W is for Wandering
Week W | Wednesday | Hong Kong lights ✨
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Unlike Japan, Hong Kong isn’t necessarily somewhere I could live long term. The humidity would kill me, air-conditioning or not.
But I do love it so much. The vibrancy, energy, mix of vintage, modern, and futuristic, of urban and green spaces, the sleepless harbour. And above all, the textures and colours.
Wandering Kowloon at night, having my fortune told by birds. Being told that I’m protected by Man Mo, so visiting the Man Mo Temple in Sheung Wan.
Random collections of outdoor chairs are A Thing all over Asia, and one of my favourite things about it.
You surely have to love the humidity for one thing: its acceleration and enhancement of the beauty of decay.
Of course colonialism has a horrible history, and has left a dreadful legacy in far too many countries. I still can’t help being agog at the incredible melange of culture, architecture, style, art, and design it has sometimes brought about.
What’s just happened in Hong Kong is so horrific. Seven Grenfell Towers. A city in appalled, shocked, deep mourning. It and my friends there are very much and frequently in my thoughts.
I love Hong Kong best at night, and keep in my heart the memory of its exhilarating atmospheres, colours, and sense of timelessness, glowing brilliantly out of the dark.
