Newsletter (2017-2018) November 2017 Newsletter | Page 17

spend most of our time, most Hong Kongers still head back to the
same place. We seem never bored of similarity. 
So, this Hong Kong: practical and messy. We look for efficient
ways to tackle problems and earn money without focusing much
on ourselves and sometimes overlook other needs. We, down-to-
earth animals, spend the shortest time and minimal resources to
achieve maximum results. We also accommodate people like
books crammed into tall bookcases, building more and more
high-rise buildings. That’s why Hong Kong is dense with people
and vehicles, and queues for minibuses are getting longer and
longer. But I still love this legendary place.
After finishing our dinner, Kai and I strolled along the Victoria
Harbour on the Tsim Sha Tsui side. “Can you hear the noisy cars
and people?” Kai said, “That’s one thing I don’t like about Hong
Kong.” I tried separating and categorising every sound I heard.
Cars. Buses. Vans. Waves. Chatter. Air-cons. Music from speakers.
I had never realised it was that noisy before. Like a cacophony.
Then, my vision became clear too. Lamp posts. Buildings. More
buildings from the other side of the harbour. The water glittered
by the LEDs. People sitting by the shore. Bars across the road.
As the city has matured, its sounds have been amplified. It’s
common for us to neglect all of it because we are just fishes in a
pond. We naturally filter sounds in the city. Outsiders, however,
can feel the texture of the sound, whether it’s inviting or
repelling, supp ressing or liberating. Because sound is the only
medium we cannot shut down. We live with it every day. We can
notice it only if the sound changes a lot.
Only recently some special, piercing sounds have developed. So
palpable that some people are able to consciously perceive those To listen to the waves go to:
sounds again: realising something has changed, and the city is https://soundcloud.com/tyler3026/20170509-
vibrating at a different frequency. It makes some Hong Kongers 104123a/s-Lg56E
uncomfortable and actually consider living with a different
Tyler is a wannabe novelist rambling
sound. 
I walked a long way from Kwun Tong that day. At the end of my
spontaneous walk to Lei Yue Mun, I rested somewhere peaceful
where I could hear the waves hitting rocks. I stood by the
seashore while the breeze trying to bring me to another unknown
place. Lastly, I recorded the sound at the exact place where I took
the last picture.
NOVEMBER 2017
|
17
about stuff no one cares about. He is
studying English education.