vinyl hero - Hong kong

Not everyone decks out their house with Ikea furniture. Some people take their hobby to a whole new level.

Meet Paul. Sham Shui Po's resident hoarder. However, this house isn't filled with useless junk found on the markets that litter the neighborhood, no, this house is a shrine to wax. Over 300,000 records make up his collection, 100k of those being for personal use. The rest lie scattered around the house in boxes, piles, shelves and literally every available floor space that would still allow a human to pass by, sideways.

Finding his place can be a tad problematic. I ended up walking past it numerous times, before a helpful shopkeeper figured out what I must be after and pointed me to the building. Once inside the stupendously lethargic security guard gestured at the elevator, motioning the number 5 with his fingers.

​I headed to the fifth floor and found the door to Pauls treasure trove.

An extremely friendly face greeted me from the crack in the door, something I noticed afterwards was because he couldn't open his door fully due to, yes, vinyl. He showed me in and I was forced to adopt a peculiar style of walking so as to not knock over, bend or trample on the gigantic heap of music seeping forth. I wondered for a second how the lower neighbours felt about living under the groaning weight of a hundred elephants. I'd move out if I were them. 

Being a non-collector myself but having friends more rabid than the rabidest dog in rabid-ville, I decided to honour their addictions and snapped a few photos and texted to see if they bit. Naturally the answer came back that they owned all the one's I sent, so I thanked Paul for his kind hospitality and wandered back out from the rabbits warren and onto the streets to hunt down a reviving cup of coffee. 

Vinyl hunting is for those of patient repose. I can only imagine what living inside a vinyl shop must do for the psyche. Paul must be a bonafide Buddha by now.

These recommendations are just personal opinions based on my palate, things change, chefs get fired or replaced, places open-close, relocate, so take it all with a pinch of MSG and discover your own gems too. But please do try a few of these, they have been researched exhaustively.