one hong kong day, one hong kong night -

here's the thing about the HK.
it's packed and gritty and running around and modern and old and chic and painful all at the same time. and you see that ALL during the day, because it bears down on you, under you, around you, above you.

i happen to love that, some people hate it.

but i've learned that activity and challenge keep the blood flowing and the mind alive, and even navigating one of the city's bridges over traffic through people coming and going, it's good. it's alive.

and you can always stop into joyce:


yes, that's a giant diamond made of sparkly lights, not foil.

and yes, this is me in a dressing room, trying on a polo embroidered with cherry blossoms in mettalic thread.

cherry blossoms are the trip's theme, apparently.



and then there's HK at night.

dear lord it's beautiful. moody, humid, colored neon and night noises. it sparks your senses, makes you tingle a bit, sends you chasing down roads so you can hear your own heels on the concrete, echoing up the buildings.


i met sofia (of the aforementioned sofia suarez)
out at a new restaurant in the prince's building in central called Sevva.

you enter past a laduree style patisserie, and eat comfort food with an indian twist.

i had braised wagyu cheek and tongue pot pie with porcini fries.
and thought it sounds like i did, i did not make up those words.
swear.

so we just talked for hours. talked about where we were going, talked about what we had missed, talked about what the world was doing (and of course how we would solve it all).

it reminded me how important the random connection can become,
when you meet someone whose energy makes yours sing a little louder,
who makes you laugh without effort,
and lets you open up
because you are breathing from the deepest part of your lungs,
relaxed in the moment,
perhaps for the first time in ages.


we all have to be a little more thankful for these moments.
for these people.

and yes,
for the times you get to step out after dinner and look out over this: