A Home in Hong Kong ...

When I studied abroad in college, I was lucky enough to spend about 3 days in the historied city of Honk Kong. Yeah, yeah, shoulda been way longer - I know. Why it wasn't is a long story involving an unexpected 55 foot wave in the middle of the North Pacific. Another time. But honestly, even that amount of time there gave me my fill for a good ten years. The best way to describe it? Ohmygod Wowzers. Massive Buildings. Double Decker Buses. Taxis. Taxis. People. Flashing Lights. Shopping. Flashing Lights. People. People. People. Massive Buildings. CHINESE NEW YEAR. The Rooster... yeaaaaah... they were so hot in 2005! Just thinking about it causes vertigo to sweep over my body; I need some green tea to calm me down - stat. It was that overwhelming.

Okay, I thought my photo above was cool... but holy schwaz... this does it justice. It looks like the fake city you fly over on the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland:

I heart wikipedia.

And despite the energy overload in Hong Kong, it was the place out of all of my travels that I felt most isolated and homesick. :( Until, one rainy grey day while walking down a street near my hotel, I spotted a glowing green and white logo on one of the buildings that made my heart light up. STARBUCKS. Hallelujah! Of course it was a Starbucks. Knowing that I would soon have that hot, iconic cup of bliss in my hand made me feel a lot closer to home. And when I stepped inside, it was like every other Starbucks I had ever been to: the same quirky baristas (Chinese version), the same 400 calorie scones, the same trendy background music, and the same brightly colored chalkboard with the season's specials written in cutesy handwriting - it was really trippy. But in this case, it was the perfect kind of trippy.

Since then, I have thought of Hong Kong as a place that is incredible to visit (I mean, look at the photo above!), but not somewhere I could ever live. Until yesterday, when I saw an Apartment Therapy slideshow of a warehouse-turned-home that is to-die-for, in Hong Kong. I would totally live there if I could live there. I wonder if there's a Starbucks close by.

Check out the photos below: