having only left tai wai once in the past 7 days, i felt this friday night could not go unchallenged. joe and i caught the KCR down to tsim sha tsui, walked into the familiar shop lanes of chungking mansions, seated ourselves at BUTT and enjoyed some fantastic chicken samosas with mint chutney and the goings on going by. then headed down to the waterside, with carlsbergs in hand, and sat on the benches transfixed (yet again) by the view of Hong Kong island in her diamond attire. ironically as i took the first sip of my beer a boat went by sporting a huge danish flag!
a couple of hours passed before we took the star ferry over to central and walked down the piers to where the Lamma Island ferry leaves from. a small "bar" is tucked inside the ferry terminal offering Old Speckled Hen and other assorted beers for a mere 25HKD a pint! much to my surprise, and immediate joy, i spotted a packet of Walkers Salt & Vinegar chips by the beer bottles!
joe and i sat on the pier steps sipping beer and playing maier until brooke met us a little while later and we all played. time went slowly, fun and games, the odd sounding of a ferry horn, the spattering of rain, the cool breeze, the towering IFC building behind, the games of guessing whether passers by were headed for Lamma or Discovery Bay based entirely on clothing, the soft sound of the waves, the night falling.
as the rain began we retreated to the escalators and headed up to Gecko pub where we sat in comfortable couches, ed came along, maier was played again with absinthe in tall glasses and a hens party going crazy with bunny ears and a couple of bananas (details of which i leave to the imagination). then, since the rain had stopped, we walked around Soho trying to find food, ending up only finding more beer, then finding a lebanese kebab place with a white guy dragging a baby around at 3 in the morning and forgetting his beer and cigarettes numerous times. we ate great kebabs, finished our beers, and headed down the hill to catch the bus home, and hopefully a few winks on the way (sleep that is, not affirmation).
strangely enough as soon as we sat down on the bus a rather enthusiastic guy interrupted us to ask whether we had been on the same bus, slightly later, one week ago. thinking about it we had. he said he remembered us, and thus the thought of sleeping on the bus became a more and more remote wish. he talked, and talked, and life began to blur, like the lights in the tunnels, or the advertisments on the round-a-bouts. finally we reached tai wai, caught a cab, opened the door and fell into bed
|
