Many Vietnamese men keep caged birds as pets, in a busy city full of tooting and other traffic noise it is lovely to see beautifully ornate cages hanging outside houses or hanging in trees or on the power lines, with birds in trees singing away.
I also have the feeling of sadness as these birds were once free as a bird to fly free.
Clubs in Hanoi such as the Thien Quang Lake Bird Club are one of many clubs that hold competitions for bird keeping. There is a lot of work and money to keep a bird happy and healthy in a cage.
These birds are taken from their homes in cages by walking or on bicycles to the park where they hang up their bird cages, the men sit around drinking tea, chatting and critiquing each others birds.
Bird sellers load their bicycles up with multiple cages of different varieties of birds, taking them to town selling them on the streets or parking up near a market.
From all this bird activity there are amazing selection of bird cages in Hanoi made of wood, bamboo or metal. These are used for a birds or painted up as a lamp or general home decoration.
