Grinder backpacking Asia

Once again a local female goes a bit crazy for you!

When around monkeys have a dog whistle...you know one of those ultrasonic thingies.... monkeys attack as gangs, can be real, real bad. Can be fatal.

New Years? It a three day clebration? In Vietnam, its illegal to gamble, but for three days even the police gamble openly. What about Singapore?

Singapore you can gamble all you want. I think if you're a citizen you have to pay an entrance fee in order to discourage citizens from gambling unless they have the means.

I generally don't have trouble meeting people like yourself but I find it interesting that you keep finding people to navigate the country with. Is thus part of hostel life? Do people kind of expect to meet other people when staying in a hostel.

My buddy has hiked the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain twice, and he said it is typical to meet people along the way and buddy up for a stretch, hiking together.

He's formed a couple valuable friendships along the way, he said.

He stayed is hostels devoted solely to "pilgrims" while hiking, and said the fellow pilgrims are very open and friendly.

Quote: GWAE

Do people kind of expect to meet other people when staying in a hostel.

Usually yes. Even if traveling as a pair there will often be additional people for meals, suggested activites, local sights, local events such as concerts and fairs. There is usually an entire bulletin board devoted to travel companion opportunities and ride sharing arrangements. Alot of festivals and concerts have their own ride sharing web sites these days.
Are there dangers? Of course. Consider Shambala festival in Canada. Strict No Alcohol policy just means No Alcohol, definitely does NOT mean no drugs. Its a known drug fest and people do disappear sometimes leaving expensive vehicles behind.

I would be hesitant to stay at a hostel along a pilgrimage route; its very light 'backpacking' but its definitely going to be religious types.

Best Santiago hiker ever: See the Inspector Lewis series. Guy hiked the entire trail and quit three miles before the destination, turned and came back.

Fleastiff New Year's Eve last night was a big celebration. Most things are closed today, im not sure how long the holiday goes. Singapore they have residents and foreigners walk into the casino through seperate gates. Probably for the entrance fee reason.

GWAE that's one of the best part of hostels. Some people keep to themselves but I am very social and never have any trouble making friends with randoms. I mean I do it at poker tables all the time. I'm actually meeting up with a friend I met in Kuala Lumpur today in Singapore. He's flying here in a few hours.

Quote: PokerGrinder

They do have a website, I found it.

Well, you knew the name of the place and the street it was on. We didn't. All we knew was centrally located on a street with some hookers.

Quote: FleaStiff

Well, you knew the name of the place and the street it was on. We didn't. All we knew was centrally located on a street with some hookers.

Oh lol I thought I had said it was called Dorms KL my bad. Also the hookers are on most streets I think.

Yesterday the four of us went walking to Chinatown which is one of the markets that I went to earlier in the week. We visited a Hindu temple and another temple.
I think this is Ganesha.

German friend Saskia had to cover her knees in the temple.

We went to central market which again I had been there earlier in the week. I bought some very nice chopsticks for 20 Ringgit. Abass got his hand made out of wax with his middle finger up. Best part was when a Chinese woman saw it being made and was horrified and ushered her kids away very quickly. After the markets we walked to the science museum which was very neat but more importantly the place was as cold as a walk in fridge which is so nice when it is 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). We spent a good 30-40 minutes there before taking a über to Little India.
Saw this building and liked the architecture.

We stopped at a Pakistani restaurant and had amazing food. It was served on a giant banana leaf and we ate with our hands.
The food was good but pretty spicy.

Abass to my left, Saskia is the girl, Patrik beside her and yours truly beside Abass.

I took this at the start of Little India.

We then took another über to the Petronus towers again to see the KLCC garden but the sky's opened up and we took another uber back to the hostel.
Rain comes down hard in Malaysia.

I packed for today's trip to Singapore and relaxed a bit. The four of us went for a drink at a bar down the street before seeing Saskia off at the hostel. She headed for the airport to go back to Germany. Abass and I went to food street and grabbed dinner and then I went back and rested. I tried to sleep but couldn't really. I fell asleep for about a hour and then two Swedish girls came into the room after checking in. At that point I was awake. They were very cute, sad that I had to leave 😋

I'm now on the plane to Singapore doing these write ups. The flight is a nice short 45 minute flight. I will get to my hostel and get a few hours sleep to get me through the day. Sad that this is my last new country on this trip but it's been a really great fun trip. I'm already planning on being back in Asia for a month or two this coming fall. I absolutely love it here.

When you go to an "eat with your hands" place, is there a wash basin like right in the door so you can clean your hands? It looked like there was a bin of forks on the table. Are you sure they weren't pulling a joke on you? Also, how clean can a banana leaf be when it comes from a place with wild monkeys roaming the streets? (hehe). Actually, the food looked really delicious.
It's the year of the rooster. I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean. Don't eat as much chicken?

There were a couple sinks out the back door for before and after eating. The forks and spoons were for Saskia, she really didn't want to eat with her hands. The banana leads were washed before being used. I've never understood the meaning of each animal. I was born in the year of the Ram, does that mean I'm tough headed?

Quote: PokerGrinder

I was born in the year of the Ram, does that mean I'm tough headed?

Probably just a coincidence.

Oh, did you say "tough" or "hard"?

Quote: Doc

Probably just a coincidence.

Oh, did you say "tough" or "hard"?

Lol I meant hard headed.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Oh lol I thought I had said it was called Dorms KL my bad. Also the hookers are on most streets I think.

Nope, I had no idea of its name and I sort of figured that "hookers nearby" wouldn't narrow it down much even if Trip Advisor accepted that in a search statement. Anyway, it was fun to track it down on the internet and pretend to postknowledgably when I've never been anywhere near there. Sort of a bluff.

Your bluff got through.

All prices I'm listing are Singapore dollars which are almost exactly the same as the Canadian dollar.

The plane landed and I started Singapore off well by leaving the security area without my baggage. Whoops. I signed a few forms and they let me back in to retrieve my backpack. I tried the to buy a local SIM card bud sadly my phone isn't unlocked so I couldn't.

I grabbed a cab and had the best taxi driver ever. He should be a tour guide not a taxi driver. Every block or two he was telling me about places in the city that we passed and about the history of the area. He also was giving me suggestions on where to visit, I thoroughly enjoyed him. I have been quite amazed at how clean and western world Singapore is, much different than KL. I got to the Beary Best hostel and yes it has a bear theme with tons of them around.



I payed for my room but it wouldn't be ready until 2 PM. Now I've got 4 hours to kill and I can barely see straight I'm so tired.

I went to a mall across the street, 60% of it was closed for Chinese New Year. The bottom level had a food court, I ordered the special of sausage on rice and it came with soup. I tried to order a couple times but the guy didn't speak English and wanted to give me chicken. Luckily a guy in line ordered for me and I got my food. It was surprisingly good for $3.60 SGD.

I walked back to the hostel still needing to kill 3 hours. I decided to check out Marina Bay Sands Casino. I ordered a Grab (like Uber) and got there for $7, the driver was from Toronto, small world. I walked around this casino for awhile, it is the most beautiful casino I've ever been to and I've been to over 500 casinos. The main floor has slots and tables, the second and third floors are balconies that go around the whole casino but you can see the main floor from them. The second floor has more tables and slots, while the third floor has restaurants.




The lowest denomination table they have is $25 BJ or Pontoon. All other games are $50 minimum with most being much higher than that. I played $25 BJ for about 30 minutes and won $336 plus the $9 in chips I kept. I walked around some more, played some VP and won $60 more when I hit quads twice in 4 hands.

I found this game that I've never seen before, it's called Dueling 8's I think. I'm going to go back and get more info on it cause I lost my notes on it. Every player including the dealer starts with a 8 and then gets one card for their first two cards. The game proceeds as normal BJ after that.

