Thursday, November 11, 2010

Fast vs slow

頭先放工坐電梯嘅時候, 去到某一層, 電梯門打開了, 但冇人入電梯喎, 咁我就好順手快快按 "關門"掣 (因為電梯成日開左都冇人入內), 在門已經關左一半之際, 聽電梯外有外國人大聲說話嘅聲音, 咁我就即刻按番個 "開門"掣.....果然, 一個外國男人入電梯。


佢一入內(當時電梯只有我同佢兩個人), 就話, "Hong Kong... fast, fast, things are always fast." 攪到我幾唔好意思...我當時真係見唔到有人 (因為每層樓有成四部電梯, 成一字形排, 呢個人當時企左係離開我坐部電梯好遠下), 咁我咪好無聊, 笑笑口, 然後話, "yea, things are fast in Hong Kong." 聽佢咁講, 我以為佢係來香港做野嘅生意人, 咪隨口問佢, "You're not from Hong Kong?" (佢唔好以為我對佢有意思囉, 哈哈哈), 點知佢用廣東話說, "廿四能!".....


乜鬼"廿四能!"呀?? 唔知佢講乜鬼...原來佢想話 "24年"!  聽死人!


冇錯, 香港人真係乜都快過人.....但其實我都唔算係心急成日乜都要快嘅人喇。上次同我一齊去澳門玩嘅朋友, 佢真係一個好心急嘅人, 同佢去親食野, 坐低叫左野食, 成日都話咁耐未黎; 等車等多一陣又話咁耐.... 我都忍唔住開口開佢, "點解你成日都話快d?  你好似好心急咁?"  佢都認佢可能工作關系, 令到佢變得好冇耐性。


當見識過外國人悠閑嘅速度, 再回頭睇番香港, 就會發覺, 香港樣樣野真係速度驚人架!


我試過在英國嘅銀行排隊, 成間銀行只開2個counters咁大把!  我前面只要兩個人排隊, 照理唔會等好耐啫, 但我等左成15分鐘都唔止!  其中一個人, 攞5英鎊都排隊, 仲要同個職員係咁傾計, 簡直離譜!!!  傾計等冇客人先傾餐飽啦大佬!


另一個婆婆, 係來銀行儲錢, 但佢竟然攞左一大袋碎銀出來 (成大堆 1penny, 5 pence, 真係發神經!), 仲要銀行嘅職員一路慢慢數錢, 一路仲可以同阿婆婆傾計囉!!!!! 


在呢個時候, 我可以做嘅, 就係: 慢慢等!  唔知大家有冇試過, 在外國, 千祈咪叫人 (例如waiters, 售貨員) 快d, 唔會有效果的!! 


日積月累之下, 忍耐力應該可以培養而達到最高境界的, 哈哈哈!


************************************************


This evening, as usual, I took the elevator and left the building after I finished work.  I was the only one in the elevator and when it went down to one floor, the door opened, but nobody was coming in, so "by basic instinct", I quickly pressed the "door close" button. When the door was half closed, I heard a loud voice of a foreign man (obviously he was trying to get into the elevator), so I immediately pressed the "door open" button for him to come in.


As soon as he came into the elevator, he laughed and said, "Hong Kong... fast, fast, things are always fast.". He has made me so embarrassd, so I said sorry and tried to explain that I didn't see anybody outside (we have four elevators on each floor, and they are lined in a row so he was probably at that time standing somewhere which was far from my elevator).  Out of curiosity (and I got the feeling he wasn't living in HK), I asked him, "You're not from Hong Kong?" (I wish he didn't think I was interested in him, hahaha).  Out of my expectation, he replied me in Cantonese (in which I didn't quite catch what he was trying to say). Anyway, he said he has been in HK for 24 years!  24 years!! Wow.  I wonder why he still hasn't got used to the fast pace of life here in HK.


