Hong Kong - Kowloon Bird Market

So.....final Hong Kong post.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I am by natural inclination one of those people who will ALWAYS get off the beaten track.   So you won't find generally find in the blog either, those places that everybody has been or will tell you to go.

I learned from a girlfriend who'd been, that there is still a bird market in Kowloon.  It had previously been a little less out of the way, but Hong Kong redevelopment forced the bird vendors to the margins.  This journey took us to the outerreaches of Nathan Road, the giant thoroughfare that bisects Kowloon.  We shortened the trip by hopping the subway half-way and getting off near the end of the line.  Bird lovers in China are very enthusiastic and as devoted to their pets as any owners of pets of the four-legged kind.  Part of this devotion is a very longstanding tradition of taking your bird out for a walk and some fresh air on a daily basis.  I think this is a charming tradition.  Though I did not witness it firsthand, I understand that it is not uncommon all over China.

The market, in the same spirit, is held in the great out of doors.

For such a regimented and regulated society generally, it's very charming to see the compassion exhibited for their caged charges, and tenderness expressed, by Chinese bird lovers.  As if they see something of themselves in these caged warblers and want to do everything they can to ease the tedium and stress of captivity.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE love birds.  I cannot have them, because my cats would surely eat them!

I love cockatiels for their subtle colorations.

I LOVE how ALL the birds' plumage here is complemented by colored cages.

Which also made for some psychedelic snapshots.  And if you know me a little by now,

you know that psychedelic is my middle name.

Bird loving is not reserved for any special age.

Birds have so much personality and dimension it's hard not to get attached however many years you've counted in life.

The only drawback is the cage cleaning and the feeding.

Yes.  That's portable neatly packaged bird-food-to-go.  Grasshoppers!