My adventure… a long winded journal of those 3 precious weeks, day 1

The journey to Hong Kong is now complete and I suppose the adventure that started over a year ago is finally drawing to a close too. I would never in my wildest imagination that a Hong Kong television sitcom could have brought such an astounding and rewarding experience. If one told me two years ago the things that I did and am doing, I would have said that they were crazy. What could have brought such an amazing change into my normal life? The tangent was so wild that none of my friends even thought I was serious. Now, was it just the perfection of Off Pedder? Or was it because of the “emotional” attachment to the people that I have “met” on the blog? Once, a long time ago, 網友seems like such a foreign being but at this time, all I can say is that I have experienced something really special. I think this all happened because of the Chinese verse… 天時地利人和， a fantastic show, a warm atmosphere in $1’s blog, and an imaginary or real close affinity to the girls. With me being in the USA while the show and the frenzy were happening, don’t know whether it was a positive or a negative situation. I could be part of the group yet was also not quite involved, strange isn’t it?
Many have asked why I would even consider taking this vacation and I seriously thought about the reasons for quite some time. First of all, I had really wanted to meet the girls, they don’t know it but they had spent the last year brightening up my life and I had so much wanted to see and get to know the face behind the names. Secondly, the underlying nervous, neurotic reason is… with the changes that have happened since the middle part of this year, if I wait any longer, I was afraid the feelings that held the first group together no longer exist. Finally, the last reason is that with “Someday” ending soon, the tiny thread that connects the group in general would finally be broken. So, with those thoughts in mind, I decided to ask my boss for an extended vacation and lo and behold, she was so great that this whole trip was on the house! Three weeks without work but with pay is definitely a big bonus! So off I went…
Day 1: The excitement and nervousness of a trip out of country in over 15 years and going on my own is also a first time. Rushing out of the office and having been dropped off at the airport 2 hours before flight time, I had the opportunity to take a deep breath and tell myself that everything will be okay and not to have too high of expectations. The flight was grueling and I couldn’t believe my bad luck. Every stop over, I had the longest walk to the next gate. As the flight was finally landing, I started to get worry that NN and I would not meet up at the airport because she said she was going to greet me based on “感覺”! Geez… what can I say? All I could do was trust her but thank my lucky stars that practical M would be there also. I could not help but start laughing when I saw the “signage”, of all things, a drawing of a HK dollar! Finally, the first gals that I saw was M and NN and they were almost exactly as I imagined. The rush to the apartment in “Sham Shui Po” on the little red taxi (which was parked who knows where… another long walk… a prelude of what was to come, I guess). When I got there, I was thinking “Oh… my goodness… that many flights of stairs… I am going to die lugging this suitcase up the steps!” Then! The shock of my life… the tiny little bathroom! (By this time, I was totally soaked both in hot and cold sweat!) Remembering my manners… I put on my best grin and thank Aunty for letting me stay there. Next thing on the agenda was lunch! I guess for many in Hong Kong, lunch means “飲茶”. Another “short” walk… I am getting the hint that short for them is definitely not “short” for me! Grin and bear it kiddo, you just started! After lunch is getting a facial done… thanks to NN’s thoughtful arrangement. It was a very relaxing affair even if I didn’t fall asleep during the process. Then, we had a small snack at one of those little shops that have tables out on the sidewalk. My first HK outdoors café! Ha-ha! After that it was time to meet up with someone that I was MSNing for last few months, a pal from Singapore! NN put me in a taxi and off I go… not knowing that the hotel location that she gave was… wrong. Well, not her fault because the hotel name was changed just a short while ago. So, while in the taxi, I asked the driver how much longer and he replied… “Oh, it’s just around the corner.” Then I said, “Mody Road, right?” Here’s his reply, “唔係呀！ 你個朋友話舊機場嗰間喎！” So I just told him to please just go to Mody Road. In the mean time, the phone my boss gave me had no battery life, and since NN also forgot my HK phone card I was fidgeting between both phones, I was not able to call out or receive any calls. At the same time, NN found out that she sent me to the wrong hotel and she rushed there to see if she can find me (bless her heart!) and the girls that I was suppose to meet went upstairs to Oinky’s room. So here I was… roaming around in the lobby , looking for a group of girls and nada! Finally sat myself down and went on WP to post a comment… “Am I at the right hotel?” not knowing that NN also posted a note looking for me! Hey, my Blackberry screen is tiny and the characters are even tinier, ok? Don’t know why I didn’t even see her post. After a few minutes, I braved myself and walked up to the bell desk and asked if “XXX” is registered in this hotel and whether she has checked in. Then all of a sudden, I felt “eyes” on my back and I turned around… there they were! Four beautiful creatures with grins on their faces… I was so relieved! But wait! Weren’t there suppose to be five?!? Don’t tell but I didn’t get one of their names correct! Cute and adorable, Roro! Sorry!! ^^

Dinner was fun and we had great Korean food. Yummy! Then we went and got dessert, frozen yogurt! Thanks, girls, for the dinner and great company. Thank you, 晶晶for those cute socks! I treasure them too much to wear them. Ha-ha! Fufu joined us for dinner a bit later because the poor thing had to work late.  Too bad I wasn’t thinking, I forgot to bring my camera with me and so unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take any pictures with them. (This picture was sent to me by Oinky a few days ago.)  I stayed the night with Oinky at the hotel and who ended up in the same elevator with us? A madam with a client negotiating prices of all things! Geez… “$500”… “No! No! $700! My girls are all pretty!” @@ What a laugh! It became our “code” after that night! By the way, have you ever seen a “SINGLE!” shower door?!? C’mon! How was I supposed to keep the bathroom floor from getting wet if the door only covers half the bath tub? Talk about dilemma! I asked Oinky afterwards and all she could do was laugh. We talked and yak a bit until exhaustion overcame us but sleep was short and brief that night, I guess it was due to jetlag or just plain anxiousness on my part, I got up at 5 in the morning with another full day ahead to forward to.