Well, as you can imagine, I was a bit lazy today.
Day 105; Friday; Jan. 9, 2004.
I move out of my home today. I have decided to try living for a couple days in the center of the action of the city--in Tsim Shat Tsui. I am staying at the Royal Windsor Hotel on Kinberly Street. The other reason I have decided to move is that this puts me much closer to the Airport Express train. It takes me two trips on the MTR to get all of my stuff (4 bags) to the hotel. I didn't want to struggle with the bags the morning I go to the airport.
Also today I finally meet-up with A, a very good friend of my friend W in Miami. A and I have been trading emails for 3 months, but we had never been able to get together. Today we meet at a restaurant named Fusion. It is in Causeway Bay. I get lost trying to find it, but I call A on her cellphone and she comes to get me--I was only one block away! We have a very nice lunch. As usual, I have fish. A is an "educational consultant". She gives advice to parents and students about where and how to go to the college of their choice. In HK there are high expectations, and lots of pressure, regarding education.
After lunch I meet up with R and her sister to say goodbye. They take me to a very unique coffee and tea house where the main attraction are all of the cats roaming around! Luckily the place is very clean with good ventilation. There is no cat smell, and I do not feel any allergic reaction. The cats are very cute, of course. I tell them my sister C would love this place! The deal is you must bring some cat snacks with you to feed the cats. These are very happy cats!
After coffee I finish my move to the hotel and then meet W. I really want to go to Jumbo's Restaurant, a very large and world famous floating restaurant in Aberdeen. We meet in Central and then take a bus to Aberdeen. We get off along the waterfront area and walk to the dock for the ferry boat that serves Jumbo's. The ferry ride is free. Before we had found the Jumbo's dock a local boatman had tried to tell W that the only way to Jumbo's was on his boat for $30HK! Hah!
When I was in Taipei I had gone to the Taipei International Travel Fair, where a representative of Jumbo's had given me a flyer that would get me a complete meal for two for $398 HK. I presented the flyer to the waitress. She referred it to her superviser, who said he did not know anything about it, and it was not valid now. But W was a good negotiator, and we ended up getting a better meal for $450HK total.
Jumbo's is a very large floating structure, with 3 levels. The dining room is on the upper, third, level. The second floor is private ballrooms, and the first floor is a museum (not open at the time). We were seated at the far end of the dining room, near a stage on which there was a throne, and people were getting their photos taken while wearing the robes and headress of a Chinese emperor or empress. I said to W let's do that when we are done eating!
Our meal was a seafood meal, with the featured dish steamed garupa (a tender fish), my favorite! The service was good, the food good, the ambience good, all around it was a really good meal, and I was very happy to have made it hee before I left town! By the time we finished eating the Chinese robes were gone, but we did manage to take some photos on the throne!
It was time to head back. We took the boat to a different dock, and from there walked to the bus stop. The route back to town was different than the way we had come, but in 20 minutes we were in Central where we said goodbye. I then took the MTR home.
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