A distant bass pounding, but nothing like a passing car. No. This was big, booming, solid and reverberating it's way down the hills. Such a big sound?! It can't be far. What was it? Could I wind my way through the skyscrapers and city streets and find the source in time?

The hills on Hong Kong Island are notoriously steep. And these streets I was running up were the very ones that have a famed system of outdoor escalators to help the population travel to and from the hills. It runs down the hill until 10am, then switches to uphill for the rest of the day.

But the escalators were too far away to chance it. Who knew how long this latest sonic event would last? And I was off...

I'm not sure how exactly I managed. My body remembers steps like taking the stairs by two. Keeping my center of gravity low. Soft soled shoes. And the lightest, supportive touch possible, cradling the recorder like my life depended on it.

I powered along sidewalks, which turned into longs runs of stairs.

Wasn't even allowing myself to exhale.

And I finally reached the source: a pile driver setting deep structures into the side of Victoria Peak.
Forty seconds after my arrival, there was silence.

I had made it just in time.