Follow VSB '09 alum Paul Parisi

Follow VSB '09 alum Paul Parisi as he starts his international financial career in Asia

Saturday, December 30, 2017

My Favorite Year

It's funny how nostalgic I can get as a terrific year winds its way to a close. But once again, a flood of indelible memories keeps playing on loop in my mind these days, over and over and over. Twelve months spent in eleven countries across four continents (and, for the record, twenty-eight plane rides), an unforgettable strand made up of hundreds of small moments that, when suddenly filed together as part of a larger whole, stops me dead in my tracks as I simply think, "Wow."

While I look ahead greedily with hopes for an even better 2018, I'd like to take a brief moment—as I do every year at this time—to glance back across the past twelve months and pick a single photograph to represent each one. With so many to chose from, this just may have been the most difficult "year in review" yet! (As you'll see, I even had to cheat a bit for August.)

Yes, I can taste the refreshing Beerlao I swilled alongside the breezy Mekong riverside... and feel the aching agony of my hangover—totally worth the torment—the morning after that seemingly endless wine dinner in Macau... and hear horses' hooves thundering on desert sands as Courtney and I gallop about the Giza Plateau encircling the mighty Pyramids...

It takes virtually zero effort to picture the sun dipping beneath the Mediterranean while Sonia and Motez get hitched in a cacophonous, traditional Tunisian wedding in Kerkennah... or to envision that same sun setting in Bali just a few days later as Edouard and Ines tie the knot in an entirely different fashion...

I still smell the aromas of my dad's home-cooked meals wafting out of our New Jersey kitchen while I sit in the living room watching television during my Halloween trip back home... And there are plenty of other memories that would have easily made the cut in any other year but just couldn't wiggle their way in among all these major highlights! Yes, to call this year simply "terrific" seems like a masterpiece of understatement, because—quite honestly—it has almost certainly been my best one yet!

So here they are, the twelve pictures that sum up my 2017, which has pretty easily become my favorite year!

January



Southern Laos' majestic Bolaven Plateau provided me with a glorious day in the great outdoors as January drew to a close!



February



My Laos trip spanned January's end and February's start, so it gets two photos! Here's one of many Mekong Beerlao breaks.



March



Celebrating my friend Cathy's birthday in early March with a Saturday night tram party!



April



My friends Sven and Vanessa marked their spring wedding on the Aqua Luna in Victoria Harbour this past April!



May



A short but sweet reunion with Ivan and Jackie at the Crystal Jade at the airport during their quick layover en route to Japan!



June



I may have had a hangover the next day, but at least I wasn't pushed through the Four Seasons in a wheelchair like Courtney!



July



I think the picture above speaks for itself. One of the most unforgettable days of my life. Period. 



August



I just couldn't pick between the Kerkennian and Balinese weddings, so I created a collage stitching together a shot from each!



September



In memory of the countless brunches I savored in 2017!



October



My first Halloween in the USA since moving to Hong Kong in 2009 was one to remember!



November




My favorite people in Hong Kong help me celebrate my thirty-first birthday with a gluttonous feast at Peking Garden. 



December



Since 2014, I've spent all my Hong Kong Christmases on Lamma Island, and this year was another great installment!

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree


Happy Boxing Day from Hong Kong! As I've written before, it's so nice to live in a city where the day following Christmas is officially recognized as a public holiday. I can't even imagine having had to wake up for an 8am start at the office this morning, so I'm glad it was never an issue!


This is probably not going to come as much of a surprise, but it's actually been a jam-packed Christmas season for me this year, chock full of almost all of the elements I've come to require to make my Yuletide complete. The weather has been pretty glorious, too, although last weekend, we experienced a cold spell that induced me to bring out the heaters, with the mercury dropping to a chilling—for Hong Kong at least—50°F!


Yes, the decorations around town have been eye-catching, as always, particularly those in the elegant Peninsula. The festive "Christmas menus" available at most Western restaurants have been delicious. My Christmas cards have been sent across three continents. And, of course, my own apartment is dressed to the nines, making it the perfect venue for post-work Christmas movie screenings.


