Nothing Too High – a view of the KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers from a rooftop in Kuala Lumpur’s Little India.
I have begun to appreciate more and more the grunge and imperfections that one sees close up on a city. This becomes very apparent now that I am living in one so rough and wonderfully whimsical as Bangkok.
Still, high above that grunge stands the ideal of the city. Cities have come to symbolize what we are, or at least what we hope we are. Centers of our culture. Of our innovation. Of our learning and beauty and our future. Centers of our being human.
To me, night and city skylines have always gone hand in hand. That is why I chose this photo over something coarse and street-level or something at the top of the world looking down. This photo, I think, incorporates all these elements.
Standing upon the rooftops of the dark and real city, brighter towers still stand higher and further. It is halfway there. On the top, yet with something more burning itself into your horizon. Something more to reach for.
This is a city to me, the collections of human dreams already made manifest as they continue to reach higher. As Horace said in one of my favorite quotes:
“Nothing is too high
for the daring of mortals:
we would storm heaven itself
in our folly.”
The tower really stands apart from the other buildings in the city.
It does in this picture more so than in person. But the way the Petronas Towers look lit up is kind of surreal up close.
Thanks for looking,
Ben