In America I could even do this while chewing gum.
I don't think that you can travel to another country for the first time without a little bit of culture shock. Of course some people deal with it better than others, and I'd like to consider myself as a better than others type of person in more ways than one.
When I first arrived late Wednesday night, I, of course, marveled at all of the differences, from the neon signs of Chinese characters to the Coca-Cola Light cans still with detatchable pull-tops sometimes. But with all of the differences, I've found HK very easy to manage. For starters, lots of people speak English, especially everyone who deals with tourists. Folks are friendly enough, and everyone so far has been happy to try to answer my questions. There are lots of great restaurants, even ones that don't charge a lot. And the assortment; you could go indefinitely without every eating Asian food. Good news for my dad if he ever wanted to visit here. But this post isn't about the people or the food. It's about getting around.
Another thing that makes HK so manageable is that their transit system rocks! First of there's the MTR, the underground train. You might be tempted to call it a subway, but they don't. When you see a sign that says "Subway," it doesn't mean the MTR or any other underground train, and it doesn't mean seven sandwiches with six grams of fat or less. It means that you're crossing the street by walking under it. The MTR is the cleanest train I've ever been on. It's fast and efficient, and if you're not going to or from the airport, it's not terribly expensive. The two above ground trains, the KCR and the LRT are also pleasant, though they lack the whistle-like cleanliness of the MTR, you wouldn't call them dirty. Then there's the ferries. On the Star Ferry, $0.20 gets you across the harbor, $0.30 if you want to ride on the top floor, and who doesn't for that price? And there are lots of others that get you to and from the other islands cheaply. Next is the Tram on Hong Kong Island. $0.25 and you can ride it as far as it goes, and it's not that much slower than the buses. The buses come in full and mini, and while riding in any vehicle on the roads of Hong Kong can unsettle even the calmest westerner, they go virtually everywhere anyone needs to go. The one bad thing is that there is no schedule or map of the bus system, so unless you already know the bus you need and where you need to catch it, you've no choice but to start asking and hope whoever answers you is right. Even taxis are cheap compared to taxis of other world-class cities. $2 for the first 2 km and $0.20 per 200 m after that. Try getting those rates in NYC. And all of the public transit can be paid for by the Octopus Card (I bet you think there's a picture of an octopus on it don't you? How obvious are you? More obvious than the card designer, that's for sure.) that can also be used at convenience stores and vending machines. With the way public transit is here and how bad the traffic and parking situations are (as bad as you might guess), I can't see why anyone would ever rent a car in Hong Kong. And signs for everything are in English, too, so I shouldn't be having a problem, right?
Well almost. The one thing I'm having trouble adjusting to is the walking. I can see this is going to take a little explaining. If you didn't know me, you might think that I mean that there's too much walking that needs to be done or that maybe my feet hurt or that my boots are causing me blisters, but all of that couldn't be further from the truth. You see, HK is filled with people, all walking down the street. Now, in America there's this unwritten, untalked about (until right now as I'm writing and talking about it) rule that you walk on the right side. Everyone does it, and as long as everyone does it, it works out O.K. On the streets, up and down stairs, even escalators follow the rule. Why the right side? I'm thinking that it's because we drive on the right side, and we just follow that convention. Well, HK was a British colony until 1997, so everyone here drives on the left side. So at first I thought everyone would walk on the left side, holding with driving hypothesis. Escalators here (most, but not every) travel on the left, and sometimes on busy stairs and walkways (especially the subways) they are labeled which side is for which direction. But my hypothesis just doesn't hold. I'd say more than half of the time (but not much more, I'm afraid) the people of HK walk on the right side. So instead of the flow you get with the lanes of people walking on an agreed upon side, you get this sort of mass of interweaving people, always bumping into one another. It's maddening. Sometimes I want to get a bullhorn and yell for everyone to pick a side to walk on. It doesn't matter which side, just pick one. I realize that China drives on the right and Hong Kong on the left, but they need to pass a law or something so that people can walk down the sidewalk. Perhaps this is what Dengxiou Ping was referring to when he said, "One country, two systems." I don't know, but immediate action needs to be taken or I don't see how this last bastion of a true free market society will survive.
