Petrol fumes saturate the air already heavy with humidity
Dismal skies, no hint of Sun, always looking like rain
Dense fog descending down around the girth of the mountains
Diminishing the panorama and creating eeriness

Horns persistently blasting in noisy impatience
Double decker buses navigating corners too fast for safety
Uniquely designed skyscrapers soaring together in dizzying heights
with a backdrop of mountains projecting dominance.

Peddlers bowed over driving heavily laden carts along narrow paths
Street vendors, aligned together in lanes hawking their wares
Food stalls, plastic tables and chairs, all day diners with
fragrant and sickly food aromas all combining, nauseating.

Open air wet markets, fruit stalls, hardware and shoe menders
Live chickens squashed into homemade baskets denied liberty
Fresh meat being chopped into chunks and slung on hooks
and fillets of fish splayed on tables for selection.

A scurry of pedestrians fleeing from speeding traffic
All pushing and shoving, no apologies, moving in great haste
Crammed trains pulling and out of stations in rapid succession
and bell tolling ferries casting off every 5 minutes for somewhere.

Twilight descends, the city is transformed into a fairyland
Specks of light appear like glow worms dotting the hills
Large neon’s in technicolour come alive and fight for space
Transfixing the gaze in wonderment and awe.

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