People lineup to board the No. 63 bus for the thrill ride of their lives.

“Get on the No. 63 bus,” said Joe Ng, a robust man who promised to show me the Stanley Market area, the high-end residential district where many ex-pats live and where Hong Kong’s famed street market can be found.

The buses, which must navigate narrow, winding roads along Hong Kong’s mountainous coastline to get to Stanley Market, provide passengers with a cheap thrill ride and some spectacular ocean views, especially if you’re sitting on the upper deck.

But by the time we’d reached the bus stop, a long queue had already formed and our chances of getting a coveted upper deck seat had all but vanished.

 “Let’s take a taxi instead,” said Joe, a former Hong Kong resident now living in Canada who had returned home on a business trip and who befriended me the night before.

“There’s no sense taking the bus unless you get an upper deck seat and if we take a taxi we can beat this crowd to the market,” said Joe, who added, “we’ll take the No. 63 back down … coming down the mountain, now that’s the REAL thrill ride.

Stanley Market was abuzz with excitement when we reached the entrance. An early-morning crowd of tourists was fanning out into the network of laneways that make up the outdoor icon, one of Hong Kong’s most visited attractions.

The tourists come here looking for cheap trinkets and souvenirs to take back home from the former British colony that is now firmly a part of China. But unlike the street markets found on the mainland, where “fake” designer items can be purchased for a fraction of the real thing, there’s few bargains or knockoffs to be found in Stanley Market.