So while I'm walking, I have all of my energy focused on which side I need to be on at this particular moment, and I have to figure out where I am, where I want to go, what street I'm on (when there are street signs, at least they have English on them), whether I can cross or not (the walk lights all make noise so that you can tell without looking, which is nice [oh, and not even the locals cross against the lights]), so at least that's all I need to concentrate on, right? Well, I wouldn't mention it if it were right. If you're of Indian origin and are on the streets of Tsim Sha Shui, you're a tailor and you want to convince me to buy a suit. "Excuse me, would you like to buy a tailor-made suit?" "No, I'm not looking for any clothes, thank you." "How about a hand-made shirt." "No, no clothes, thanks." "Please sir, let me tell you about my price for..." "Look, I'm sure your prices are excellent, but I'm not buying any clothes." "Please sir, let me give you my card so that if you change your mind..." "Sure, I'll take your card. Where is it?" "If you'll follow me to my shop, I can..." "Why don't you carry your cars with you? Do you think that if I step into your shop that I'll just have to buy something from you?" "Please sir, if I can..." "Are you even listening to me? What part about 'I'm not buying any clothes,' don't you understand? It's not like I'm wavering on consideration here. I've told you flat-out 'No,' every time you've asked me, yet you keep pestering me. Do you think I'll buy something from you just to shut you up, or do you just hate me so much that you have to make the not-so-simple-as-you'd-expect task of walking down the street that much harder? Perhaps you'd like to give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it, too." "Then can I interest you in a fake Rolex?" Multiply that by three to five for each block you walk in the tourist ghetto, and that's how much fun walking can be in HK.
Thanks again for reading. Expect future posts to get shorter, except for some large ones after longer Himalayan treks. If you have any questions about things I left out, put them in the comments and I'll answer them as best I can.
When I first arrived late Wednesday night, I, of course, marveled at all of the differences, from the neon signs of Chinese characters to the Coca-Cola Light cans still with detatchable pull-tops sometimes. But with all of the differences, I've found HK very easy to manage. For starters, lots of people speak English, especially everyone who deals with tourists. Folks are friendly enough, and everyone so far has been happy to try to answer my questions. There are lots of great restaurants, even ones that don't charge a lot. And the assortment; you could go indefinitely without every eating Asian food. Good news for my dad if he ever wanted to visit here. But this post isn't about the people or the food. It's about getting around.
Another thing that makes HK so manageable is that their transit system rocks! First of there's the MTR, the underground train. You might be tempted to call it a subway, but they don't. When you see a sign that says "Subway," it doesn't mean the MTR or any other underground train, and it doesn't mean seven sandwiches with six grams of fat or less. It means that you're crossing the street by walking under it. The MTR is the cleanest train I've ever been on. It's fast and efficient, and if you're not going to or from the airport, it's not terribly expensive. The two above ground trains, the KCR and the LRT are also pleasant, though they lack the whistle-like cleanliness of the MTR, you wouldn't call them dirty. Then there's the ferries. On the Star Ferry, $0.20 gets you across the harbor, $0.30 if you want to ride on the top floor, and who doesn't for that price? And there are lots of others that get you to and from the other islands cheaply. Next is the Tram on Hong Kong Island. $0.25 and you can ride it as far as it goes, and it's not that much slower than the buses. The buses come in full and mini, and while riding in any vehicle on the roads of Hong Kong can unsettle even the calmest westerner, they go virtually everywhere anyone needs to go. The one bad thing is that there is no schedule or map of the bus system, so unless you already know the bus you need and where you need to catch it, you've no choice but to start asking and hope whoever answers you is right. Even taxis are cheap compared to taxis of other world-class cities. $2 for the first 2 km and $0.20 per 200 m after that. Try getting those rates in NYC. And all of the public transit can be paid for by the Octopus Card (I bet you think there's a picture of an octopus on it don't you? How obvious are you? More obvious than the card designer, that's for sure.) that can also be used at convenience stores and vending machines. With the way public transit is here and how bad the traffic and parking situations are (as bad as you might guess), I can't see why anyone would ever rent a car in Hong Kong. And signs for everything are in English, too, so I shouldn't be having a problem, right?
