I needed to attend some training starting at 9am on Wednesday in Hong Kong. I left my apartment around 6:30 AM and arrived about twenty minutes late – nearly three hours! I had to take the Shenzhen subway, go through the border, hop on the KCR train, transfer under (all underground) to the local MCR, pop out at the “Central” subway station in the heart of the main island and find the 30X bus. Well, when I couldn’t find the bus, I hopped on a taxi.

One thing that I enjoyed seeing, in a perverse sort of way, was how crowded the MCR was, from the Tsim Tsa Tsui stop to Central. At Tsim Tsa Tsui, rows of maybe twenty people were lined up against each door. Each arriving subway was also absolutely jammed with people. The only room that was available was made by those departing, and that room was quickly filled by the first few people in each row. At first, I thought it would take forever finally get on a subway when I saw that the trains were showing up every twenty seconds or so.   That made the crowds tolerable.   That and another great British tradition:   on the escalators, stand on the right, and walk on the left.   This is dutifully honored everywhere in Hong Kong (and nowhere in mainland China).