Two interesting signs and one to prevent road kill

Sign in men's locker room

Karen and I joined a local gym and this is a sign in the men's locker room.  It appears that it is fairly common here for men to dye their hair, and even attempt to do so in public areas.  While traditional Chinese culture honors elders, it appears that men here do not want to look the part.  I often seen men on the street who are clearly in their 60s with a full head of black hair. Today I saw a blond haired Chinese man who appeared to be in his late 60s. 





Sign in a stall of a bathroom at HKU



Ok, so this one has me stymied.  I found this sign in a stall of the men's washroom (what they call restrooms here) of HKU.  Perhaps there are so many students here who have not used a Western toilet that these signs are needed. Luckily I have not heard any splashes when I have been in a washroom.



All streets have signs of which way to look for traffic



Many of the streets in Hong Kong are one way, though the only way to determine in which direction is to look at the sign painted on the street.  That is the direction the car, bus, van or taxi will be coming that will try run you down if you are in the street.  I was crossing the street the other day and it looked to me like the driver of a police car speed up when he saw me in his cross hairs.  Drivers in Hong Kong like to speed and do not stop for people in a crosswalk.  Pedestrians in Hong Kong do not have the right of way.  I was told never to trust a car that stops for you in crosswalk, it is a "trap".

Aids for the blind



Steps leading from the East Gate
of the University of Hong Kong

One of the first features of buildings I noticed when I walked around the University of Hong Kong (HKU) were series of raised bumps on the landings of staircases. As I had not noticed these in the US, I wondered why they were there.  I came to the conclusion that they must be a form of anti-slip mat due to rainy weather. 

When I asked someone about them, I was informed that they are there for the blind.  When a blind person comes to these bumps they know that they need to make a decision.  I have found this feature throughout Hong Kong, on crosswalks, in the subway system among other places.  In addition to these bumps on stair landings there are also raised strips by the entrances of buildings as well as by elevators.

Raised bumps at the entrance to the HKU library



Traffic signal with speaker underneath. 
Small metal bumps outline the crosswalks. 


While they are hard to see in this photo, there are raised metal bumps that outline crosswalks.  The other feature which is at all crosswalks is a speaker which sounds a fast paced signal when pedestrians can cross and a slower paced signal then there is a don't walk sign.  While these signals are appearing in the US, there are at every crosswalk in Hong Kong.