Page 5
12/24/2023
They only come out at night…
Living in a megacity like Ha Noi is a different experience, to be sure. At times, in some ways, it can feel very small and at others the immense size can be almost overwhelming. I travel to different parts of the city and I am blown away by how different neighborhoods can seem like you are in a different city, when in fact you are only a few minutes away from where you spend most of your time.
Megacities are also huge living organisms that seem to take on a different feel when the sun goes down.
During the day my eye is drawn to the traffic and all things at ground level.
I don't know if it is a matter of survival that keeps the eye focused on street level activity, or if it is just hustle and bustle of the never ending stream of humanity rushing from one place to another.
Maybe it's because we have our face buried in our phones or maybe it's the interactions with others that keeps our heads down and our thoughts grounded on what is going on around us.
At night, I find my eye being drawn toward the heavens. Like a moth to a flame, I find myself inexplicably and repeatedly gazing at the many bright lights and colors that hang in the black sky above.
Maybe it's because the colors at ground level seem to wash out and blend together into shadows and hazy opaque shapes?
Maybe my eye is drawn to the immensity of these night creatures, who stand guard over the minions below, because it reminds me of how we are only one tiny cog in the machine that never sleeps?
Or maybe it's all the carbon dioxide in the air?