Tonight I decided to commute all the way home above ground—probably unusual in downtown Hong Kong, where the MTR (metro) is clean, close, and comes frighteningly often through Central station filled to the absolute brim with people. It was a beautiful evening as I set off down Queen’s Road towards the water; having rained intermittently all day and the day before, the streets were damp but the air was clean, and felt familiarly hot even in the dark. I had my map book in hand, my finger firmly stuck into the correct page. (Near catastrophe had stricken moments earlier when I almost forgot it at the 7-11 counter having set it down to pay for my Magnum ice cream bar.) My directions consisted of a small note at the edge of the page that said “Ferry to East Tsim Sha Tsui,” which is the final stop of the KCR railway into the suburbs, where I live. As I walked past the Star Ferry pier, finally reaching ground I hadn’t trodden before, and finally getting beyond the elevated walkways that clutter Central three dimensionally, I was greeted quite suddenly by the sight of the Hong Kong skyline at night. I was so close, and just a small thing on the ground; the colors and bright magnitude were so stunning that I was left literally with my mouth open, standing on the sidewalk. My love for viewing night skylines is well-known among you, and maybe trite, and this particular one I have seen before in pictures and recently during the day many times. But the lights stayed with me as I walked alone towards the ferry I’d never been to before, across the lurching black waters, and along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade. I found the KCR with no problem, a bit inland, still glowing from the reflected light of "Asia's World City."