Adding immensely to my holiday cheer has been the addition of Jennie and Gert, my most recent AirBnB guests. Normally, I rent out the room for relatively short stretches of time, but when Jennie inquired if she and Gert could stay for the entirety of December, I decided it would be nice to have some consistency throughout the Christmas season. What a great decision! Jennie is originally from Mainland China, but she moved to Hong Kong at the age of thirteen. About five years ago, she and her German husband Gert moved back to Europe, but because they like to visit Hong Kong frequently, they decided to start a business here. They just opened an incredible little shop called Healthy Life Cottage, which only sells goods that have been imported from Germany, including food, beverages, beauty care products and even dog treats!


As a bonus for me, it turns out Jennie is also a phenomenal cook, and having grown up in Hong Kong, she is thus accustomed to our cramped kitchens. She's been able to whip up some veritable feasts, minor miracles considering the space in which she's prepared them! That initial Sunday, as she made dinner for me and some friends, I told her half-jokingly (but also half-seriously) that it was actually the first time a multi-course meal had ever been created entirely on the premises! She has seen to it that it was not the last! Merry Christmas to me!


One of my favorite events in the lead-up to Christmas is SantaCon, which I've written about several times before. But this year, for some odd reason I've not been able to fully understand, Hong Kong decided to commemorate SantaCon out of step with the rest of the world. While almost all cities seemed to designated the second Saturday in December as the big date, the version here was observed on the first Saturday of the month! It caught me completely off guard, and because I had other plans, I wasn't able to join in the fun. Hopefully, next year, things are back to normal!

Instead, my first Saturday in December was spent on beautiful Shek O beach, in honor of my friends Nicolas and Nyun, who departed Hong Kong for good earlier this month. They are moving to Canada in the new year, and it was a great opportunity to gather together and bid them a fond farewell.

Au revoir, Nico and Nyun!

On the flip side, another friend who left Hong Kong awhile back actually returned this December for work. Vivian moved to Frankfurt last May, but being a Hong Konger, she does come back for both business and pleasure at least a couple of times each year. She works for a hotel group, and the reason for this particular trip was to be in town for the opening of their newest venture, Penta Hotel in Tsuen Mun.


The party was a smashing gala, complete with paparazzi posted in front of the entry, snapping photos of all the guests, including us! Inside, there was an unending array of finger foods and the obligatory open bar. True, Tsuen Mun is a bit far from downtown, but Vivian organized a mini bus to transport us back and forth, and I can't recall having ever spent a more memorable Tuesday!

Celebrating with the mother of the owner of Tsuen Mun's newest digs!

Later that week, my office held our annual Christmas party. We have a formula that has served us well in years past. First, we have a pre-game of sorts in the office, where we exchange Secret Santa gifts and indulge in some champagne and nibbles. (This year, I got a lovely bottle of Spanish red wine from my colleague Jenny.) The pre-game is followed by the main event, a full-on festive meal, always at a different restaurant. This year, we chose Gordon Ramsay's Bread Street Kitchen in Lan Kwai Fong, and the tasty dinner was duly followed by bar-hopping all around the neighborhood.

Company Christmas dinner at Gordon Ramsay's Bread Street Kitchen

A few days later, I made it out to Sha Tin for International Race Day, too. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to convince any others to join me this year, but thanks to an absurd two-for-one beer deal complemented by pitch perfect weather and a few nice payouts for yours truly, I had myself a merry little Sunday. 

To cap it off, my colleague Konrad and his girlfriend Vanessa did meet me for dinner at the Shatin Inn later that evening. I have mentioned this place so often in the blog that I probably don't have to say much more here, but rest assured, it was a sensational meal in a sensation venue with sensational company.

The perfect place to celebrate post-races!

The most unexpectedly delightful interlude of my December was sparked by a Friday afternoon coffee date with my former flatmate Sarah. It had been a long while since we had a good catch up, so coffee turned into happy hour at a nearby bar. There, we were joined by Joel, Sarah's partner, with whom she has a beautiful two year old girl named Beatrix. Post happy hour, the party moved back to my rooftop, but even that wasn't enough. When it finally came time for Sarah and Joel to return home, they convinced me to spend the night with them in their seaside townhouse in Shek O. So we all hopped in a cab—Fredric included—to make the thirty minute trek to the south side of the island.

Shek O really feels like another world. It's an incredibly close community, where everybody knows everybody else. Many people don't even lock their front doors when they go out! Waking up early the next morning, Sarah prepared a home-cooked breakfast which we took to the beach to consume. Lots of other Shek O-ers were out, many with their dogs, which gave Fredric several new friends. It was chilly on the beach, but a nice, warm cardigan did the trick! I've made up my mind that I'm going to spend a lot more time here in the new year, especially as Sarah and Joel are contemplating a move to Indonesia, and we've agreed we must take advantage of our current proximity while it lasts. 

