4 things Hong Kong can learn from Taipei

By Elmer W. Cagape Jan 11, 2012 10:25AM UTC
Every time I visit a city, I happen to find a distinction between it and Hong Kong. So when me and my wife paid a visit to Taipei recently, I made a personal vow to follow what I did with my observations in Seoul and Tokyo.

Recycling practice
Pretty much like Japan and Korea, Taipei’s culture of recycling is impressive. While I lament the pile of umbrella wrappers often found at rubbish bins during rainy days, Taipei Metro sets aside a place where these items can be reused. Locals make sure to separate ice cubes from soda cups before disposing them at designated spots at fastfood outlets. For a place that doesn’t have as much space for landfills as Taiwan, Hong Kong is supposed to be undertaking such efforst. Unfortunately, authorities and locals here don’t see this as a high priority issue as evidenced by lack of effort to implement recycling on a wider scale.

Subway etiquette
Taipei Metro stations are manned by security guards instead of the yellow shirt guides found on MTR platforms armed with “STOP” signs. Although they are outnumbered by the Hong Kong guides, these guards effectively manage crowd control. I also noticed people didn’t need to be reminded of subway etiquette. They form a straight line before boarding the train and do not chew bubble gum or try to run towards carriages as doors close. I observed that seats reserved for elderly and pregnant are occupied by the intended people and are otherwise skipped by other commuters. If Hong Kong people can practice queuing at bus stops and cashiers and observe simple rules outside subways, I see no reason why this type of attitude cannot be applied on the MTR.

Table manners
I observed that fastfood shops and restaurants in Taipei don’t have that many staff as I thought they should. Maybe that’s because with extra help from customers who fix their tables after they eat, there is less that attendants need to worry about. In Hong Kong, I try to spread this good deed by doing the same. So far it wasn’t effective in prompting others to follow; customers leave their mess on the table while busy cleaners try to tend to them as quickly as possible. I wonder what their tables at home look like after they eat. Ahh, that’s the job of the helpers, they might say.

Random acts of kindness
I’ve been told that people living in large cities are less caring than those in provinces. And maybe Taipei is not an exception. But so far, even though we roamed through Taipei main streets most of the time, people we meet were kind to us, despite the language barrier. Armed with a map and looking clueless in finding a landmark near the Snake Alley night market, an elderly man approached and gestured to help us. The only problem is that we didn’t have a common language to communicate. When Chinese language sign posts failed to guide us, two young women went out of their way to lead us to an English-speaking information counter.

While I see helpful Hong Kong people guiding tourists all the time, there’s a prevailing attitude I notice that indicates not everyone is doing the same. Even our sales people are cited for their unfriendly attitude.

It’s about time we try to adopt some of Taipei’s nice attributes and learn from our neighbors.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/73475/4-things-hong-kong-can-learn-from-taipei/