Cherry Picker
November 24th, 2007 by ryan
SOOOOO I don’t usually (or ever) include a story with my posts photo by photo. But this roll of trix+3 has a kind of interesting story so I thought I would share it with the 3 people who peruse this blog.
OK so the story starts with Nick, Carl (our friend from Sweden) and myself all taking a day trip to Macao. At the end of our walking tour we decided to sit down at one of the water front bars. A real classy place. Drinks there were much cheaper than lang qui fong (the bar district in hong kong) so we decided to drink heavily until about 4 in the morning. We had some wonderful debates about music, culture all kinds of interesting things. After this I ran through some shrubbery and hailed a cab by standing confidently in the middle of the road. This of course was after I tried to convince a young man on a motorcycle to take the three of us to the ferry port.
The first frame of this story comes from the duty free at the ferry port which of course is open at 4am. Carl thought he might buy some more alcohol for our ferry trip back to hong kong. Crazy swedes. OH did I mention that throughout this whole period I am quite drunk.
We get back to Hong Kong at about 6 am only to find to our amazement that the subway system doesn’t open for about 15 minutes. This is where the story gets interesting. The hong kong subway system is one of the most heavily used in the world. I’ve had the opportunity to try public transit systems all over north america, europe, and other places in Asia and must state that the hong kong system is the best I’ve ever encountered. OK so back to the story. So the subway is about to open and this guy walking towards us is about to open the gates.
The man walks with a painfully slow pace. Nick and Carl are fading and the 20 metres he has to walk to open that gate feels like a kilometre.
Finally the gate is opened and we are let free into the system. Being the first person into the subway system was one of the most surreal things I’ve ever experienced. Sure I’ve taken the first train in Toronto, no big deal right. Well the Hong Kong stations are designed to accommodate thousands of people, the vast emptiness is nothing less than startling.
If you reference back to my other posts of Hong Kong you will instantly notice that these stations are usually packed full of people. Just to get down to the platform there are usually 2 or 3 escalators in each direction to keep the people flowing. Another interesting thing about the MTR is that they don’t accept cash fares, they don’t use tickets they don’t use tokens. Their whole fare system is based on two variations of pre-payment. The most popular is called an octopus card which is an rfid type card that you simply recharge with cash (this can also be used at most retailers in hong kong to keep small purchases easy). To enter the system you simply swipe it over the touch pad like you would usethe key fobs that we know here. The lcd panel tells you your remaining balance and your fare is charged depending on which station you exit from. The second type of fare is a paper card with a magnetic strip that you purchase at a vending machine by choosing your destination and inserting your cash or change. Both these systems are extremely streamlined and eliminate long line ups at toll booths simply to place your ticket in the box. Also it frees up the station staff to man a customer service booth where they are quite helpful and can give you everything from system maps to tourist information. They’re usually quite pleasant and why wouldn’t they? They don’t give out change, they don’t just sit there and watch people put tickets in a container, they are actually interacting with people in a positive manor.
Another nice thing about the Hong Kong system is they have these glass walls which prevent anyone from falling (or jumping) on the tracks. When the train pulls in the glass doors open in sync with the train doors. You’ll also notice the arrows on the ground to encourage people to make two cues on either side of the doors and to leave the area right in front of the doors free for people to leave the trains. Also everywhere in Hong Kong they have these rubber mats applied to the ground to guide blind people. The pattern changes from lines to dots to signify an intersection of routes. Obviously both these systems work because the trains stop at the same point every time they enter the station.
It was amazing to stand on the train and actually see right through to the end, something that at any other time would have been impossible. Side note: by the time we reached our stop (Mong KOK) it was impossible to see all the way through because the train had already filled up.
Carl and Nick were both pretty exhausted after our night of partying. So was I frankly.
Another thing I’ll point out which is really nice about the Hong Kong system is that there are usually two stations for each line transfer. So if you need to transfer east you get off at one station and simply cross the platform. The other line is on the opposite side of the platform so you don’t have to go up or down stairs you just walk across the platform. Likewise at the next station if you have to go west you just walk across the platform. It works from every direction and the interactive system maps on the trains remind you which ones go where by lighting up the transfer route.
So we finally got back to Mong Kok and the neighborhood that I called home for over 2 weeks was waking up for the day ahead, and I was going to bed!
The next day I decided to check out the soccer match down the road. While I was doing this Nick was working on his 2008 society for cinema & media studies conference submission, in the loudest internet cafe in the world. We now know that nicks project was accepted and he will be speaking at the conference in Philadelphia come March.
Here’s nick working away in the internet cafe on the 18th floor or something to that effect of the craziest fun house building I’ve ever seen. congratulations on your paper Nick, correct me if the above details are wrong. Let me know if I can link to your project somehow.
The next day we went out to the other side of town to go swimming in the pool at Sam’s parents building complex. But our plans were foiled by a potential electrical storm. The rest require no explanation.
okay
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That was an amazing look ryan, how cool to be (virtually) alone in one of the busiest places on the planet. Shit. Also, yes, congrats Nick. I am proud of both of you.
sounds remarkably like the system in Korea, albeit smaller (three lanes of escalators!). As always, the pictures were a pleasure to look at.
It's True not unlike Seoul. Although Seoul has more lines and is very efficient I find that hong kong moves many more people in a smaller space. But similar system.
Haha, that’s a wicked story. I can imagine how startling it was. Besides that, it definitely shows in the photos; your amazement.
It looks like all you did in Hong Kong was travel by metro! But you sure made some cool shots there