note: creature in photo is not an actual octopus
This is an octopus card. You use it for everything.
By this I mean – imagine if your metro card, debit card, rewards card and bus tokens were all conveniently located in one, easy to lose, 2×5 piece of plastic. Not only do you now have a much thinner wallet, you also have the best and easiest way to pay for things almost anywhere in Hong Kong, from the MTR (metro system) to 7-Eleven to the grocery store. Don’t lose it, because it’s a student version and technically they won’t replace it.
For some reason, we were given temporary student Octopus cards and we will receive the real ones at the end of November. Three weeks before we go home – because that makes sense.
For those who are interested:
The Octopus card is a reusable contactless stored value smart card for making electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. Launched in September 1997 to collect fares for the territory’s mass transit system, the Octopus card system is the second contactless smart card system in the world, after the Korean Upass, and has since grown into a widely used payment system for all public transport in Hong Kong, leading to the development of Oyster Card in London – Wikipedia
It works via RFID technology, the same kind of NFC chip that is in your credit card and some Android phones, which allows the bump-to-pay feature. You can top it up as much or as little as you want and it even allows you to have a negative balance in case you were worried that you might not be able to exit the metro. No excuses for not paying up in Hong Kong.
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