The Bird and Goldfish Markets

Local men are intensly staring at their pet birds at the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden

Heading to the Yuen Po Street Bird Market in Hong Kong, I really just expected to see a bunch of birds and supplies for sale. Sure, the market had that, but it also was a hang out place for older Asian men to come and socialize with their birds. In one area, a few men continuously moved their bird cages around so that their pets were in the sun. Nearby, another man moved his cages next to specific other ones in order to make sure that his birds had enough time to socialize with his friend’s birds.

Everywhere I looked, there were cages stacked and placed next to each other and groups of older men leaning over, discussing the birds, pointing and smiling. They say that a dog is man’s best friend, but here it is clearly a bird. One guy was feeding his bird something through a syringe in the mouth while another was cutting the heads and feet off of grasshoppers to make them easier to digest. The whole thing was a completely surreal experience and I just wish that the naked Thai man hadn’t stolen our camera so I could have taken a video!

Later that day, Carrie and I found ourselves in the middle of the Goldfish Market. Within a two block radius, dozens of pet stores show off their for-sale fish hanging from bags on the street outside their shop. Also on the same street are some of the most intense fish stores I’ve ever seen, selling everything from exotic fish to corals and sea anemones. Literally, some of the tanks looked like we were scuba diving.