My penultimate Blog

Firstly we have a missing Meisterism (can't quite remember the context of this one). "Wouldn't it be great to be the bullet proof man, dodging all those bullets". And why would you want to dodge them Meister?

One more Blog to go to try and wrap this incredible journey up.

We Did it Wanchai

As they say, "It ain't Over 'Till the Fat Bloke Sings", so this seemed to be an ideal way to end my contribution to the Blog (well probably). It really should be an Elvis song given our experience in the White Stag, although I'm sure he has sung this at some stage, most people have. But it's Frank Sinatra's My Way that's going to end things, specially adapted to pay homage to our home from home in Hong Kong. Sing it loud and sing it proud.
　
And now, the end is near,
And we approach the final posting.
My friends, we're all now home,
We’ve had such fun, and we're not boasting.
We’ve lived a week that's full
We’ve drunk in bars and that is no lie.
And more, much more than this,
We did it Wanchai.

Headaches? We’ve had a few,
But then again, we did deserve them.
We did what we had to do
Without much sleep, without exemption.
We planned each bar and club,
Each restaurant, never a day dry,
And more, much more than this,
We drank in Wanchai.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure we knew,
When we stayed out, more than we should do,
But through it all, when there was beer,
We drank it all and called for more.
We drank all that and still went back,
To dear old Wanchai.

We’ve loved, we’ve laughed and cried,
Bet on some nags, that end up losing,
But now, as tears subside,
We find this blog all so amusing.
To think we wrote all that,
And may we say, not in a shy way,
Oh no, we're there again,
We're down in Wanchai.

For what is Hong Kong? What has it got?
If not Wanchai, then it has naught,
To the White Stag, just every night,
Trawl round the bars, until first light.
The HodgeBlog shows, we drank Tsing Taos
And did it Wanchai.
　

Tour Quotes and Meisterisms

All the way through the trip there would be little asides, exchanges and comments that prompted smiles, laughs, guffaws or the occasional episode of apoplexy (largely depending on how much alcohol we’d had at the time). The challenge for us all was remembering these when it came to putting the blogs together. I think we did a pretty good job but the consensus was that we should consolidate some of the favourites into a single post. What follows therefore is a list of those we can remember, some already recorded, as the observant reader will realise, and some that have not. Most have not been attributed, as it’s often difficult to remember who said what, but for those present there will be some noticeable ‘Meisterisms’.

"Do you want any tea or coffee to go with your biscuits?"
"Won’t it be cold by the time we get there?"
(exchange with Harrods rep at Heathrow, buying a gift for our HK hotel booker)


"Can I help you out with any directions?"
"Which way is Hong Kong?"
"I think most people head for Departures sir"
(the afore-mentioned Harrods rep joins in the fun)


"The flight doesn’t close until 6:20, we’ll leave about 6:00"
(sitting in a bar at Heathrow prior to seeing the [Gates C - via Transit - 20 minutes] sign)


"Could you put me in a room with Jacuzzi"

"Forget the MTR, let’s go from the Wanchai Ferry Terminal, it’s closer and we can walk it"
(A comment that had me well on the way to my target of losing 25% of my bodyweight in sweat on this trip!)


"You wanna watch?"
"Why, what are you going to do?"
"Let me think about it for a minute"
"We might not get a second chance"
"On the face of it I don’t need one"
"They’re not second hand are they?"
(by this time the bemused hawker had turned his attentions elsewhere)　


"Do we want Tsim Sha Tsui or East Tsim Sha Tsui?"
"Dunno, depends how hungry you are I suppose"
(on being faced with a choice of MTR stations)


"Hi Lons, you OK?"
"No"

[Sing as though no-one can hear you and] dance like Virgil from Thunderbirds practising River Dance whilst
being stung by a swarm of wasps.

"You don’t see many goalkeepers standing on their feet these days"

‘Seriously, f**k off and get some sleep you attention seeker’
(A loving text from home)


"So you’ve got a 2 for 1 offer on Margaritas?"
"No it’s a 1 for 1 offer"
"Erm yes, so we get 2 for every 1 we buy?"
"No, you get 1 for every 1 you buy"
" Erm OK, so we can buy 4 and get 8?"
"Yes"
"OK, we’ll have 8 Margaritas, no we’ll have 4, but you’ll bring us 8 right?"
"Yes"
(At the Café Déco in the Venetian Casino, Macau- proving that syntax doesn’t transcend international boundaries that well)


"Of course it’s tomorrow now isn’t it"
(10 minutes past midnight at the above mentioned Café Décor, probably still waiting for those Margaritas)


"It’s that Big Moon Day today"
"Yes, but I don’t think it’s compulsory"
"Good, I don’t want to make an arse of myself"

"I’ll have a Tsing Tao please"
"Your drink sir"
"Thanks, but could you take the ginger ale back and bring me a Tsing Tao"
(In Dickens bar – proving that, like syntax, language doesn’t transcend international boundaries that well either)


"See if you can get a Grouper discount Pete"


"Oi Guilo, leave that fish alone"
(Pink Floyd cover from the Rainbow Restaurant on Lamma Island).


