The Traveller's Imagination

I've never been to the Great Wall of China - perhaps someday I will - but in 2003 I spent a month in a snowy Shanghai where I was awestruck by the architectural diversity on display. The high rises here didn't behave like their counterparts in much of the rest of the world - they had grown new forms, developed new shapes. There were deviant angles and curves where I had expected rectangular prisms to be. Okay, so there were many typical skyscrapers too, but to my delight the irregular ones seemed to be in abundance. And at night, successions of bright colours sauntered on and off their glass canvases, alerting me to the dynamism and creativity that informed this (post)modern cityscape. 

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I always know I'm in Hong Kong because people will keep bumping into me. I think it was Pico Iyer who compared Bangkok's de-centred neighbourhoods to that of Los Angeles, and Hong Kong's verticality to that of New York City. Now I've been to LA a couple of times, and its geography is brought to life in many a Hollywood film, so I can appreciate Pico's comparison... but I'm yet to make time for New York in my hypothetical post-pandemic travels, in part due to the lack of human scale I perceived in the HK environment. NYC is also famous for its own American brand of rudeness, especially to visitors, not unlike the abrupt social stylings of some Hong Kongers. I live in hope that I will be shown better sides of both cities. I'm aware I'll need to actually visit New York City first to challenge my preconceptions!

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Speaking of Hollywood... When watching 'The Cider House Rules' I couldn't help but notice how drawn I was to New England's autumnal landscapes. I daydream of walking around delicate trees slowly shedding their leaves in subtle variations on red, orange and yellow. I wonder what the whole scene would smell like. Would it remind me of the Bay Area, in a different time zone? I can distinguish between what is North American and what is distinctly Maine, Massachussetts or Vermont. 

...I may have to wait to board a plane for now, but there are plenty of wonders congregating inside my mind, and I can't wait to see what new psychological states my journeys will unearth.