February 14, 2008

Lantau Island (HONG KONG)

Scouring the Airport and a Farewell Dinner with Dan Yuen

I spent most of today trying to plan my upcoming backpacking trip from Singapore to Tokyo, but after hours of internet research I decided, "The hell with it! I have done this enough that I am ready to entirely wing a trip, and see where it takes me!" So, that is where I stand, and in one week's time I will take off from Singapore, but whether it is by boat to Sumatra, bus to Malaysia, or flight to some unsuspecting place I do not yet know. Truthfully, it is better this way because now I don't have to worry about any more planning.

Instead, I can worry about more pressing matters: like where to find Hello Panda, my favorite Asian snack, in the maze of shops at the airport. You see, when you are in a hotel connected to the airport by a sky bridge, such are the kind of adventures on which one will embark. (The answer, for future reference, is the Okashi-land store in the Terminal 1 arrival hall.)

For dinner this evening I ate with Dan Yuen, my father, and a flight technician from Texas at a Shanghainese restaurant. Dan was kind enough to let me take care of all the ordering (giving me the chance to impress my father), and between my knowledge of the dishes and my spoken Mandarin, I was once more able to justify my time spent in Asia.

In fact, when I spoke to one of the elderly women serving us, I nearly gave her a heart attack from the shock that I spoke Mandarin. Everyone at our table burst out laughing (her shock really was that funny!), but afterward we had to avoid certain dishes on the table because (an unnamed person) blew extra toppings on all the dishes at the table!