00:10
This one is for the 10月の科学系ポッドキャスト and the theme for this month is sports.
I guess 秋のスポーツとかそういう感じなのかな。 秋って、秋ってスポーツの時期だっけ?
運動会が秋だね、日本。
あ、そういうことか。
I think so.
So like, so that, you know, I guess it's kind of up to us to interpret however we want to do.
So I'm gonna share some new things about my new city, Hong Kong.
So we should talk about just general, like what it's like moving to Hong Kong for me.
But for this one, I wanted to share.
香港ってめっちゃ坂道が多いのね。
すごい意外。
I did not know that.
I mean, I didn't know anything about Hong Kong.
But basically, Hong Kong is an island that is quite a bit of, like, maybe I would say 70% of this tiny island is mountains.
It's like, 全然人が住んでない。
Google mapとかで見ると、
It's all green and super high elevation in between, like in that tiny little area.
And the people, like the areas that people live are just the northern shore, essentially,
facing the Victoria Bay.
And so it's actually a very small area that people live.
I thought Hong Kong was like, big city.
And it is a big city in a sense.
But area-wise, it's a lot smaller than I thought.
And it's just very dense, right?
Because of that.
On the mountain, I mean.
The whole town is basically either on the shore or like on the side of the mountain,
at the bottom of the mountain.
And most of the top part, or like the large chunk of the mountains,
is, you know, not very, like, people don't live there.
So there are a lot of 坂道 all over the place.
And a pretty steep one, too.
So much so that, so there's an area called Central.
And it's one of the sort of the busiest city center of Hong Kong.
And from going to Central's, well, around Central Station.
So Central Station is pretty much on the shore level.
So like on the ground level, right?
03:01
But there is an elevator in the middle of the street.
I'm sorry, not elevator, escalator in the middle of the street
that goes on for like maybe 10 bucks.
Yeah.
Escalator, like a department store-like escalator is all the way in the middle of the street.
What?
And because it's so steep, the area for Central is, you know,
basically from the shoreline to like a little bit at the bottom of the mountain.
Yeah.
So going up to Central and then above there, which is called mid-levels,
it's pretty steep to go on your foot.
I mean, it's doable, right?
It's like any 坂道, but it goes on and on and on.
So there's an escalator in the middle of the street.
Oh, I'll send you the photo, but it's very bizarre.
It's an outdoor escalator.
That sounds super fun.
So interesting.
And they switch direction during the day.
What?
So in the mornings, when everyone is going to the Central Station, it's going down.
And on the way in the afternoon, sometime in the afternoon,
they switch the direction so that it goes from, you know,
Station to upstairs where people are living.
So if you're going to the opposite direction, what happens?
Well, too bad.
Oh, no.
Yeah, exactly.
You have to go on your foot.
I mean, climb.
On your foot.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's like if you have knee problems, maybe go find somewhere else to live.
Yeah.
If you forgot something, you know, you want to, you know,
you want to bring something from your home and then going back to work.
That's, you get into trouble.
It's quite steep.
Like, I wouldn't, you know, I don't know what the exact, like, angle of the steepness,
but it's enough that if you walk, like, few blocks with that on your foot,
like, 普通に滝汗って感じ。
Oh, my God.
And it's hot in Hong Kong.
Yeah, it's hot and humid.
So that also does not help in terms of difficulties of 坂道.
And it's crowded.
So like, it's not exactly the pleasant.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's one of the busiest areas of Hong Kong.
So it's, yeah, like, so it's quite an experience, I would say.
If you come over here, but it's quite convenient too, because,
06:00
you know, so the escalator has maybe, it covers, I don't know how long in distance,
but like, more than few blocks, right?
So like, maybe five to ten blocks.
And 途中で途中下車できるパターンが何個かあるから。
So like, depending on where you're, where exactly in the 坂道 you're going,
you can hop off and get to your business.
Yeah.
And also, the escalators here are 左側通行, which is opposite to Japan.
So people stand on the right side and walk, overtake on the left side.
But I hardly see anybody walking.
Everyone is just standing.
So that's another thing I found out.
