The Birds and the Bees

Not those birds and bees.

Actual birds.

And flowers.

Which attract bees, so there ya go.

These last few letters in the A-Z blog challenge are why its called the A-Z blog Challenge. Today's post is brought to you by the letter X and since my theme has been my trip to China how about a little Mandarin?

Mind you, I don't speak Mandarin except for the word xie xie which means thank you. While that does begin with the letter x, it doesn't fit with today's post so it's google to the resuce...

X is for Xing Qu

Which in Mandarin means 'interest in something'.

I realize it's a stretch but won't all the letter x posts today be a stretch?

Flowers and birds.

Two things I have an interest in plus we visited the Flower Market and the Bird Market while in Hong Kong and I want to include that in my trip recap.

There's a lot of what they called 'themed street shopping' in Hong Kong which means you'll find the flower market on Flower Market Road. Essentially it's three blocks of store fronts selling gorgeous flowers. I loved the way they wrapped the individual rose buds in mesh before bundling them together.

Lots of shops selling orchids of every size, shape, color and variety...so beautiful!

This was one of our favorites and is called a tiger orchid-

As you near the end of the flower market you'll see the entrance to the Bird Market.

The bird market is exactly what it sounds like-an outdoor market selling birds along with everything you'd need to keep one in your home.

And I do mean everything.

I love birds in the wild but I'm not a big fan of birds as pets. They seem like creatures that belong in their natural habitat as opposed to living indoors. I was told that a lot of people in Hong Kong keep birds as pets because they don't require the living space a big dog would need. The market is mostly songbirds which are kept in these pretty bamboo cages...bird singing contests are popular here.

The market itself was interesting...I wish I had an audio file! Some of the cages were really beautiful and I loved the pretty little water dishes inside. Naturally I'd go to a bird market and fixate on the tiny pieces of pottery...I appreciate pretty pottery even if it belongs to a bird.

You'll also see sites like this one...

...clipping the wings. See, that's why I'm not a fan I think. I realize its a necessity if you don't want your pet to get loose but its a bird and weren't they born to fly? I had mixed feelings about the market, obviously, but a visit here is a unique experience...if you're in Hong Kong these two markets together are definitely worth a look...

Especially if shared with a friend.

Thanks for joining me in my little stroll thru the markets today. Or in keeping with the spirit of the challenge- xie xie!