< 
- Support Checkerboard Hill on Patreon!
Subscribe via email
Tags
- advertising
- Australia
- aviation
- buses
- China
- China Railways
- construction
- depots
- Disneyland
- driving
- East Rail
- history
- Hong Kong
- Hong Kong International Airport
- Hong Kong Tramways
- KCR
- Kowloon
- Kowloon Canton Railway
- Lantau Island
- light rail
- line guide
- locomotive
- Macau
- mainland
- maintenance
- Mass Transit Railway
- MTR
- mystery
- New Territories
- Octopus card
- on the road
- on the water
- Outlying Islands
- rail operations
- railway
- railway archaeology
- railway signalling
- scale models
- television commercials
- tourist trap
- trains
- trams
- tunnels
- Victoria Harbour
- West Rail
Photos from Flickr
Archives
Recent Posts
- Extending the MTR using a tunnel *dismantling* machine
- Souvenir sales on the Hong Kong MTR
- Hong Kong’s archaic English and ‘Litter cum Recyclable Collection Bins’
- Television commercials for the MTR Airport Express
- Hong Kong’s most useless road – Airport Tunnel on Chek Lap Kok
- ‘Ocean Express’ funicular railway at Ocean Park
- Abandoned tram track in Causeway Bay
- ‘Emergency Tram Operation’ at Whitty Street Depot
- Hong Kong bus models for every budget
- Books for learning Hong Kong Cantonese
Tag Archives: lost in translation
Confusing ‘L’ with ‘N’ on Nathan Road
I’ve visited Hong Kong a number of times with my father, and every time he talks about Nathan Road (the main street of Kowloon) I hear ‘Leighton’ instead of ‘Nathan’ – leaving me horribly confused until I realise what he is actually saying. So why is an apparently simple street name so complicated?
Lost in translation while navigating the MTR
Navigating the Mass Transit Railway network is Hong Kong is pretty easy – the map is easy to read, the signage is in both Chinese and English, and the audio announcements are repeated in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. So how did my dad and I managed to get confused when getting from A to B?
Posted in Transport
Tagged Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, language, lost in translation, Mass Transit Railway, MTR
3 Comments
The ‘secret’ Chinese restaurant menu
When westerners visit Chinese restaurants, the idea of a secret’ menu that only Chinese people get is a common one – and on my last visit to Hong Kong I finally encountered one, on the popular tourist island of Cheung Chau.
Posted in Tourism
Tagged Cheung Chau, dining out, Hong Kong, language, lost in translation, restaurants
5 Comments
Octopus cards of Hong Kong: bilingual?
On my last trip to Hong Kong I did the same thing as every local resident, and picked up an Octopus card so that I could travel around the city by public transport. What most people don’t know is that the cards come in two versions: English and Chinese.
Posted in Transport
Tagged Hong Kong, KCR, Kowloon Canton Railway, language, lost in translation, Mass Transit Railway, MTR, Octopus card, trains
12 Comments