As Hong Kong's tourist industry looks for ways to repackage the city, looks at one cultural attraction that has been replaced by a more sanitized version. Next to go may be the popular Stanley Markets, soon to make way for a modern shopping mall.
It was dark, crowded and smelly. For Hong Kong tour operators, however, it was a gem. Bird Street - a narrow alley in Mong Kok, Kowloon, crammed with stacks of bamboo cages holding songbirds for sale - was easily the most exotic destination on a Hong Kong tour.
But now the Hong Kong government has torn down Bird Street to replace it with office and commercial buildings, part of a larger effort to renovate Mong Kok, one of the oldest and most rundown districts in Hong Kong.
Tour guides who counted on the bird market to wow travellers from around the world will have to come up with another attraction.
It won't be easy.
Really, where else could you see hundreds of songbirds in tiny cages stacked 10-feet high, or see a vendor slice open a fat grasshopper to feed one of his prized birds?
There's nothing like it in Hong Kong. Ironically, at a time when government officials are worried about a drop in tourism, they have destroyed one of the biggest attractions for tourists.
A new bird market built to replace Bird Street has already opened, a 15-minute walk away. But the Yuen Po Bird Garden on Yuen Po Street, while cleaner and more spacious, is no match to Bird Street in terms of novelty and charm. It looks like a prefabricated Chinese-style garden with its grey cement stone bridge and green tile awnings - something you'd find in an Asian-style tea garden in Toronto or San Francisco.
Australian Brian Patterson, a five-time visitor to Hong Kong on his third stroll on Bird Street, said, "No! No! No!" when asked if he wanted to see the new bird market. "Nothing can replace atmosphere."
So what's a tour operator to do?
The only option really is to make the best of a tough situation - take tourists to the new bird market and make the tour meaningful by explaining the Chinese fascination with songbirds. The hobby of bird-raising goes back decades in Chinese culture. Originally, only upper-class men had the time to stroll the streets hoisting a bird cage in one hand, let alone the money to spend on expensive bird accessories, such as fine bamboo cages.
The old Bird Street in Mong Kok was started more than 50 years ago by bird collectors who decided to turn their hobby into a business. Now average Hong Kongers, living in tiny apartments, consider birds good pets.
Hong Kong Tourist Association public relations manager Peter Randall admitted there's no replacement for the old Bird Street, but he is optimistic. "There's still atmosphere at the new market. Locals still are coming and going with their birds and the vendors are the same," he said.