Speaking of a runaway place, I recall of this song Dear Margaret by Anthony Wong.
Creative writers are sensitive to environment around them. Some still produce good pieces when a lot of things are going on around them, and they need the ‘I-am-in-the-midst-of-things’ feeling to be productive. I think most Hong Kong writers belong to this category. This minute they are meeting friends in Tsim Sha Tsui or Causeway Bay, the next minute they find themselves at home producing the next piece of artwork.
I once learned from a film-making friend about this. The friends of Christopher Doyle (杜可風) described him as an insane artist. He drinks somewhere around downtown of Hong Kong Island during night time, after which he goes home in the middle of the night and works on his projects as a cinematographer. Known for his fondness and deep affection for Hong Kong, I believe being in downtown Hong Kong contributes tremendously to his artwork.
Jonathan Lee (李宗盛), a guru of Mandarin pop music industry, is based in Taipei. Previously he spent some years in Beijing working on his Lee Guitar project. During a concert he said that he sees Kuala Lumpur as his second home. Whenever he is stuck in his music work, he would fly over to visit his musician and composer friends to mix his songs. In other words, he finds himself handling the technical part of his songs better when he gets away from his home city.
I am in the midst of looking for a runaway place for my artwork too. Some of my friends from creative industry said that Thailand could be a good choice, for Malaysian passport holders can stay for thirty days. Their point of view is that Thai creative industry is outstanding and it should provide me some good ideas and new perspectives.
That’s a good idea. But given the weak ringgit, I guess it makes more economical sense to stay in Malaysia and find myself a place for creative writing. I think I can make it when the timing is right.