Hong Kong!: Speed and Efficiency

Today was a bit different. We got on a minibus to go to Tsuen Wan Station:

Funny story, these minibuses. When I had last stayed in Hong Kong in 2008, they had just installed real-time speedometers for the passengers to see just how much over the speed limit they were going. If the vehicle reached a "dangerous" speed, the thing would start beeping. The thing is, it beeped alright. At least once on every route. Except no one ever paid any attention to it. So now it appears that they've artificially capped the buses' speed.

We went to Hong Kong station again, on the same route, but this time our destination was not Central.

The corridor between Hong Kong and Central stations. About 3 hours after rush hour.

The interchange stations on Hong Kong Island are perhaps the best in showcasing the ruthless efficiency of the MTR. Here are two pictures from identical angles taken a few minutes apart.

A train has just left...

And one's about to arrive.

Notice how the interchange passengers coming from the level below arrive just as the train is about to? The MTR has impeccable timing, to the point where if you're changing trains at a oft-used station, you will just about have gotten to the other platform by the time that train rolls in. Always.

We take the Island Line (港島線) four stops to Tin Hau (天后) Station, so named for the nearby temple to that traditional Chinese goddess. Crossing the street, we reach Victoria Park:

Gee, I wonder who that is?

Another remnant of the colonial period, Victoria Park has long been a centre for demonstrating public dissent. A tradition started in the park on June 4, 1989, standing in solidarity with the student protesters in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. Each year, a vigil is held and a call is made to Beijing to apologize for the atrocities committed and push for democracy in the mainland. In addition, each year on July 1, the day of the handover from British rule to Chinese, a massive protest march is held, starting in the park. But more on that in my politics post.

A short walk away in the Hong Kong Central Library (香港中央圖書館), the main branch of the local public library system, which is the largest in the world in terms of visits (the largest circulation is the Toronto Public Library).

From there, we got on a tram. Trams (the equivalent of streetcars) run across the northern, densely populated parts of Hong Kong and provide the cheapest service available: a single fare of $2.30 ($.30CAD) is valid for travel from the eastern terminus to the western terminus. Hong Kong is the only city in the world that uses double-decker trams exclusively.

The trams are locally known as "Ding Ding" (叮叮), a rough transliteration of the sound their bells make.

and like everything else in this city, quite roomy.

A few stops later, we arrive in Causeway Bay, the major shopping district on the Island of Hong Kong.

For lunch, we went to Butao Ramen, a shop selling Kyushu-style noodles in a tonkotsu (pork bone) soup that apparently consists of over 35 kilograms of bones simmered every morning.

There were four menu options: the Butao - the standard yellowish tonkotsu broth, the Black King - tonkotsu with squid ink, the Red King - tonkotsu with spicy miso paste, and the Green King - tonkotsu with... basil and pesto???

I do have to say that the service here was impeccable. They gave out order forms to be filled while you were waiting for your table, considerably shortening everyone's wait.

They also carried trays with glasses of water on them, and then collected the empty glasses when we were done with them.

The line doesn't look like much, but that's because the restaurant is forbidden from allowing people to queue in front of other shops, so the actual line begins with those guys in white dress shirts in the back there and winds around the back alley. We were lucky in that we arrived just before the noon lunch rush.

And this is the entirety of the restaurant. Some 5 tables, each seating 5 or so. Apparently, the original Butao Ramen in Central seats less and only serves 200 bowls every day.

My bowl, the fiery Red King, was actually quite spicy, which I did not expect from a Japanese restaurant. The egg on the right there was beautifully marinated and just the right amount of runny.

Butao's tonkotsu is easily the richest soup I've ever tasted. A creamy, porky bowl of deliciousness.

Being in Causeway Bay, we walked around for a bit:

Sogo is a Japanese department store. This particular one is the Hong Kong flagship, and its ground floor is exclusively luxury shops: Gucci, Chanel, Hermès, etc.

A few streets over, we reach Hong Kong's "Times Square" (時代廣場), a giant shopping mall with no real resemblance to its namesake in New York.

All of Hong Kong's malls are built on a massive, vertical scale, and this one has 11 floors.

At the bottom few floors are Lane Crawford (連卡佛) a local department store named for its two Scottish founders in 1850, and c!ty'super (as stylized), a supermarket chain that is reminiscent of a high-end Loblaws in its selection and price. They're connected by these things:

Yep, those are esclators. And yep, they do curve.

Some wagyu beef imported from Japan at c!ty'super. *mouth waters*

Getting back on the MTR for a few stops:

And then hopping on a bus from Admirality (金鐘),just east of Central, directly back home to Sham Tseng. The whole journey takes some 25-35 minutes, depending on traffic coming out of Central.

And boy we were lucky. Just as we were pulling out, it starting pouring hard. This particular bus route features some great views of Hong Kong landmarks:

The LegCo building, the seat of government in Hong Kong.

The Cenotaph, a monument to the Japanese Occupation of WWII.
Identical ones are in London and London, ON, for other wars.

Western Market, a popular western-style market like St. Lawrence.
(Its name comes from the fact that it's west of Central)

Union Square from the Island side

Through the Western Harbour Crossing, the latest tunnel spanning Victoria Harbour.

The ICC, tallest building in Hong Kong and 4th in the world.

The Ting Kau Bridge (汀九橋), the world's first major four-span cable stayed bridge.

From the Ting Kau Bridge, the mountains of the southern New Territories can be seen, with Tuen Mun Road (屯門公路), the major expressway of the region, precariously perched on the mountainside. Apparently, in 2003, a double-decker bus flipped over the guardrail and crashed in the cliffs below, after a truck beside it lost control and rammed into it. 21 were killed and 20 injured. Today, the road is being widened, with higher guard rails and smoother curves to be implemented.

And a view of the bridge from Tuen Mun Road.

Now, usually my posts end here, as we usually eat dinner at home with my grandparents, but tonight was different.

We went out to Tuen Mun again, to Castle Peak Bay (青山灣), where there is an entire market devoted to fresh seafood.

In traditional Cantonese culinary thinking, the fresher the ingredients are, the better the dish will be. So here, we buy the seafood we want, still wriggling and squirming, and bring it to one of the nearby restaurants and tell them to cook it.