Symphony of Lame

During my first trip to Hong Kong I was astounded at the incredible skyline along Victoria Harbour.

The view was at night during Christmas; the skyscrapers were decked in festive decorations. Impressive, but not nearly the gross squandering of resources in evidence by the Hong Kong Tourism Board's nightly Symphony of Lights display. And this from a government that advises its citizens to save energy by setting air conditioners to 25.5C.

Not only does the show fritter away electricity, it's boring. Set to music, the rooftop lasers and searchlights, combined with dancing, gaudy rainbow lights on building faces, just doesn't blow up my skirt.

Watching the display for the second time, I noted that a few small children were excited, but the rest of the crowd let out hardly any oohs and aahs. In my experience the only events that never fail to elicit appreciative responses are the massive fireworks shows over the harbour during major holidays.

The Symphony of Lights is weak, wasteful and worst of all, unwarranted.

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