Like an ant in the forest I wandered through the city. It was a giant organism, or a machine too large to take in at a glance. I was one in eighteen million. The city was foreign; it held romance and mysteries of the unknown. I wandered through dark alleys and past dimly lit parlors. There were shopping malls and parks, riverboats and expressways. Through windows there were visions of friends laughing at dinner or gathered around a game of cards. There were sounds of toasting at the dinner table and the clacking shuffle of mahjong tiles. Garish buildings by day were crowned with neon in the dark and new buildings sprouted overnight. There was coal burning, peppers frying and cars honking. The language was so foreign it could have come from outer space. It all mixed together in confusing, chaotic harmony. The city could be exhilarating and exciting but it could also crush you with lonely thoughts.
I had come for adventure and to dislodge myself from myself. I dug a hole straight through to the other side of the earth hoping to find my other side. In time, the strange became familiar. I forgot how to live anywhere else. It had become my city. I loved the city. I found love in the city. These are photographs of my city.
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