2012-02-29      The footpath

My favorite bus in Hong Kong is "bus no. 11"...my two feet. I do a lot of walking.

Sometimes when I have friends visiting from other countries, I show them around HK.
It's interesting how most visitors will walk beside me (or behind me, when the footpath is crowded).
But some visitors walk in front of me, even though they don't know where they're going.
These visitors are usually not so patient....they have to be in front....they don't like being led.
If they decide to live in HK, they have a lot of trouble learning Chinese.
No wonder great people like Confucius, Buddha and Jesus called their disciples "followers",
people humbly willing to learn from someone else by following in that person's footsteps.

I've also noticed how HK's footpaths are sometimes not very safe. Pedestrians often have to walk
on the roadway because shops and hawkers and magazine sellers spread their wares over a large part of
the footpath. Maybe all footpaths in busy areas could have safety rails to protect pedestrians,
and maybe there could be more enforcement of laws about how much, if any, of the footpath, sellers may use.

One rule I learnt early in my time in HK: when I'm not sure which way to walk, I just follow the crowd!
It's amazing how often the crowd is walking the way I need to go!