HK2 -- the flu(ent) birds.

It was raining on the day we went to see the Yuen Po Street bird garden in Kowloon. It is actually more of a market than a garden, consisting of about 50 vendor stalls selling birds, bird cages and accoutrements, bird seed and feed and bags of live crickets, et cetera. The street runs at a skewed tangent to the flower market. Having never lived in a city with distinct markets and districts, I'm fascinated by the idea of stores organized by their contents -- and how do they compete with one another?Some stalls did specialize. One seemed to only sell exquisite wooden and metal cages, another sold only parrots. You can hear the market from a few blocks away with the steady chirps, squawks and caws of the birds. The parrots had a lot to say, and perhaps they were mimicking some words, but few were fluent in English - endlessly playing the role of a shrill store greeter - "hello...hello"

At this stall, the green parrots were walking free around the countertop - invited to help themselves to the sunflower seeds there. At the bird market and at the Hong Kong Park Aviary, there were signs reminding us to be cautious due to the possibility of the bird flu. Fly --> flew --> has flown.