Subway uses stainless steel for making seats. They are not only uncomfortable but also quite slick. Thus as a subway train starts to move everyone slides towards the back. And when the train comes to a stop, everyone slides an inch or so towards the fron of the train.
There seems to be a street for everything. There are a couple of streets in Mon Gock that are devoted to tropical fish, aquariums, and general fish supplies. Another couple of streets are devoted to Shoes, especially sports or tennis shoes. Another street is devoted to Electronics, etc, etc, etc
On the weekend lots of open air booths are set up and people sell this, that, and everywhich kind of thing. The crowds in these area are like the 'XMAS' crowds at the mall. There are vendors selling belts, watches, women's wear(skirts, blouses, scarf's, etc) Other stalls are devoted to food items. One stand may contain only fruits, another only vegetables, and yet another a combination of both. Also the open air shops are intermixed; meaning next to the shoe shop is the vegetable shop and next o is is the fruit shop and next to is is the sewing goods shop and next to it is another shoe shop and next to it is the meat shop and next to it is the toy shop and next to it is another meat and fish shop...etc, etc, etc.
I saw a number of people walking around with what I believe were coconuts with drinking straws inserted into them. There are multiple shops(not stalls) that are selling one form of cooked food of one kind or another. I saw 'Belgium Waffles', skewered meats of all kinds, juice stands where you can get freshly 'made to order' fruit and vegetable juices. There were pears, strawberries, papays, mangos, watermelon, cantaloupes, kiwi, and vegetables like carrots. One can get a combination of any of these like a carrot and pear mixture, or a carrot and apple mixture, etc.
Fish in a bag. Smells up your nose. Crowded streets. Crowded stores. Crowds like xmas at the mall. And CRAZY intersections....Even though there are crossing lights people tend to cross whenever traffic is low, or slow. Because of the use of streetcars and city buses the streets are often divided into. thirds. That is that there are one to two island areas at each intersection; and people cross from one island to another when ever traffic permits (with or without a 'green light').
'DANGER WILL! DANGER!' (Lost in Space 1970s). Most of the vehicles cars and buses travel at higher than normal speeds for "City traffic". Rather than slowing down, the main trend is to travel 35 to 40 mph and slam on the breaks at the last second if the traffic light changes to red. It is "pedestrians beware!".
Another interesting observation is the lack of flies at the open air meat markets. The meat is usually hanging from hooks in the open air yet I have yet to encounter any flies in these markets. Saw a rat the other night. Checked out some of the pet shops in the fish shop area. There were lots of cute mice and rabbits. I even saw horneytoads, and lizards..
Computer shops...Most of what I have seen in the way of computer stores tend to be shops consolidated into 3-floor buildings and resembled more of a 'computer show atmosphere' rather than that of a 'Frys', 'Best Buy', or 'CompUSA'. A lot of software is really cheap (perhaps it is pirated). The typical price is 4 program CD for $100 hkd($13 US). Video CD's are also quite popular. These are not DVD but standard CD that are used to store movies. Again the price range is 4 to 6 CD's for $100hkd.
Salt and Pepper Vs Salt... Visited a restaurant for a breakfast meal (Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and salad with mayonase dressing and coffee $34HK). There were the standard looking "Salt and pepper shakers" sitting on the table. One had 5-holes and the other had only 1-hole. I picked up the 5-holed shaker and sprinkled a bit into my hand. Out came salt at a slow rate. USA conclusion....1-holed must be pepper. Real-life HK conclusion.....1-holed means fast pour salt shaker. Unfortunately I didn't try the 1-holed shaker in my hand first but directly onto my food.....Live and Learn!
Decided to go to a Movie (Armagedon) one Saturday night. The paper advertized 9pm so I got there 8:50 only to find out the show really started at 8:25pm...Next show 1:15pm. I decided to explore the surrounding area "The Admirality" while waiting. I walked up-hill from the movie complex and discovered a good size park. The park contains an arboritum (called a "conservatory"), an aviary, several ponds, a "Tea Set" museum. A playground, a performing arts building and several other building including workshops. Though nothing was open I expored the park and the different buildings. Near the ponds I thought I heard ducks but it turned out to be frogs croaking. By the aviary was a large tower (105 spiral steps to the top). I climbed to the top of the tower and could see all around the park. The aviary is a huge netted area larger than a football field. It should be fun to explore. I could also see a lot of city lights from the high vantage point.
Returned to the theatre by 11pm. Bought a ticket ($60hk=$7.74us), went inside and ordered a large popcorn and a large diet drink ($52hk=$6.72us).
Digression #1: Interesting observation. The hotel I stay at has "pay per view movies...the price??...($85hk=10.97us) or about $3us more than brand new movies at a United Artist Theatre with Big screens and Dolby surround sound.
Along another line...Hotel laundry $18hk per piece of underwear.....Outside, Laundry is $36hkd per 10lbs....which would you choose 2-pieces of underwear or all of you laundry for ($36hk=$4.65us).
Digression #2: It is only at the theatre that I have seen either popcorn or corn chips(tortillas chips). I have not seen either item in any convenience store like 7-11 or in any supermarket....Really seems strange to me. Another thing I have only been able to locate single-serving (can or bottle) diet drinks. The large 1-liter sized do NOT exist for diet drinks; only for the standard "Sugary" drinks. Serving sizes in fast-food places and restaurants are at least one size lower than in the USA. Thus a "Large" here is in reality our "Medium" and in some places our "Small" size. A "Regular" here is like a USA "Small" or less-than-small size but the price range is about the same.
Apartments everywhere. Hong Kong is basicall only a few streets deep. There may be only 3 to 7 blocks betewen the mountain side and the sea. And there are apartment buildings eveywhere. The botom floors may be for shops or businesses but the upper levels are all housing.
Photo's are one thing, but what really makes a country are the smells. You don't get any of that in National Geographic! Hong Kong is abound with smells. Some are very pleasant, others remind me of temples and the incense that is burned there. However there are also other smells that are lurking about just waiting to grab your nose and give it a good thrashing. A lot of the smells are due to the high temperatures and the high humidity here in Hong Kong.
Written in approximately 1998 by my dead property manager