Tonight we went to see a late movie. Since our apartment move (more on that later), we are now more central to everything and well within walking distance of our favorite movie theatre. So, instead of the usual jump into a red taxi, we walked home past midnight, down by the docks and through dimly lit bus areas.
Now, in most cities, I know what you’re thinking. This is crazy behavior that would inevitably lead to trouble if you did it one too many times. Maybe, if you’re really unlucky, even the first time. I, for one, would never be caught dead walking alone through a dimly lit section of Manhattan at 1am. No way.
Hong Kong has the reputation of being a very safe city – and it is. But, doesn’t that just mean you can relax your worrying, but not your precautions? Wouldn’t it still be stupid for a single woman to stroll down a dark street at midnight? I think so. Which is why I was so flabbergasted that my husband felt it okay to storm off after I made a stray comment about crossing a series of intersections without a crosswalk. Leaving me alone to walk home by myself. Late at night. Down by the docks. And through the empty bus terminus.
For the first time, I felt relieved to be in Hong Kong. Because I do feel safe here. Despite the fact that bad things do occasionally happen here – it IS a CITY, after all. But it is safe-ER, or safe-ISH.
But I do have a problem crossing streets here and not because I am mentally or physically challenged. People here are hit almost daily, while in the crosswalk, while it is okay to walk. Seriously. I’ve never in my life lived anywhere else where a pedestrian death just isn’t that big of a news story. Maybe page 6-7 in a small column. I just read today about two teenagers being struck down by an ambulance. And when I first got here a bus rammed into a building when it took a corner too fast, wiping out a woman just minding her own damn business on the SIDEWALK near the middle of the block. I know this because it was near to my first Chinese classroom and I saw the aftereffects on the building. It made me more cautious, let me tell you.
But as for other things – random attacks, thefts – they are largely petty crimes. Clever pickpockets mostly. Some of the older apartments and those without doormen (like our new building) have gates on the doors. We have one, but we can’t use it because we only have one key and I can’t find anyone with the tools/skills to cut a new one because the key is – get this – hand cut. Yep. So, I’m hoping that the nice old man who sits downstairs by the entrance all day is all the security we really need.
And, hey, I made it home alright, despite my husband’s failed attempt to “lose” me. Maybe if we were in a different city he might have been lucky and something could have happened to me. Better luck next city, I suppose.
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