The Protest Spirit Marches On

Some 22,000 people stand in solidarity with teachers at Chater Garden

Finally 10 weeks into the protests the rest of the world is waking up the reality that Hongkongers are fighting to defend their city.

Today things were relatively tame. The weather wasn't cooperative this morning and there was a march organized by the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union with the theme, "Safeguard the next generation, let our conscience speak".

The union says some 22,000 people showed up at Chater Garden in the pouring rain. That's a lot considering there are just under 30,000 teachers in the city.

Then they marched up to Government House, where Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor lives. Or symbolically lives.

Today's slogan was "Safeguard the next generation"

Later in the afternoon the march in Hung Hom from Hoi Sham Park to Whampoa MTR station goes smoothly and peacefully and officially ends at 5.30pm. Some of the protesters splinter off to Tokwawan, others to Mongkok, throwing eggs at pro-Beijing lawmakers' offices, or leaving graffiti.

They dared to deface the office of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Unions, spray painting graffiti, throwing engine oil, eggs and leaving pineapples, that symbolize hand grenades.

Meanwhile at 6pm I try to get on the 101 bus to get to my relatives' place in Tokwawan for dinner, and the bus driver says he is only going as far as Hung Hom cross harbour tunnel. Strange since the situation in Tokwawan is relatively calm and the crowds are dispersing.

So I take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui, walk to Chatham Road to catch either the number 5 or 28 bus. When I get on the no. 5 bus, the driver says he is not passing through Tokwawan, but will take us to Choi Hung. How bizarre.

Gorgeous sunset view of Lion Rock in Choi Hung

But perhaps even more interesting is that no one is fazed -- no one complains about the protesters disrupting the roads.

The bus goes on the high way and this is a route I'm completely unfamiliar with -- consider it kind of city sightseeing. We end up at a bus stop near a bus terminus and I can see Plaza Hollywood, a shopping mall that includes Diamond Hill MTR station.

I walk towards it but not without snapping this picture of Lion Rock in the pink sunset. At least one good thing came out of this roundabout drive.

Thank goodness there's a massive taxi line and within 15 minutes I arrive at my destination.

Other than a tense standoff on Nathan Road near Tsim Sha Tsui, with police trying to chase down protesters, but they are weighed down by their heavy gear. Amazingly no tear gas was fired today. Perhaps, as some people joked, it was raining, which wasn't good conditions to use it.

A laser light show in front of Mongkok police station

Protesters called it a day around 8.30pm, saving their energy for tomorrow's big rally in Victoria Park.

It's expected to be the biggest rally yet, with organizers explaining in an ad hoc press conference that they hope people will stream into the park and then have to "walk" back out towards Central. Through this constant stream they hope to have a lot of people participating.

There are a lot of calls on social media and many seem to be heeding it. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Picture of the Day: Friday Rush Hour

An MTR worker held a plastic tape preventing commuters from going down

My office is in Taipo in the New Territories, and our company provides us shuttle buses to get to and from work, otherwise no one would want to work so far from town.

This morning we were on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai, trying to turn left to get over to the Harbour Tunnel when there was a massive traffic jam and the traffic cop directed our bus go eastwards to the Eastern Tunnel.

Interestingly we arrived at the office only about five to 10 minutes later than usual.

Then in the evening, I decided it would be better to take the shuttle bus to Kowloon Tong and then take the MTR back home.

But when I got down to the station, past the turnstiles, no one was allowed to take the escalators down to the platforms. There were too many people already down there.

There were so many people waiting to get onto the train

After a few minutes we were allowed down and the platform to take the train towards Whampoa was several people deep. I had to wait for three trains to go by before getting on, and even then it was a tight squeeze.

What happened? Why an unusually large number of people today?

It was partly because of the new MTR stations at Ho Ma Tin and Whampoa on the green line, because a number of people were still on the train, while the rest of us got off to get the train to Central.

So by the time I arrived at Kennedy Town station, it was exactly an hour and 10 minutes later, which usually would have taken an hour if there weren't so many people at Kowloon Tong.

Very strange, but hopefully this is not the new normal. We can only take being squished like sardines for so long.

Speaking of which, have Hong Kong's senior officials ridden on the MTR during rush hour lately to see for themselves what we plebs go through everyday?

Two More MTR Stops

Passengers crowded into the new stations to check them out

Hong Kong now has two more MTR stops on the Kwun Tong or green line.

It used to start or end at Yau Ma Tei, but now Whampoa and Ho Man Tin have been added.

The two stops were supposed to open last August, but there were engineering problems, space constraints and limited construction hours to avoid disturbing residents.

A map on the train showing the new MTR stops

However, the over one year delay didn't deter excited commuters who were ready to ride the train at 6.10am yesterday, a Sunday morning.

Even before the shutters were barely raised, over 100 people rushed into Whampoa station and cheered as the train pulled away from the station.

However seconds later the train came to a sharp halt and Adi Lau Tin-shing, operations director at the MTR explained that with any new system, new equipment and operation, there will be teething problems that have to be resolved.

But the people on the new train didn't seem to mind -- they were just too excited to have consistent transportation in their neighbourhood, or they are MTR diehard fans.

Some people were really, really excited to be on the first train

Already 108,000 people used the new stations up until 5pm yesterday, but the station is designed for some 146,000 passengers a day.

It is hoped the new stations will relieve traffic congestion in Hung Hom district, while Ho Man Tin station will become the biggest interchange station on the MTR network as it will eventually connect with the Sha Tin to Central line.

While it's exciting to see more areas becoming easily accessible, it's also the sad reality they are becoming more gentrified too...