- Support Checkerboard Hill on Patreon!
Subscribe via email
Tags
- 1990s
- advertising
- Australia
- aviation
- buses
- China
- China Railways
- construction
- Disneyland
- driving
- East Rail
- history
- Hong Kong
- Hong Kong International Airport
- Hong Kong Island
- Hong Kong Tramways
- KCR
- Kowloon
- Kowloon Canton Railway
- Lamma Island
- Lantau Island
- light rail
- line guide
- locomotive
- Macau
- maintenance
- Mass Transit Railway
- MTR
- MTR Intercity Through Train
- mystery
- New Territories
- Octopus card
- on the road
- on the water
- Outlying Islands
- property development
- rail operations
- railway
- railway signalling
- television commercials
- tourist trap
- trains
- trams
- Victoria Harbour
- Victoria Peak
Photos from Flickr
Archives
Recent Posts
- How does the Peak Tram cross in the middle?
- Peak Tram car and the pantograph on the roof
- Hong Kong’s Peak Tram and the abandoned station
- Shek Kong stabling sidings and emergency rescue station
- Navigating the gates at MTR/KCR interchange stations
- Fixing a power failure on the MTR
- Hong Kong’s ghost station at Kwu Tung
- The evolution of Beijing Capital International Airport
- Back from another Hong Kong visit
- Changing tracks on the Shanghai Maglev
Monthly Archives: July 2011
Another look at Hong Kong’s mosaic tiled buildings
Last year I asked the question – “Why does Hong Kong love mosaic tiles?” Thankfully I am now closer to the answer, after I found an academic paper dedicated to the study of wall finishes in Hong Kong and the progressive change from paint to mosaic tiles. So why did the city make the change?
The seedy side of Temple Street
When you list the big tourist attractions of Hong Kong, a few places come to mind: Victoria Peak, the Big Buddha and the Star Ferry. The Temple Street Night Market in Yau Ma Tei is another, but the tourist guidebooks usually leave out the seedy side…
The sound of silence?
In a big city noise pollution is inevitable – while moving people closer together means efficient public transport is cheaper to provide, it also makes finding your own quiet space a lot more difficult. So what can you do?
Posted in Transport
Tagged city life, driving, Hong Kong, Mass Transit Railway, MTR, on the road
1 Comment
Learning to drive, and getting your 學 plates
Want a car in Hong Kong, but you don’t have a drivers licence? Then you’ll have to track down a driving instructor to teach you, and an empty road to drive on. But why are the ‘L’ plates on the front of cars so odd?
Take a drive beneath Victoria Harbour
Until the 1970s, the only way to get between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon was to catch the Star Ferry, with cars and freight moving on the fleet of vehicular ferries that also plied Victoria Harbour. The Cross Harbour Tunnel might have made the trip simpler, but why isn’t it quicker?
Posted in Transport
Tagged driving, freeways, Hong Kong, on the road, road charging, tunnels
2 Comments