No description of December 2017 would be complete without mention of the wedding celebration of my dear friends, Lou and Kathy. In reality, this was only the "official" wedding, the first step—so to speak—which is more legal than romantic. The brief ceremony was held in Hong Kong Park at the Marriage Registry on Cotton Tree Drive, where a government employee gives a brief spiel about the marriage ordinance and closely scrutinizes the identification documents of bride and groom, before the happy couple recite their oaths and sign on the dotted line. A big celebration will be scheduled for some point in 2018, but it's still so special to watch two friends take such an important step.


To make it even more unforgettable, there was a raucous dinner afterwards at Dragon King Restaurant, complete with roast pig, shark's fin soup, whole steamed fish and a ton of other delicious Chinese dishes. It was also great to meet Kathy and Lou's parents and family members who were in town for the event.


The next fantastic dinner was right on its heels the following evening, as another Villanovan made her way to Hong Kong. My friend Laura actually transferred from 'Nova to NYU during my senior (and her sophomore) year, but because we were both very involved in Blue Key, we stayed in touch afterwards. I even got to meet up with her in London during my 2010 work trip, so it was so nice to gorge on Peking duck with her and her boyfriend Ryan that night in Tsim Sha Tsui last Tuesday. The venue was Spring Deer, one of the most famous spots in town to indulge in the celebrated fowl. We over-ordered to the point where I was eating leftovers from the meal for the next two days, but it was yet another great night!

We didn't snap a picture that night, but here's Laura and me at Trafalgar Square in London back in 2010.

One last festive pre-Christmas meal took place at iconic Jimmy's Kitchen on Thursday, 21 December. I don't get to eat at Jimmy's as often as I should. (The last time I was there was Saint Patrick's Day, as this is the only spot I know in town dishing out corned beef and cabbage.) It's one of Hong Kong's very few "classic" restaurants, where you feel like you've been magically beamed back in time about half a century or more. You can feel the sense of history and tradition as you dine. And because the atmosphere verges on magical, lunches here tend to linger on into the late afternoon.

Festive decorations at Jimmy's Kitchen in Central

The place first opened back in 1928 and moved to its present location in the '70s. Jimmy's isn't cheap, but you can't really put a price on the experience. Best of all is when the company is paying! You see, we traditionally treat one of my biggest clients to an annual Christmastime lunch, so this year, I steered the meal towards Jimmy's, and let's just say, nobody walked out disappointed (or hungry).

The lunch came complete with Christmas crackers!

So, as you can see, it's really been a hectic—yet truly a fantastic—month! In between the standout events I've just outlined, there have been plenty of nights with holiday movies and Christmas-themed episodes of classic sit-coms, as well as evenings that consisted of little more than simply listening to Christmas music under the twinkle of the lights on my tree.


By the way, I've finally reached a decision regarding my old artificial fir. Although I did not follow through with purchasing a real one this year, I have decided to officially retire dear old Douglas after this go around. I truly did intend to get a live tree this year, but it seems so silly to spend a small fortune on one—not to mention the rigmarole of getting it up six flights of stairs—when a perfectly adequate alternative is conveniently packed away in the flat already. 

I still remember buying the old guy at a mom-and-pop shop in Wan Chai as Christmas snuck up on us back in 2011. He's been a faithful servant ever since, and he's had a good run. He is showing his age, though, and his top half doesn't fit so snugly into the bottom anymore, meaning I've had to tolerate a slightly leaning centerpiece of my holiday decorations this year. So when I take everything down after New Year's, I'll be putting Douglas in the dumpster as opposed to the upper cabinet in the guest room. That will mean that come next December, I'll have no choice but to buy the real deal, or at least to procure a snazzier fake. 

I was unbelievably excited to leave work last Friday, leading up to this massive Christmas weekend. I headed straight to Kennedy Town for a lovely home-cooked dinner at Max and Celine's apartment. We even cracked open the bottle of red that I had received at my office Christmas party, which was fantastic.


