颠倒的不是世界，而是我自己 The world isn’t upside down, but I am …
Before I departed for Melbourne, I visited a public photography
exhibition at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. The theme of the exhibition is
‘The Upside Down World’ by Philippe Ramette, a French photographer.
所谓“颠倒的世界”，就是指每一幅摄影作品都有其不可思议的地方，或者说其画面都是非常规的。例如，在一幅作品中，有一个人躺在草坪上，但草坪却不在地上，而在天空中，那个人则俯看下面的世界；另外一幅作品则有人平躺在空中，与维多利亚港的水面平行，与背景建筑物成垂直状态；还有一幅作品中，有人在悬崖上行走，却如履平地。
The ‘Upside Down World’ means that every photograph contains some
incredibility, or unconventionality. For example, in one of the photographs, a
man was lying on a grass lawn, however, the lawn was not on the ground, but in
the sky, and that man was looking down at the world beneath him; in another
photograph, a man was laying in the sky, parallel with the ocean level in
Victoria Harbour, completely vertical to the building in the backdrop. There is
another photograph, in which a man was walking on a cliff, as if he was walking
on the ground.
初看菲腊·哈密特的作品，我觉得很新奇，进而猜想作品里的世界是否真实，是否经过了技术加工处理，因為每一幅作品所呈现的，几乎都是不同寻常的，或者与常态思维背道而驰的颠倒的世界。
Upon the first sight of Philippe
Ramette’s photography works, I felt curious, then I would doubt whether the
world in the photographs was real, or whether the works had been manipulated or
processed using certain technology, because the world every photograph
presented was almost an uncommon, irrational, or illogical ‘upside down’ world.
从摄影展回来不久，我便准备南下远行，告别生活工作了整整五年的香港，移民澳洲。而那次摄影展，还有那个“颠倒的世界”
也就留在了我的印象里。到后来，在我真正离开香港，飞越赤道，来到人称 Down
Under的澳大利亚的时候，我发现，自己的世界，也慢慢地颠倒了过来。
Soon after I came back from the photography exhibition, I would get
prepared for a big relocation Southward, bidding farewell to my five entire
years of work and life in Hong Kong, migrating to Australia. And the
exhibition, alongside it’s ‘Upside Down World’, has left a deep impression in
my mind. Later, when I actually departed from Hong Kong, flying over the
equator, arriving in the so-called ‘Down Under’ Australia, I found that, my own
world became gradually upside down.
告别香港时是六月底，那里正赶上炎炎盛夏；而到了墨尔本，便走进了清凉的冬季，时雨时晴。最初的几个星期，我生活在两个不同的世界里。一个是临行前的香港，一个是眼前的墨尔本。没离开香港的时候，我还与同事和朋友登山远足，在山水之间寻找夏日的一丝清凉。而到了墨尔本，我便走进了冬季，而且有新结识的朋友相约，去“湖山”滑雪，在清澈的蓝天白雪之中，享受阳光的温暖。星移斗转，在不知不觉之间，我走过了季节，走进一个完全不同的世界。不过，无论我怎么努力，也走不出自己。有很长一段时间，我感觉过去与未来的世界是颠倒的，而时间却没有倒流。
It was the end of June when I left Hong Kong, and it was a hot summer;
while by the time I arrived in Melbourne, it was a much cooler winter, with
sometimes rainy but other times sunny days. During the first few weeks, I lived
in two different worlds. One was Hong Kong before my departure, and the other
was the one at present. Before I left Hong Kong, I would go hiking with my
colleagues and friends among the hills there, trying to find a sense of
coolness and peace in the Summer, however, after I arrived in Melbourne, it was
already Winter, so my newly made friends and I had an appointment to drive to
the ‘Lake Mountain’ for skiing. Underneath the vast blue sky and on top of the
pure white snow, we enjoyed the warmth of the Sun. Time and space shifting, and
without much of my awareness, I’ve skipped seasons and entered into a
completely different world. However, no matter how hard I tried, I simply
couldn’t walk over/past myself. For quite a while, I felt that my past and
future worlds were upside down, but time travelled by no means in a reverse
manner.
我眷恋香港，毕竟在那里工作与生活了五年。在那里，我虽然住在31层高的公寓里，但却可以近看山景、远眺新界大埔的吐露港，心旷神怡。而在墨尔本，我初来乍到，虽然生活在花园般的房子里，宽敞明亮，而且周围草木郁郁葱葱，花香四溢，但我却感觉十分陌生，不知道自己身在何处，感受不到真实的自己。
I love Hong Kong, and I’ve lived and worked there for five years. I was
living in a flat on the 31st floor, however, I could enjoy a
hill-view, and see the Tolo Harbour in a distance, feeling contented; In
contrast, in Melbourne, upon arrival, although I lived in a house like a
garden, open, bright and spacious, with grass lawn, plants and trees around,
full of flowers and fragrance, I had a sense of otherness, not knowing where I
was, feeling a sense of emptiness without the existence of my real self.
