This is the 'Ladies' Market' in Mongkok, Hong Kong - one of the most popular shopping destinations for locals and tourists alike. Things are cheap, and you can bargain. The market pretty much takes up an entire street and spans 5 blocks, if I'm counting right. Let me paint you a picture of what it's like during business hours. The entire street is packed with people and movement slows down to a crawl because there is no way to rush through these streets. Stalls proudly display their colourful merchandise from floor to 'ceiling', masking the dull canvases that make up the 'walls' of the stall. It's noisy - friends chatting among one another, people yelling to advertise what they sell and how cheap it is, shoppers bargaining with the salesperson, shoppers trying to describe what they're after, the radio blares to stave boredom away from stall-keepers, there's also the sound of toys and gadgets squeaking/vroom-vroom-ing/etc

And what I have here is the Market at around 10am. Where workers are setting up the stalls. It was quite a fascinating experience to walk down this street at this time of the day. For the first 30 seconds or so, the impression I got was 'geez, it's like a ghost town' - the stalls were completely empty but for a grey metal box. For some stalls, all that you see is the naked frame sans the canvas which will make up the 'walls' of the stall.

Then I here a yelling behind me, telling me to move the f*** out of the way. And two men swoosh past me, pushing one of those grey metal boxes which would've run me over if I didn't react fast enough. And then the ghost town was a ghost town no more. It was busy and full of energy. As I took this, a lot of the workers were rushing to get the cupboards full of merchandise into their corresponding stalls. I got a lot of 'excuse mes' and dirty looks from them for standing in the middle of the street trying to set up and take photos. Although the street is relatively empty, there is so much going on, so much movement and energy.

During business hours, at least everything moves slowly, so the energy is more contained, more in control. But here - everything's rushed. Workers want to get their work done before the stall-keepers arrive and need to open up shop, rushing past one another. They have a deadline to meet, and this narrow street can barely contain the urgency of these people.

I've always been interested in the background and preparation of things we generally take for granted. Scratching beneath the surface, get a bigger picture. And I suppose this photo is one such observation. I'm finding it a little difficult to describe, so if I'm making no sense, it's my fault, sorry.