The picture isn't great cause I wasn't supposed to take pictures obviously lol.

The weirdest part of the casino though is not only do you have to have your passport to get in but they also check it before you can leave, how weird. I also found out that locals can gamble but they must pay $100 to enter once or $1000 annually. This is meant to deter locals from going to the casinos.

I went outside and took some pictures of the water with lilly pads and of the skyline.





I waited in line for a cab and finally checked into my hostel. I napped for about two hours. My hostel is in China town just two blocks from the main market for buying stuff and restaurants. I made the mistake of visiting there on Chinese New Year's Eve. I could barely walk it was so crowded.

I bought some souvenirs, got three sticks of octopus and a curry pastry thing for dinner and headed back to the hostel. I met 2 Brits on the balcony and hung out with them for a couple hours. At 11:45 we walked to the main area for the New Years celebrations. They had the standard countdown and fireworks, it was pretty neat. Around 12:15 the crowd started going home so we headed back to hostel and went to bed.






Pretty good first day in Singapore.

How much was the hostel and conditions please?

Well, it's official. Best TR thread ever. Wow. ;-)

Do locals get something for that $100, or is it just lost money? That is one hell of an entrance fee.

SpeedyCrap I paid $163 SGD for 6 nights. The hostel is nice, big common room with comfy couches. Free breakfast of toast and cereal. Dorm has 5 bunk beds. Each bunk has a shelf and a light with two plugs to charge your stuff. Pretty handy. iPad and tv for public use.

Babs I'm glad you are enjoying the thread even though I'm currently 3 days behind on it.

GWAE it's just an entrance fee. It's meant to deter locals from gambling.

My second day in Singapore I decided to check out Little India. I took a Grab there and walked around for a bit looking at the options for lunch. I settled on butter chicken and naan for $3.50 and two samosas for $1. The food was good and so filling. I walked around the shops for a bit but wasn't impressed with what I saw so I found the subway station and headed back to the hostel. Subway took me a couple minutes to figure out but it is quite easy to use, very similar to the one Hong Kong.

Later in the afternoon I took a Grab to Sentosa Island to visit the casino but I'm an idiot and forgot my passport. I couldn't get into the casino and the taxi line was 2 hours long. I walked around the island looking at what Resorts World built which is basically an island with a casino, shopping galore, universal studios theme park, tons of expensive restaurants and a bunch of attractions that all cost a lot of money. Oh and about ten hotels of course. I found the subway but the line was almost 2 hours long too they said. I kept walking for about 30 minutes until I hit beach station where the line was the same. I said screw it I guess I'm waiting, when an employee says the bus line is empty. Done deal I walked ten minutes to the bus since at that point I just wanted to get off that damn island. The bus took me to Waterfront station where I took a subway two stations to my hostel. Yikes stupid mistake.

I met two Canadians form Vancouver back at the hostel and we went to this Chinese place to grab dinner. The rest of the night I just took it easy.

Yesterday the two Canadian guys and I met up with my buddy Patrik that I met in KL and went to Sentosa Island to check out the tourist traps... I mean attractions lol. We took an uber there (all these übers are so cheap) and yes I made sure I had my passport this time.

We got there and spent a hour walking the boardwalk and taking a few pictures of the view.


We then walked to the beach where we thought we would spend most of the day. I took a few pictures on the way.
This is the main area where lots of shops, restaurants and the entrance to universal is.

This is their version of the Hollywood sign.

Also I don't know why but there is a giant Merlion (half mermaid/half lion) statue on the island. I was too lazy to look up the reason for the Merlion.

We got to the beach and it was terrible. Just a bunch of kids running around screaming, not where we wanted to spend our day. By this point we had been on the island for about 3 hours. Adam and Ryan (Canadians) took the bus back to Singapore and Patrik wanted to join me in the casino.

