Hong Kong Central Night Countdown Timer

Hong Kong at night is a city that has decided that darkness is a rumour and has lit itself accordingly, and the effect, from a footbridge above a wide empty junction, is of standing inside a very expensive machine. The bank building on the right of the frame glows pale blue and white, all vertical lines, and behind it the towers go up and up, some of them with those neon crowns that look like something out of a video game. The road below was empty when I pressed the shutter, which never happens, and the long exposure turned the traffic that did pass into red and white streaks, like paint dragged across the tarmac. A woman walked past me at the bottom of the frame with two small children, and they were the only people in the whole picture, tiny and ordinary against all that electric noise. The air was warm and smelled of diesel and street food. Somewhere a tram bell rang. I like this city best when it is trying too hard, which is to say, always. I walked home through it slowly, taking the long way, which is the only sensible response.