Dialogue in the Dark [Blind Experience] (20. May)

I had an 11:30am appointment for Dialogue in the Dark.

What is this?

It's a series of exhibitions you go through in pitch-black darkness. In essence, it's to experience what it's like to be blind. The tour is 75 minutes long, and your guide is partially sighted/blind. As your guides, they help you navigate and "see" your surroundings.

This one in Hong Kong has tours in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. There are 3 English tours per day (11:30, 14:30, 17:30). I chose the earliest at 11:30.

There were 6 others in my group: a family of 4 from the UK, and a mother-daughter team from Brazil. We were given walking sticks like what the blind use and briefly explained how to use them (very simple). Then, we entered little by little into the dark.

If you're afraid of the dark, DO NOT go to this. I've never been in darkness this dark in my entire life. If you have your eyes open or closed, it doesn't matter: you see exactly the same. As scary as this may seem (I'm not gonna lie: I was scared), our guide was very kind and patient with us. She was able to guide us through the exhibitions and made it truly fun. Eunice (our guide) brightened up our experience in the dark exponentially. 

What did we do? Where did we go?

1. A park with grass.

2. A park with pebbles and a bridge.

3. A ferry and rode it!

4. The city.

5. Crossed a street.

6. Went to a market and figured out what was being sold.

7. Sat in a movie cinema.

8. Went to a cafe.

... all in pitch-black darkness.

You feel your way. Our guide kept on asking us what we felt and directing us to which direction to go. A few places had handrails. We were told to guess what some things were according to sound, touch, and smell. At the cafe, the man at the counter was also blind. To take our orders, he touched our hands at the bar and asked what we wanted. There were all kinds of drinks (coffees and teas and juices) and deserts (cake). However, there was a relatively popular item: "the mystery drink." I had to try that one. Mine ended up being aloe juice (I really like that juice). And we paid in the dark. Fortunately, Hong Kong Dollars are easy to tell apart (up to HKD 20). The 1 HKD is a thin coin. The 5 HKD is a thicker coin. The 10 HKD note is plastic. The 20 HKD note is paper and slightly larger than the 10 HKD note.

I am so glad I went to this. It all cost about 25 USD (but in the weekdays, it's a tad cheaper).

If you're ever in Hong Kong and have a few hours to spare (and are not phobic about utter darkness), go there and do it. It is a worthwhile experience (if anything, for empathy, understanding, and/or gratitude).

For more info, go here for this tour or here for everything they offer (like dinner, birthday party, romantic dates, etc.).

In the lobby, by the entrance/exit to the exhibitions.

I recommend this--as long as you're not phobic of the dark.

Looking towards the building where the museum is.

To get to the above photo spot, go to Mei Foo MTR Station, exit G. Go to your left, and you'll see a path that turns into a pedestrian bridge over a busy highway. The picture above and below were taken from said pedestrian bridge.

That building has a bus terminal on the ground floor. Go up the escalators to the 2nd floor (Americans: think the "3rd floor"). I don't remember exactly where it was in relation to the escalators, but that floor isn't massive, so you'll find it quickly.

A close-up of the building

Oh, guess what... I just found out there are many of these worldwide. Here's their main website.