Waking, walking, waiting in Hong Kong
This place is so crowded and the ‘me first’ attitude so prevalent, that walking is like a game of squash. For those who have taken a lesson, and I am not a great player, but have learnt the game from pros, it is that you have to control the center of the court. And essentially, by whatever means, move the other, or others in this case, off their point.
Everyone wants to take the shortest route. And most people are doing their BBs, texting, reading a newspaper or book…. all on the go…. Good thing we only do that in cars in Canada…..hehehehe….. Anyway, if you yield, they will walk right thru you. Same goes for a garbage cart person, office/home mover, pretty girl, car, tram and more major sized vehicles…… of course it also depends on the mood of the driver, of a car, vs. say, a pedestrian. So if u were walking and a car drove by, if you yield, they will go right by, bullocks to ‘right of way’….. control over center court……
Most polite people would yield. Does that mean HK’ers and that is differentiated from tourists and other temp residents, are vastly more impolite that most other people in the world….? It’s just a big city… by that I mean like New York City, London, etc. Each has its own form of rudeness. But HK’ers are particularly efficient and ruthless in their politesse. It is like a cross between too many years of imperial rule, by emperors or colonizers, and the most efficient way for the little guy to get ahead.
And this is not a walking friendly city. The railings are so high and so inconveniently placed, that it takes 20 to 30% longer to walk any distance, and probably another 50% more if you take the pedestrian routes, indoors, as in air-conditioned, and thru shopping areas and food stalls. I suppose it’s safer than having people walk into constant traffic and causing congestion because of some strong willed pedestrians. (Causeway Bay has the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world… and when I am there, I believe it…… it’s called sogo….). But I like the outdoors and although somewhat sooty from the traffic, a walk from central back to happy valley, 40 min, would give one a nice tan….(chinese are loathe to tanning, they think they’ll get skin cancer…or white is god… or something…..). Sure beats paying HK$850++ for a round of golf, where u have to eat enormous amounts of food, take a golf cart and probably won’t get as much of a workout as my 40 min brisk sweaty walk home.
And people have this strange idiosyncrasy of rushing when they are on flat land, but stopping on escalators, especially going up. It is as if they are taking a break from the mad rush at which they convey themselves on flat land. The etiquette for escalators is to stand on the right, with the keeners as in exercisers, or real rushers, to walk up, or down, the left hand side. Some tourists and foreigners don’t know this, of course and once at the HK passport office, I overheard someone say, as I rushed by, saying ‘excuse me’, on the escalators on the left hand side, …. ‘Boy, the people in Hong Kong are always in a rush’….. Think they were philippinos trying to get entry visas. Wait till they’ve been here a while…. Then they can line the streets in central, sitting and chatting in the middle of the road, on Sundays……..
I have often asked myself, why …? why are people always ‘in a rush’ in Hong Kong. It is like, as if everyone was rushing to be ‘re-born’ in the traditional Buddhist sense….. sort of ‘instant karma’…. By the way… this is a big insult to say that people are rushing to be re-born… as it implies that they should die first…..lol….. so it’s like saying… ‘go jump in a lake’…… People are in a rush because of the HK mentality of being more efficient (translate faster) than everyone else. That way they will gain an edge. But if everyone thought that way, it is unlikely that there will be an edge to be gained….. I did test this hypothesis though, by taking the same route thru bus, metro, walk, etc… and if one rushes a little bit more than the average, one does in fact get there faster…. That’s because there are always the earlier train, the emptier bus or the less crowded walk…… That’s why everyone here is running on overdrive all the time, …. From the time they wake in the morning, till their heads hit the pillow at night……. Mortality rate….? I am guessing, but I would say it would be higher than Ottawa….. where..? Ottawa, Ontario? ....lol…..
Certainly the pressure on children to perform is enormous in HK. I have never heard a parent complement his/her kid about how well they are doing… it’s always… well they are doing this and that and they don’t have time for something else, but we have her in golf… but she doesn’t play it as well as she could or should….. Maybe it’s this same ‘edge is the best’ attitude again…. As they say…. ‘if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere…’, or were they talking about NYC?
Toronto wanted to be like the big apple once… look at them now………
And this is where the architects have accommodated the dragon's path out to sea.......
