Heartwork from Hong Kong |

It’s bleaker than ever when you look outside. The media doesn’t help the situation either, it’s quite misleading at times. Who can we choose to believe? How do we choose to conduct ourselves?

It’s 10pm at night and it’s the first time I’ve been at home this early for a few weeks. My eyes widened. What are these sounds from outside? I looked over to my uncle and I question him asking if there’s a protest in our neighbourhood too. To my surprise, this has been happening daily. The orchestra of anguished shrieks and yells across a sea of apartment blocks in the vicinity.

I walk over to the window terrace, and I scan the lit windows around the vicinity of Bonham Road and Babington Path.

Almost one after another people yell aloud for justice for Hong Kong. For freedom. For life to be as it once was.

This is a city I love. I didn’t grow up here as a child but it became a part of every yearly trip to the Far East. Hong Kong is deeply intertwined with my history. I’d like to grow old and always keep Hong Kong close in my heart even if I don’t settle here.

It pains me in some ways to see how the city is operating right now. Many of the elders are afraid to leave home as uncertainty is constantly up in the air these days. With a blink of an eye, the protesters will create their formation in the city centers and march along the roads for the cause, and suddenly your convenient train ride home now becomes a chaotic and troublesome trek home.

It’s my first weekend in Hong Kong on this particular trip and I am experiencing how it feels like to be limited in what I can do. The entire MTR system shut down, malls stay shut, I even got locked into a department store supermarket on the Friday leading up to the weekend (it’s honestly really been a lifelong dream to have abundant access to anything I want to eat – I’d consider a staycation here more than at the Peninsula) – these times tell me the city is different. The people want change.

Last night, I walked by the harbour front contemplating the future of this city then reminiscing through my memory bank of what the city has held for me all these years.

And despite all the disorder spreading through the city, both the elder Tai Chi ladies and gents gather by the water and others form groups to dance and trot. I also briefly join in to bathe in the good vibes and add to this beautiful wave of energy that has settled in the circumference of Sun Yat Sen park.

I gaze over to the farside of the park and I see parents with their kids, some pushing prams and kids dashing to jump into the slides and scale the monkey bars.

What a sight to behold at a time like this. A stream of smiles and laughs – the people of the city took the initiative to interact back into the outdoors and see each other. At times like this, we have to connect back to one another.

Will the city we have loved so much over the years really change? I have full faith that Hong Kong will always have its characteristic charm and DNA no matter what happens. The people and the stories will always remain.

I wish for the peace to return to the streets soon. So many hearts are holding so much anguish and pain right now…at this time more than ever let’s hold space for those in need.

I will always love you, Hong Kong.