Woke up feeling kinda blue..

It was the last day of the trip. And again it is raining on the day we have to leave. That seems to happen a lot. The flight’s not until the afternoon though so we have time to grab a bite and maybe check out one last little tidbit of Hong Kong.

“I’ve lost my octopus!”, something you don’t hear everyday. Agent Getz has misplaced his metro card. We raid Bao’s safe house but to no avail.

Metal, bushwhack, fist bump, out into the rainy streets and to the mall. Tha Queebs wants to take us for a ‘special treat’. We end up at a dessert place and Queenie picks us up a mango durian ice cream dessert. “Oh no…” Agent Getz is instantly scared. “Durian? What’s that?”, “Try it. Go ahead try it..”

I take a scoop of the dessert and taste it. “Whoa-wow! It tastes like hot garbage! How?!” Tasted like you’ve scraped the inside of a dumpster lost in the Saharan desert and somehow made ice cream from it. It’s revolting. I’ll have to try some more. McBurger goes in, “Ah man, tastes like raw sewage”, “I just looked it up, and that is the actual description, ‘rotten onions, turpentine, raw sewage'”, “Well it’s pretty accurate.”

We scarfed about half of it down but couldn’t finish. It was intriguing, but ultimately it was disgusting. Durian is a kind of large fruit with a hard spiny shell. Known to some as the ‘king of fruits’ it has an overwhelming odor and flavor. Some people like it but we’re just not those people. Those people are crazy.

We go back to the metro and acquire a new octopus for Getz. Bao is going to work soon so she has to say goodbye. “Awwww BAO!!”, we give her a big ol’ group hug and thank her a million times for letting us crash at her place and showing us around Hong Kong. She’s too nice. She really was a great host, we’ll miss her. But it shouldn’t be too long before we meet again! A few more “Si! Si!” and we part ways.

Zsssht! and we’re back across the harbor. We’re looking for a place called Ser Wong Fun to grab a bite to eat. Apparently it’s just north of the area of Long Kwai Fong where we were sampling hotdog waters yesterday. Time to brave the malls!

We pass by a Godiva shop and there is a massive line wrapping several times in a queue outside the door. Guess Hong Kongers really dig chocolate.

Queenie looks at a map!

It is pouring buckets but fortunately you never actually ever have to be outside in Hong Kong. It is literally a multi-tiered city of interconnected buildings and walkways. We even found this escalator that cuts right through the area a few floors above ground. How cool is that! So we stayed dry and didn’t even have to trudge up the huge hill to LKF.

Off to the right of the escalator I could see there had recently been a nasty fire. The burnt out buildings looked very out of place among the colorful surroundings, greenery and the  pouring rain.

We locate Ser Wong Fun from the escalator, backtrack a short ways and go inside. There are multiple awards on the door, a gold one for their clay pot dishes. It’s a quaint little place, we take a look at the menu while they set up a table for us. Looks decent, let’s feast!

We grab some beers and an assortment of dishes:

• Braised duck w rice – Nummy!
• Snake soup – Queenie and McBurger wanted to try it.
  • Good but not as good as the one we’d gotten in Snake Alley
• Turtle – good but also not as good as the one from Snake Alley
• Fish soup – I dunno, I’m allergic
• Mutton stew in earthen pot – This was the winning dish for sure.
  • Scrumtrulecent

Sooooo many bones. Snake bones, turtle bones, duck bones, mutton bones. Queenie was amazed at how well I was able to polish of the snake. I think I got the knack at the end of our last foray.

Pretty good feast, worth the trek back out here. We look up our flight and it’s been delayed for 2 hours, but still wants people to check in. Hmmmmm that sounds annoying, but what can you do?

On the way back to Bao’s we came across a peaceful covered walkway with a series of colorful murals. There were a number of people just here eating their lunches or reading a book as the busy bodies of the city passed quickly through the corridor.

Zsssht! and we’re back at Bauhaus packing up shop. Goodbye mini diagonal room, goodbye meat wine. We grab our bags, do one last bushwhack and grab the next train to the airport. The rain has made things humid and sticky. Not the most comfortable way to start what’s looking like 16+ hours of travel.

Queenie gets a phone call while we’re on the train. She starts giggling. “Si… Si!”

When she hangs up she is laughing so hard she can barely talk. She manages to tell me between breaths that Bao was late getting to work today because she was cleaning a poop stain off of her toilet. It just wouldn’t come out. She tried everything. “Who did that?”, “McBuuuuuurgeeeeeer!!”

We get to the airport and go to check in. There is a gynormous line. It takes a while and when we do get to the counter it takes at least another 30 minutes. They keep swiping Queenie’s passport over and over. What’s going on? There’s manager type talks in Cantonese. Awwwww maaaaan, it’s gonna be one of those travel days.

The girl working the counter explains that she is new. Her name tag says Juki Chan. “It’s ok Juki we’re delayed 2 hours anyways”, “Oh now it’s 3″…. “Ah, ok. Guess we won’t be making that connecting flight in Taipei then.”

Agent Getz comes over to us from a successful check in, “Check this out”, he hands Queenie his flight tickets. “What?! No Way!! Really?”, “I don’t know… maybe?”

Agent Getz is holding flight tickets with Hello Kitty characters printed on them. Juki finishes up and hands us our tickets. They also have Hello Kitty on them. Queenie is so excited I’m just waiting for her to pee herself. “Really? Are we going to be on a Hello Kitty flight?!”, “I don’t know I’m new”, “Ohhhhhhhhh!!”, “Have a nice flight.”

McBurger is all done with his check-in too but he has to take another airline back to Australia soon from a different gate. He lands a stiff man hug w back clap on Agent Getz and then snuggles Tha Queebs. We do the usual put ‘r there handshake/ man hug combo (I slip in a little tickle fight for good measure). “Another fucking badass trip man”, “For sure, let’s start talking about.. <details of the next case are reserved for DFN level 9 seguridad clearance>”. And with that McBurger heads for another plane in the rain, again.

We get through security with the usual hassle and pat down of Agent Getz. On the other side things open up into… a fucking mall!! Yes, of course the Hong Kong airport would actually be a ritzy mall. It’s probably the most upscale airport I’ve ever seen in my life. Loaded with every top shelf jewelry, clothing, shoes, technology, gadgetry and travel shop you can name. We’ve got hours to kill so we snoop around a bit but there’s really nothing we need or want.

We decide the best way to pass the time is over drinks. Our new mission finds us at a place called Cafe Deco. It’s got a trendy lounge vibe, should do the trick. While we’re waiting for a round of black and cokes a few musicians show up and grab instruments on the mini stage literally right next to us. They are a smooth jazz trio. They’re amazing. Killer bass player on a 5 string Yamaha. A few songs in and a female vocalist joins them on stage. Silky voice, super chill vibe, more airports should have live music!

After grabbing some food and kicking it for a while at Cafe Deco we decide to head to our gate. We take a look out the window to see if we could possibly be on a Hello Kitty flight. Queenie is insanely excited about it. Well holy fuck, would you look at that?!