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Published: November 12th 2007
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I just wanted quickly to thank everyone for the positive comments on my bloggin. When I started this thing I didn't know if anyone would really read it and really just wanted it as a kind of journal record for my travels. You all have been really generous and I thought I'd return the favor by not wasting your time whenever possible. This entire entry is about a weekend visit from Bob Hennessy, a "unique" friend of mine to say the least, from my fraternity days at USC so I'd assume a lot of you might feel a little lost and not get as much pleasure as the people on this list who have indeed been a part of the Bob Hennessy experience at some point in their lifetimes. Just thought I'd warn you in case I'm wasting your time halfway through this thing.... An amazing weekend to say the least.
Thursday November 8th, Bob Hennessy, the avocado-loving peanut butter monster from our early days phratting at USC, arrives in Hong Kong for a weekend of Asian discoveries. Yes, that's right, over 24 hours of travel for four days and four nights of unreal good times in Hong
Kong and Macau. Not a lot of people I know who would endure so much traveling for unknown rewards in a foreign land but Bob had been told of a Drink-n-Tinkle (a urinal that basically overlooks all of HK's skyline so you're basically peeing on the city from an aerial vantage point like a kid playing God) so trip had to be made. Thank god we didn't spend too much time throughout the weekend looking for a skytop urinal somewhere in the city's many skyscrapers.
The night Bob arrived we headed to dinner in Causeway Bay for some local cuisine at Bob's request (this coming from the guy who filled most of his days in Tokyo during a spring break trip we took Sophomore year dining on T.G.I. Friday's chocolate sundaes, Haagen Dazs cups, and generally offending the honor of any sushi chef we came into contact with by putting far too much wasabi on his fish). Over dinner I explained some of the main things Bob should keep his eye out for around Hong Kong, his favorite of which being Asians' affinity with throwing up the peace sign right by their cheek in every photo opportunity.
This is clearly evidenced in E-V-E-R-Y picture he posed for throughout the weekend. We crashed early Thursday night at Bob's hotel (one of the nicest beds I've had in the last few months) and woke up the next morning to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island.
After a two hour trek to the world's largest outdoor, seated bronze Buddha (at 31 meters high Bob and I considered the difficulty and inevitable bliss of constructing a 32 m high version in Van Horn, Texas just for kicks), Bob and I were discouraged to say the least to find out that the massive structure was completed not only in this century, but was indeed younger than either of us... younger even than my sister we ironically refer to as Little Bitty. So began our photographic opportunities at the Great Buddha of 1993. We also hiked down the hill from the world's largest outdoor, seated bronze Buddha (for now) to Po Lam Monastery, one of Hong Kong's best monasteries (whatever that means). Highlight here, other than some more good photo opportunities and an awkward run in with a woman accompanying a boy with down syndrome who insisted on giving
us uncooked peanuts and fruit, was catching one of the monks talking on a cellphone. Amazing to see globalization's effects on this side of the world.
In the afternoon we headed to Victoria Peak, basically the main attraction of Hong Kong for its spectacular views of the Hong Kong skyline. We were able to get there just as the sun was making its final dredge under the horizon giving us a dim view at the end of dusk and then of course the full effect of the skyscrapers' lights in the darkness of night. After some more photos filled with peace/victory/fight on signs from Bob, we stopped for dinner at the Peak Lookout Restaurant. Great food and good fun as Bob ordered the Typhoon Spice Crab (basically a giant crab COVERED in pepper spices) and I got to watch him demolish the messy thing as only Bob can do. After dinner we met up with my roommate Vishaal and Matt (my travel buddy) to catch a ferry to Macau. I posted earlier about Macau but its basically the Vegas of SE Asia only a ferry ride away from Hong Kong. We checked into the Venetian and hit
the tables. Bob crashed early as he obviously still hadn't acclimated to the time change and I hadn't been too generous in providing him with time to sleep. I felt no guilt at this, citing the case of Project 21 (Bob's 21st birthday), in which a group of us SAE bros spent a long weekend in Georgia and got about 92 minutes of sleep the entire time. For all who had to endure this ridiculously fun weekend of binge drinking to keep from falling asleep, trust me returning the favor was everything I thought it'd be and more. God that Braves game.
After a loooooooonnnnggg but extremely enjoyable night out in Macau (one of the few times I've actually gotten to spend time with my friends at HKUST with all this travelling), we woke up early the next morning for the Macau Tower Bungy. Oh yeah I forgot to mention this was the point of the entire trip to Macau. I never in a million years thought Bob was going to even CONSIDER jumping off a 700+ ft tower with a cord around his ankles but old Bobbles was full of surprises this entire weekend. My roommate
Macau Tower Bungy
I think this is where it sets in that this is not just an amusement park ride provided the most hilarious jump by doing it in a SpiderMan outfit. You have no idea what its like to watch one of the funniest individuals you know fly at you from 700 feet up in the sky dressed as SpiderMan. I will never forget that! 6 of us HKUSTERs did the jump, capped off by the man of the weekend throwing up the peace sign for a photo op at the bottom of his jump, and we all got video and photos to take home to our eager mothers. The rest of the afternoon was basically a write off as my head throbbed from the night before coupled with a minute and a half hanging by my ankles. I actually had a little scare as the blood vessels in my eye sockets must have popped or something making it look like someone had sprinkled cinnamon on my eyelids (or as Bob put it, someone had given me hickies on my eyes).
That night, back in Hong Kong, we joined a family friend of Bob's named Frank Lavin. Frank works at Cushman and Wakefield in HK and was at one time the ambassador for the US to
Singapore. Needless to say we had some interesting conversation as he explained philanthropic work he'd done in Sumatra after the tsunami as well as the mixed-use developments C & W is doing now in middle markets in mainland China. After dinner, we headed to Lan Kwai Fong to show off HK's infamous, expat-packed drinking holes and treated Frank to a beer to thank him for dinner. The next morning we had lunch (not brunch) at the Peninsula Hotel, HK's most well-known luxury hotels, and actually headed back that night for drinks at the rooftop bar. And wouldn't you know that this rooftop bar had a bathroom with urinals facing a glass wall overlooking the city! THE DRINK-AND-TINKLE!!! I couldn't believe our luck.
The time between our excursions to the Peninsula on Sunday was my day to show Bob my side of Hong Kong. We made the trek out to my school (about 45 mins from Central Hong Kong) and met up with my roommate and Matt again for a day trip to Tai Long Wan, our surf spot unspoiled by residential development, clean bathrooms, or Lonely Planet references. Bob and I both tried our luck on Matt's
surfboard in the choppy waves without much success but generally had a good time watching the sun come down and reminiscing about our hilarious weekend. The long hike back through the green hills gave us our spot of exercise for the weekend and gave Bob a few more incredulous views to take home. We capped off the day with an entertaining dinner engaging the marine wildlife for sale at the Sai Kung Fish Market in a fishing village near my school in Clearwater Bay. We had a set meal platter including crab, lobster, vegetables, grouper, shrimps, rice and beer all for about $13 a person. Without a doubt, the absolute best weekend I've had in Hong Kong.
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