A row of chicken vendors sits among butchers and cooking-spice sellers. Water used to cleanse cow and chicken entrails is awash on the semi-cemented floor.

Next to chunks of chicken meat on the counters, most traders also keep live chickens in coops, for shoppers to choose. The slaughtering and plucking all happens over the counter.

"Some buyers prefer to see chickens slaughtered on the spot, to ensure we cite bismillah before cutting the chicken's throats," a vendor said, referring to the Muslim method of slaughtering chickens for consumption.

Whether meat is halal or not remains such a big issue, that many people seem not to care about the fact that live chickens are still sold widely at traditional markets.

Many chickens also roam freely in residential areas, one year after the city administration issued well-praised gubernatorial regulation banning backyard poultry farming.