Hong Kong Is up for Grabs
One of my favorite ways to get a taste of somewhere new is to add it on as a quick stopover en route to somewhere I am going to spend more time. It’s how I first visited Buenos Aires (side trip from my second trip to Rio) and Tokyo (en route to Southeast Asia). Both of those swiftly turned into plans for longer visits as soon as I could fit them in.
It took me three years to get back to Japan. Family commitments in Europe and a ton of work travel in the US and Canada took up most of my available time off in the intervening years. When I finally got the opportunity to spend two weeks in Japan, I had the choice between a stopover in Hong Kong or Taiwan. Hong Kong has been on my wishlist since it was still under British control so I opted for three days there, eating as many dumplings as I possibly could.
The map below was my wishlist. Given I only had three days, I made as much of a dent in it as I could, leaving time for letting the streets and my whims take me unexpected spots as well. The food and cocktails were outstanding, and I was especially surprised to find myself feeling at home at Yardbird - noshing on chicken parts prepared Japanese izakaya style and doing shots of sake with the bartenders. This is not the Hong Kong I was expecting.
Enjoy and please let me know if anything on the map is out of date. Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to figure out when I can get that stopover to Taipei...