Saturday—also known as Christmas Eve Eve—was about as festive as it gets! I met my friend Sophie in The One, a shopping mall on Nathan Road, were they were showing The Nutcracker in the movie theater. It was the filmed copy of the version presented on the stage of the renowned Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, as part of their Ballet in Cinema program. And it was truly mesmerizing. I hope next year I make it home to New York to see Balanchine's classic take in person, but this was definitely a great way to work Tchaikovsky's masterwork into my Christmas.

After the curtain came down, I had to rush from Tsim Sha Tsui to Causeway Bay to meet up with some friends for a fiery Sichuan dinner. One of those friends was Chun, among my closest Hong Kong pals, who moved to Germany last December with his girlfriend Amelie. Like Vivian, he too comes back to visit his family, but his earlier 2017 visit was during my summer travels, so I haven't had a chance to properly catch up with him since his departure.

Sichuan dinner in Causeway Bay on Christmas Eve Eve

Obviously, some post-dinner libations in Lan Kwai Fong were in order, including those Jell-o shots at Al's Diner. Matt and Ana joined for a bit, and Ana even introduced me to a hidden Nepalese gem of a restaurant, ensconced on the ninth floor of a building on D'Aguilar Street. Late night (early morning?) momos are never a bad idea, and I have a feeling this first visit will not be my last!

Like that, t'was the night before Christmas, which marks the eighth anniversary of Sonia's Christmas Eve barbecue on her rooftop in 2009, my first year in Hong Kong. It's so funny to think that at that point, I'd only been in town for about six weeks, but I was already partying the night away on the rooftop that would become my own home a few years later. I always try to organize a rooftop gathering at some point during the holiday season to continue the tradition—I call it 'Up on the Housetop'—and this year, I hosted the gig on Christmas Eve itself. 


Just some of the delicious food prepared by Jennie and her friends on Christmas Eve

Jennie and her friend Coral provided the amazing dishes, like lamb and chicken curry, minced pork and peanuts, and a warm and hearty corn soup. Fredric and I were both dressed in our Santa Claus outfits, and a bevy of festive tunes helped to set the mood. I love Christmas Eve probably about as much as I love any day of the year, and it was so special to mark the occasion in such a lovely manner. I haven't done Christmas Eve at my place before, but who knows? Perhaps this will mark the start of a new tradition. 

Up on the house top, with Coral and Fredric!

On Christmas morning, I cracked open a carton of egg nog to the accompaniment of more holiday music. At 11:45am, I was seated in atmospheric Saint John's Cathedral to participate in the Christmas service, complete with O Come, All Ye Faithful, Away in a Manger and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. And around 2pm, I again met up Sophie and our friend Marlene at Central Ferry Pier Four, where we caught the next boat to Lamma Island for another amazing installment in my Hong Kong Christmases.

With Sophie and Marlene on Lamma Island

My friend Ailee again organized a massive event, this time held at the barbecue pits on Hung Shing Yeh Beach. It's hard to describe the magic of Christmas in any number of words, but simply being with a great group of people on a peaceful beach, watching the sunset and playing games, was pure pleasure. There was mulled wine a-plenty and gallons of beer, and in the end, it was surely a merry little Christmas.

Christmas Day beach barbecue

This Boxing Day has been mostly spent resting and recovering, because with only a few days to go until the next big event—New Year's Eve—I know I'm going to need all the energy I can muster! But I just wanted to take a quick moment to send my jolliest holiday wishes to my friends and family spread all over the world. I hope you all have had a truly blessed Christmas season, and I wish you all the best for the new year! 

Monday, November 20, 2017

Eight Crazy Years


I know I'm a week late, but I recently celebrated the eighth anniversary of my arrival in Hong Kong. And for the first time in those eight years, I was outside of the Pearl of the Orient on the big day, with this anniversary falling towards the end of my first trip home in more than a year! 

I'm back in Hong Kong now—and I've actually been here for five days already—but I definitely wanted to take a quick moment to reflect on the momentous occasion, while also preserving for posterity some of the top memories of my recent trip, which surely ranks as one of the best ever.

Carving jack-o'-lanterns on Halloween night

As I think is abundantly clear to anybody who knows me well, Halloween is hands down my favorite holiday. So the fact that I'd not been home for a good, old-fashioned American iteration of the celebration in eight years led to my decision long ago to spend 31 October 2017 on the East Coast of the United States. It was, without doubt, a fantastic choice.

