Like anywhere, everybody sees Hong Kong differently. I talk to expats who love Hong Kong and would never return to where they used to live. (Is it coincidence that a lot of these people come from England?) Then I meet expats who are not so keen. A recently arrived co-worker who was not particularly enjoying Hong Kong put it thusly: "Thank God the windows in this building don't open." Yikes.
My view is that there are some things Hong Kong does better than home and some things it doesn't. And at the top of the list of things Hong Kong does well is public transport.
First, there is the ticketing system. As far as I am concerned, Hong Kong's Octopus card system is the eighth wonder of the world. The locals just take it for granted and cannot see what is so amazing about having a ticketing system that lets you ride the train, bus, ferry or tram and pay for stuff at just about every convenience store, fast food outlet, vending machine, cafe and supermarket in the city. Schools and buildings use them as security passes. If your card runs down, it automatically recharges from your linked credit card.
Coming from Melbourne, I am impressed by the Octopus card in the same way that a gorilla is impressed by quantum computing. I simply cannot fathom how this magic card works, I just know that it lets me buy bananas. It is a joy to walk into 7-11, grab a Kit-Kat, wave my wallet in the general direction of the terminal and walk out. I have decided the kilojoules from Kit-Kats bought in these circumstances do not count.
Then we have the MTR. Hong Kong trains are awesome. As far as I can tell, they run every two minutes for 19 hours a day. During peak, they run so close that you can see the next train waiting while the current train is still at the platform. Very occasionally, I will be at a train station out in the sticks on a Sunday and be forced to wait 3 minutes for a train, at which I sigh loudly and mutter "unbelievable". No one in Hong Kong runs for trains, because there will always be one along in a minute. Changing trains does not slow you down, because often the train you are changing to will be right there on the other side of the platform.
The trains in Hong Kong are twice as long as the ones in Melbourne and because they have relatively few seats they carry about 4000 passengers each. What Hongkongers lack in urgency when getting to the train, they make up for in getting to a seat. While trains are plentiful, seats are rare, and Hongkongers act as though this is their last chance in this lifetime to get a seat. In Melbourne, when two people spot the same empty seat, there is a brief moment where both people try to work out, based on the gender, age and physical state of the other person, whether they can still take the seat and not look too rude. There is none of this nonsense in Hong Kong. You enter with the mindset that there are 7m people competing with you for this seat. The first person to get their body marginally in front of the others gets the seat. The use of bags, elbows and small children to block your opponent is fair game. Experienced players manage to get the seat without looking up from their smartphone, thus avoiding the potential guilt associated with seeing whether your competition included any crippled orphans or war veterans.
No one eats or drinks on trains in Hong Kong. Now technically I realise eating and drinking is prohibited on Melbourne public transport, but no one really worries too much, and there is even a certain class of commuter who openly flaunts the rules and silently challenges any of his fellow commuters to make something of it. This does not happen on the MTR, partly because Hong Kong lacks that class of commuter and partly because it is highly probable that your fellow commuters will indeed make something of it. Last month, an international incident was sparked when a mainland Chinese girl started eating noodles on the train and was aggressively reprimanded by a local in Cantonese (of which she understood not a word). Pushing and shoving ensued, and the whole thing was captured on video and uploaded to Youtube, where it quickly became the spark for a massive international slanging match, with Hongkongers labelling the mainland Chinese "locusts" and the Chinese labelling Hongkongers "dogs".
So for a genuine local experience when you come to Hong Kong, get yourself an Octopus card, get a train and elbow your way to a seat. Best to leave the Kit-Kat in your pocket for later though.
My view is that there are some things Hong Kong does better than home and some things it doesn't. And at the top of the list of things Hong Kong does well is public transport.
First, there is the ticketing system. As far as I am concerned, Hong Kong's Octopus card system is the eighth wonder of the world. The locals just take it for granted and cannot see what is so amazing about having a ticketing system that lets you ride the train, bus, ferry or tram and pay for stuff at just about every convenience store, fast food outlet, vending machine, cafe and supermarket in the city. Schools and buildings use them as security passes. If your card runs down, it automatically recharges from your linked credit card.
Coming from Melbourne, I am impressed by the Octopus card in the same way that a gorilla is impressed by quantum computing. I simply cannot fathom how this magic card works, I just know that it lets me buy bananas. It is a joy to walk into 7-11, grab a Kit-Kat, wave my wallet in the general direction of the terminal and walk out. I have decided the kilojoules from Kit-Kats bought in these circumstances do not count.
Then we have the MTR. Hong Kong trains are awesome. As far as I can tell, they run every two minutes for 19 hours a day. During peak, they run so close that you can see the next train waiting while the current train is still at the platform. Very occasionally, I will be at a train station out in the sticks on a Sunday and be forced to wait 3 minutes for a train, at which I sigh loudly and mutter "unbelievable". No one in Hong Kong runs for trains, because there will always be one along in a minute. Changing trains does not slow you down, because often the train you are changing to will be right there on the other side of the platform.
The trains in Hong Kong are twice as long as the ones in Melbourne and because they have relatively few seats they carry about 4000 passengers each. What Hongkongers lack in urgency when getting to the train, they make up for in getting to a seat. While trains are plentiful, seats are rare, and Hongkongers act as though this is their last chance in this lifetime to get a seat. In Melbourne, when two people spot the same empty seat, there is a brief moment where both people try to work out, based on the gender, age and physical state of the other person, whether they can still take the seat and not look too rude. There is none of this nonsense in Hong Kong. You enter with the mindset that there are 7m people competing with you for this seat. The first person to get their body marginally in front of the others gets the seat. The use of bags, elbows and small children to block your opponent is fair game. Experienced players manage to get the seat without looking up from their smartphone, thus avoiding the potential guilt associated with seeing whether your competition included any crippled orphans or war veterans.
No one eats or drinks on trains in Hong Kong. Now technically I realise eating and drinking is prohibited on Melbourne public transport, but no one really worries too much, and there is even a certain class of commuter who openly flaunts the rules and silently challenges any of his fellow commuters to make something of it. This does not happen on the MTR, partly because Hong Kong lacks that class of commuter and partly because it is highly probable that your fellow commuters will indeed make something of it. Last month, an international incident was sparked when a mainland Chinese girl started eating noodles on the train and was aggressively reprimanded by a local in Cantonese (of which she understood not a word). Pushing and shoving ensued, and the whole thing was captured on video and uploaded to Youtube, where it quickly became the spark for a massive international slanging match, with Hongkongers labelling the mainland Chinese "locusts" and the Chinese labelling Hongkongers "dogs".
So for a genuine local experience when you come to Hong Kong, get yourself an Octopus card, get a train and elbow your way to a seat. Best to leave the Kit-Kat in your pocket for later though.
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