Hong Kong: Bird Market, Apliu Street Flea Market, Golden Computer Arcade

Date: 3rd July 2012

After yesterday’s very late arrival from Macau, I woke up and decided not to do anything hectic today. I still hadn’t seen the so-called ‘Bird Market’ of Hong Kong, even though the travel guides said it was right next to the flower market.

I walked up to the flower market and had my lunch from a restaurant there.

Japanese curry rice fish fillet meal — I ordered rice with Japanese curry and fried fish fillet. Simple but delicious – and quite filling.

Yuen Po street Hong Kong — After lunch, I asked around for the bird market. Everybody pointed that way.

Way to Yuen Po street Hong Kong — And so I went. I walked up to this garden.

Bird street Hong Kong China — There was no big sign saying this was a ‘bird street’ or anything

Yuen Po market Hong Kong — And lo and behold, a bird market it was!

Yuen Po bird garden Hong Kong — Just like the ‘Goldfish street,’ this ‘street’ is choc full of birds and bird supplies

Bird market cages Hong Kong — Is keeping a bird as a pet part of Chinese tradition? I saw quite a few households that did so. Or is it an easy alternative in this space-constrained city where many households can’t keep a cat or a dog?

Grey parrot bird street Hong Kong — It’s just… when I saw the more exotic birds, I began to question the legality of it all

Baby frogs bird feed Hong Kong China — And stuff like this

Exotic parrots Hong Kong bird street — Wonder how these macaws got here

Parrots in steel cages Hong Kong — If you are an animal right activist, you probably won’t like this place

Live grasshoppers cricket bird market Hong Kong — Plenty of live bugs to feed the birds on sale as well

Mong Kok stadium Hong Kong — Mong Kok stadium

Hong Kong park Mongkok — I simply walked around

Mongkok public park dog sign Hong Kong — Entered a public park

Mong Kok public park table tennis — Nice to see facilities like this open to all

Reflection effect building Hong Kong — That’s the reflection of glass from a neighbouring building

I decided to take the MTR to Sham Shui Po, an area famed for electronics and computer parts.

Apliu street flea market Hong Kong — Take exit A2 or C2 and you land at Apliu Street flea market

Apliu street sign Hong Kong — I was going to check out the flea market first, before going to Golden Computer Arcade and Dragon Centre

Remote controls Apliu street Hong Kong — Instantly I was amazed by the stuff you get here! 🙂

Apliu street lights bulbs flea market Hong Kong — Lights? Sure.

Magnets Apliu street flea market Hong Kong — Magnets? Sure!

Binoculars telescope optics shop Apliu Street Hong Kong — Telescopes? Sure!

Porn shop Apliu Flee market Hong Kong — Porn? Sure… why not.

Silicone paste electricals Apliu street flea market — If you love DIY electronics, this is the place to stock up

Apliu street flea market Sham Shui Po — You got stores behind the stalls as well

Old cameras Apliu flea market Hong Kong — What I was interested in were all old cameras and lenses on offer

Old lenses Apliu market Hong Kong — But despite checking out a few shops, I still couldn’t find a proper macro lens for my Canon mount

Old building Sham Shui Po Hong Kong — I crossed over to the other side of Cheung Sha Wan Road

Golden computer arcade Hong Kong — Though it looks like crap on the outside, wait till you see what’s in store inside!

Golden computer arcade basement — Down in the basement, along these narrow lanes were several electronics stores

Wall of computer fans Golden Arcade Hong Kong — Even though the air conditioning was ‘on,’ it was still rather comforting they had computer fans blowing cool air to passersby

Electronics store Golden Arcade Hong Kong — The bigger stores had ~~more~~ space to walk around in

Electronics Golden Computer Arcade Hong Kong — You want *any* part of a PC? You’ll probably find it here.

Laptops Golden Computer Arcade Hong Kong — If you look behind the stickers, it’s mostly Girls Generation videos playing 🙂

Motherboards Golden Computer Arcade Hong Kong — Golden Computer Arcade is awesome if you want to build your own computer

Graphic cards Golden Computer Arcade Hong Kong — Never seen graphics cards displayed in all this glory before 🙂

Monitors Golden Computer Arcade Hong Kong — You have a ton of choice here

Computer cases Golden Arcade Hong Kong — Seriously!

Computer prices Golden Arcade Hong Kong — I found prices in Hong Kong lower to that of Singapore

Video games shop Golden Computer Arcade Hong Kong — Upstairs were stores more dedicated to video games

I bought the TP-Link adapters my brother asked for and left.

Sham Shui Po electronics district Hong Kong — Sham Shui Po is a district to check out for electronics in Hong Kong

I put my camera away as I just wanted to walk hands-free in the soaring Hong Kong humidity. Seeking some cooler atmosphere, I went to Dragon Centre – a famous shopping centre in the area.

One Piece toys Hong Kong — This nine-storey shopping mall has a lot catering to Japanese pop culture fans on the upper floors

Gunpla toy sets Mobile Suit Gundam Hong Kong — This was a store choc full of Gunpla model kits (Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the most popular mecha animes)

Gunpla model display Hong Kong — None of this was on sale, so I’m guessing it was more like a hobby shop

AKB48 official shop Hong Kong China — This though, ha ha ha… I didn’t know they had stores dedicated to pop groups! 🙂

For those who don’t know, AKB48 is the most popular idol group in Japan (presently) and they have amassed quite a large fanbase the world over. This was the first official AKB48 shop outside of Japan. No photography was allowed inside the shop, but it was like being in AKB48 paradise: merchandise (expensive), handwritten messages from the many members, video playing on screens and photos of the girls all around. Pretty cool if you are a fan!

I went back to my room after doing some more shopping. Went online while I pondered over what to do tomorrow. In the end I chose to go to Ngong Ping tomorrow and kept Ocean Park for the last day. I just hoped for good weather. Can’t believe my Hong Kong sojourn was coming to a close.