today i took a bus to nowhere

wonder is a frame of mind

today i took a bus to nowhere.

the station was unusually quiet for a sunny weekend afternoon; silence hung over the october heat like a heavy fog. as i waited for my bus home, i noticed another double-decker sitting off to the side. presumably, it had arrived ahead of schedule. 

curious, i moved a little closer. “bus 28, lok wah” blinked in neon-green letters on its side. lok wah? despite spending half my life in hong kong, i had no idea where that was. never even heard of it. but i was intrigued.

scrrrt. the doors of bus 28 groaned and clanged open as passengers began to board. 

i had a decision to make. i could wait a few more minutes and take my usual bus home. or… i could go on a little adventure to lok wah. 

fuck it, i thought. i put on my headphones and hopped on.

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i won’t tell you about the bus ride, about how i got off halfway because i spotted a hopeful blur of green amongst the sea of grey: the verdant canopy of a garden park peeking out between apartment buildings.

the beauty of hong kong’s double-decker buses: sweeping, bird’s eye views of the city in front of you.

i won’t tell you about how i walked through hong kong’s little thailand neighborhood for the first time in my life. how the curving strokes of thai script greeted me in between the tapestry of chinese and english characters dotting the street. how the smells of basil fried rice seeped from the restaurants and danced into the streets. 

and i won’t tell you about how i spent 2 hours wandering inside the garden itself. meandering in no particular direction between the rows of shrubs and trees, admiring the way leaves swayed in the wind. smiling at the the kitschiness of the signs explaining the different flower types, replete with illustrations like the pages of an old children’s book. watching turtles lounging on the surface of the pond, like seniors in the pool of a florida retirement home. 

but what i will tell you is that it was beautiful, letting myself be surprised by everything i saw. to experience a part of my home city i’d never explored before. to be wide-eyed and wondering like a child once more.

a magic sunset portal, tucked away inside the garden.

when was the last time you saw something for the first time, something that stole your breath away? wonder colors your world a little brighter; it lifts your head above the clouds – and then some more. for a few precious seconds, minutes, even hours, you forget… everything. what you’ve been seeing on the news. the thesis paper that’s always lurking in the back of your mind. the world is good, you think. it’s fresh, it’s new, it surprises you at every turn. and it is beautiful.

when i think of wonder, i think of the italian alps. sunsets in bali. paragliding in colombia. why do we only expect it from big, grandiose adventures? 

but today i learned that wonder can be found anywhere – even in a city i know so well. wonder isn’t just a feeling. it doesn’t have to be something we stumble into by chance. it’s something we can create ourselves, if we choose to. wonder is a frame of mind. 

so all i can say is this: embrace your spontaneity. wander with no expectations, no destination in mind. take a bus to nowhere. 

create your own magic.

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To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour

– excerpt from auguries of Innocence by william blake

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many, many thanks to

Mohammad Khan

,

Michael Skinner

&

Tommy Dixon

for talking through + reviewing an earlier draft of this piece.