In Hong Kong, people don't like to walk.
Like, they find walking to be extremely annoying activity to do.
What?
Really?
Yeah, like,
Like running?
Everyone wants to live near the station.
Everyone wants to live near bus stops.
If you need to walk, like, more than five minutes, that's far.
Really?
Yeah, which is very surprising to me because, I mean,
I think in Tokyo, people walk a lot more.
I think up to at least maybe 10-15 minutes.
Yeah, that's fine.
That's, I don't know, maybe 15 minutes is a stretch, maybe.
But like, definitely under 10 minutes, that's like 駅近.
Yeah, the definition of 駅近.
Yeah.
So my new apartment, fingers crossed that everything goes through,
but my new apartment, if successfully done, is 12 minutes away from the closest station.
And it's uphill.
This is not in central area, so I don't have an escalator.
And so I think that's why I was able to find this apartment at the price that I'm getting.
You have to climb up.
It's like...
Yeah, I mean, I have to go up and down every morning.
Without an escalator.
Without an escalator because that's not in the...
I'm not in the area where there is an escalator.
And right now I'm in central because I'm in an Airbnb, like a temporary place.
Yeah, so did that.
And then I think for locals, this is too much walking.
And that's why I was able to get this apartment at the price that I'm getting.
On top of that, it's fifth floor walk up.
So like no elevator in the building.
And I have to go up 五階まで自分で歩かなきゃいけないんだけど。
09:01
Again, not so ridiculous in Japanese standard, right?
Like in Tokyo, my own apartment in Tokyo is fifth floor walk up also.
And well, fourth floor walk up.
Yeah, so...
It's good for your health too.
It's...
Yeah, climbing up and down.
I guess so.
Yeah.
Oh, like this is a little side story.
But did you know that...
Have you been to Tamachi station on Yamate Line?
Tamachi?
I'm not sure.
Maybe not.
Well, so I went this summer because one of my ballet studios were there.
And on this staircase, they label each steps with like 0.3 K-cals.
Like 0.5 K-cals, 0.7 K-cals.
So kind.
You know, they tell you if you finish the whole staircase, you like, you know,
expend 3 K-cals.
And it's like...
Encouraging.
I'm like, dude, like, this is kind of like if you have an eating disorder or something,
this is a little bit triggering.
I don't want to think about my, you know, like how much calories I'm burning
every time I'm going up the stairs.
Like, I don't need to know that.
I don't think I needed that information.
But now, like, I know how long that staircase was roughly, right?
So every time I'm climbing up the staircase of that length, I will think about how many,
like, oh, I'm losing about 5.2 K-cals or something.
So just bizarre.
Sorry.
Aside.
Sorry.
But yeah.
I like that, you know.
I like the idea of having, like, living on top of like a hill or something.
Because I lived near Machida area in Japan two or three years ago.
And my place was on top of like a hill and it was kind of steep, you know.
The hill was really steep.
And it took more than 20 minutes to the nearest train station.
So it was a lot of workouts, you know, wherever I go.
That's true.
Yeah.
And it was like,
心拍数が上がりすぎて死ぬんじゃないかと思うぐらいに毎回めちゃくつい。
そんなキツイだったの?
Every time.
Is that healthy anymore?
Like, at that point, is that still healthy?
すごい心肺機能が鍛えられてたまに戻りたくなるぐらいなんかよかったから。
Oh.
There was lots of nature.
Maybe I'll be super fit after living here for a while.
12:01
I think so, yeah.
Yeah, because like, I mean, you know, 10-15 minutes walk uphill, not a problem.
そこから5階まで登るのって結構疲れるから。
ダメ押しって感じ。
Like, I'm going straight to the shower after I go home.
So exercising, you don't have to pay.
You don't have to pay for like a gym.
Yeah, yeah, it's a built-in to my commute.
So yeah, it'll be interesting.
Yeah, so you know, I guess that's my new workout routine, you know.
Yeah, great.
Also, I'll keep you posted on how much Kcal I lose every day.
Bye.
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening and find us at EigoDeScience on Twitter.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time!
