Guess who made it through the infamous Hong Kong rush hour MTR system and is currently sitting at her desk in downtown Hong Kong? Yes yes, it is indeed yours truly. I can't believe I'm here either. How did this all happen so fast? Just a few days ago I was sitting at my cubicle in downtown Vancouver and in the blink of an eye, I've transformed over to the other side of the world. I may be jet lagged and wheezing like a deflating balloon with a multiple needle punctures but hey, I made it.
My transition went so smoothly I don't understand why others were panicking for me. It definitely helped that I had someone who took care of every detail for me. My friend Josh awaited for my arrival at the gate, handed me my prepaid Octopus (transit) Card, took me to my apartment which he had found after visiting dozens of places, settled me in, went out to get my phone set up and got groceries. Then yesterday he took me on the MTR (metro) to my workplace so I wouldn't panic and get lost on my first day to work. AHMAZING?! Yeah I think so. He should be my new guardian angel.
But enough of my move, let's see some of the things I've noticed in my first 100 hours in Hong Kong:
- No sign of a riot. My manager and I tried to scout it out the other night when we were around Central and Causeway Bay but couldn't find anything. Well there goes my chance to get on TV. I've only seen barricades that's blocking major streets making traffic unbearable if you're sitting in a cab, but nothing more.
- Even though Occupy Central may have died down, people are still constantly talking about it. Are you yellow or blue? Which side will you take? Apparently this have caused a lot of Facebook unfriend-ing to occur in HK lately. Good thing I only wear black.
- I feel like I'm walking around a fancier, more asianified version of Richmond. The crowd is similar with 90% Asians and the random Caucasians now and then. Only difference is that there's less pets around; there's barely enough room for people to walk on on the sidewalks let alone a hyper puppy.
- MTR takes you everywhere you need to go. It's so efficiently fast it blows my mind. You're walking towards the train, glance up and find that the door closes 2 steps before you reached the door? No worries, another train will be pulling up in....30 seconds. WHA?! Rome, watch and learn please. This is how things should be done.
- During rush hour, people are civilized as they crowd into the train. No one's pushing or tugging at you. Even though it's packed with people, you don't feel overwhelmed like you would in Rome/Beijing because no one's even touching you and the A/C is blasting overhead.
- White-Collars wear blue collars in HK. 95% of the working men in HK wear blue plaid collared shirts. It's actually kind of funny because they look like they all went shopping in the same department store. The other 5% are white and purple. I haven't see any other colours yet. It's like they're all in a preppy private high school again, forced to wear the exact same outfit.
- The escalators are twice as fast in the MTR. You can't just stroll onto it or else you'll lose your balance and fall like I did. You have to strategically pace yourself faster to get into the momentum of the escalator and when you get off, it puts pushes you to continue that speed in your walking pace. I'm sure this contributes to why everyone moves at a faster rate in the MTR.
- Rush hour in the MTR reminds me of how ants travel in packs. There's a distinct format you follow and no one goes out of order. Everyone walks in the same pace (almost zombie like) and the sheer amount of people makes it quite a stunning sight to see. Left/right/straight/sharp turn: you don't need to think about any of that because you just have to follow the person standing in front of you.
- There is food...everywhere!!! So much delicious food. How are people not fat here? It just doesn't make sense to me. There's at least one bakery shop every block. Why must you do this to me?! Why must you tempt me so?!?!
- On the topic of food. They have pomelos here: enough said.
The list could go on but let's end it with 10 for today. Next time I will upload pictures of my new place :)
