Traffic management

I am a big fan of public transport. The fuel or electricity it uses divided by the number of people it takes from A to B makes it the greenest option. I am utterly irritated by drivers who choose their car over municipal transport, when it is available, and day to day find themselves puffing out clouds of exhaust in traffic jams and complaining about congestion. I love Krakow's public transport promotion campaign (korki-potworki) and am strongly against continuous widening of roads in city centres as it only encourages people to drive more. I am quite passionate on this subject and have always been curious what schemes different municipalities apply to discourage people from unnecessary, or should I rather say "avoidable", driving in cities...

Say, London applies a daily congestion charge of £8, which keeps a lot of drivers away from central areas; they park on the suburbs and use public transport. Stockholm levies a congestion tax on vehicles entering and exiting the city. Apparently Singapore was the first to introduce it as far back as 1975 and to follow up with an electronic system in 1998.

Many cities purposely make their parking fees too high for people to choose to park in central locations. This is probably true of most cities on Earth! Some, like Hong Kong, discourage car purchase by imposing very high taxes on car import. Some cities enforce zoning and permits, restricting entry to some roads to permit holders only. Paris is applying a policy of shrinking road space, essentially closing some roads for transport. Holland is known as a cycling country and the culture has been well supported by appropriate urban planning with cycling paths.

On one of my first weeks in Hong Kong, I found out from a Filipino colleague that Manila applies license plate restrictions: even and odd numbers are only allowed to drive on assigned days of the week, and get fined otherwise. I remember, even with my uncompromising views on this matter, I found this approach too drastic: it does not matter where you leave and what public transport options you have, you do not get a choice to pay for your way in, it's black-and-white: if your license plate ends in 4 or 6, bad luck, today you don't get to drive to work. Despite obvious unfairness and disruptive character of such "blanket" policy, it is apparently amazingly popular and is widely practiced by São Paulo, Mexico-city, Athens and many more major metropolises from the US to China. Some reviews cite the weakness of this method to be the fact that richer drivers can purchase a second and third vehicle to circumvent the ban (!). Ooops.

I also remember American "car-pool" concept, where you are only allowed to drive on the fast lane if you have a passenger or, in some states, two. In Jakarta the rule is applied to most major central streets and is known as "3-in-1" rule: you've got to have at least two passengers to be able to drive through those major streets, otherwise, you are confined to the traffic jams of smaller side streets. I was recently chatting to my Indonesian colleague. My memory still holding on to flashbacks of some of the most scary traffic jams I've seen, I was wondering if she drives in Jakarta:
     "Oh, it would be too expensive. I'd have to pay for fuel, for a driver, for a jockey."
     "A jockey? What is that?"
     "We have a "3-in-1" rule! You can't really drive without a jockey!"
     "So do you look for people that are going in the same direction to pair up with?"
     "No, it's their job. There are very many. They line up by the side of the road and you pay them some 10,000 rupiah (1 USD) so you could go on the 3-in-1 road."

This was a shock that took several days to sink in. Human mind is truly creative! I can only continue to marvel at how ingenious people can get in the face of poverty... and in the face of preposterous public policies.

                                          *****

Kiedy się dziwić przestanę

Zgubię śpiewy podziemnych strumieni

Umrze we mnie co nienazwane

Co mi oczy jak róże płomieni

Dni jednakim rytmem pobiegną

Znieczulone, rozsądne, żałosne

Tylko życia straszliwe piękno

Mnie ominie nieśmiałą wiosną

Za daleko jej będzie do mnie

Kiedy się dziwić przestanę

Będzie po mnie, będzie po mnie

Będzie po mnie, będzie po mnie

Będzie po mnie, po mnie

Słowa: Jonasz Kofta, muzyka: Czesław Niemen

Belated reports on Indonesia impressions

One of the strongest impressions from Jakarta was the poverty. The China town, which was one of our stops on a city tour on Saturday, came as a shock, especially after the luxury of Ritz-Carlton. Our tour guide would tell us that the begging was an "industry" of its own, and that the beggars were earning quite a bit in the street, but that did not make these people look any healthier.

The local wetmarket was a shuttering blow even to my very temperate higiene tolerance. Without any cooling facilities, it emitted the stench of fish and chicken spoiling in the ruthless heat. It took quite a bit of adjustment to start noticing some very exotic foods sold here: from live moving snails and skinned frogs to fermented soya, bags of krupuk crackers, unrecognizable to me fruit and veggies, all sorts of pickles and dozens of banana varieties.