在墨尔本生活的头半年，我生活在两个世界里，潜意识中不断地寻找两个世界之间相同或相似的地方。从去亚洲食品店买汤料来煲汤，借此重温港式生活，到买辆单车骑车上下班来重新体会曾经有过的快乐；从找教会每个礼拜天去参与崇拜、到工余假日去附近的草场公园跑步、去游泳池游泳、或者到郊外远足，我总在下意识地寻找生活在香港时的感觉。在这样的生活心态和状态下，几个月下来，我感觉自己总是生活在一个颠倒的世界里。
For the first six months in Melbourne, I lived in two worlds, seeking
constantly in my subconscious mind the similarities and sameness between the
two worlds. I would go to Asian grocery stores and buy soup ingredients to cook
soup, to refresh my Hong Kong style life. I would purchase a bicycle to go to
work in order to regain the joys I used to have while working in Hong Kong. I
would look for a church so that I could worship on Sundays. I would jog around
in the nearby ovals after work or during holidays, and I would go swimming, and
hiking in the suburbs. What I did was indeed subconsciously reliving my
experiences and feels in Hong Kong. With such a mentality and attitudes towards
life for a few months on end, I would always feel that I had been living in an
upside down world.
我是六月末，也就是年中的时候从香港移民墨尔本的。在那整整一年的十二个月里，我刚好有一半生活在香港，一半生活在墨尔本。临近岁末的时候，我放慢了脚步，也学着放下自己，尝试不再挣扎于颠倒的两个世界之间。正赶上圣诞与新年假期，我和家人参加了一系列的活动，忙忙碌碌却也轻松愉快。这些活动，有同事的欢乐家庭聚会，有朋友的温馨甜蜜的婚礼，有教会充满喜乐的崇拜，有在郊野公园举行的大型露天圣诞音乐会，有观赏The Boulevard 大街的圣诞灯饰，有购物，有外出饮食，有自制的美味晚餐。不知不觉之间，在不一样的忙忙碌碌之中，我学会了与家人和朋友共享这逐渐真实的生活。
It was the end of June, that is the middle of the year, that I migrated
from Hong Kong to Melbourne. So in the twelve months of the entire year, I was
half of the time in Hong Kong, and the other half in Melbourne. Towards the end
of the year, I started to slow down my steps a bit, and to also lay myself
down, trying not to struggle between the two upside down worlds. It was the
Christmas and the New Year holiday, so my family and I attended a series of
parties and activities, busy but relaxed kind of busy, with a big of joy and
happiness too. These activities included a house party organized by one of my
colleagues with a theme of ‘day day happy’, a warm and sweet wedding party of
my friends, worships during Sunday church gatherings, an open Christmas carols
concert in one of the parks, and a trip to The Boulevard where there were
houses well decorated with Christmas lights. There were also shopping trips,
home-cooking and candle-lit dinners. Consciously or subconsciously, among all
the unusual busy-ness, I’ve learned how to live in the reality with my family
and friends.
傍晚时分，我和家人到户外散步。女儿骑着单车，我则跑步，而太太却跟在后面，一家人虽不同步，但在这平静而自然的环境里，我的内心充满了感动。散步回来，我意犹未尽，想起儿时在家里对着墙壁打倒立的情形，于是我问女儿会不会打倒立。女儿对我的问题似懂非懂。我便打了个倒立给女儿看。女儿看了，觉得我很好笑。可是，就在这一刻，我突然觉得生活又恢復其原本自然的状态。与此同时，我也悟出了一个简单朴素的道理。原来，这个世界并没有颠倒，而颠倒的，是我自己。
It was later in the evening, my family and I had a walk around the
neighbourhood. My daughter was riding a bike in front, I was jogging, and my
wife was walking behind us. We were not ‘synchronous’, or in tune with our
steps, however, in such a peaceful and quiet environment, I felt moved and
touched. When we got home, I thought I still wanted to do something, an act
that I wouldn’t normally do, which was a hand-stand against a wall, like what I
did in my childhood. So I asked my daughter whether she knew what a handstand was.
She was a bit puzzled. I then made a handstand in front of her. She saw me, and
must have thought it was funny. However, it was in precisely such a moment, I
felt, all of a sudden, that the world resumed to its normal and natural
state. It was also an epiphany moment, with
a revelation that the world isn’t upside down, but I am.
事实的确如此。后来我知道，法国摄影家菲腊·哈密特所拍摄的艺术作品，每一幅都是真实的。摄影家煞费苦心，巧妙设计，然后拍摄出一幅幅真实的作品。其画面并没有通过PhotoShop进行技术处理。那么所谓“颠倒的世界”，其实不过是每一位观者以其所谓“正常”的眼光与心态去欣赏菲腊·哈密特作品的结果。
It was indeed true. Later, I got to know that, every photograph work by the
French photographer, Philippe Ramette, was a real
one. The design of each work was so sophisticated and smart that it looked
unreal, but very real. None of the works was photoshopped or technically
fabricated. The ‘upside down world’ effect was actually the result of the
viewers looking at the works of Philippe Ramette with a ‘normal’ perspective
and mentality.
这个世界并没有颠倒，而颠倒的是我自己。
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