Text 8878, 73 rader
Skriven 2014-01-16 12:14:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:261/1381)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: north South Asia 48
===============================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 01-12-14  14:22 <=-

 ML> Well, this leg is just about over, and with only small
 ML> exceptions we were both spoiled - good feelings all around
 ML> especially as I didn't make her eat any scary stuff.

Or force her to watch you consuming too much of it...?

 ML>> the first class lounge in Hong Kong, which is embarrassingly
 ML>> luxurious.
 NB>> Nice.  :)

 ML> The food was not great, the booze middle-shelf except for
 ML> the Champagne, which was from the Peninsula Hotel and made
 ML> by Deutz: it was nicely balanced, quaffable and appreciable,
 ML> with just a hint of herbaceous bitterness giving way to a
 ML> very nice texture and citrusy-oaky flavor. A bit of bottle
 ML> age gave a pleasant slightly oxidized toastiness. A slight
 ML> contretemps - the place has been renovated all in what I
 ML> thought was black glass but Lilli informs me was black
 ML> granite. In any case, on my way from the restroom I walked
 ML> full tilt right into the wall, my eyesight not telling the
 ML> difference between a moderately-lit corridor and a shiny
 ML> rock face.
 
Ok, not as nice as it should have been....  sigh...   Black granite,
black glass... not much to distinguish between them, both shiny and
reflective, and dangerous...  ;0   I trust you sustained little damage,
except perhaps to your self-esteem...?

 ML>> A lot was spent figuring out what we were going to do in
 ML>> the far north: Hall of Opium vs. House of Opium, that sort
 ML>> of thing.

Ah... the minor details... ;)

 ML> If all goes according to plan, we may just take the tiniest
 ML> peek into Burma or Laos - sometimes there are painless ways
 ML> to get brag rights to having been in a country. 

Quite.

 ML> There's a
 ML> duty-free market at the edge of Myanmar where you can go
 ML> without a visa, just pay 500 baht, and within sight of the
 ML> Hall of Opium (I think), right in the middle of the river, I
 ML> think it's the Mekong, there's an island that appears at low
 ML> water; it is probably the only place in the world where
 ML> three nations could reasonably lay claim to some property
 ML> and nobody does. You can apparently take a boat there; the
 ML> Google satellite view makes it look like even I could swim it.

Sounds like an interesting place...  Can you claim having been in all
three potential claimee nations, then...?   :)  Is the market on the
island, or are they two separate places...?

 ML> On the first part of the trip we did the easy way to North
 ML> Korea - went round the table at Panmunjom, had a minute in
 ML> the evil empire under the watchful eyes of various guards,
 ML> and scuttled back.

That sounds like a much safer way to visit NK than most...  ;)  As long
as you didn't say anything considered derogatory whilst on the wrong
side of the table, you ought to be able to make it back home safely...
one would think...  ;)

ttyl       neb

... I make faux French onion soup with illegal Algerian onions.

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: www.holo.homeip.net:   -telnet://holo.homeip.net (1:261/1381)