Hong Kong can't go wrong

We were missing big cities and Hong Kong fulfilled our need for hustle, bustle, and outrageously good food. I had never been before, but had heard a lot about it passively from culture (Kung Fu movies etc.) and actively from other travelers. I had the idea that it was big and crowded and money driven and that I probably wouldn't like it. What no one ever told me is how beautiful the city is. It has dazzling architecture framed by lush mountains and expansive sea. I'm not sure why people neglect to mention just how visually striking this city is, but it is absolutely one of the best skylines in the world. Lilly and I loved Hong Kong in a way we never expected. Enough that we could imagine living there, and we did spend some afternoons daydreaming about it. Part of what attracted us to the city was all the great people we met or reconnected with. It was a very social visit full of art, food and conversation.

This is really the first city we have visited this trip with a sizable contemporary art scene. We certainly don't believe that every city needs one, but it is still nice to reconnect with artists and art spaces when we can. The pictures above show very different corners of the Hong Kong scene. First is of Gallery Perrotin (a blue chip gallery based in Paris) the second is the AAA (Asian Art Archive: a really lovely space dedicated to collecting printed material about Asian art), and finally a pop-up art event put on by Para-Site (They are a nonprofit art organization. Lilly is picking up a fantastic book they wrote about the cultural impact of the SARS virus on Hong Kong art).

Oh and did I mention the FOOD! Really some of the best, if not the best, of our whole trip. Here are some highlights.

 Pork blood congee with scallion donuts.

 Steamed mantis prawn.

 A mushroom dumpling made to look like a mushroom. Even more delicious than it is cute.

 There were also a lot of good coffee shops doing really amazing single origin small batch roasting. This was a great flat white in Central.

 Good webbing with abalone. This was amazing and had some of the most interesting textures of anything I've ever had.

HUGE fishballs and dumpling soup!


But what really made this trip was visiting old friends who now live in Hong Kong. This included our good friends Gyun and Andrew and my cousin-in-law Shawn.

We left wanting more. The time in Hong Kong flew by and we feel we could have spent many more weeks there. Let's hope we get the chance to!