We took the bus back to the casino since it's much quicker and went in. We looked around a lot and I explained all the games to Patrik since he never had been in a full on casino before.
Art in the casino.

Main casino area.

Apparently Slovakia only has small card rooms. He kept asking questions about the games, house edge, strategy and I love talking about all that stuff so it was interesting for both of us. I explained the gamblers fallacy to him and he was so intrigued by the mindset of gamblers. We watched Baccarat, Roulette, the big wheel and BJ/Pontoon each for a while. I found an empty Pontoon table with a $25 minimum so I played to get my chip. I only played one hand. I bet $25, got 8,8 into a dealer 2. I split and got a 2, I doubled and got a J for 20. The second hand I got a Q for 18. The dealer had a 2 up and pulled a 3, K and a 3 for 18. I pushed the second hand and won the double. I was done lol. I got my chip and left up $45. Patrik and I watched random tables being played for the next 40 minutes (I was getting bored but he was having fun) and then finally left the casino.

We walked to the subway station just after the main one thinking the line would be shorter. It was but it didn't move at all so we said screw it and jumped into the other lane where the tram goes to beach station so we could take the bus. When we got up to the top I decided to do something bad and asked where the Sentosa express line (train back to mainland) was as if I was sent up as the next in line. She pointed to the other side and they let us on the train. I was so tired I didn't even feel bad for cutting the whole line. Oh well lol. Am I a bad person? The tram took us to Vivo city where we caught the subway back to the hostel. I got take out noodles from down the street and called it a night completely exausted.

What a great TR... Amazing pictures. The casinos look pretty huge and elegant there! Do many of the places have what we call Carnival Games (3cp, MSS, UTH, etc)?

Quote: Romes

What a great TR... Amazing pictures. The casinos look pretty huge and elegant there! Do many of the places have what we call Carnival Games (3cp, MSS, UTH, etc)?

Yes the Asian casinos are huge and beautiful. They go all out over here. Marina Bay Sands had Pai Gow Poker and THB to go with roulette, BJ/Pontoon, craps, baccarat and all the Asian games. Sentosa has Mississippi stud I think and something they called Asia stud or Singapore stud for carnival games. I'm sure I missed other carny games since I wasn't looking for them.

Thanks again for the kind words about my TR. I've tried to keep mildly up to date.

Thanks for all the great pictures PG. The "Merlion" is a marketing icon created by the Singapore tourism board. I think they've done a great job injecting the image in all the marketing for the city-state. There's a statue by the waterfront that squirts water out of its mouth.

Did you go up the top of the Marina Bay Sands? There's supposed to be the world's biggest overhanging platform up there, sticking out like a big tongue. I don't know if there is a charge though.

I tried to book a room there so I could use the infanity pool but the prices are way higher right now because of the Chinese New Year. Normally it's 350 USD roughly a night. Right now it's about 540 USD a night. I was thinking about it until the prices went up.

You can go to the top but I think it's like $30 to go up.

No problem. I wouldn't pay $30 just to see the view.

Did you go to the "Gotham City" themed casino?

Are the subways always that bad, or is just jammed because of the New Year's visitors? I think you are a bad guy for cutting the queue hehe, ... but I give you props for the slick way you did it.

It seems that in all the daytime outdoor pictures, there is always a cloud cover, and no clear blue skies. Is it cloudy all day?

Quote: Ayecarumba

No problem. I wouldn't pay $30 just to see the view.

Did you go to the "Gotham City" themed casino?

Are the subways always that bad, or is just jammed because of the New Year's visitors? I think you are a bad guy for cutting the queue hehe, ... but I give you props for the slick way you did it.

It seems that in all the daytime outdoor pictures, there is always a cloud cover, and no clear blue skies. Is it cloudy all day?

I did go to the Gotham City casino in Macau. It's called Studio City. Sadly we saw it during the day instead of night when it's all lit up.

The subways aren't that busy except on the island where all the touristy stuff is.

