Having been born and raised in New York City, I am familiar with the environment that a bustling city can bring. And while weaving in and out through people when getting to areas in places like the subway and in central Hong Kong was familiar to me , the efficiency of the country truly blew me away. Starting even from the furniture provided in the hostels- a lot being multi-purpose pieces that really made use of the space given.
Forms of transportation in Hong Kong have also been incredibly quick, clean, and efficient. The condition of the Hong Kong MTR, the train system, was spotless–which also produced a big reaction from me, coming from a large city that runs a rather bad, not well kept, train system. It was also interesting to note that there was no standard fare to pay, but instead fare was determined based on which stop you got on and off at. Which makes things a lot fairer for people with shorter rides. Buses were also different, with the majority being double deckers, to accommodate for the large population.
The biggest surprise, however, was definitely the multi-functional Octopus card. It’s uses are pretty endless and comes incredibly handy for the average Hong Kong person. This card can pay transportation fares, groceries, laundry, and even some restaurants. It really makes getting around Hong Kong much simpler and easier, using one card for pretty much everything. Even from the first day, I noticed that living in a place like Hong Kong is accompanied with a lot of efficient and quick ways to navigate the country, making it really simple for its people to live their daily lives.