Junk Boat!

Saturday was a day we'd been looking forward to almost since we arrived in China: it was junk boat day! Back during the first few weeks of work, a fellow 6-year-old teacher invited us on this all-you-can-eat/all-you-can-drink all-day-long boat cruise in Hong Kong and it was awesome!

Because we had to be in Sai Kung (which is in the New Territories, far from the central city district) by 10:30am to catch the boat, we had no option but to cross the border from China into Hong Kong at Shenzhen Bay bridge. As you might recall from our first trip to Hong Kong, this route sucked!  But on that day the ferries were down and we were there mid-morning. This time we were there early and crossing the border was a (45 minute) breeze in comparison. We got a taxi with some other teachers and drove for one hour with our jovial cab driver to Sai Kung port.

 We knew we were in the right place when we saw this van parked by the pier!

Boats by the pier.

This was our junk boat. It was chartered just for our group. Note the sun loungers on the front deck where we spent several hours and got nice red, lobstery sunburns to show for it. We could also climb up to the top deck, and there was a covered dining area on the ground floor.

Greeted with a smile and a cooler full of beer as we boarded the boat. That cooler looked much emptier by the end of the day!

A welcome platter of nacho cheese Doritos, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole was laid out for us.

And we were off! We sailed for about 30 minutes and then anchored in one spot for the rest of the day.

Lounging on the sun lounger. We had our first big rainy day earlier in the week (China's winter rainy season, once it starts, last forever!) so we'd been kind of worried, but we wound up having perfect weather. There's not too many November 3rds in Canada where you find yourself tanning on a boat!

Shitty view.

The food was awesome! The crew kept coming around with platters of amazingness. The first was veggie and cheese skewers, then there was a meatball with horseradish, cheesy bread with salsa, and... well it all gets kind of hazy after that because they also never left a person without a drink in their hand. If they saw your beer, mixed drink or wine was even only 1/3 full they'd replace or refill it. Lunch time was great, too- greek salad, potato salad, steak, chicken, gravy, cheesy veggie casserole, rolls... it was bitchin'.

Lunch with a view.

During lunch we got into the wine, and stayed into it the rest of the day. We spent most of the afternoon lounging on the top deck.

My friend Amanda, who booked the boat, was able to plug in her ipod so the music was choice! As a result, dancing happened- some amazing, amazing dancing happened and I wish I could post the video, but what if you're a student reading this?

At 5:00 the crew brought up the anchor and we started to sail back.

Some people saw this as an occasion to drink 3 beers at once :)

While we were sailing back, the crew started handing out slices of pepperoni pizza and chocolate cake. They know what we like!

THIS is how it sounded as we pulled up to the the pier. It must have looked like quite a scene.

While we were waiting for a taxi with some other teachers, a school bus full of white middle school boys stopped in the traffic in front of us for an extended period of time. There were a couple of adults on the bus supervising them and- it happened so fast- we could see one of the adults say something to the group and all of a sudden the boys all dropped their pants and MOONED US! I'd never actually been mooned in real life before, and there they were, half a dozen full moons pressed up against the windows, pointed right at us.

The light changed, I flashed the boys a thumbs up, and we got into a cab. 30 minutes later we were in Causeway Bay for DRUNKEN ASIAN DOLLAR STORE SHOPPING! Woo!

The Hello Kitty section.

At the checkout. We threw so many random things in our basket that it was like seeing it all for the first time again when we unpacked our bags later that night. We bought a Christmas tree, ornaments, 6 boxes of weird bath salts, 3 types of face masks, new drinking glasses, aromatherapy oils, salad dressing, a magna doodle, a freezable jelly duck to keep your food cold, erasers shaped like sushi, Santa Claus hats, and a green onion cutter. That's right, they sell green onion cutters.

Kathy bought a set of bungee cords, which came in handy when I popped the button on my shorts and needed something to keep them up!

Next, we walked over to Jason's to get some groceries. The bakery in the back must be famous for its' croissants because both times we've been there there's been a long line of people waiting to buy them. They bake them fresh and then serve them right off the baking sheet. We didn't wait in line last time, but they smell AMAZING, and this time Mel waited in line for us. They just taste like normal croissants. They were good, but I don't get the line.

We picked up five bags of chips (for half the price they cost here in China), about a dozen British chocolate bars, and a box of TGI Fridays potato skins (as you can tell, we're watching our weight) and then took the subway to Kowloon Station. There, we walked into Elements Mall and caught a mainland coach back to the Chinese border. Immigration was a breeze and then...

...we waited in this line for a taxi. Cabs were constantly pulling up, so it only took about 20 minutes even with all these people. We kept getting harassed by unlicensed cabbies trying to get us to ride with them for a price. They weren't even talking to the Chinese in line, but they didn't leave us alone. Would you ride with some random stranger, who is clearly already a criminal through southern China? No, I wouldn't either, though they're goddamn persistent.

And then we came home to this. Probably the biggest cockroach I've ever seen. We'd never seen one in our apartment here before, which was shocking because the lot next to our building is a gigantic construction site and I've seen enough episodes of "Infested" to know that that's a major trigger of infestations. It was in our kitchen, and just look at the antennas on that thing! It scurried across the counter and hid on our gas burner under a frying pan. We'd been in a hurry in the morning and our kitchen was the messiest it's ever been- there was the bacon pan left out from breakfast, the garbage was overflowing... we really brought this on ourselves. I wanted to just turn on the gas and burn the bastard, but Mel pointed out the unpleasant smell that would probably bring, so we teamed up: Mel lifted the frying pan and I sprayed it with Raid. As soon as the insecticide hit it, it ran off the counter, on the floor and behind the fridge. It was so big, that as it convulsed behind the fridge, it literally sounded like there was a person behind there punching the fridge. It eventually crawled out from under the fridge and rested fabulously in front of the kitchen door- it's final resting place, where it twitched and spazzed out for another 20 minutes. It was disgusting. And I was baking potato skins at the time, so I was trying to step around this thing... it was so gross.

I really hope this was a one-off because we had cockroaches in Korea and it was a nightmare. We've briefed Rufus and he now knows that it's his job to catch these cockroaches. Today, we're going to help him out as much as we can by buying some bleach and boric acid. We might even wash the dishes. That might help.

China: it aint all booze cruises in the sun, y'all.