I actually didn't plan on skipping the line but when I got up there it popped in my head and I was like ya I'm doing this lol. I was so tired I didn't feel any remorse lol.

Depends on the day, it's been cloudy cause it's been raining at some point most days.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Apparently Slovakia only has small card rooms. He kept asking questions about the games, house edge, strategy and I love talking about all that stuff so it was interesting for both of us. I explained the gamblers fallacy to him and he was so intrigued by the mindset of gamblers.

Even the largest casino in Slovakia is mainly slots and electronic terminals. Hundreds of those, but only 11 live tables, 5 of them roulette, the rest BJ, BJ variants, UTH.

Can a tourist buy a genuine rattan cane at a souvenir shop to bring back home as a reminder of the "real" Singapore?

Um... I don't know and I don't plan on finding out to be honest.

Yesterday was a slow day as I'm running out of things to do here. Apparently you really don't need 6 days when visiting Singapore. I would suggest 3 fuller days or 4 days if you like your days not as jam packed. I'd say 4 is best.

Ryan and I went with two Germans we met to a all you can eat Japanese hot pot restaurant that was suggested to me by a girl back home. We took an uber to the mall. Once in the mall we went the completely wrong way and walked aimlessly for a half hour. We got back to where we started and realized that it was just a short elevator ride away.

We sat down and ordered our two broths for the table to cook our food in. One spicy and one chicken broth. The spicy was the better one and basically all I used. The waiter brought us two trays of pork, 2 of beef and 2 chicken. It all comes raw. You then go up to the buffet and grab whatever veggies, noodles and seafood you want. They had mussels and squid and also some tofu for vegetarians. The veggies were about 4 different kinds of mushrooms, cabbage, spinach, baby corn and a few other things. They also have sauces to put on the food after its cooked. I chose the peanut sauce cause it goes great with the spicy broth. Basically you take your plate of raw food and dump the whole thing in the broth and let it cook. When it's done you use the slotted ladle to get it out. We ate so much food. I went up three time as did the Germans. The waiter was astonished at how much we ate. We got 6 more trays of meat at one point. The food was well worth the recommendation. I loved the whole experience. Also it was only $26 per person for all you can eat which included the $2 extra we each paid for endless drinks and ice cream.

The Germans. Leon in the Raptors jersey and I can't remember the other guys name.






The Germans went off on their own and Ryan and I took the subway back. We then proceeded to veg for 3 hours after eating so much.

Around 6 I decided I didn't want to sit around anymore and took a uber to Marina Bay Sands to mess around a bit and get more details on the Dueling 8's BJ variation.

Side bet pay table.

Table sign.

Ok so I asked the pit boss about the rules and it all seems pretty straight forward. He didn't have a brochure but he said the rules are available on the Marina Bay Sands website. The side bet pays 3-1 for any two 8's (the original one on the felt plus one in card form), 8-1 for any three 8's, 800-1 for any four 8's and 8000-1 for four 8's of spades. The one on the felt for each player is obviously a eight of spades.

Obviously you can't get BJ in this game so they have alternate bonus payouts for the main bet. You don't need to bet the side bet to be eligible for the bonus payouts on the original bet. If you get 6,7,8 (in any order) on your original bet without any splitting you get paid an extra 1-1 on your original bet no matter if the player's 21 wins or not. Meaning if the dealer makes 21 as well you would still get one to one on your bet, if the dealer doesn't have 21 you get your wager paid for beating the dealer plus an extra 1-1 for the 6.7.8. The other bonus payout is if you get 6,7,8 all of spades (again in any order on the original bet with no splitting) you get paid an extra 5-1 no matter the outcome of the dealers hand. I hope this all makes sense.

I played a bunch of randomness for a few hours losing $8.25. I did hit a nice payout on a slot machine that I was betting $0.45 a spin on.

Pretty big win for such a small bet.

