Mong Kok flower market

On the weekend, we took one day to get started with our exploring around Hong Kong. There's such a huge list of possible things to do, so we just picked two places that were reasonably close together and headed for them. The first of these places is the Mong Kok flower market.

It's not a huge market, but the variety of flowers and plants is phenomenal.  There are flowering shrubs like at this shop above. 

Pot plant type flowers for people wanting to have a small balcony or indoor garden.

Bulk flowers for people who want to do their own arranging.  When I was looking into flowers for our wedding receptions, I toyed with the idea of getting bulk flowers and making the arrangement myself.  I was put off by the cost somewhat, but here, I was astounded at the cheapness of some of the more expensive, and currently trendy wedding flowers.  Peonies, for example, go for around $5 USD a stem online, and here I found a bunch of ten for $25 HKD, which comes out to around $2.50 USD.

 There's also plenty of places to buy ready made bouquets if you're not of the flower arranging type.  The variety is really astounding, and you can get anything from a small posy for about $50 HKD ($5-6 USD), while a huge arrangement with 20-30 roses should give you change from $100 USD (depending on what sort of other flowers there are in the bouquet).

Orchids are also a big thing, and the prices are also very reasonable.

 For an orchid like this one, not in it's own pot you're paying less than $10 USD.  There are some arrangements that come set up in beautiful porcelain pots with ferns and other greenery that will set you back a whole lot more though.

As well as the more conventional bouquets, you'll find bouquets of teddy bears.

And even the odd Angry Birds bouquet!

All in all, I'd say the flower market is definitely worth a visit.  Even if you're just a tourist in Hong Kong, it's worth going to see because of the vibrant colour and beauty of the products sold there.  There's also a number of other markets and interesting shopping streets nearby, so you could easily fill in a whole day in that area.