photos by Colin Sokol and me

Time for the real version of this. I’ve been to Hong Kong now three times, the first when I was little and lived there for a year (after Japan and before California), quickly adopting a British accent that I definitely should have tried harder to keep, the second with my family mostly to reminisce about said year, and now this here time I’m sharing with you. There’s such a familiarity and distance when it comes to places you “knew” as a child, the corner shops and absolutely unchanged star ferry made me yelp with the excitement of recognizing something but then when it came to logistics I was probably at least worse than any average tourist. We stayed on the island side, briefly venturing to Kowloon but then spending the remainder of our free time trying to see as much as possible, which included Lantau Island, a true “wet market” (this experience redefined sensory overload for me), beautiful Victoria’s Peak, Wan Chai, Lan Kwai Fong, Stanley Bay, Star Street, and of course Lane Crawford. I wore heels a couple times but spent most of the time in sneakers and simple separates because Hong Kong is a good place to preserve all the nimbleness you have been allotted in life. Thank you so much to our hosts at Red, the magazines and newspapers that were such a delight to talk to, and especially my darling Erato! Can’t wait for Time 4.