This beggar needs no introduction. Seated at the top of one of the busiest MTR exits in Hong Kong (Mongkok E2), it's a miracle that he doesn't get trampled by the millions of emo teens, sneaker freaks or gadget addicts that frequent the famed Sai Yeung Choi St. area each day.
The Mongkok Foot Scrunching Beggar sits on a square of newspaper with his head hung low and his crutch laid out in front of him. While one of his legs is folded under him (probably crippled), his other leg is kept active by a constant scrunching and unscrunching motion in his toes.
Whenever I see him, I swear I can feel the pins and needles and that slow, painful ache that you get from sitting too long. I mean, can you imagine sitting there all day long, scrunching your toes over and over again, just to keep the blood flowing in you, while tens of thousands of oblivious people pass you by?
He definitely picked a prime location to beg in terms of the sheer number of human traffic, but I'm not sure how many of those people even notice him, given that their minds are probably cluttered with other life-threatening dilemmas (e.g. HTC Hero vs. iPhone?? Nike vs. Adidas?? Straight or wavy perm??)... :P
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The Mongkok Foot Scrunching Beggar sits on a square of newspaper with his head hung low and his crutch laid out in front of him. While one of his legs is folded under him (probably crippled), his other leg is kept active by a constant scrunching and unscrunching motion in his toes.
Whenever I see him, I swear I can feel the pins and needles and that slow, painful ache that you get from sitting too long. I mean, can you imagine sitting there all day long, scrunching your toes over and over again, just to keep the blood flowing in you, while tens of thousands of oblivious people pass you by?
He definitely picked a prime location to beg in terms of the sheer number of human traffic, but I'm not sure how many of those people even notice him, given that their minds are probably cluttered with other life-threatening dilemmas (e.g. HTC Hero vs. iPhone?? Nike vs. Adidas?? Straight or wavy perm??)... :P
