I am going to do an extremely dangerous and difficult blogging trick*. I am going to link together several disparate subjects in one post with some deeper meaning driving the whole entry. Or it could be a cheap way to jam a couple of ideas together. Whatever.

Open the extended entry and behold...

It is a cliché that we live in a disposable society. Hong Kong is particularly prone to this. Being on the border of China and yet one of the richest places on Earth means there is a constant flow of good quality yet cheap products hitting the market here. For example DVD players. We have purchased a couple of Chinese made players that have worked perfectly and cost less than US$100 each. However recently one of them has had trouble loading DVDs. It is still under warranty. So I rang the company in question (Shinco) and was told to take the offending player to their service centre in Ngau Tau Kok. I had never heard of Ngau Tau Kok. I did what all expats do in this situation and asked my local co-workers where it was. It is in Kowloon, just past the bay and is an MTR (train) stop.

This meant I faced a three pronged problem:
1. Will I be able to get the DVD player fixed or replaced under warranty without hassle?
2. Will I be able to find the service centre?
3. Will I be bothered at all?

The issue in point 1 is simple. Hong Kong service can vary wildly. Often communication can be a big barrier but beyond that sometimes the idea that the customer can be right does not always apply. There may well be extra charges for labour or servicing, even if it is under warranty. The issue in 2 is simpler. Even though we've been here a year there are vast areas of Hong Kong we haven't been to. Nor would we ever visit them unless there was a particular reason. It's a big city and many parts of the city are simply industrial, commercial or residential with little reason to visit. These places can be difficult to navigate with their canyons of high rises and myriad laneways. And asking for directions can be a hit-and-miss affair, even if you can find someone who can understand you.

The last issue is a reflection of the start of this post: that we live in a disposable society. Despite having a reasonably complicated piece of technology that wasn't working it was not immediately obvious that it would be worth fixing. A replacement DVD player can be had for US$50 or less - not an insubstantial sum but not going to break the bank either. Indeed several co-workers, including some locals, told me not to bother schlepping out to the service centre and just buy a new one instead. However having only bought the player 6 months ago and being a quiet day at work I figured it would be part adventure and part right thing to do. The people from Shinco had told me they would fix it for free if I could take it to the service centre. While that still wasn't a guarantee that when I got to the service centre they would - it's been known in Hong Kong to arrive at a service centre, told it will cost a certain fee to fix, and faced with either carrying a worthless paperweight home or paying the fee to the place you've just schlepped out to, you're going to pay the fee - it was worth a chance.

I planned the trip. Hong Kong really has its public transport worked out. I got onto the internet, looked up the MTR (train) network to find the best way to get there. I walked into the station - clean, spacious, well lit. I used my Octopus card to walk through the turnstile. These are stored value cards which work on all modes of transport plus in many shops and vending machines to boot. The display on the turnstile tells me exactly how much value is left stored on the card. Otherwise I could quickly pump some more money onto the card using a recharging machine in the station. While the station was busy there were no queues. Walking past the free internet access I made my way to the well labelled platform. The display told me the train would arrive in two minutes. Sure enough, in two minutes the train arrived. The doors opened and I entered the clean, spacious and well lit train. I had to make a connection at another train station. I walked out of the train, across a platform and straight into a waiting train on the new line. Each station was announced on approach and the maps flashed with the approaching stop and its connections. I got off at the appropriate station and exited, being told exactly how much my Octopus was being debited and how much was remaining. It was a pleasingly small sum. I made my way to the appropriate exit. Exits at train stations tend to be labelled by letters, with posters telling you which main landmarks or buildings can be found at each exit. My exit was B6. A block later I was at the service centre. That's public transport in Hong Kong: cheap, easy, quick, efficient, integrated, clean, and frequent. It makes me wonder why so many other big cities struggle with public transport.

The service centre was in an office building. I entered the office feeling the start of the adrenalin building, gearing up for a confrontation. I explained the problem with the DVD player to the receptionist. She asked for the warranty card but I only had the receipt from the store. I expected my first road block. Instead she simply took the receipt, looked at the DVD player, entered the details on the computer, asked me to sign a receipt for the work and told me they would call in a week for me to come and pick it up. I asked what the cost would be. No cost, was the answer, it was still under warranty. The whole process took less than 5 minutes. I left the office with a curious mix of relief and disappointment. The lady was friendly, spoke perfect English and served me quickly and efficiently. On returning to work in Central, the CBD, the whole exercise had taken only an hour and a half from the second I left to the second I returned. Where was I going to get a story to blog about from that experience?

Turns out I did.

_{*WARNING: please do not attempt to do this at home. Leave it to the professionals.}