It’s summertime in Hong Kong, and that can only mean one thing: the junk trip. Not the traditional Chinese sailing junk, mind. These days, “junk” refers to practically any kind of leisure vessel. On weekend days during the season, dozens of them pull up at the public piers in Central or Causeway Bay, and groups up to 40-strong board them for eight hours of crazed drinking at sea. With everybody going for a departure time of 10 or 11 a.m. to maximize daylight hours on the water, the piers are a hot mess of humanity and a perfect weekend cover for our whistle-blower. Once he’s aboard, everyone will assume the quiet goateed guy in the corner sipping beer is the friend of a friend. By the time the SEALs realize he’s given them the slip, Snowden will be on one of countless identical pleasure craft bound for the coves of Sai Kung peninsula.
The 5 Places in Hong Kong Snowden Should Hide In
As Prism leaker Edward Snowden has discovered to his cost, a well-known Hong Kong hotel like the Mira is no place to go to ground. So where would a young white American whistle-blower really go in this city, if he wanted to avoid detection? Edward, if you’re reading this, use the local knowledge of TIME’s Hong Kong office and hunker down in one of these five locales