THERE are two reasons why anyone would want to go to the Huaqiangbei electronics market — the largest electronics market in Asia — here in Futian District: Either you are curious and have time to kill or you are on a specific mission to buy or get something repaired.

I fit into the latter category a few weeks ago, so my family and I embarked on a mission to have my wife's Mac laptop repaired. She had long mourned inadvertently spilling a cup of coffee on her keyboard while working on a project at home last year. When the device did not restart, we knew it was a death sentence. Furthermore, while back in the States we visited an Apple store in Houston and were told that repairs would cost US$1,000.

Arriving at the Huaqiangbei electronics market for the first time is a mind-numbing but exhilarating experience. Navigating the endless maze of noisy shops sitting side by side feels like visiting exhibit booths at a major convention hall, except that here the booths are much smaller, and instead of listening to a relaxed presentation everybody is engaging in an almost robotic focus on repairing or selling something.

Getting to the market is easy. We arrived at the Huaqiang Road Metro Station at 9 a.m. on a Saturday. While shops abound, we had been told that the place to go was the SEG Electronics Market. We stopped at least twice on our way to ask uniformed security personnel to point us in the right direction.

After arriving, we made our way to the third floor. We meandered past several repair cubicles, some with stacks of stripped-down computers and components piled high, and finally picked a shop.

A small, quiet, bespectacled young man, perhaps in his mid-20s, eagerly accepted our device. He spoke English, as many people there do, and so it was easy to explain our problem. After understanding our needs he placed our computer on the opposite side of his 1-square-meter cubicle, connected it to a testing device, took it apart, and told us we needed a new keyboard. That took about 10 minutes.

After realizing that he did not have a keyboard for a Mac, he set out looking for one and returned five minutes later. He then told us that our computer would be ready in two hours.

When going to Huaqiangbei, one perhaps expects to spend the day, but I must say that we were pleased with the efficiency of our repair. After a two-hour wait while we had lunch, we returned and our computer was ready. And it worked.

"If only a visit to a doctor in America could be so efficient," I thought to myself.

Our greatest satisfaction, however, was that it cost us only 400 yuan, or about US$65.

I recommend the Huaqiangbei electronics market to anyone who is looking for an efficient and inexpensive electronics repair. We definitely plan on returning again soon.

I was also impressed by the fact that electronics market in Huaqiangbei employ nearly 100,000 people and attracts buyers from around the country and around the world. Scenes of diverse buyers scouring the busy stalls for a wide range of gadgets and electronic components manifests the allure of the markets and Futian as a whole to foreign businesspeople.

Christopher Gerdes, a former professor of history at Houston Community College in the United States, teaches economics at an international school in Shekou. He is also a freelance writer.