Nevertheless, what that man said carries much truth!  Most of people in HK are fast - and it seems we can't bear any minutes of waiting.  I think I'm already the kind of persons who are not running a very fast pace of life.  The friend who went to Macau together for holiday last month is a very impatient person. She always complains food wasn't coming fast enough; the buses didn't come quickly and so on.... Finally, I said to her, "Why are you always saying "quick, quick, quick"?  We haven't actually waited for too long yet."  And she then admitted she was an impatient person and didn't like having to wait. 


Maybe many people are simply too used to the fast way of life of HK.  Have some trips in some foreign countries and you will have some very different and valuable experience.


My experience: I was waiting in a line at a bank for some service in the UK.  On that day, only two counters were open and there were two customers in front of me in the line. One old guy was trying to draw some money (5 pounds ONLY).  I wanted so much to teach him to use the ATM machine instead, lol. What's worse is that he seemed to know the bank officer very well that they kept talking and talking at the counter!  Then there was another old lady.  She came to the bank to deposit money.  She brought with her a bag of coins to deposit!!  Mamma mia!  I bet there were more than 200 or 300 coins - some of them were even 1 penny or 5 pence!!  Well, the bank officer was so patient and she was counting all the coins slowly on one hand, and talking to the old lady in a leisure way on another hand! 


At that time, what I could do was: wait, and wait.  Don't dare to complain, becoz it wouldn't make much difference... haha.


I guess.... a person can definitely train himself/herself to be more tolerant and more patient, especially when he or she finds that apart from being tolerant and patient, there's nothing else which can be done.  Hahaha


Thursday, November 04, 2010

葡萄牙之旅 14 - 遊 Porto!

終於有時間繼續講下個葡萄牙之旅了, 講來真係好笑, 唔知下次出發再去葡萄牙之前, 我可以完成了呢個旅程嘅遊記未呢??


從Lisbon (里斯本) 搭火車上去北部另一大城市 Porto (波圖), 火車好新好乾淨, 大約3個半鐘頭左右就去到波圖喇。在葡萄牙坐長途火車似乎頗安全, 因為冇話見到d騎呢人, 個個樣看上去都好正經, 我都試過放低行李去左次洗手間, 好彩返回位時佢仲存在, 哈哈哈。







只消3個幾鐘頭, 就到了 Porto: 一個無論市容同感覺都與Lisbon 好唔同嘅城市喇。如果個人要作一些比較, 我會覺得, Lisbon比較現代化; 至於Porto, 感覺比較古舊。


唔知點解, 來到Porto, 有些少恐懼感, 因為街道都比較漆黑、寂靜, 加上在三日裡頭, 天氣非常差, 不單狂落大雨, 而且好大風, 令自己覺得好孤單。







Porto嘅街道大多數都比較舊 (sorry講句, 其實比較殘舊), 而且好多看上去好似日久失修, 特別係由San Bento Station往下去Ribeira (即著名Ponte Luis/ Luis橋)一帶嘅舖頭, 不少都已經不再營業。見到呢d景物時, 有一種說不出嘅傷感感覺。


但另一方面, 我又為自己能夠見到一個咁有懷舊感嘅地方而開心。當我地香港人不斷為不能保護有歷史價值嘅建築物被拆除改建而痛心嘅同時, 在遙遠嘅葡萄牙, 我反而有機會跟著旅遊書嘅介紹, 藉著慢步到處欣賞波圖嘅古老建築, 好似時光倒流, 帶自己重回舊時


 








相信每一位到波圖旅遊嘅朋友都唔會唔來呢度...如果唔係點算來過波圖呢, 哈哈哈!  我講嘅係波圖火車站 San Bento。呢個火車站之所以咁出名, 全靠火車站大堂內嘅古典優雅嘅裝飾, 同埋美不勝收, 由傳統葡萄牙藍白磁磚構成嘅歷史故事圖案畫。一句講晒 --- 靚絕!!!   










