At the end of the flower market was a bird garden (obviously the main reason Matt chose this area) which was more like a bird market. There were hundreds of little birds in cages, some cages being rather pretty, others just crammed full with lots of birds. It seemed a little wrong in a way. The birds were unable to fly about; surely they'd be happier if they were set free. I did see some rather beautiful ones though. Some were a lovely pale blue with grey flecks; very striking.
A few blocks away was another market: a goldfish market. And it's exactly what you think. Lots of shops full of fish. Some in lovely big tanks, others the classic fun fair plastic bags. But the variety was fantastic! The biggest ones were only a little bigger than my hand but the smallest were so tiny, their tails were as thin as paper. Again, it's probably wrong to have them caged up like that, everyone that has seen finding Nemo would agree (we found Nemo and Dory), but they seem to make money out of it.
Another surprise was the restuarant we went to for lunch. We've got a list of places to go in different areas but Matt looked this one up and didn't tell me what was in store. It turned out to be the supposed birth place of milk tea. Milk tea is the drink to drink in Hong Kong. It's like a milky tea with some kind of subtle sweetener and can be drank hot or cold. I prefer cold. The restaurant didn't disappoint. My iced milk tea was delicious. I also chose steak in black pepper sauce with rice which doesn't sound very Chinese but that's what I fancied having. And it was rather yummy.
My tour guide took me to the heritage museum in the afternoon. It was fascinating. I love museums that house really old objects and I wasn't disappointed when I found two cups dating back to 2500-2000BC. There was also a hall that showed old outfits and objects used in Chinese operas, all within a bamboo frame of an old opera house that once stood in Hong Kong.
This evening we met Alice for tea. Those who don't know Alice, she's a friend from school that is teaching in Hong Kong at the moment. She's the loveliest person and it was great to catch up. After tea (we ordered three different things but I ended up eating most of some seafood fried rice in a pineapple, yes, in a pineapple) we wondered through the night market which is in Mongkok, near where Alice lives. It was very similar to ladies market (and only a couple of streets away) but there was something cooler about it being at night. Maybe it was just because it was dark. Mongkok itself is so heavily populated, it took us ages to move barely 100 metres. But it's quite authentic, more Chinese than the westernised central.
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