Well almost. The one thing I'm having trouble adjusting to is the walking. I can see this is going to take a little explaining. If you didn't know me, you might think that I mean that there's too much walking that needs to be done or that maybe my feet hurt or that my boots are causing me blisters, but all of that couldn't be further from the truth. You see, HK is filled with people, all walking down the street. Now, in America there's this unwritten, untalked about (until right now as I'm writing and talking about it) rule that you walk on the right side. Everyone does it, and as long as everyone does it, it works out O.K. On the streets, up and down stairs, even escalators follow the rule. Why the right side? I'm thinking that it's because we drive on the right side, and we just follow that convention. Well, HK was a British colony until 1997, so everyone here drives on the left side. So at first I thought everyone would walk on the left side, holding with driving hypothesis. Escalators here (most, but not every) travel on the left, and sometimes on busy stairs and walkways (especially the subways) they are labeled which side is for which direction. But my hypothesis just doesn't hold. I'd say more than half of the time (but not much more, I'm afraid) the people of HK walk on the right side. So instead of the flow you get with the lanes of people walking on an agreed upon side, you get this sort of mass of interweaving people, always bumping into one another. It's maddening. Sometimes I want to get a bullhorn and yell for everyone to pick a side to walk on. It doesn't matter which side, just pick one. I realize that China drives on the right and Hong Kong on the left, but they need to pass a law or something so that people can walk down the sidewalk. Perhaps this is what Dengxiou Ping was referring to when he said, "One country, two systems." I don't know, but immediate action needs to be taken or I don't see how this last bastion of a true free market society will survive.
So while I'm walking, I have all of my energy focused on which side I need to be on at this particular moment, and I have to figure out where I am, where I want to go, what street I'm on (when there are street signs, at least they have English on them), whether I can cross or not (the walk lights all make noise so that you can tell without looking, which is nice [oh, and not even the locals cross against the lights]), so at least that's all I need to concentrate on, right? Well, I wouldn't mention it if it were right. If you're of Indian origin and are on the streets of Tsim Sha Shui, you're a tailor and you want to convince me to buy a suit. "Excuse me, would you like to buy a tailor-made suit?" "No, I'm not looking for any clothes, thank you." "How about a hand-made shirt." "No, no clothes, thanks." "Please sir, let me tell you about my price for..." "Look, I'm sure your prices are excellent, but I'm not buying any clothes." "Please sir, let me give you my card so that if you change your mind..." "Sure, I'll take your card. Where is it?" "If you'll follow me to my shop, I can..." "Why don't you carry your cars with you? Do you think that if I step into your shop that I'll just have to buy something from you?" "Please sir, if I can..." "Are you even listening to me? What part about 'I'm not buying any clothes,' don't you understand? It's not like I'm wavering on consideration here. I've told you flat-out 'No,' every time you've asked me, yet you keep pestering me. Do you think I'll buy something from you just to shut you up, or do you just hate me so much that you have to make the not-so-simple-as-you'd-expect task of walking down the street that much harder? Perhaps you'd like to give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it, too." "Then can I interest you in a fake Rolex?" Multiply that by three to five for each block you walk in the tourist ghetto, and that's how much fun walking can be in HK.
Thanks again for reading. Expect future posts to get shorter, except for some large ones after longer Himalayan treks. If you have any questions about things I left out, put them in the comments and I'll answer them as best I can.
posted by Scott at 6:55 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds like fun, Scott. I'm a little jealous. Especially about the food.
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