With my pal Rusty in Brooklyn

I still can easily recall memories of my last American Halloween, back in 2009, literally my final weekend at home before moving across the world to Hong Kong. Over the seven ensuing Halloweens, I've always had a blast, decorating my apartment with ghoulish embellishments, binging on favorite horror films and partying the night away cloaked in disguises of varying degrees of success. Yes, it's possible to have a near-perfect Halloween in the SAR, but one important element is impossible to recreate: the spectacle of hundreds of impish youngsters traipsing door to door participating in the secular sacrament of trick-or-treating.

Suzy trick-or-treating!

So, to the bewilderment of my poor father, I insisted on inviting ourselves over to Brooklyn to spend the evening in the company of my eight and ten year old cousins, Susan and Julian, as they rang door bells collecting candy along with scores of their neighbors.

Michael Myers, Julian and the Joker!

Dad gamely tagged along, as we strolled the pavements he played on as a child, the beautiful late October breeze gently blowing, listening to the endless giggles as witches, ghosts, mummies and ball players collected their spoils on that gorgeous fall night.

Decorations and trick-or-treaters in Brooklyn

"That was the best suggestion," he later told me. "I can't believe I was so against the idea." 

I had actually landed a few nights before, on the morning of 28 October, which, being the Saturday closest to Halloween itself, was automatically granted the distinction of macabre party night. I wound up dressed in a rather impromptu vampire costume, dancing and drinking with a select crew of friends til the early hours near Williamsburg. It was, quite simply, a perfect first night back.

Halloween crew

My friend Heidi's parents had invited me to brunch in Manhattan that Sunday, so a quick subway ride took me from Williamsburg to the University Club on 5th Avenue. In an ironic stroke of luck and timing, one of Heidi's other good friends also happened to be in town: Carla, who I've mentioned before has moved to Singapore for work with her husband Matt. Obviously, a few post-brunch cocktails at the legendary Sardi's were in order before I made it to Penn Station to catch the NJ Transit home to Matawan. 

One of my favorite things about any trip back to Jersey is just doing nothing at home. Well, not quite nothing, but, you know what I mean: those little things that almost seem too minor to write about. Thumbing through family photo albums or old coffee table books, lounging on the couch flicking through thousands of cable channels yet finding nothing to watch, toying around on the piano or sipping a coffee on our back deck admiring the colors of the autumn leaves, without a care in the world. I did a lot of nothing that week. 

And sometimes, there was something good to watch on television, like the World Series, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, classic episodes of What's My Line?, Match Game and Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, or reruns of beloved sitcoms like Friends or Seinfeld. I even managed to catch Woody Allen's Radio Days, a movie I've wanted to see for ages and that so blew me away that I now rank it as one of my all-time favorites. Yes, it was quite a perfect week of nothing and everything.

It was a blur of candy corn and caramel apples and apple cider donuts and pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin beer and pumpkin Cheerios and a pumpkin napoleon, every bite worth all the calories! And there were scallops and shrimp and bagels and cannoli and pizza and deep fried mozzarella. Let's be honest, it's never a healthy trip home, but it's always a delicious one.

Enjoying a caramel apple on our back deck

And, oh, the leaves! Those beautiful autumn leaves! The trees don't really change color in Hong Kong. We get a switch of seasons, of course, but nothing as dramatic as what happens on the East Coast of the United States.

Autumn leaves in Cheesequake State Park

So I relished the sight of the vibrant shades of reds, auburns, golds, oranges and yellows. My dad and I even drove to the nearby state park, Cheesequake, on one particularly temperate afternoon to wander around admiring the colorful hues on display all around us. And another pair of afternoons were spent strolling along the Perth Amboy and Laurence Harbor waterfronts, soaking in the glories of a New Jersey fall.

A beautiful afternoon in the park

Initially, this trip was meant to have ended right there. And I would have been perfectly pleased had that happened. You see, I had planned on simply spending a week back home, taking in the joys of Halloween and a perhaps a few side trips into the city to spend time with friends. But when my boss found out I planned to be in the region, he suggested extending things for a second week and incorporating a trio of work meetings, with the added bonus of the firm paying for my flights! Obviously I took him up on the offer.

So that next Monday morning, I caught the Acela Express from Newark Penn Station and was Boston-bound. It had been over a decade since I last laid eyes on Beantown, and, boy, was it beautiful in the fall. I had only one meeting, but it was safer to arrive the day before so I didn't have to chance running late. After settling in to my hotel on Copley Square, I met my friends Amanda and Bea for a lovely French dinner before an evening stroll around the charming cobbled streets.

