Hong Kong Fluey, Part 3 (of 4)

Panoramic shot of my hosts' flat in Tung Chung

Dec. 13: Tried but failed to keep my congee-resto breakfast light. Afterwards on the way to SoGo we noticed a lot of police cars and TV news vans parking right outside the department store, and on-site reporters getting their TV faces on, microphones at hand. Sunday Man-on-the-street puff pieces? Who knows/cares. I was there to pick out a housewarming/Xmas/birthday gift to for old classmate/friend/little sister Aimee Uy (Chong,) currently living here in HK w/ husband Richard. Settled for Baby shampoo-bath set.

After one MTR misstep (fyi, Chai Wan not the same as Wan Chai, but the the right-to-left reading can make things confusing for novices) I was off to Tung Chung, located at the end of Kowloon. With one transfer to Central Station the whole commute took about an hour and I exited into what turned out to be the Citygate Outlet Mall. With the exception of the restaurants and the gadget shop, all shops had items at presumably rock-bottom prices. And me w/o a shopping list. Oh, yeah, they didn't have any galoshes, either.

Aims met me at the Adidas shop and we (later joined by Richard) had dumplings for lunch, where ordering from the menu was like taking a college entrance exam: just tick on the right circle and hope for the best. And boy we ordered a lot of dumplings. I know Aims is supposed to be eating for 2, and Richard just looks like he is as well, but... whoof. (I kid, Bong. I kid.) After the hearty meal we took a walk back to their flat, located in a private compound in an area that reminds me of the apartment complexes rising up in Bonifacio Global City: a budding and quickly growing urban ecosystem.

After the brief tour Aims and I just bought some gum and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by their park bench to shoot the shit. Preggy life for her (at 5 months and counting) is nothing but busy right now. When hubby's department was recently downsized she became the sole breadwinner, so Bong went back to school to get his Masters degree. But resiliency is her strong suit (as well as Numbers), so I wouldn't worry about her making it through this w/ head up high. I'm also cutting this short before I end up airing all the dirty laundry here.

When I got back to my hotel room I was blessed w/ an uninterrupted WiFi connection, so time was killed chatting w/ Robs and Eileen. I later met up w/ everyone else for some wonton and noodle soup dinner, as well as my first taste of HK gelatto for dessert. And the mystery of the parked police and news people is solved. Turns out while we were at the wedding banquet last night there was another acid-attack (the 5th this year) that happened nearby.

Evett wasn't feeling well so he got the bed this time. A couple of hours later I started feeling a bit under the weather, as well. Ugh, the one time my Internet connection's not going away I'm losing strength to type on the keyboard to chat.