I don't own a car. I live in Hong Kong. We have excellent public transportation and five parking spaces for a million cars. It is faster to walk from Wan Chai to Admiralty than to drive. I borrowed a car from a friend. Why they have a car is beyond me.
Hong Kong might not be the best place in the world to drive, but there are a few relatively uncrowded roads if you head north. Hong Kong Island and Kowloon are nothing but traffic. Lantau is getting more crowded all the time. North of Tsuen Wan is pretty much your only option. Fortunately, that is an area five times larger than Hong Kong Island.
Castle Peak Road from Tsuen Wan to Tuen Mun hugs the East Bay, which is on the west coast, and passes under a popular bridge, a couple of tiny beaches and a pretty big one at Castle Peak Bay. You can't drive down the Castle Peak Bay Promenade, but it is a nice place for a walk.
From Tuen Mun, Lung Mun Road gets too industrial and is not the most scenic part of the city, but past the power plant, you are on the west coast as it becomes Lung Kwu Tan Road. Past Pak Nai and its famous sunsets, which I did not see since this was the middle of the day, I was on a tiny road that wound around Shenzhen Bay. There is no more coast at that point without going into Mainland China, where it gets far more crowded.
Fung Lok Wai is an enormous river/marshland/fish farm that looks like it is in the middle of nowhere. Unless you face north. Then you get skyline views of Shenzhen.
Heading east took me away from the water and up into the hills. At Fanling, it got too crowded, so I took the winding Sha Tau Kok Road toward Yantian on the east coast. Heading south on Bride's Pool Road, I went uphill on what could have been a canyon road in Southern California before heading downhill to Bride's Pool Waterfall. I could have easily spent the whole day at the river, but I was there to drive. After heading downhill some more, I was looking at the reservoir and Tolo Harbour. It gets crowded at Tai Po and it was getting too late for a drive to Clear Water Bay, so I headed back into civilization. Had I planned the trip ahead of time, I could have made a larger circle around most of the city, but I avoided the peninsula on purpose.
As I expected, there were no complications from the drive. Other than some light construction here and there. Hong Kong is a constant construction zone, so avoiding it is practically impossible. I have never had a problem with switching from proper driving on the right side of the road to the inferior British system of driving on the left. A lot of roads in Hong Kong are segregated and give you no choice. Sitting behind the steering wheel on the right side of the car is interesting, and I wondered if I would have any problems. I never have before, but my brain was never cut open before. The pedals are all the same, of course, but using both your left hand and left foot to shift is different. The balance is gone. The only part that tripped me up was the turn signal/windshield wipers. Since the steering wheel and gear shift were reversed, I wanted the turn signal to be reversed as well. It was not, so every time I wanted to turn, I flipped on the wiper blades.
I experienced no PTSD or panic attacks while driving. Maybe I was overly cautious at intersections, but that is not a bad idea in China. I might have held my breath whenever I saw someone run a red light. I might want to get over that. Nothing I ever say or do will change the selfish driving habits around here. I don't know when I will drive a car again, but it looks like I should be able to do it without any psychological trauma.
Trying to park, on the other hand, might drive me insane.
The Great Wall of China part 1
Glad youre feeling better. Maybe dont drive in HK again, too dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'd say Hong Kong driving is a million times more dangerous than Minnesota and a million times safer than Mainland China.
ReplyDeleteThat might be an exaggeration. Maybe it's only 100,000.
I don't think I could ever drive a British car. The steering wheel would be bad enough, but shifting gears? No thanks.
ReplyDeleteIt takes about a second to adjust. Once you do, it doesn't matter what side everything's on.
DeleteWait, these are all pictures of Hong Kong? I thought it was all skyscrapers and concrete?
ReplyDeleteHong Kong has large swathes of undeveloped land.
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