Few friends have shared that either they themselves or their family have suffered from some kind of psychological /mental disorders. A lecturer has made the following remark:
" If you need a stop, the society keeps rolling on. Hong Kong waits for no one."
The above two remarks lingered in my mind for quite a while. The more I pay attention to the city, to its architecture, the more I feel pathetic towards the city. Public housing is designed identically, the luxurious housing is constructed similarly.
Oh, how depressing, how straggling it is...
But is there any alternative?
yes there certainly are. but much needs to be uncovered and dug out amongst the dominoes.
ReplyDeleteround my district there are a lot of 唐樓. old and "short", some even with balconies. truly lovely but... I only come to find that they're increasingly being inhabited by foreigners.
to me, I tell myself I'll never ever purchase any of those IDENTICAL blocks of apartments (will never have the full dough, anyway), yaaah the total conceptual idea of living in "boxes" drives me crazy too. If ever I'd have the money (and if I can still tolerate to stay in HK), I'd probably go for a small 唐樓單位.
: )
:)
ReplyDeleteI am a public housing tenant, which makes me more agonize against such sad reality.....
After discussing with the friend, who is from Denmark, I become clearer of my future path. Hong Kong becomes my loose HOME and the rest of my life will be wandering around the globe. Yes, escape from Hong Kong.
Somehow, a quote from a friend has struck my mind,
"i began to feel sick and tired of constantly settling and resettling in different cities and countries. i felt like i was living out of a suitcase. i am living out of a suitcase"
then, I reflected on the 1.5 month traveling I did after my exchange semester in Mexico, in 2 weeks' time, the traveling fatigue has already set in, can I really afford the libertine / nomadic lifestyle?
Maybe in the end, what I am looking for is the journey of finding but not the ultimate destination....
"Home is where your beloved ones are" - forgot where I heard it from. I truly agree, every time after a certain peroid of travelling too, as most of the time my parents don't go with me hence I always have a strong desire to go home and share with them. (as if this is another layer of the meaning of travelling - there is always someone you want to share with)
ReplyDeleteyah, I think I understand you "travelling fatigue" there. the fragility (and hard-to-please-ness) of us humans is really, that how easily we grow tired of something, someone, somewhere.
Yah, the quote, and the Parisienne lady I met too - the counter forces always pop up when we've only slightly expressed (or not even yet) our desire to DO something. somehow I really wish that I lived in the epoch of navigation in which I can just hop on and hop off the ship to see as many different places and spend the rest of my journey reading hell-long novels (like "In Search of Lost Time") and listening to the sea breezes and perhaps dancing a bit too, on the deck.
" somehow I really wish that I lived in the epoch of navigation in which I can just hop on and hop off the ship to see as many different places and spend the rest of my journey reading hell-long novels (like "In Search of Lost Time") and listening to the sea breezes and perhaps dancing a bit too, on the deck." ---> like
ReplyDelete:))仲有行船呢一行喔, but we might not choose for that path.
two friend's relatives are the sailors, (one is a German Guy, one is a Hong Kong girl..)traveling around the world. even in Chunking mansion, you can find some African sailors, making a transit in HK.
I think what I am looking for on the journey is the kind of 'sense of belongings', 'the need to be grounded', the desire to share what I have been through can always and easily be satisfied on the road, coz what travelers do when they sit together, they just talk, all the embarrassing, difficult moments can be shared in the face of a strangers, coz the mentality of " probably, we won't meet again, no baggage in revealing the past", so people are generally more forthcoming....
what matters is the kind of people that we want to share.
traveling fatigue arises maybe just the other side of the coin "homesickness" ?
but then as long as I am grounded, I am already planning an escape next time....
do you think that sense of belonging, is built-in (i.e. quite destined to it) or can be/ has to be acquired/ developed?
ReplyDelete我一直在自問，基本上，在「一見鐘情」和「日久生情」之間，我更相信哪個多一點。或，我喜歡哪樣多一點。
很難答的一個問題,或許是因為在人生漂泊的浮萍中,無論到哪個城市,我都是一個outsider, 所謂的歸屬感其實只是自我慰藉的一個無烏托邦,從來都是一個無根感的人，因為先天不足，所以歸屬感應該是可以後天培養，但卻是不牢固的,fluid, floating, 只能用being grounded 去形容。
ReplyDelete而所謂的being Grounded, 其實也不過是回到熟悉的人身邊,用熟悉的語言,在熟悉的context下過一過日子。只是，不久又想離開，去尋求生活的不確定，從而去感受當中的實在，與感到＂活著＂／＂活過＂二字。
下個問題，明早再答。
而所謂的being Grounded, 其實也不過是回到熟悉的人身邊,用熟悉的語言,在熟悉的context下過一過日子。只是，不久又想離開，去尋求生活的不確定，從而去感受當中的實在，與感到＂活著＂／＂活過＂二字。 -> 是啊，就是這樣。the uncertainty of life gives me hope (and a desire to live on, plus a little bit of fear, perhaps); whilst 一個安穩的生活 gives me peace.
ReplyDelete啊，說回房子吧 (哈哈我們偏題都偏得夠遠的了，不過誰又在乎呢, thoughts have no roots :))。我在想，若果可以的話，我願儲一點錢，到各地不同的大小城市租個小房子，住上一段時間，過過那裡的人平凡的生活。我有點兒厭倦帶著行李旅行的日子了，身體上很累，心神上是審美疲勞，字又寫不出，話也不懂說。哈哈貪心的我想把壓縮了的美好時光攤開慢慢嘆。:P
對於「一見鐘情」和「日久生情」, 我兩個都相信, 兩個都喜歡.
ReplyDelete「一見鐘情」是那種電光火石中的震撼,讓你很想很想地去擁有,但當中的激情,怦然心動應該是有期限的,因為擁有後,如果幸運,當中的感情便會漸漸變作細水長流,如果稍為不幸,最後只能成為'曾經擁有'的過日子.
「日久生情」嘛, 是那種,淡淡的,有讓人隨性的舒服,但卻"天長地久"的.
但如果可以,我希望是對一個城市, 有電光火石間的感應, "oh, it is the one."
然後是，在日久生情的平淡與舒服中，細水長流地去體味「天長地久」．
哈哈， 人都是貪心的．
－－－－－－
我很喜歡你的租房子全球化的意念.對,在不同的城市小居一段時間,過過當地人的生活, 厭倦了又可以去不同的地方.
有沒有這樣一份工可以讓我有這種生活方式呀? 嗚嗚....\/.
(I have a feeling that this discussion can go on for good, and it makes me happy :D)
ReplyDeleteworking holiday? I don't know, in my situation it's pretty stagnant. not that chances are slim but the opportunity cost is huge to let go everything and go catch a jet plane and leave. I don't know; I got pretty depressed every time I come to think of it.
but then I ask, am I asking for too much? (looks like my counterparts aren't much looking into things like this...)
:)
ReplyDeletesigh, yep, the libertine life style is pretty hard to pursue, like what you have mentioned, "the opportunity cost is huge to let go everything and go catch a jet plane and leave."
It is not too much to ask for, we only live once, we have every right to demand/ strive for what we want, live our life to the fullest.
我不想只是行屍走肉地過活, 按固定的人生方程式, 社會既有的標準去活自己的人生,縱然是很難實行, well, 諗下都唔咩?
and you never know, the twist of fate will present you the opportunities and bring you out of your comfort zone, leading the kind of life you want to have. :)
共勉之.
oh, btw. working holiday has age limit, something like 25 or 30, I don't remember ....
ReplyDelete