Good Samaritan Etchy...

I went down to Mongkok late this evening to do some shopping and grab dinner.  On my way out of Yoshinoya I was crossing Nathan Rd (one of, if not the busiest road in HK),  when I saw a blind guy with a cane crossing the road in the opposite direction.

I turned to watch him walking, as I sometimes do... I'm always amazed that someone with limited or no eyesight can get around purely based on listening and feeling their way with their cane and feet....   I can't imagine trying that, especially not in a city like Hong Kong... much less a super crowded place like Mongkok (where its hard enough to walk with perfect vision!)

As I was watching him I kept going across the street, and I was almost to the other side when I noticed the blind guy reaching the half-way point.  He had walked out of the zebra stripes of the crosswalk and bumped up against the fence at the median.    I then noticed that the crosswalk light had started blinking and I realized he wasn't going to make it across.   It was late and dark at this corner and the median was narrow, so he really would have been in danger if the cars started coming.

So I ran back out and grabbed his arm and steered him away from the fence and across the 2nd half of the street (i thought waiting with him at the median would probably freak him out as double decker buses wiz by at high speed with some strange person grabbing his arm).

So instead I said 'let me help you,  the light is changing soon, let's hurry.'  and then i suddenly realized there was a strong possibility that he may not even understand English. :-P

But luckily we were able to hurry across in time.  As we got to the opposite curb he said 'oh thank you.' in English.  I let him go on his way... but i was stuck waiting for the light to change again, so I watched as he tried to make his way up the street:

In pop culture and movies (like 'Zatoichi', etc) there's always this folklore about blind people having super heightened abilities to overcome their lack of vision...   I'm not sure if this really exists or not,  but this guy was DEFINITELY not a good example - I swear he bumped into everything and everyone going up that street.  (fence, pillar, people standing, people walking). Amazing that he even tries to go out on the street by himself! 

Anyway I felt good that I had possibly avoided a fatal pedestrian accident and wanted to share. :-P