Road Observation
Conducted at 8 p.m. on 5 April 2018
Route: From Sham Shui Po Police Station, head northwest along Lai Chi Kok Road to the footbridge near Lai Kok Estate Lai Huen House, cross the footbridge and arrive on Tonkin Street. Head southwest along Tonkin Street, and head southeast along Tung Chau Street. Ending the walk in Sham Shui Po Park.
Some Sham Shui Po’s streets give off a compacted, messy, uneasy vibe full of obstructions. Tung Chau Street isn’t without obstruction; there are bulks of sand bagged in linen bags. I can’t find any logo or words on the bags. Smart move to whoever dumped the bags there. Other than that, I’ve got nothing to complain about Tung Chau Street, well, other than the dance music coming from Sham Shui Po Park, but I probably should respect Big Mother’s choice of dance music.
I conducted a short interview with the dog owner, Ben. Here’s some highlight of our discussions:
Ben says he’s walking from his house at Fortune Estate, to his girlfriend’s place in Metro Harbour View. He does the walk three times a week. He says he could do it under 20 minutes by himself, but walking with the dog would take him over an hour. (Google Map says the walking distance is 26 minutes.) The walk takes over an hour because the corgi sniffs around, pees on the streets, and gets played by strangers like myself. Ben would avoid taking the dog to walk around the Yen Chow Street area at all costs. Imagine if the corgi sniffs around or pees on electronic appliances, or clothes, or antiques scattered on the ground. That’s one risk not worth taking.
I didn’t talk to the cyclist or the jogger. If I had talked to them, they would probably give me the same insights. How could you push a bike, or jog, if the streets are packed with people and many informal hawker stands?
Special Thanks to Tommy SHUM
