Car-free weekends might help foster a spirit of discovery

Now that Hong Kong citizens have topped the list of the world's most avid walkers (6,880 steps on an average, according to a Stanford University survey) perhaps it's time to re-launch the campaign to keep the city's downtown area car-free on weekends. If Venice and Copenhagen can pedestrianize their main arterial roads, then why not Hong Kong? Especially since a similar experiment almost a year ago showed Hong Kong was open to the idea of ditching wheels in favor of walking. On a Sunday last September, 200 meters of Des Voeux Road Central, from Wing On Department Store to Western Market, was turned into a pedestrian-only zone from 10 am to 4 pm. The people loved it. Out came the drawing boards, football and inflatable splash pool. In no time, what is one of Hong Kong's most vehicular traffic-dominated streets on a regular day was turned into a sea of people enjoying an impromptu carnival.

The benefits of shutting automobiles out of a city's main thoroughfares, even if it is just for a few hours on select days of the week, are all too obvious. Walking to work is way better than running the treadmill in the sealed interiors of a gym, as that way you get to swap artificially regulated air for the natural variety. Walking on a road free of vehicular emissions is good for one's lungs, enhances blood circulation and increases agility. The chances of road accidents are reduced to a near-zero. Such an exercise also helps put one's mind at ease, especially knowing one has done her bit toward reducing the carbon footprints left on the face of the earth.

For those unable to take the physical strain of walking, there's always the tram. It's a paradox that fast-paced though life here is, Hong Kong lends itself to slow modes of transport, the sort not driven by combustible fuel. Time and time again writers and filmmakers have paid homage to the two most effective ways of exploring Hong Kong's undulating terrain: By foot and by the tram. Eileen Chang describes the tram as a symbol of resilience that continued to carry passengers in the immediate aftermath of bombings in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong of 1941 in her autobiographical novel The Book of Change. Wong Kar-wai adapted the rhythm of Maggie Cheung's languorous strides on the terraced streets of Hong Kong as the general pace of his film In the Mood for Love. Even a very recent romantic drama, Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong by Emily Ting, seems to favor the idea that Hong Kong's charms are best experienced by ambling down its neat inclines.

One of Hong Kong's most-revered poets, Leung Ping-kwan (Ye Si), wrote about turning his gaze inward and engaging in some introspection as he walked past the fish markets and junk food stalls in Mong Kok in the poem, On a Road, a Wanderer. He seemed in favor of slowing down and absorbing select elements from one's surroundings, at one's own pace.

The catch line this year for Hong Kong's travel-themed book fair, which ended last week, was: "Reading the World: People, Places, Passion". It might be a good idea to begin this journey of discovering the world at home and take it slow. If the powers that be in the Transport Department are willing to support a more extensive use of the tram and human feet, who knows what surprises your daily commute to work might bring?

(HK Edition 07/31/2017 page10)