I went to apply a Hong Kong identification card for me to get around HK easier. Shen has mentioned that he is impressed by how well HK government is run, I never paid attention as "it is the government, what do you expect?". I had low expectations. My reservation was 11:30am on Monday, I got to immigration tower 15 minutes early. Expecting a long line, or a chaotic room that one would normally see at most of the government run places I have been to. I thought it would be even worse since HK has quite high population density.

However, it was not the same...The immigration tower occupies a big city block, with clear signs in the lobby indicating responsibilities of each floor. Following the sign, I got to 8th floor, the floor that handles identification card applications. They gave me a tag number at the information counter, and a form. There were several big flat screens on the floor flashing the tag number and the corresponding counter for the case, a well adopted method everywhere...Only that there were 60 counters! Even though there were a lot of people, numbers updated quickly. I barely finished filling out the form before my number was called. Following the flashing sign, I got to a different room, where I was greeted by an officer in person. My information was taken, including fingerprints and photos, all done within a few minutes while I sat in the same chair. Then I was asked to go to a different room where I was interviewed by an assessment officer. He was pretty nice, the system had some trouble recognizing my finger prints, he apologized for it. We retested several times, until it went through without a problem.     
 
11:36am, I was out of the immigration tower, with a temporary identification card in my hands. WOW, that is some record! Besides the speed, even the route is well designed, you enter from one entrance and exit from the other, it put you right in front of the escalator that took you up there! That is the kind of thoughtful thinking that I don't see in any other places. Big thumb up for the HongKong government!