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Comment by Renaud | Hacker News Reader

I arrived in Hong Kong in 1996, too late to see the KWC but I would certainly have taken the risk to experience it had it still be there.

Hong Kong is still filled with weird little wonders that you can only uncover by chance if you take the time to look around and explore. My favourite pastime is to lose myself in the city, taking every little back-alley, climbing stairs, slopes, paths, trails that I can find.

I'm always reminded though that these little hidden treasures have a tendency to disappear fast here, without a trace. Conservation of heritage is unfortunately not a big thing in Hong Kong, although it has gotten a little better.

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As someone who has always been deeply pleased by the Minneapolis skyway system, I was very happy to find the "Central Mid Levels Escalator":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central%E2%80%93Mid-Levels_esca...

Yes, that re-shaped the area by making it easy to travel along that steep slope. There are lots of elevated foot paths as well in Hong Kong, interconnecting buildings with each-others, usually going from shopping mall to shopping mall in a dizzy labyrinth of walkways and escalators.

In Hong Kong, pragmatism tends to win over other considerations. Making things convenient is a build-in feature of the culture.

There's still Chungking Mansions...until it gets bulldozed for a luxury hotel...

I stayed there when I was in Hong Kong a few years back. Interesting place. I have a video of the back alley entrance to our hostel somewhere...

A weird place.

I know next to nothing about Hong Kong, but I would have safety concerns while doing this. Is that just not an issue?

If you mean with respect to crime, then no. Hong Kong has one of the world's lowest crime rates and what violent crime does exist, is typically targeted (e.g. organized crime, domestic disputes).

For example, the intentional homicide rate is 0.2 per 100,000 people, vs 4.8 in the US. [1]

I have lived here for many years, and I can't think of any area that i would feel uncomfortable going at any hour of the day or night.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona...

Yes, that's what I was thinking of. That's awesome.

I feel so safe in Hong Kong that, by comparison, I feel unsafe almost everywhere else.

Even though local people bemoan the rise of petty crime and violence compared to the old days, it's still not an issue and I feel safe going anywhere, at any time of the day or night. There is no street violence, no street gangs (although there is organised crime of which the Triads are the most famous of course), not even much graffiti (there is a bit of it, but it's mostly artistic/social expression from underground artists rather than used for turf wars).

Actually I have not even ever seen anyone jump over a turnstile to avoid paying a fare.

I grew up in Hong Kong and way back in the early 90s, if you hit the MTR (the underground/metro/subway system) turnstile hard enough with your thigh as you were walking through, it would give way, so you could basically travel for free. No jumping required, which might explain your observation!

I think they've changed them now, and I think it only ever applied to the turnstiles on the Kowloon side of the line.

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