Looking up.

I get made fun of for a lot of things here (all in good fun, of course), but specifically, I get some jests from always looking up, around, never quite focusing on the target ahead. I'd rather have my vision tracing the horizon of the nearby buildings or examining the view around me than staying pointed at the goal. Sure, this may seem touristy in some respects, but how can I not? This place is by far the most kinetic, the most genuinely lived in, the most vertically-oriented city that I have ever witnessed. Nothing compares.

I just keep looking up.

Though it is difficult to show just how awe-inspiring these views are, but the pictures below are essentially all the result of me looking up, out, about, anywhere but at the ground. There's just too much to see. I don't follow the Asian moniker of looking at the ground (which holds true here)... I'm always looking up, looking for something to admire. Believe me, there's plenty. You don't get much of this in Oxford, that's for sure.

 Mong Kok. Distinctly lived in. Yet distinctly beautiful in its usage, its placement, its capacity to hold life and help the cogs of the city churn forward.

 Billboards EVERYWHERE in Mong Kok. This is the Hong Kong that is seen everywhere. Hordes of people, hordes of signage. Hordes of things to look at.

 Again, note the people, all on their way. Fulfilling their stories. While I'm watching. Hmm. A bit creepy, maybe.

 Night. The darkness sweeps in, but the lights fight the temptation. Industry never dies, and the cogs never stop moving. After all, life goes on.

 6 lanes of traffic. With essentially no rules. But still fun to watch... From a distance.

 At Victoria Harbor... These red-finned sailboats clip through the water for potential tourists, adding a zest of the Chinese red intermittently into serene panoramas of the skyline.

 I don't have the slightest idea where this is. Looks kind of like Tsim Sha Tsui, the luxury store area. I think I took it for the message on the catwalk over there, but I don't remember what it was. "Season's Greetings" maybe? Either way, we walked through the entire luxury shopping district, driving the girls mad because security guards were in front of all of the stores, almost acting as bouncers for the place.

 Reflective. I don't remember the brand, though. ____ON... Eh. Guess that brand?

 The Espirit store had a massive rotating and flickering display. How could I not look?

 Get ready for this. This... This right here... Is a library.

Gasp.

I like to refer to it as the boy-girl building, based on the hysterical color choices. This is in Hung Hom, where some of the museums and whatnot are located. Lots of plazas, palm trees, and glossy skyscrapers.

 Again, the partial eclipse effect.

 Hong Hum, at a plaza. People diverting everywhere... The perfect tightrope of controlled chaos. Billboards, displays... Ubiquity.

 No idea.

Only the top few floors of what had to be a building of 50 floors, given the monikor "that Dubai building" by the friend group. Well, it's kind of true...

And after that amazing weekend, we were able to allow the world to fade into its sunset, yet another day in the life of the Hong Kong machine. I'll never be able to give it justice. I try to step back, look from afar. But I'm just as integrated into the innerworkings of it... My ventures throughout the city, even with the goal of capturing its intricacies, is yet again one cog in the identity. My goal of defining Hong Kong and its people is probably getting more and more clouded as I begin to match its stride. An outsider for not much longer with each breath I take. I'll say goodbye to it, I'm sure. But for a time, I was a cog, and I had a duty.

But instead, I just looked up.