April 20 – April 23: Hong Kong
April 24 – April 27: Paris
April 27 – April 28: Bordeaux
May 1 – May 2: Antwerp
May 2 – May 5: Amsterdam
May 5 – May 7: Berlin
May 7 – May 11: Paris
May 12 – May 13: Shanghai
May 14 – May 17: Tokyo
Still a few details to set up, a few stops to confirm and probably a few more European cities to be inserted at a later time, but that’s the bulk of it.
Get in touch if you will be anywhere near my path in the next 6 weeks!
Hey Dave, long time no chat! 😉 I’ll actually be in Hong Kong this time you’re here, so welcome to actually show you around in person this time! 🙂
Now I go and have a look in your archives getting some info for a friend… how to eat out in Japan _cheaply_!
@Jonathan: woa! Indeed! Actually, this time around, little brother (attending HKU) should hopefully be at hand to show me around. But considering he’s still quite a HK newbie and I remember you were quite the authority, I think we’d both love to meet up and have a local foodie take us to the best spots 😉
Regarding cheap eating in Japan: it’s really not that hard! Japan has to be one of the cheapest place in the developed world for everyday food (of course, there’s no limit to how high you can go if you want to). If you give me more specifics (city? interests?) I can probably give you a few addresses. Generally speaking, my favourite cheap Japanese food would have to be ramen (yes: possibly not very novel to anybody from Asia, but I will stand my ground that it has very little to do with Chinese ramen).
Next are typical chain-store fares like gyudon (better stay away from Yoshinoya, which is really sub-par, even for its ridiculously cheap price)…
A pretty good option for average-but-typical food is: university coops (todai’s in Tokyo, Kyodai’s in Kyoto): standard Japanese cafeteria food at break-even price…
I’ve moved back to Hong Kong now, so retrospectively, I feel I was quite newbie back then. 😉 Not to mention with Hong Kong changing as fast as it does, some places have gone and new places have popped up elsewhere. I should be able to provisionally join up on both 21st & 23rd. I actually lived near HKU when I first moved back late-2007~early-2008… that area is a bit of a culinary blackhole for whatever reason, though being an old district, is one of the places you can get snake soup… 😛 Besides that, anything that tickles your fancy for the HK visit?
I already had given the mention of ramen places probably being the cheapest in Japan, then chain places and supermarket food courts. Didn’t know about the Uni co-ops, so will pass that along to them… maybe can find out which city they’ve travelled to now… 🙂
Awesome! Let’s work that out by then…
If your friends are down to mall food courts in Japan (which are a lot less exciting than their Asian counterparts, I feel), then I’d definitely recommend coops instead…
If money is super-tight bento boxes can be a very good deal: particularly if you take advantage of closing-time discounts (in less busy neighbourhoods). For a protein fill, yakiniku tabehodai places in kansai are generally a good value. Tokyo doesn’t seem to have as much of them, but has quite a few shabu shabu tabehodai.
Among generic chains, I’ve always felt Sukiya was a bit above average (but still far from gastronomic).
I could probably come up with a couple specific shops if you give me a general area
Awesome, probably need a better way to be in contact once you’re in Hong Kong though… open to suggestions. 🙂
The two friends are currently in Nagoya and I’ve already pointed them to the Uni Co-op (hurrah Google), then one final day in Tokyo before they fly out.
Had already mentioned the close-out bento box stuff, though I guess they forgot about that. That or the local hawks scalped the discount bento-boxes already…
I think they are okay budget wise, though when they and two other friends were visiting me in Hong Kong just 2 weeks ago, the poor wallets did get a good workout… too many places and too little time! 🙂
Étape a Bordeaux ? Le samedi 28 avril jour du mariage !
Hey Dave,
I dont know you but I really respect all you effort and work related to CS, I live in Kanto now. I ve got a friend coming sometime around May and dont know the details yet, so cant offer my place but would be happy to meet you when you are around if you want to go for some drinks.
Btw, congratulations on your PHD, its a pain to get one of those 🙂
cheers
Rafael
Hi Dave,
Good to know you’re visiting China, again.
I would be happy to meet you(via CS or not), just i’m located in Xiamen which is in between of Shanghai and HK. There’re lots of activities in SH CS group if you take a look. Next time if your schedule allows, do pay a visit- it’s a nice island, and you got an “old reader”.
Hope you’ll have a valuable time here,
Jenny
Hey Jenny! I would love to spend more time and see other parts of China. Unfortunately this time around, my stay is only a short layover between flights and I doubt I can go farther than Shanghai. I will definitely keep Xiamen in mind for the next time I can take time off…
But hey, if you fancy a visit to Shanghai over the weekend, do let me know 😉