I’ve been to Hong Kong twice, though have pictures from neither visit. My first trip was was a handful of years old, on the way to Australia to see my grandfather and my family stopped in Hong Kong for a few days. I have a handful of vivid memories. I remember feeling like the city never stopped, that life and living continued through the day and night. The wall glass skyscrapers rising up around me. I remember small stores crowded with toys, and I remember us buying a classic Voltron toy, a foot or more tall, made from five mechanical lions. A toy we kept for decades though somehow lost before my niece a huge Voltron fan, could see it. I remember eating at McDonalds every night because my three year old little brother didn’t like the local food.

Years later I returned, still in Kowloon bay for work when I was office manager for Legal Solutions and Services based out of Leadenhall Street in london offering bespoke legal advice for shipping companies operating in Lagos, Nigeria. Almost all my time was spent in meeting rooms in tall office buildings, but I found time to make it to one of the larger markets. Maybe Stanley Market, perhaps Jade Market. My oldest nephew still has the silk kimono I bought him somewhere, though he’s much too big for it now.

I have no photographs of my time here, from either trip, and so with the help of Midjourney AI, I’ve tried to capture the feelings of the visit through generative AI.