It’s not very often one gets to write a blog post with a one word title. Perhaps it should be fitting to write an equally astounding post.
I went home today late, as there were things to be finished at school, so I missed my normal school bus home. After school activities haven’t really taken off yet considering we’re still in a month there 99% of the rest of the world is still on summer holidays – so there was no after school late bus either. Which means – yes, le gasp, I had to make my own way home. For those of you not accustomed to the Hong Kong “people movement” ideology, bear in mind that the city’s transport is a tourist attraction all by itself.
So here is what noises my ear picked up through my headphones this afternoon. Anything that is not understood should be promptly looked up on Wikipedia (which I have decided to be the topic of my next debate)
Exit school. Click. Music begins. What music starts up is not to be disclosed here, for it would pose both ignorance to all the other sounds (and consequently make them feel bad) as well as embarrassement on my part. No, I was not listening to the Beatles. So we’ve got music now, good.
A couple screams. I pick up some frantic Cantonese from a bunch of local schoolers standing outside our school. A minibus engine. It should be noted that minibusses have engine sounds that are most unique, probably because they’re the only 16-person, fragile-looking, speed-alarm-equipped, LPG-burning vehicles out there in the world. Door fold and open noises. DOOT goes the Octopus card. Four high-pitches followed by a series of low pitches. The higher frequency “DOOT”s indicate Student Status, lower indicate standard Octopus cards. Oops. A single double tone – too little stored value, please pay with coins. Yes, you guessed the next sound – coins dropping into the cash box.
Skip to the alighting. Dik, dik, dik, dik, dik. Dikdikdikdikdikdikdikdikdik goes the infamous Hong Kong pedestrian streetlight sounds. To be honest, this is pretty much the only place with these noises so familiar to both residents and tourists who’ve heard it in movies but never believed we’d use such boring tones. Hey, at least it didn’t take us until the early 21st century to install traffic lights with sounds the blind easily confuse for birds!
Next comes the MTR. Well, where do I even start? I suppose I’ll be skipping the two other languages each prerecorded message comes through. “Please hold the handrail” as I go down the escalator. Then a cacophony of more Octopus doots. This time I get a double tone – but remember, in the MTR, this means I get concessionary fare.
“Please do not rush into trains as doors are closing.” Not like I can get on it without being pulverized into a pulp. At 4:07pm, the trains are full, and come every 180 seconds. Now imagine it at rush hour, when trains come at every 120 second interval. Yes, the lines get pretty damned long. But hey, welcome to Hong Kong.
“The train to Sheung Wan is arriving. Please let passengers exit first.” Nobody does, we all step in as if to force the people trying to exit the train to get deeper into the sea of people. After several attempts at door closing, the driver gets mad and presses the door close button incessantly. “Please move away from the door area.” “Please do not block the doors as they are closing.” “Please stand back from the doors.” As if one prerecorded message being played over and over again wasn’t enough.
“Next station, Wan Chai. Doors will open on the left.” I’ve noticed a pattern. They never tell you the doors will open on the right, but will definitely mention it if they open it on the left, even though more open on the left than on the right. “Eating and drinking are not allowed on MTR trains and in the paid areas of stations.” Always played on this stretch of track between the purple and lime green coloured stations.
“Next station, Admiralty. Interchange station for the Tsuen Wan line.” TOURISTS – get this fact through your *somewhat* thick skulls – NEVER do interchange stations get empty! Let’s just say that after the train leaves this station, this blog post would end for all the noise generated by people before are gone – and so are all the people.
I get out here, but I don’t change trains. The escalator tones (yes, more tones for the blind) tell me to get up, where I pay.
Taxis have their own sound too. I can distinguish them driving on the road quite easily – it’s a vroom unlike any other vehicle as well. A couple honks, and I’m over at the bus stop. Buses all sound like buses, so there’s nothing special about that. Except TONES AGAIN. TONES TONES TONES.
Thank God for the music in my ears. Without it, this reflectable would have been FULL of rants. Like it wasn’t already.
Yes, I’m proud of our transport system. And if you’ve been here too, I’m sure you loved it too 
Of the week:
A new feature I thought I’d cook up – every Saturday, a summary of what impresses me most from all the niches of life.
Music: Titan (1997) Official Soundtrack – James Horner
Film: Tian Xia Wu Zei (2004) (A World Without Thieves) – Andy Lau, Rennie Liu, You Ge
Gadget: Asus SATA DVD-RW 20x with LightScribe (no particular model)
gizgiz
lightninghell
