Duration: August 7th to 16th, 2000
Airline: Virgin Atlantic
Package: (Economic ticket + 7 hotel room nights)
Total basic costs: HK$10,500.00 per head
Actual expenses: $$$$ (you should see Ali's pale complexion)
Tour Members: Joni and Ali-Wani

Please click here to see trip photos!

Day Four

St. Albans here we come!  At the request of Ali, me being the greatest tour guide (of no where) lead the way to St.Albans - a modern town of Herfordshire where I stayed for a few months five years ago.

We took the tube to King's Cross and interchanged for Thames Line to St. Albans.  The pleasant ride took only 20 minutes as we were lucky enough to get on the express train.  To my surprise, most of the shops I "donated" before are still there.  In Hong Kong, shops change almost quarterly.

Lunch : Today we had our most expensive lunch in UK and I happened to be the "victim".  As we both enjoy indulging in fine dining and missed having good food for so long (Hong Kong has all the super best cooks from all over the world), we couldn't resist the temptation of an expensive looking restaurant situated on a quiet avenue near the market place.   Without hesitation, we helped to be seated in a quiet corner (the truth is: we were the only customers there). As what you pay is what you get, we were treated like VIP by the manager.  The petite waiter even sang us a song and blew over a non-contagious kiss.  At the end the bill came and it was close to 80 pounds.  I wonder if we were being charged for that promotional kiss!  Thank God the waiter is Italian not French - I heard that French kiss is even more expensive!

The air is always better in a town than in a city.  Ali was very pleased with the clean fresh air since she complained so much about having a dirty nose in the past few days.  Later, we bought a few sexy tops from one of the boutiques in a small shopping centre.  Well, a sexy outfit may not be really make you look sexy but definitely will make you feel good.  A pretty and young-looking saleslady from that boutique approached me and asked me in an embarrassing tone:

"May I ask you where you bought your pants?"

Three other salesladies came all of a sudden waiting for my answer anxiously.

"Oh, you like my black punky pants?"  I said.

"Yes, we do!  Flare bottom is hit now but with double-lined beads covered all over the out seams of a pants is pretty cool!  Did you buy it here?"

I broke those poor girls heart  by telling them the truth....

"Sorry but I bought it in HK!"

I took the liberty and spent ten minutes to promote Hong Kong on behalf of Hong Kong Tourist Association.  See, I am doing the same job as Jacky Chan and Chow Yuen Fat, although I don't get a discount from HKTA.

Enough money spent in St. Albans - later we escaped to Covert Garden with the hope of finding a decent restaurant.  But it came out to be another fatal attraction and big challenge to our purse.   Luckily, the temptation was over in a short time due to closing time, we arrived rather late!  So, we were just wondering around doing "market research".  It was quite amazing to see a few trendy dancers performing freely in the street.  I also like to watch the street artists giving hand painting tattoos. Thought of getting one myself but just don't want to keep poor Ali waiting in the wind.

Dinner : Bella Pasta, a middle class Italian chain restaurant where you can find everywhere in London (Italian again! Mama-miya).  Unfortunately, it was very noisy (and who said only Chinese is loud?) and hot inside (most restaurants/
hotels/shops are not air-conditioned in Europe.)

Enough "damage" for the day, so Ali went straight to bed while I was surfing the internet.  Hey, you've got mail!  "Huk-O"...., better email Romeo before he dies...haha!

...to be continued.

Posted with permission of the author.  1997 - 2000 Hi-Tech Development Co., Ltd.  All rights reserved.