Ordinary Gweilo

[When I first posted this short piece, it was featured on NTSCMP’s dreary Blogwatch and generated both positive and negative feedback.  However, when the comments started turning into a battle between those who wanted to defend Simon against my “unfair” attack, and those who agreed with me, I deleted the post and replaced it with something less abrasive.

Although others leapt to Simon’s defence and seem affronted that I should dare to criticize a fellow blogger, the man himself took it in his stride and seemed unconcerned.  He was surprised that I had deleted the post, but I did this not because I thought I had done anything wrong but rather because others were reading more into it than it merited.  Making fun of one post does not constitute an attack on Simon, and personally I always welcome (but seldom receive) any thoughtful criticism.  I have deleted one slightly unfair comment that Simon felt could have been interpreted as a personal critcism, but otherwise this is as it was originally posted.]   

Intrepid explorer Simon has been venturing away from his home territory and into darkest Kowloon. He has written about in the style of a fairly bright 12 year-old who is anxious to cram as much information as possible into each sentence.

I planned the trip. Hong Kong really has its public transport worked out. I got onto the internet, looked up the MTR (train) network to find the best way to get there. I walked into the station – clean, spacious, well lit. I used my Octopus card to walk through the turnstile. These are stored value cards which work on all modes of transport plus in many shops and vending machines to boot. The display on the turnstile tells me exactly how much value is left stored on the card. Otherwise I could quickly pump some more money onto the card using a recharging machine in the station.

There’s more if you can stand it, but I think that’s enough to give you a flavour. If Simon ever gives up his blog, I think he could start writing guide books for children!

The other amusing part of this story is that Simon went over to Ngau Tau Kok because his cheap DVD player had stopped working and he wanted it repaired. By his own account it took him an hour and a half to get there and back, and it will presumably take him a similar amount of time to collect it after it has been repaired. That’s 3 hours of his time for a product that could be replaced for US$50.  Does that really make sense?

The good news is that I can now write breathless prose about taking public transport to Kwun Tong, Sham Shui Po, Kwai Chung, Tuen Mun, Fo Tan, Fanling, Yuen Long and countless other exciting places. Using my rechargeable Octopus card. On buses. And trains. And gosh how exciting it all is.