Luxuries and Testes

Sun 9 Feb 2014

The bed at James and Sarah's place was spectacular. The last night's sleep we'd had in an actual bed (I don't mean anything fancy, just not an airport floor/coach) had been on Koh Wai in a wooden hut where we had to try and lull ourselves to blankety bed whilst getting distracted by the rat trying to gnaw its way in.

Here, memory foam toppers, soft bouncy pillows, and a pristine white duvet kept us snug and warm. This bed was like sinking into a giant marshmallow. If that wasn't luxury enough, the power shower had power and HOT water. We both found it hard to prise ourselves out of bed, and then out of the shower, but we made it up and were greeted by the smell of bacon.

Not weird ham—real genuine smoky-smelling delicious bacon. When Sarah presented the two bacon sarnies she'd been kind enough to make, we were both very grateful and yet strangely shocked by the size of the bread. It was giant, larger-than-life bread. It actually wasn't giant, but we'd gotten so used to miniature teeny tiny square Asian sweet bread that this looked supersized. This seeded batch was delightful and we both demolished the butties in no time.

Sarah and James were due to take Sabelle to Stanley beach for the day and asked if we wanted to join them. It's a really lovely place and I visited last time, so we were keen to go... there are also some cheaper shops where I could potentially purchase a pair of trousers! This would be a warm welcome addition to my diminishing wardrobe.

James and Sarah tried to warn us about Sabelle's car temper, saying she cries nonstop on any drive, but she was good as gold and only had a little whimper. At the petrol station, the rain started to pour down—going to Stanley would be a huge waste as everything is outside. James and Sarah dropped us at Causeway Bay instead and went back home.

It was absolutely packed full of people, everywhere. We walked about and checked out some shops—this time a little more in budget than Chanel, Armani, and Vera Wang. The mission to find suitable lightweight warm trousers was suspended and we left clothing and swapped it up for weird Chinese street markets.

The open-air, E. coli-riddled butchers displayed every inch of the animal. "Fancy a bit of cow testes for dinner, darling?" said no one ever. Tails covered in hair hung next to pig snouts, lungs, and balls.

Feeling more than a touch queasy, we walked through the rain and back to Lan Kwai Fong and successfully found a lens cap to save our camera from certain scratches. The walk was long but we were kept fully entertained by excellently named shops like 'Wanko' and all the glittery old Chinese signs above our heads.

Back in Central, we walked around the bars and restaurants looking for a light (affordable) bite. Cheese was now the only key element missing from our diets, so we found a wine bar, ordered two glasses of red, and a cheese board. The mix of five excellently selected fromages was accompanied by sourdough toast, walnuts, apricots, apples, and raisins. The craving was suppressed for a short while.

We walked a little longer and then headed back for a delightful roast dinner. Any of you that have traveled before will understand the sanctity of the great British roast—hot juicy chicken, fresh veg, cauliflower cheese, creamy mash, and GRAVY. It was a welcome slice of home and warmed us up from our cold rainy day out.

The evening was mostly spent catching up on family news and discussing/YouTubing shark attacks. We never knew how morbidly fascinated Sarah was with shark attacks, and we love it.

The next morning we started with the list of jobs that only seems to increase. We spent the whole morning sorting a USA visa entry thingy, booking a flight to Mexico, trying to find a place in Tokyo, and planning a few top things to see and such.

After a few key things were ticked off, we headed out to find some wine and a dessert to go with dinner. This was a harder challenge than I'd anticipated. We couldn't find a single patisserie anywhere. We got something in the end and enjoyed a lovely salmon dinner and watched Filth... not quite quiet after-dinner viewing, but it was entertaining!