我住嘅酒店在市中心區, 好近美麗嘅火車站 San Bento (步行大約只需5-10分鐘)。在波圖嘅3日2夜裡邊, 我都冇搭過任何交通公具 (另一原因係: 波圖嘅旅遊點全部都可以步行去到 -- 除左去Duoro區參觀葡萄園例外?)。Ribeira (Douro河岸兩旁)真係好靚, 尤其晚上當Ponte Luis橋亮晒燈, 兩岸嘅平房都開晒黃燈之後, 超romantic (車, 最弊我一個人懵懵咁被風吹到飛起咁沿著行逛, 一些都不romantic, 哈哈哈)。















花左 2 euros, 入左 Clérigos Church & Clérigos Tower ( Igreja dos Clérigos & Torre dos Clérigos) 參觀。Clerigos塔係全葡萄牙最高嘅塔, 有6層, 225級樓梯, 72米高。未上塔之前個天已經好黑, 但就未開始落雨, 我考慮左一陣應唔應該行上塔頂, 因為如果上到去狂落大雨就死得。最後都係上!  有今生冇來世, 都唔知幾時會再來Porto, 上左先算! 行到氣喘終於上到塔頂, 好彩有上來, 因為從上往下俯瞰波圖市, 有另一番感覺。一片紅磚屋頂嘅平房, 我還可以找出一些波圖市地標建築, 嘻嘻!


睇完一輪, 雨開始來臨喇!  加埋強勁嘅風, 非同小何, 速速離開為妙!!










(以下兩張照片取自wikipedia.org - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cl%C3%A9rigos_Tower_Photo.jpg) 係唔係同我自己影嘅差好遠呢? 因為我去嘅幾日天氣太衰, 影嘅相全部都變成黑麻麻), 想比大家睇睇原本呢兩個景物應該係何其美麗的。








慕名參觀一間在波圖  (甚至全葡萄牙) 非常著名嘅一間書店 - Livraria Lello & Irmão (Lello & Irmão Bookstore)。書店建於1906年, 外觀同埋內部裝修得極其華麗。據旅遊書所介紹, 書店內部看似用木作結構, 但實情係用塗上了顏料嘅石膏再加上金葉所造! 又真係睇唔出呀。個人覺得絕對值得參觀呢。












特別想提下呢間聖堂 - Igreja do Carmo. 我見到佢嘅時候, 真係被佢外表深深吸引住呀 (靚過靚仔呀)!  呢間聖堂嘅其中一幅牆, 全部鋪滿葡萄牙傳統嘅藍白磁磚, 當然亦係砌成傳神嘅故事呢。我睇左幅畫好耐, 真係唔捨得離開呀








無意中行經呢座樓, 不期然要停下欣賞, 亦不期然要攞出個相機出來拍照, 事關呢座樓掛上嘅葡萄牙國旗應該不少於10張!!  真係想知點解呢座樓嘅人咁特別愛國嘅?? 咁齊心全部人都掛支國旗出自己騎樓來咁得意的?? 一定要比個讚佢地先得呀!!!







話咁快就講完Porto喇!!!  Porto的而且確係一個好特別嘅城市 --- 特別在我去到之後, 有種時光倒流70年 (或更長時間)嘅感覺。可能加上我在波圖遊玩時, 正值冬天加上天氣非常差, 經常陰雲密布, 更令呢個城市多添一份淒美。


我絕對一定要再來波圖呀, 因為我覺得自己好似冇來過一樣。日日黑天黑地, 再唔係就狂風暴雨, 我把遮都被吹爛。每次見到別人去波圖影嘅靚相, 我就想喊!! 點解人地去嘅時候天氣咁好, 風景咁靚架???? 點解我攪成咁嘅? 唔得, 將來一定要再來一次呀!!!




在逗留Porto嘅幾日之中, 其中一日我去左波圖附近一個叫Braga嘅城市參觀, 下一回, 我將會談談呢個令我極之喜愛嘅城市。


下一站 -- Braga布拉加!


穿梭葡萄牙之旅 2009-10 -- 待續!!