街，是香港最著名的紅燈區，一個聲色犬馬之地。幾乎每一部香港的黑幫電影，都有砵蘭街的存在。拜人們所賜，砵蘭街成為了我們期待的墮落之所 。

Portland Street is the most famous red light district of Hong Kong. Nearly all the gangster films in Hong Kong mention Portland Street. Due to our expectation, Portland Street becomes a place of fallen.

砵蘭街是一條很長的街道，全長1.5公里，橫跨香港的油麻地區，經旺角至太子區。砵蘭街最聞名於世的，是它的龍蛇混集、黑幫橫行，夜總會、色情場所、麻雀館，比比皆是，行人避之則吉，如你不慎踏進砵蘭街，就仿似如臨大敵，渾身不自在，唯恐可怕的事情會發生，這是人們賦予砵蘭街的印象。其實，砵蘭街的色情場所只集中於旺角一帶，在砵蘭街的兩邊，滿的是建材行、雜貨舖、唱片店等各式店舖，拜人們所賜，砵蘭街的租金一直比其他地方便宜，讓這些小店得以生存下去。

Portland Street is around 1.5m long, across the Yau Ma Tei, Mongkok and Prince Edward of Hong Kong. The most famous of Portland Street is its darkness: gangsters, night club, Pornography services, and entertainment service. People are afraid to go to Portland Street. All these of the impression of people to Portland Street. But actually, it is only part of Portland Street, and it has changed already. There are still many different types of old shops and new shops.

從太子走進砵蘭街，是一家又一家的建材店，縱已入夜，店主們仍落力推銷，辛勤工作。偶然看到一兩個指壓(色情場所)的招牌，疏落混於店舖之間，卻落得自然，似已渾然天成。不過，相比10年以前，砵蘭街的色情場所已越來越少。

In the start of Portland Street, we can see a lot of building material stores. The store keepers are still working hard at night. Sometimes we may see one or two sign board of those pornography services, but seems totally natural. Yes, comparing with 10 years ago, such kinds of shops become less and less.

走了10分鐘，眼前是一座與這街道格格不入的龐然大物，它叫朗豪坊，是一座新式大型購物商場，於2004年落成。同時間，警察開始大舉打擊朗豪坊附近的色情事業，是的，因為朗豪坊的落成，他們行動了，不過，人們對砵蘭街的印象，依舊墮落。

After 10 mins walk, we may see a big building which misfit the environment. It is the Langham Place, a brand-new shopping mall built in 2004. At the same year, the police started to fight the pornography services in Portland street. Yes, they started to do that since Langham Place was built. But, Portland Street was still fallen.

離開朗豪坊，開始冒然一所所的賓館、按摩、指壓、夜總會，當日正值七月十四，中國的鬼節，各夜場場所的職員都走出街道，燒衣拜祭，是什麼讓他們那麼相信鬼神？

Leaving Langham Place and keep going, we start to see motels, massages, night clubs…etc. Today is the ghost festival of China. All the staffs of those shops come out and worship the god and ghost. What have they done so that they are so devout?

然後我見到一張張的色情廣告，不同的國籍，配以不同的數字，一個數字，足以決定一個民族女子的價值。妓女是人人喊打的行業，我不禁想，是什麼讓她們甘於遠走他鄉，屈身於一個個暗淡、污穢的小房間，被一個個老頭們壓在身上，肆意糟蹋？是金錢，還是生存？也許，她住在某個小鄉，家父病重，急需一筆醫藥費，唯有犧牲自己，獨自走到這陌生的繁華城市，出賣自己的肉體。

And then we see some advertisement. Different nationality is assigned a different number. This number decides their value. I suddenly think, why do they willing to leave their home town, stay in this small and dirty house, being a prostitute? Money? Or just to survive?

轉個頭來，街角一名半老徐娘，風騷性感的打扮，濃妝艷抹，對著我打眼色，我淡然一笑，搖了搖頭，繼續我的行程。

I turned my head, and saw a half old woman, with sexy look and heavy makeup, winked at me. I smiled, shaking my head and left.

也許人們仍以為香港街頭，尤其是砵蘭街，仍滿是江湖中人，橫行霸道。我記得有次去砵蘭街的一間推拿店，為我按摩的是一名男推拿師，我問他：「現在還有黑社會收保護費嗎？」「早就沒有了！還是幾十年前嗎？」其實，時代已變，只是我們的印象，還停留在那個墮落年代。

Many people may still think that there are many gangsters in HK especially in Portland Street. I remember one time, I went to Portland Street and had massage by a male masseur. I asked, “Is there still gangster come to ask for protection fee?” He said, “Of course not! You think it’s 30 years ago?” Actually, the society has changed, only our impression still stay at the age of fallen.

今天的砵蘭街，多的是餐廳食肆。Many restaurant in Portland Street nowadays.

離開紅燈區，走到油麻地一帶的砵蘭街，是一家家的傳統小店，像是時光倒流了三十年似的，仍在這裡支撐著香港的古老特色。老實說，如果我沒有走過這段路，我真不知砵蘭街會是這個模樣，這些在別的地方已找不到的長生店、洋服店、辦館等，仍舊默默耕耘，以傳統的家庭式經營，保留著香港的庶民風味。拜人們所賜，砵蘭街成為了我們期待的墮落之所。

Leaving the red light district, I entered the end of Portland Street around Yau Ma Tei. There are lot of traditional shops like the coffin, suits, grocery, etc. They are still working quietly, trying to keep the tradition of Hong Kong.

---

晚飯過後，接近深夜時份，我重回砵蘭街，禁不住把砵蘭街拍下來。可惜深夜的砵蘭街，只餘下零星的食肆和情色場所仍在營業，我只好將我們期待的砵蘭街的墮落情景向大家呈現。

After dinner at around 1130pm, I came back to Portland Street and shot it. There were only few restaurants and those pornography services still working. So I could only showed you the fallen of Portland Street by this video.

世事如斯，人們總是被眼前的一少部份所蒙蔽，放大，失去了對事實真相的理解，好好的一條砵蘭街，雖有墮落之處，但還有它的親民、它的情懷，只在你是否願意去發掘去探索。可惜，拜人們所賜，砵蘭街成為了我們期待的墮落之所。

We are always blinded by a small part of the fact, and lose the full understanding of the truth. Portland Street is an example. We can see it’s fallen, but also its kindness, its local culture, just depends on if you are willing to discover. Unfortunately, Due to our expectation, Portland Street is still a place of fallen.

---

謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！

Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!

Please Upvote and Follow me @aaronli