Runners

Rush hour in Hong Kong is an experience like no other. Whether it is the "soothing" music that is played to try and calm you down or the endless shoulder barging you receive, there really is nothing quite like it.

One aspect that always has me shaking my head in amusement is the 'runners' on the underground train. There is a transfer station between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon which requires you to exit one train then cross a 70 meter space to board the next train.

Just before you arrive at this transfer station everyone is calm and composed. Reading books, listening to music or chatting on the phone.

Then the doors open. And 30% of the passengers go mental.

They throw their hands in the air, they wave and scream like banshees and run as if their pants are on fire across the 70 meter space between the two train platforms. I swear I have seen children slip and fall and parents briefly consider leaving the child rather than miss the train. It's modern natures way of factoring out the runt of the litter.

Another common sight is to see men throw their heads downwards and run across the platform in a battering ram style. Old ladies on deaths door for thirty seconds are suddenly reborn, able to walk straight and dash across to the next train with the speed of a teenager.

If this was not enough craziness to witness, even more amazing is the following.

1. The 'runners' do it whether there is a train pulling into the platform opposite or not.
2. There are trains every 2 minutes during rush hour.

I am going to video the crossing sometime soon just to show you.

B x