As I was leaving the casino I went out the back way of the mall where they were having a water/light show with music. I took a couple pictures. They projected images onto the spraying water, very cool.



Also a few of the lit up buildings.



When I got back to the hostel I realized that I stil had a $30 slot ticket in my wallet which meant I had to go back to the casino today. Whoops. Seem like I need to say whoops quite often.

PG, would u post the front pic of all the hostels u stay at please? U can do it after ;eaving if u dont want to reveal your current location.

I didn't take a front pic of any of the hostels.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Um... I don't know and I don't plan on finding out to be honest.

Don't spit on a sidewalk or feed a bird or .... .

Thanks PG for the rules. So far I have only analyzed the side bet. Here is my analysis:

Event	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Four 8 of spades	8000	336	0.000006	0.047845
Four 8's	800	29,424	0.000524	0.418985
Three 8's	8	349,184	0.006215	0.049722
Two 8's	3	4,302,848	0.076588	0.229765
All other	-1	51,499,712	0.916667	-0.916667
Total		56,181,504	1.000000	-0.170350

I'd like to remind anybody looking to confirm or deny this that they use eight Spanish decks. I like that they post the full rules on their web site, which can be found here.

Personally, I don't like the pay table. I think they should pay more for three 8's and less for four. Maybe something like this:

Wizard pay table

Event	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Four 8 of spades	8888	336	0.000006	0.053156
Four 8's	288	29,424	0.000524	0.150835
Three 8's	28	349,184	0.006215	0.174028
Two 8's	5	4,302,848	0.076588	0.382942
All other	-1	51,499,712	0.916667	-0.916667
Total		56,181,504	1.000000	-0.155707

I'll have to get back to you with the math on the base game.

On a totally different topic, I've read that durians are not allowed on the Singapore subway. Is that because they smell bad or are dangerously sharp?

Quote: Wizard

...On a totally different topic, I've read that durians are not allowed on the Singapore subway. Is that because they smell bad or are dangerously sharp?

If are ever around them, you will recognize quickly that it is the smell.

I wonder what the punishment is for cutting the subway queue?

I wrote up the full rules for Deuling 8's 21. You can compare them to the Marina Bay Sands for accuracy. I welcome all comments, questions, or corrections.

Yes durians are banned a lot of places because of their smell and rightfully so. My hostel doesn't allow them.

Thanks Mike for taking a look at the game.

Quote: Wizard

I wrote up the full rules for Deuling 8's 21. You can compare them to the Marina Bay Sands for accuracy. I welcome all comments, questions, or corrections.

You got the pay table wrong on your write up. 3 8's pays 800-1 not 88-1.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Quote: Wizard

I wrote up the full rules for Deuling 8's 21. You can compare them to the Marina Bay Sands for accuracy. I welcome all comments, questions, or corrections.

You got the pay table wrong on your write up. 3 8's pays 800-1 not 88-1.

Pokergrinder, no questions at all. But thank you very much for the terrific read all the way to the end. I totally enjoyed living vicariously through your daily travel diary. It was like a friendly tour with a food network show as you gave us tastes of all your stops.
Great read and now I have to go back and find your other stuff about BJ too.
Glad you took the trouble to share the trip and thanks again.

Quote: PokerGrinder

You got the pay table wrong on your write up. 3 8's pays 800-1 not 88-1.

According to your photo of the felt, it's neither of the above -- three 8's pays 8-1, and four 8's pays 800-1.


Edit: I looked at the Wizard's linked write-up, and it's the payout for four 8's that he has as 88 instead of 800. At first review of his write-up above, it looked O.K.

Thanks. I incorrectly overwrote my correct paytable with the "Wizard" one. I'm going to split off this topic because I have more to say on the game.

p.s. Never mind. Some posts have messed up tags and I can't split it. Let's please quit talking about Dueling 8's and wait for my new thread on the game.

p.p.s. Please take all discussion of Dueling 8's to the new thread DUELING 8'S 21.

