The Perfect Sunset

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I was alone and strolling along the Tsim Sha Tsui harbor front this afternoon, after watching the performance of Vollmond. As I came out of Harbour City, the brightness in the west caught my attention, and I turned to take a look.

I was awestruck. The waters of the harbor reflected brightly the pale blue sky, with a touch of pink. As I turned my gaze upward, I see that the sun is about to set, so I stopped in my tracks and decided to lean on a railing to watch this particular sunset.

Earlier in the day a cruise ship had been docked at Harbor City, but she has since departed - leaving the space wide open with nothing but water in front of me. The vast body of water was reflecting a color of baby blue (a la Tiffany?) highlighted by the orange red of the setting sun. This all felt very alien to me...when did the water of Victoria Harbour turn so beautiful? I have lived in Hong Kong for many years, and have walked past this area countless times. But I have never been struck by the beauty of this place until today. This must have been the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.

The sun hung low in the sky, a giant red dot like the one on the flag of Japan. During the short span of a few minutes, the color darkened from the bright fiery red to a deeper crimson, and then faded as the sun hid behind low level clouds. It was but a few minutes, yet it touched me profoundly.

If I had not been strolling alone, and if I did not have free time before dinner, then I would most certainly have missed the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. How long would it have taken for me to have another chance to see something so beautiful again?

In life, sometimes you just have to take a deep breath, slow down a bit in order to notice the beauty that is all around you...