A 1-hour trip to Guangzhou Flowers, Birds & Fish Market

So I recently became aware that there are plants that will actually improve the indoor air quality of your home. 15 houseplants for improving indoor air quality: A breath of fresh air | MNN - Mother Nature Network.  There are many articles online about this, but I just included one site I found.

Since Guangzhou isn't exactly known for it's fresh air, I thought it would be nice to attempt to create an indoor sanctuary in our home.  And because it was the "Tomb Sweeping" Day in China, Greg had Friday off and we went together to the market.  This market is located at Huadi Avenue North, Fangcun, Liwan District.  花地湾花鸟鱼虫市场 (Just in case you need the name in Chinese or "Hanzi.")

One great thing about being here in China is that the plants and pots are relatively inexpensive, which makes shopping for them that much better.  I did haggle over prices and was able to get most things at an even better discount.  And as usual, there were so many things to see and keep a person entertained.  Here are a few pictures.

This I took because Greg's favorite Baseball team is the Orioles.  I'm not sure if this is the actual bird, but it had the right colors.

 Lots of beautiful cages and lots of pretty birds.  I wanted to buy them all and set them free.

I took a paper with pictures, found on the internet, of the plants I wanted so I could show the shop keepers.  It worked like a charm.  I did try to locate the Chinese names for the plants, but that proved to be too time-consuming.

 So sad to see so many beautiful birds caged up like this.

I love some of the furniture, but some pieces are made from solid, heavy, heavy wood.  And they can be quite expensive.

One of the many shops that were selling fish. . .and, as usual, there were many.

 We found shops filled with decorative pieces of wood, furniture, bonsai, pots, etc.  Once we walked away from all the birds and into the plant and decorative garden-type objects, the place was actually quite serene.

When we finished our shopping, this nice man helped us carry our plants to our car.  Hope this gave you an interesting glimpse into the pet and plant market.