Outside my hotel in Boston after a great dinner with Bea and Amanda

From the window of my room, I looked right out onto the noble façade of the Boston Public Library. And so many gorgeous buildings studded the quaint quarter. Although it was very, very cold, I indulged in an early morning wander around the neighborhood that next day. And to celebrate a successful meeting before catching the train back to New York, I also fit in a memorable lunch of clam chowder and a lobster roll at the Chart House. 

Lunch at the Chart House in Boston

The two other meetings, both in Manhattan, also went well, and were mixed in with a series of unforgettable encounters with friends, like a late afternoon reunion with Kristen on Irving Street, a big night out afterwards in the Flatiron District with a whole horde of fellow Villanovans and a cozy coffee catch-up with my friend Abby, with whom I studied abroad in Paris a decade ago!

The Knickerbocker Hotel

And I just loved walking around the city, soaking up autumn in New York. The crisp air, the leaves, the classic stone façades of many of the towering skyscrapers. There's something especially endearing about New York at the height of fall, and I think I did a good job of savoring as much of it as possible. I guess I love every season in its own way, but if I had to pick my favorite, fall wins.

A crisp fall day in Manhattan

For the auspicious occasion of the eighth anniversary of my arrival in Hong Kong, I wanted to do something that would remind me how grateful I am to have serendipitously found my way to the former British colony upon graduation in 2009. The two elements that could most easily accomplish this wish, I theorized, would be Hong Kong friends and Hong Kong food. And it could not have been a more appropriate day!

My friends Edouard and Ines, who you may recall were married in Bali earlier this summer, moved from Hong Kong to New York about two years ago. We decided to meet up for lunch that day, and Heidi joined us for a very memorable repast. 21 is surely one of my favorite Manhattan watering holes, though I rarely find the occasion to visit. With its painted jockeys and hushed elegance, the place just exudes an air of stature and history. I actually celebrated my own twenty-first birthday there with my family back in November 2007, complete with Dover sole and Champagne, so—with my thirty-first birthday fast approaching—it seemed like an appropriate occasion to return, and to introduce Heidi, Edouard and Ines to such a classic New York institution.

The painted jockeys outside 21

Let's just say, it was one of those lunches that lingers in your memory for a long time, the kind that I know we'll look back on fondly as the years fly by. I don't know anywhere quite as special as 21. I like to think if I ever moved back, I'd become a regular here, feasting on the iconic chicken hash and quaffing Manhattans and Gibsons every chance I could get. As it is, I'm surely going to make the effort to return each time I find myself home. The dark, clubby bar room—with its celebrated treasury of toys suspended from the ceiling—was the perfect spot to catch up with Edouard and Ines, reminiscing about the good old days when we were all in Hong Kong together.

From the bar at 21

Hong Kong friends: check! Now onto to Hong Kong food. Later that night, Heidi, our friend Jimmy and I feasted on delicious Chinese fare at a Sichuan place called Han Dynasty on the Upper West Side, a last minute replacement for my first choice, Shun Lee, the iconic Lincoln Center Asian favorite that was shuttered by the Health Department a day earlier for significant hygiene violations! Oh, well. I suppose that's slightly better than if it had been shut down for the same reason the day after! The meal was absolutely stellar, and we toasted to my anniversary with one or two Tsingtaos!

Cheers to eight years!

Back in Jersey after an unforgettable five days, I again basked in the quiet pleasures of suburban life before the inevitable moment when I had to pack my bags and fly off again. It was one of the hardest goodbyes I've ever had to say, and had the previously-beautiful weather not precipitously dropped to the mid-thirties just in time, I might have angled for ways to stick around longer! 

The flights back were long, but I made it. The reunion with Fredric was pure bliss. And almost instantly, Hong Kong started reminding me why I love it here so much, from gorgeous views of the skyline from the ferry, to tasty wok-fried noodle lunches and a lovely reunion with my old roommate Véro over dim sum yesterday morning. Yes, eight years in, I'm still in a committed and loving relationship with Hong Kong, though my brief autumn fling with the Northeast was surely an affair to remember!

Sunset over the Hong Kong skyline, on the ferry from Hung Hom to North Point my first day back