C’mon Let Me Ride — Hong Kong | March 2013
“Paris, Nairobi and Hong Kong:
Métros, Matatus and Ferries”
It’s happening again! I’m aboard the Celestial Star, one of the charming green-white Star Ferry boats that have been sailing up and down Hong Kong Island and Kowloon since 1888, and it’s happening again: after Paris and Nairobi I’ve fallen in love with a city once more.
I don’t know what it is with me, I tend to like places better than people. Maybe it’s because I see cities through Woody Allen’s glasses. To quote this city observer extraordinaire: “How is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a sculpture that can compete with a great city. You can’t. Because you look around and every street, every boulevard, is its own special art form.”
Yes that must be it, cities are unique living forms of art, that’s why I’m so attracted to them. The funny thing is though that where most would be attracted to a city’s urban culture, architecture or its use of public space, for me it seems to be the public transport systems that really put a city on the map: the Métropolitain (metro) in Paris, the matatus of Nairobi and in Hong Kong it’s the ferries.
Paris: Métros
The subway system managed by the state-owned Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) is different from any other subway in the world I’ve travelled on. It smells different. It’s a smell which cannot be described but should be experienced. Then there’s the melody of the thunderous noise the RATP’s distinctive rubber-tyred rolling stock cars produce as they approach a station. Stations, with utterly romantic sounding names like Château d’Eau, Montparnasse-Bienvenüe or the Louvre-Rivoli and their original Art Nouveau entrances, which play a large role in Paris’ overall underground travel experience. Throw into this mix a flamboyant band of ‘street’ performers and the recipe for success is complete. Although I haven’t been to Paris for years, I can still vividly smell its métro and feel the vibration of an approaching car.
Nairobi: Matatus
My love for Nairobi’s, or actually Kenya’s, matatus is a total mystery to me. [Read: Nakupenda] Being squeezed into a tiny Nissan minibus with a least 18 others, music blearing at high volume and a seemingly suicidal driver high on Miraa at the wheel, cannot possibly be considered a pleasant experience. Yet, for some indecipherable reason I just love it! Maybe it’s the sheer equality of the situation. Young or old, local or foreign, dressed in slacks or suits, everyone suffers from the same terror afflicted by the matatu’s driver and his (it’s always a man) tout/conductor. Perhaps it’s the being forced to let go of yourself — your wants and needs — and simply accept your faith, as you sit scrunched between the sweaty bodies of total strangers, that ultimately makes a matatu journey so enthralling. All I know is that whenever I’ve made it through a matatu ride, I feel reborn and very much alive!
Hong Kong: Ferries
And now there’s Hong Kong. This city has kind of been on my ‘to visit’ list ever since I saw the adoption of James Clavell’s Noble House on TV in the late eighties but my dislike of big Asian metropolitan cities like Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila had held me back until now. To my surprise, Hong Kong is very different from these other cities. It’s a little bit like Singapore, clean and efficient, but with much more soul to it.
Of course it’s an urban jungle, but there’s also a lot of green and there’s just water everywhere. Besides very efficient bus and underground systems, the main public transport in Hong Kong consists of ferries. I love being on boats — I’ve been wearing deck shoes for as long as I remember, always ready to board ship. I’m staying on Lamma, one of the outlying islands, a wonderful 24-minute ferry trip from Hong Kong’s Central district.
What really fascinates me is that many parts of this city have their own very distinct ‘personalities’. Central district is very much like New York or Chicago while Kowloon feels more like Bangkok. In contrast, Stanley town in the Southern district is reminiscent of an English sea resort and the outlying islands like Lamma have a Mediterranean vibe.
All in all, this city has pleasantly surprised me, I like it here. Once again I’ve fallen for a mix of culture and public transport. I Love Paris because of the sense of history throughout the city and the dark excitement of its métro. Nairobi because of the unusual juxtaposition of business and tribal lifestyles and the hectic free-for-all of its matatus. And Hong Kong? I’m not sure yet but think it’s the extremely hurried yet buoyant lifestyle — very refreshing after a comatose decade in Laos — and, of course, the amazing ferry services.
Skylar Grey ft Eminem – C’mon Let Me Ride on Don’t Look Down [CD]. Santa Monica (Ca), USA: Interscope Records. (2012)
This autobiographical sketch comes from my bundle In the Moment: A Disjointed Audiobiography which is available at Amazon.com. (USD 9.50 for a paperback or USD 4.50 for the Kindle version)