"I used to be a member of the Magic Circle but I’ve now joined the Magic Square, it’s similar but we don’t cut corners"

"Don’t talk to me about sophistication, I’ve been to Leeds"

"There’s one of those indoor outdoor swimming pools down there"

"Could you do us some shots Johnny?"
"Do you want nice or do you want nasty?"
(could have been any one of 8 nights at the White Stag)


"How would you like your steak sir?"
"In a baguette"
(In Wooloomooloo, one of HK’s most exclusive steakhouses)


"Let's not go to Wanchai tonight"
(No, never heard that one!)

Sad to say ...

And now for that final Blog to close this chapter of my life’s experience.

What I can say without hesitation is that I will always have fond memories the travelling party and those who so graciously received us and looked after us during the tour. Here are a couple of group photo’s and it is clear that we were all having one hell of a good time. There was the dinner at the American Restaurant:

The grand Venetian Casino (main entrance):

And that unforgettable experience in the White Stag with guest appearance from Debbie McGee:

So it was that the tour had to come to an end and it is only fair to take a quick peek at our principle reason for being there in the first place – the mighty Hodge – must have been a good one that’s all I can say:

And just in case you don’t know the chorus to that old Harry Belafonte favourite - all together now:

And I'm sad to say

I'm on my way

Won't be back for many a day

My heart is down

My head is turning around

We had to leave a little girl in Hong Kong town.

That's All Folks!!!!!

Reflections of my mind.

OK, so it’s time for another entry from the Meister (can I say that?). Time indeed, for a little reflection on some of the key characters in our little tour party.

Now any regular reader of this blog will be well aware that Lons was not too well during the trip – seeking attention obviously! But here are a couple of pictures that provide proof he was not quite himself. It started with a demonstration of a real passion for a certain royal (or was it what she was drinking?

Clearly, he was a little upset by the encounter and promptly fell ill (and asleep or dead on the way to Macau)…

… where he kept disappearing for some reason!!

Must say he didn’t look too good – and it certainly wasn’t the Margarita’s that caused the problem!

I guess this is how he really felt:

Quite a good likeness I thought!!!

Now, the Blog mentions the legendary Kiwi in a number of places and for a variety of reasons. One of these being his ability to sleep anywhere and in any position. Well here is the proof. At Happy Valley - clearly not sufficient stimulus to keep awake!

On the Tram….

… and at the end of a memorable tour in the White Stag (Ahhhhhh!!!):

Clearly in need of greater stimulus!!

Incidentally, Kiwi and Clive did their best to keep their distance - either that or someone ‘let rip’!

Which one do YOU think looks more relieved???

Or perhaps it was just the Invisible Man trying to get to the bar??

Now, someone somewhere made a few comments about the size of my – well – tripod (well it has to be called something!). But the interesting question is ‘was the beer glass very large or the tripod very small - these Blogs can be deceptive?’

And now to a few Hong Kong anomalies:

This was interesting from the perspective there was no work taking place and no danger of anything (other than walking into the barriers) – clearly just nowhere else to store things like this.

One cannot tour Hong Kong without observing the interesting naming conventions. Would YOU buy jewellery from this store?

Now I know where all those camel toes come from – the grow on trees (at least they do in Hong Kong!

And clearly somewhere you go to relax after a frustrating day shopping and being unable to find what you are looking for!

That’s it for now. Just one more Blog to come from me.

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Or for those who prefer English, A Little Night Music, or for any pretentious twats out there, Mozart's Serenade No 13 for Strings in G Major. Anyway here are a couple of videos of the nightly lightshow that plays across HK Island's skyscrapers. It's a very popular attraction this and easy to get to, just get one of the Star Ferries over to TST and follow the crowds to the viewing gallery just before 8pm every night.

At the beginning of the second video you'll here Meister telling me " I can't get any of these", proof that by using point and click methodology you might not get great photos but you do get something. I'm sure Meister did get some video and photos of the lightshow though and suspect they are better quality than these. Hopefully he'll share them with us.

NB - Just played these videos and they look awful, uploading them to the blog also seems to have overlayed machine gun fire across the soundtrack. Anyway I'll leave them on here, but I suggest you remove any pets from the room before pressing the play button!

Come on England !

Up earlyish this morning in eager anticipation of the England v Scotland Rugby World Cup game, so you might get a little bloggage.

Al will actually be at the England game having popped over to Auckland for it - 'popped over' in the context of a near 11 hour flight of course.

Not sure it will be a high scoring game but I'm keeping the faith and have just backed England to win by 15 points or more.

COME ON ENGLAND !

NB - I note with some amusement that Tonga are 13-6 up at half time against the French. This could be an entertaining morning.

Post Game Update - Well I lost my money but England won the game, just, and Scotland are on the plane home. Bit of a scrappy game but an exciting last 10 minutes, Al must have enjoyed it. England face France in the quarter finals and, judging by their respective performances today, it won't be a classic.