My time in Jakarta helped me see through a different prism one peculiarity of the local economy that used to shock me. I remember when once we asked our Indonesian colleague on an assignment in Krakow about local cuisine: "So, what do you normally cook after work?" - "Well, my cook would make..." We later found out that it was a norm to have a family driver, a cook, a nanny, a gardener. It is not uncommon to have two drivers, two nannies, etc. Obviously, the disparity in income is striking for those of us used to a much more balanced income distribution, but come think of it: this way, an affluent family of what we find to be average income in Europe ends up feeding several families! It first comes as a shock, but aren't those several families better off being fed through domestic help jobs than none at all?! In a country where over 50% of the population leaves below the poverty level, household staff jobs must be a blessing.

At the end of the day, ability to drive through Jakarta does require concentration and dedication that only a full-time driver could develop. Traffic jams here are tougher than anything I'd seen before. Stopping at a traffic light, you'd discover that a two-lane road fits 4 cars plus a few dozen scooters. And in the middle of all that traffic there would be street vendors walking confidently and fearlessly between the vehicles, offering all sorts of items for sale: inflatable pool chairs, useless plastic statouettes, plush toys and the like.

Fresh seafood

I am yet to speak of local cuisine, but for now I just want to share what I cooked today, which was not local by the way... Portuguese style clams, yammy! Aren't their shells just a piece of art, each?

Fresh seafood is plentiful at local wetmarkets. It also gives the markets that peculiar sea water and fish smell, which I would not call particulalrly pleasant, but it is certainly worth while tolerating for a few minutes to get some fresh clams...

I first faced fresh seafood in Jakarta... My hosting colleague picked a live lobster by showing it to the restaurant attendant, who grabbed it from the auquarium and dropped on the floor, promptly turning away to look for the next victim. The poor thing started clawing away only to be grabbed again and thrown onto a scale. For a moment, I hesistated if I want to eat it, but caught myself thinking it would be impolite to back out at that stage. When the plate of garlic & lemon steamed lobster arrived at our table, the only thing I thought of was how yammy it was. It was such a confusing feeling... Does it really matter whether what we eat comes from the freezer or fresh from water? Doesn't it get killed first before getting into my freezer? How hypocritical is it to be standing by the aquarium and feeling bad for the poor fish after you'd just had a meal of shrimp for lunch? That said, I still have not arrived at being able to buy live jumping shrimp...

Hiking in the New Territories

I recently discovered an opportunity to meet new people and to ...hike! I am not a gym girl, treadmills are not for me: I need an effort out in the air, close to nature and I need a direction and a landmark. And considering that I had been missing a proper workout, finding this meetup group was a big deal for me.

My first opportunity was the preparatory hikes to the Hikathlon, a charity event with two routes - 6km and 12 km - with the same starting point in the New Territories. Back home in Poland, 6km even on a challenging terrain feels more like an after-lunch walk, but I had not done that at 33-35C and in 70-80% humidity before and had no idea how my body would respond to it, so I decided to take it slow.

The 6K proved very pleasant despite the heat. The route was mostly through the forest, so we were almost always hidden from the heavy sun. It was hot, but not as hot as my farewell Tatra hike in mid-June.

The hills we were cutting through were covered in very thick forest, the trails were often hardly visible under tall grass, there were plenty of bushes and flowers and ...spiders. Lovely!

Here and there the view opened onto the beautiful shores of Plover Cove Reservoir, a lake made from the ocean, and also onto the Mainland China  (Shenzhen) on the other side of the Starling Inlet. Unfortunatey, the air was too thick and misty (or, as expats always say here, too polluted) for the beautiful views.

I did end up drinking a whole lot of water and the challenge of 12K started looming in the shape of all those bottles of water I would need to carry when I came a week later.

The 12K was very different. It was not just twice as long. Only its first 2 km were in the forest. The rest lay on a fully exposed trail, under the ruthless sun, with challenging slopes. When we had made it to the top, our expectation was flat route for some time and then discent, but more challenges lay ahead and were only starting... 

I had not realized that almost half of the 12K route led atop the Pat Sin Leng mountain range with eight peaks... So even if the tallest peak was 591m, then cumulative height we climbed that day but far far more. Up and down, up and down with sun in zenith and heat at over 33C.

