Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Fa Yuen Street, Mongkok

The location of the drug deal with the Thais is a corner building on the junction of Fa Yuen Street and Shantung Street. The curved building where the drug deal is supposedly taking place - or at least the exterior establishing shot - is the Pak Cheung building on the NW corner of the junction. The cops, on the other hand, are located in the building on the opposite corner which is in fact a school building called G.T (Ellen Yeung) College. The fire escape where Andy Lau makes a phone call can be seen on the Fa Yuen Street side of the building and it looks like they were on the very top floor which has a covered walkway across the top of the building.

Looking west along Shantung Street

Looking north up Fa Yuen Street from G.T College

Andy Lau on the G.T College fire escape. Looking down onto Fa Yuen Street

View down onto the Fa Yuen Street entrance to the Pak Cheung building

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Fa Yuen Street, Mongkok

Most of the new locations seen in Episode 5 are not really ones where the actors have scenes but are part of a montage of establishing shots. For instance, this brief shot of a seemingly generic neon lit (or LED-lit as it tends to be these days) street pops up half way through the episode. It is actually Fa Yuen Street in Mongkok, looking south from the junction with Fife Street.

The fourth image shows another section of the same road, this time seen from the Mongkok Road pedestrian walkway looking north. It's also one of (or similar to) the shots used in the opening credits.

 Fa Yuen St looking south from Fife St

Looking north from Mongkok Road

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Fa Yuen Street, Mongkok

I shall end the episode 3 posts of this series with a nice view up Fa Yuen Street in Mongkok which most people will be familiar with from its famous (but low quality) street market. Obviously this is the view that can be seen from the Mongkok Road walkway so for a bit of a Brucey bonus, I have also put an image of that in at the bottom ( as seen from the FEHD building).

Mongkok Road walkway

The Medallion - Jackie Chan (2003) - Fa Yuen Street, Mongkok

I found this one a bit too late to go into the original Soy Street post, but actually, the area of Fa Yuen Street where the police truck pulls out into the road is just a little way down from the junction with Soy Street.

The Medallion - Jackie Chan (2003) - Soy Street, Mongkok

Quickly moving on to the proper location stuff and the main scene with JC trying to eat some fried squid was shot at the junction of Soy Street and Fa Yuen Street in Mongkok. One of the reasons I recognise this corner is because of the TCBY sign in the background - it was still there when I arrived full time in HK back in 2006. It disappeared soon after, mind you, along with all the other outlets - much to everyone's disappointment.

The small eatery where JC is feeding the dog was on the NW corner of the junction but has since been replaced by a 7-11 - or at least it was when the Streetview car passed by.

 Now a 7-11

JC then runs across Soy Street between passing cars. The shop in the lower picture was on the SW side of the junction. Also no longer there.

Shatter - Stuart Whitman (1974) - Lee On Building, Argyle Street

Another identification courtesy of Thomas. This one has a little bit of added significance though as you will read because there is some Tai Chi history thrown in for good measure.

The scene is a memorable one because it is the one where Shatter returns to Ti Lung's flat to hideout from the guys trying to kill him and he witnesses Ti Lung putting his kung fu students through their paces on the apartment roof.

Looking west: Sincere Building (still around too) on the right

Looking north: towards Lion Rock

I did try and work out where this was myself and got reasonably close (enough to satisfy that I wasn't too far from the spot anyway) but just couldn't nail the correct building. In steps Thomas with some real kung fu history as he identified the rooftop as belonging to the Lee On Building on the SE corner of  Argyle Street and Fa Yuen Street. I've pasted Thomas' comments below.

"As for Ti Lung's flat with those Kung Fu scenes, it was Mongkok alright. That's the roof of the building at the south-east corner where Argyle Street meets Fa Yuen Street. The building is called Lee On Building and it still exists.  Tai Chi master Cheng Tin Hung used to teach there. After his passing some years ago the Building management would not allow further activities at the roof anymore...The Hong Kong Tai Chi Association is still on 12th Floor though."

I must admit I don't know much about Tai Chi or Cheng Tin Hung, but being from the UK and an avid reader of Combat magazine between '86 and '92, Cheng Tin Hung's student Dan Docherty is a name I recognise. Anyway, you can read more about him over on wiki.

It's a nice little link there I think, but I was scratching my head as to how and why Shaws were filming up there until I read that Cheng Tin Hung had been involved as a fight choreographer (and a small cameo at the beginning) in a Shaw's production -  The Shadow Boxer - the very same year that Shatter was made. Both films, The Shadow Boxer and Shatter, shared a crew member: Johnston Tsao Chuang-sheng. Incidentally, he also worked on the other Shaw/Hammer co-production The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Anyway, I guess it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the roof was borrowed as a courtesy between friends or recent acquaintances.

So if there are any disciples of Mr Cheng out there who are curious about seeing what their sifu's rooftop used to look like, look no further.

Once again, many thanks to Thomas for filling in the detail that I would never have been able to find.