Wong Kar-wai's Hong Kong: Chungking Express to Kai Tak

The first story begins in the dark. Policeman He Zhi Wu, buying a tin of pineapple each day that expires on 1 May while he waits for his ex-girlfriend May, approaches the woman in the blonde wig at the Bottoms Up Club on 1 May, his birthday. The two drink here before going to a hotel room. The club had opened in the basement of Mohan's Building at 14 Hankow Road, and its Tsim Sha Tsui location closed in April 2004, so the pin marks the old address, not a bar you can enter.

After the club, Zhi Wu returns to his usual food store in Chungking Mansions, where he collides with a new staff member, Faye. Wong Kar-wai called the crowded building a metaphor for Hong Kong itself. It had no film permit for the crew, so they shot guerrilla-style from a route map drawn in advance, after an assistant had lodged there for a month posing as a backpacker. In Fallen Angels, the hitman's partner lives here too.

Visitor guidance: A block of low-budget guesthouses and shops at 36–44 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.

The second story moves across the harbour to Central. Cop 663 is dealing with a breakup, and Faye secretly falls for him, and the fast food shop Midnight Express is where the two leads meet. Wong placed the shop near Lan Kwai Fong, among bars where foreign executives hang out after work. Faye uses the keys left for him to enter his apartment again and again, cleaning and redecorating while he is out.

Location precision: The film shows the Midnight Express shop but no source gives its street address; the pin marks Lan Kwai Fong, where it was filmed nearby.

Visitor guidance: Lan Kwai Fong is a nightlife quarter of bars and restaurants in Central.

Wong was drawn to the escalator running from Central up to the Mid-Levels because, he said, no one had made a movie there, and while scouting he found the light entirely appropriate. It became a setting for the second story, shot by day on Hong Kong Island. The system, opened in 1993, climbs about 800 m, travelling mainly up Cochrane Street and Shelley Street, and is lined with restaurants, bars and shops.

Visitor guidance: Follow the escalators up Cochrane Street and Shelley Street; the way is lined with restaurants, bars and shops.

Wong cut a third story about a lovesick hitman from Chungking Express and made it the separate film Fallen Angels in 1995. Its neon-lit shots of 1990s Hong Kong include the now-closed Kai Tak Airport, and Wong said the film's main character is the city itself. Kai Tak stopped serving flights when Chek Lap Kok opened on 6 July 1998, so the film is also a time capsule of the city before the handover.

Location precision: The source says Fallen Angels shows Kai Tak without naming a spot; the pin marks the former airport.