The views would have been breathtaking, but for the mist again... I remember that back home the view from Babia Góra into Tatra Mountains was also quite misty unless you spend the night on the peak and take a look just as the dawn breaks when the air is still brisk. So, I always thought that visibility was a matter of air temperature and humidity... But apparently, the misty views on these pictures have a lot to do with air pollution in Hong Kong.

We had not even reached the first peak, when we thought we were past the third... The route back was just as long and hard as the route ahead. The rest we needed was form the sun, but there was not a tree in sight.

On one of the peaks, I started losing faith that I'd be able to continue at the same pace and was told: "Don't worry! This one ahead of us is the last!" When I eventually climbed it, I discovered that was only the seventh peak. The tallest last was still ahead of us.

This was one of those few times when you appreciate others telling you lies... This was also a great lesson in endurance. We always CAN more than we think... Our mind limits us much more than our body. Or rather, our fear limits us, not our abilities. Never doubt you CAN! Fear has big eyes, they say... There would always be a moment to look back and say "Yes! Made it!" And that's another reason I love hiking: once you are half way through, you cannot back out...

So that's a brief report on the past two weekends. Tonight, I am going for a NIGHT HIKE (7 to 11pm) on the Hong Kong Island and it is just too bad that I do not yet have a tripod, as that is just a wonderful opportunity for some great shots of Hong Kong skyline by night...

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UPDATE 11:30 PM: I am just back from my night hike and feel wonderful! I had never hiked at night before and this was a wonderful experience. Flashlight on the forehead, severall bottles of water in the backpack, we started from a fairly ambitious climb of nearly an hour, after which it was an up-and-down, up-and-down affair. The views of Hong Kong skyline, both of the island and Kowloon were incredible. And even if I had a tripod, the photos would not have reflected the view that opened on both sides of the mountain. It was remarkable. On one of the trails I could see the Happy Valley, flooded with light with teams practicing football and joggers circling the race course, smaller than ants. There was a special pleasure in locating my home building from so far away.

National Day fireworks

I haven't been too regular with my blog. Apologies to those of you who have been checking in so faithfully... I had not expected this page to become so popular! Now it's a challenge to live up to the promise. In my pursuit of cronological accuracy of observations, I am just too far behind catching up, so does chronology matter? No. I'll start with the latest today.

Today is the National Day in China and Hong Kong is celebrating it too: I'm off work today. For all of the Chinese up north, the public holiday is from Oct 1 to Oct 7 to allow citizens home visits and travel. I would not mind that either, but Hong Kong does not go to such extremes, however there will be fireworks tonight at Victoria Harbour.

China's National Day was declared on October 1, 1949 by Mao Zedong by announcing the founding of the People's Republic. Apparently, last year was a very big deal (60th anniversary) with parades in Beijing demonstrating 10,000 troups and military machinery with some 800,000 volunteers controlling the crowds. A historical movie The Founding of a Republic was commissioned for the anniversary.

Speaking of government commissioned, or should I just say, "inspired" movies... A friend from Tbilisi recently posted a link to Red August (2011) Trailer (unofficial) on her Facebook. For quite some time after watching the trailer, I just could not get the old Soviet anecdote out of my mind:

Stalin summoned Maksim Gorky into his office. Puffing on his famous pipe, he said:

- Comrade Gorky, you wrote this very good and successful novel, "The Mother"... What would you say to writing another good and succesful novel, "The Father"?

- Well, Comrade Stalin, I'm too old already... I think someone younger will prove better.

- Well, why don't you try Comrade Gorky? Try... Not every try is a trial, - came Beria's voice from the corner.

For those who can handle the original and appreciate it's uniqueness:

Сталин вызывает к себе Горького:

- Алексей Максимович, вот Вы напысали роман МАТ... так пачему би вам не написать роман АТЭЦ?

- Я бы с радостью, Иосиф Виссарионович, да уже стар стал, может кто из молодых напишет, молодым у нас дорога.

- А ви попытайтесь, Алексей Максимович, попытайтесь, как в народе говорят: "Попытка не пытка", правда, Лаврентий Павлович?

Anyway, this has little to do with the National Day in Hong Kong... But the illustrations do!

Oh, yeah, not less importantly, up north the day was celebrateed not just by some fireworks, but by a lunar probe launch! The news channels capture the event in the following terms:
As part of its ambitious plans to put a man on the moon, China today launched its second unmanned lunar probe to test soft-landing technologies for another mission slated for 2013, the same year when India plans to launch Chandrayaan-II.