HKK and BKK
Hong Kong welcomed us to Asia with open arms and we were surprisingly ready to tackle our 12 hour layover there after a long 16 hour flight. It was crowded, confusing, colorful… everything you’d expect Asia to be. We enjoyed relaxing in not one, but three of it’s gorgeous parks, strolled through a few bustling street markets, and snacked our way from one side to the other. It actually felt a little like Chicago (minus the public aviary, balut (developing duck embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell), and hanging cured meats) and we loved it.
After our final 3 hour leg of the journey… on to Bangkok, another crowded, confusing, and colorful city. We’d been there before just 1.5 years ago on our honeymoon - so this time was less about seeing the sights and more about settling into Asia about-to-travel-for-100-or-so-days mode. We visited a gastropub/taphouse called Mikkeller (we HAD to, but again... Chicago?) and got cheap massages and $1 pad thai on Khao San.