Friday, October 12, 2012

Nude Beach Day II part 2

Nude Beach Day II Part 1


I really don’t like driving in Hong Kong. Whenever I tell people this, they assume it’s because they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. But driving on the wrong side of the road is pretty easy to get used to. In the constant traffic of Hong Kong, you just follow everyone else. Driving from the wrong side of the car takes a minute to adapt. Instead of shifting gears with your right hand, you use your left hand, but the clutch is still on the left. So instead of clutch left foot and shift right hand, it’s clutch left foot and shift left hand. After a while, it feels completely normal.

What I don’t like about driving in Hong Kong are the traffic rules, which are as different from American traffic rules as the steering wheels. The first rule in the United States is to never hit anything. The second rule is to never let anything hit you. We’re naturally courteous people in Minnesota, so we let others go first even when we have the right of way. The first rule in Hong Kong seems to be everyone try to go first all the time. Right of way is a foreign concept, as is courtesy and common sense. When you hit someone, it is their fault. When they hit you, it is equally their fault, only moreso.

Hong Kong traffic is also much worse than Minneapolis traffic. I’ve driven Minneapolis to St Paul during rush hour. Minnesotans consider that a bad idea, which only makes me laugh now. That’s like a Sunday morning leisure drive compared to any day at any time in Hong Kong. Minnesota driving is relaxing, with lakes, natural beauty and more lakes. Hong Kong driving is frantic chaos. Imagine a room full of cats who have just snorted catnip and are chasing a room full of laboratory mice on cocaine while being chased by a room full of dogs wearing bark collars. Now put the room on a gyroscope and set all of the animals on fire. That would be peaceful compared to driving around here. You can’t even see any steel and concrete scenery because you have to watch out for all the people who are actively trying to crash into you.

The good thing about driving in Hong Kong is that if you go far enough, you will be out of the city sooner or later. Kowloon is an urban jungle, but it’s surrounded by mountains and parks. The New Territories are still more green than developed and Lantau Island is almost all nature, with small pockets of city.

Getting to Lantau Island is pretty easy. There are three or four bridges to Tsing Yi and only one bridge to Lantau. You can’t miss it. Once you’re on the island, it’s another story. The main street is designed to go to the airport and Disneyland. There are two smaller roads that cut through the island north and south and another that covers the south side. Beyond that, you have to take tiny rural routes, some less paved than others. The smaller the roads get, the fewer signs there are. Most of the streets in downtown Hong Kong have signs in Chinese and English, but when you get to the tiny roads on Lantau, even Chinese signs are hard to find.



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