Why Hong Kong Wet Market?

Open-air wet markets in Hong Kong are mixtures of the old and new, the East and West. Oldness is found in the way the vendors shout for the shoppers' attendtion, apparently an ancient way of hawking as can be read in the Chinese poems written in the imperial times. Novelties are aplenty simply at a glimpse of the new varities of products and produces from around the world.

If you travel to the countries in this part of the world, chances are that you will bump into a number of like markets in the open. That's why the local open-air wet markets represent the way of shopping in the East. But in one area the local ones stand out among those in other eastern countries -- cleaniness. The experience in a wet market in Bali which was infested by flies is hard to forget. Fact is, Hong Kong is no match in cleaniness if compared with Japan and Singapore. After all, being too clean is not Hong Kong's character. To Hongkongers, clean enough is enough.

This mentality is also manifested in the local wet markets. They are clean but never squeaky clean. They are orderly but not without spontaneities in arrangements. I went to some like markets in Paris. They were similar to Hong Kong's but just too orderly. The local versions of such markets aptly mix the features of the East and the West.

All these combine to give the wet markets here the unique atmosphere: nosiy at times and quiet in some sections (especially the lanes shaded by awnings behind the roadside kiosks), criss-crossed with activities seemingly going on in order, bustling with pedestrains but bored to the vendors (see their body language) not doing well. But the unexpected scenes dotted with colours there are the most enticing to photographers for a visit.