Last edited by: Wizard on Jan 31, 2017

"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." -- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NIV)

Sammydv I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the TR so much. The trip has been a blast and the food is definitely a highlight of the trip. So many new flavours and experiences in the last month. I really appreciate all the feedback that everyone has posted in the last month. It's been a lot of fun.

This is my 1000th post on WoV, it only took me just under 2 years lol.

Yesterday in Singapore was a much slower day which almost cost me some money. So I had that $30 slot ticket I forgot to cash for the Sands. I took an uber there and figured I would mess around for awhile.
I took these of the the Sands from the uber.


I cashed the ticket and starting playing random things, random things went badly and I was down a few hundred. I then battled with a BJ dealer for a couple hours before deciding to call it quits when I got within $60 of even. Oh well small loss. I cashed out and walked to the subway. I bought a ticket, went through the turn stiles and reached into my pocket, I found two $5 chips. I had done it again. I left the terminal and walked the five minutes back to the casino. The line was about 10 minutes to get in so I waited in line. I seriously debated not worrying about the $10 at this point. I waited, got in, cashed the chips and made for damn sure that I didn't have any more chips or TITO's in my possession before I left. I bought another subway ticket and went back to the hostel.

The night was slow. The Canadians and I went to the China town complex to get the Singapore national dish chicken rice. It was alright nothing special. It was just boiled chicken with a little sauce on rice that had been made with like chicken stalk or something. It was fine but I'm not sure what the locals fuss about.

Amazingly with this post I will actually have the thread all caught up! Harder to do then it seems.

So today for my last day in Singapore a bunch of us went to a Korean BBQ place called I'm Kim. Wessel (Dutch), Abal (also Dutch), Natalia (from Chile, seriously one of the prettiest girls I've ever met) and I feasted on Korean meat and veggies that we cooked ourselves. Amazingly it was only $17.55 each. Not sure how for an all you can eat. We all left so full but thoroughly enjoyed the meal.



Natalia and Abal. I'm sure you can figure out which is which.


After lunch we took the subway back to the hostel and all sat around on the couches cause we were so full. I watched a few episodes of Suits and then went for a walk around 7. I grabbed some ice cream and a chicken, mushroom, bacon and cheese bun with melted Parmesan on the outside that created like a Parmesan cracker on the bun. It was so hard not to go back and get another one.

I packed my stuff for my flight to Hong Kong tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to get a few hours of sleep but I doubt it will happen. I'm in Hong Kong for just under two days before flying home on the night of the third.

Well goodnight (hopefully) for now. See you all in Hong Kong!

Well I got two hours of sleep before being woken up by someone turning the lights on. I guess I'm probably awake for good now as I have to wake up at 2 am in 2 hours anyways. Off to Hong Kong soon.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Well I got two hours of sleep before being woken up by someone turning the lights on. I guess I'm probably awake for good now as I have to wake up at 2 am in 2 hours anyways. Off to Hong Kong soon.

Safe travels PG... Can't wait to see what HK has in store for you!

Quote: PokerGrinder

...
Natalia and Abal. I'm sure you can figure out which is which.

Hehe... Abal looks a little green in the gills.

I think these all you can eat places make their money mainly from alcohol sales. They also offer upsale "tiers" where you supposedly get higher quality items for an additional cost. And usually, there are folks in every group that can't eat their money's worth.

How much was it to buy another subway ticket after you went back to cashout the $10? There's s a point of diminishing returns there someplace.

Have a great time in Hong Kong PG! How many snow globes are you lugging around now?

I hope everyone reading this appreciates the wonder of travel! To me there is nothing more exciting than meeting new people, trying new cuisines, seeing new places. I want to personally thank you for the vicarious thrills you are providing me and the forum. Asia, of course moreso than Europe, really feels so much different than back home (USA/Canada). When you decide to sojourn to Niagara Falls, dinner will be on SooPoo.