Hong Kong!

My last couple of days here have been so great! On our last sea day we had a farewell variety show, with some pretty challenging stuff from the two entertainers still on board, including the singer Gregg Arthur and violinist Vincenzo Gentile.  After the show I went to one of the lounges to listen to Jim Badger, the solo pianist, do his thing - which is kind of a mix of piano playing, singing, singalongs, and standup comedy.  Gregg Arthur was there too, and we ended up chatting a bit.  I bought him a drink to say thank you for buying all of us lunch the other day, and he also got up and sang a few songs impromptu with Jim, who would also randomly insert the word "trombone" into his songs because I was there.  It was a really fun night, lots of laughter.  

We arrived in Hong Kong early yesterday morning, and I got up early to watch the sail-in through Victoria harbor - unfortunately I got cold and gave up. :-)  I met up with my friends here around 11:30 and spent the whole day with them.  Not only are the guys from Metro here, and my friend Candace who is Cody's wife, and my friend Megan is also visiting them.  They took me all over Hong Kong yesterday, which is an intense city!!  Its really amazing.  We had lunch at their favorite noodle place, went up to a viewpoint on a skyscraper, went shopping in the ladies market and electronics market, visited their apartment, and had dinner at the Peak, which is an overlook of the whole harbor.  From there we watched the light show that happens every night at 8pm with all the city lights on the skyscrapers around he harbor - incredible!  After leaving those friends, I stopped by the Four Seasons to visit another friend of mine - Phillip Brandon, who was in the a cappella group on the Summit.  His mom is in town to visit him, and they were at the hotel listening to a trio play.  It was so great to see him!  He's in Hong Kong working for Disney - playing Scar in their Lion King show.  He got up and sang a couple songs with the trio, which was really great to hear.  I got back to the ship about 12:15am, and packed my stuff. 

Today I'm about to sign off and go to the airport, where hopefully I will be able to change my flight to a later date.  If it doesn't work out, I'll still be grateful that I got to spend a fantastic day with all my friends.  I'll let you know from the airport (free wifi, I hear...) when I know what's going to happen.  

Halong Bay, day 2

Well, the tour I signed up for got cancelled, so I foraged out on my own and paid for my own tour to ride a boat in Halong Bay.  I tried to go with a group, but they were taking too long and I couldn't risk being late, so they gave me my own boat!  It was just me on this big junk made for maybe 20 or 30 people.  It was kinda fun.  The trip lasted shorter than I expected, and I thought I would see more, but he did take me to a big island where there are some famous caves.  But I felt better having gotten off and done something, rather than just staying on the Quest all day.  I would have liked to have gone to Hanoi, but it is three hours away!!  And I had to back for rehearsal, so no Hanoi.  Oh well, who knows - maybe someday I'll be back. :-)

Tonight we have the final production show with the cast - its called Sing it and Swing it. Big Band era tribute, of course.  Should be fun.  Again, there's only one showtime, which is really nice.  We have rehearsal pretty soon.  I met two more of the singers today while out and about in town, and ended up sitting down for a vietnamese coffee with them.  A coffee is actually quite complicated.  First, a small bowl of hot water, inside of which is your glass, with about a half inch of condensed milk in it.  On top of the glass is a little contraption that holds espresso grounds.  They pour more hot water into that, which slowly percolates into your glass.  After it finishes, you remove the contraption, stir your glass to mix the espresso with the condensed milk, and ta-da!! Vietnamese coffee.  Not bad at all.