I didn't manage it in Hong Kong, right away, sadly. My insane initial schedule (I had to start teaching withing 20 hours of landing), the intense heat, and very urban neighborhood all kept me from tracking down birds for a week or so.
Yet in the meantime I wasn't without "bird" contact. For the locals are into the most bizarre trend I have ever seen.
Almost as an entire culture, Hong Kong is obsessed with Angry Birds the video game... Yet no one here plays the game, and most don't even know it started out as a game (or at least I assume it did anyways).
Yet everywhere you go you run into Angry Birds. I'd say 10-20% of the population (at least!) have some sort of Angry Birds related merchandise (not a small number when you think about even the most massive of trends in Western culture!).
What really boggles my mind is the sheer range, number, and availability of these products. They are everywhere you turn!
I have been casually collecting snaps of it all everytime I get a chance. The majority are admittedly from the markets. I didn't feel comfortable snapping shots of these products on people. However I assure you I have seen every single item here owned and used by MULTIPLE people each!
So enjoy my sampling of the true local bird life.
This one is one of my favourites. Note how the bird has the same hair buns as the girls beside him :P
Oh man I wish I could do a photographic survey of the people I see wearing Angry Birds clothing! It'd be a staggeringly large percentage of people I see in the street! I even picked up my own (with batman and superman clad birds!), but sadly it didn't fit...
So I'll keep you updated on this trend, and whether it is long term, or just a fad (if it is only short term what will the next one be?!?)I've heard rumours you can even buy a car with a bird face on the hood... Have to find one of those if they exist!!!
3 comments:
I lost it at the cross-stitch kit.
and you're only seeing it for sale. I seriously (even with a photograph) couldn't capture the bizarreness of people actually owning or using any of this stuff. Yet for everything here I've seen at least 3 people using them. At LEAST :O
(Mind you the crossstitching were all being used as a sort of curtain, as it were, in taxis)
Holy crap, you weren't kidding! Somehow it doesn't surprise me, although it is shocking. Makes me wonder why I haven't gotten a bazillion comments in Chinese. I hope the inundation of Angry Birds paraphernalia isn't ruining your experience of the culture- must be one hell of a trip!
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