While many of you may assume that this post is about how I tower the average population here in HK in height (though very true), I will be writing about this at a later date. Instead, I would like to draw your attention to the following photo, and paint you my version of this very same picture:

I woke up at 5:30AM HK time, evidently still trying to conquer remainders of mild jetlag. Struck by crisp sunlight outside, I walked out to the balcony of the apartment that I am staying at Cavendish Heights on Jardines Lookout. It was there that I snapped this picture. Even though the looming clouds in the back may not strike as the perfect National-Geographic shot, this picture tells a story still, like all strong photos should.

For a moment, I will challenge you to imagine if the tall crystal-building in the centre of the photo was not there. Surely that sounds absurd, but that is exactly how I remembered my home. Focus for another minute on the shorter white apartment complexes immediately to the left of that tall building, with about 12 floors max. That was my home for my last few years in HK before I left for North America. (For those of you who know where I lived for university, please draw humor in the irony of me living in white apartment buildings all my life?) That complex was named Bellevue Court, and it was the craddle for all my pre-teen memories.

Before my family left for Vancouver in 1999, the tall building was only in construction. In fact, just the week before my departure, there was a fatal accident that took place at the bottom of that building, and outside my home. It involved a construction worker walking by the base of the project, only to be struck by a block of concrete dangling off of a crane on the cliff. Needless to say, the worker was struck out of luck, and posed as a tramautic imagery for me to arrive home for.

Fast forward almost 10 years, and this crystal-blue building is deemed “Highcliff,” with its project tagline poised to be “up here…the air is RARE.” For the unknowing, this building is a prized gift for the HK architecture circle, having been awarded numerous honors including that of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC for being selected as one of 19 structures as part of its exhibition on Contemporary Tall Buildings. This lavishing apartment building holds state-of-the-art interior decor, fit for the most prestigious residents, and complete with a huge outdoor pool adorned with mosaic tiles and dramatic visuals. Its press package seems to suggest that this is your ultimate hotel treatment, at home!

Despite its alarming height and dashing international presence, I can’t help but to detest its existence. For I remember this building being the obstruction that filled the greenspace outside of my bedroom, or that positioned as a platform for robbers to climb into my family’s apartment that one time on Christmas’s Eve, or that killed an innocent man in my last days in HK, etc. It was the reason, why I looked out of my study room only to find construction workers peeking in, for many years of my elementary days.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and it cannot be more true. While its evident beauty may have drawn my eyes this morning on the balcony, I cannot help to remember the stories that were the foundation of this beauty. Be critical of every picture you scan, and try to spot out any underlying irregularities. Beauty is usually never that simple.