Fast cities?

Last year when we had the opportunity to go to Hong Kong to visit family, we noticed something that we hadn't anticipated. Wherever we went, there was no place to sit. Whether it was the shopping mall or on the street or in an amusement park like Disneyland, there were hardly any benches, coffee shops or other places to just sit and rest for a short while. But after watching people for a while, it became very apparent that people native to that city weren't looking to sit either. The culture in Hong Kong moves very, very fast. There are no people just walking in Hong Kong. Everyone is walking somewhere - and judging from the pace, you'd think everyone was late for an appointment. No time to sit and rest.

Contrast that to west coast Canadians. In Victoria, there are over 150 coffee shops specializing in serving up the stuff. That's not taking into consideration the gas stations, restaurants and other places that also serve it on the side. If you walk anywhere around here, you can't hardly walk 10 steps without bumping into a bench or other place to sit and rest. That alone should tell us something about what we value here as compared to other parts of the world.