Mr Shallot’s birthday junk (that’s the HK equivalent of ‘boat’) trip started out in quite a stylish fashion.

That is not how it ended.

Mrs Wave organised birthday t-shirts (in various colours) for everyone announcing that “Mr Shallot is 40”. Naturally he wasn’t too thrilled to arrive at the boat to see guests advertising his age. It was a great way for those who didn’t know each other to realise they were at the correct meeting spot. The rest of us also found it funny.

We boarded the junk, blew up some balloons and waited for the rest of the guests. Once they’d all arrived, some instructions on recycling followed and numerous bottles of Veuve were popped to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’. All while we set sail out of Victoria Harbour towards Sai Kung.

The first disaster struck as we were leaving the Harbour. It appeared that the junk providers had not brought the beer that I had ordered on board. Further, they argued that it was never ordered in spite of me having the email trail confirming it!

A junk with no beer is identical to a pub with no beer.

The crisis was temporarily averted as there was a small beer stash on board. This was to be enough to tide us over until we neared Sai Kung and could hop in the speed boat to buy some at the 7-11.

Disaster Number Two came as we exited the Harbour and were crossing a rough patch of sea towards the bay. Not surprisingly, it was a little choppy. Unfortunately for Boat Boy (see previous post), his stomach nor his sinuses appeared to enjoy the ride.

Disaster Number Three followed hot on the heals of this one as Boat Boy’s insides caught the breeze (we were eating lunch at this stage) and landed in the face of one of our pregnant friends. The inevitable reaction followed as she raced for the bathroom downstairs.

She and I have junked together previously and she has never suffered from sea sickness. However, the pregnancy, the rough sea and the face-full was enough to bring her undone. I didn’t realise how bad it was until I returned from buying the beers (in the speed boat to Sai Kung) and her husband asked to use the same boat to take them ashore. Thankfully both she and the baby are fine.

For quite some time afterward, the day was uneventful, though fun.

We drank, banana-boated, swam, drank, someone skied, drank, ate, drank, gave gifts, drank etc.

Disaster Number Four happened as we were sailing back into the Harbour at about 8pm. The strap on a new SLR digital camera broke as it was hanging around someone’s neck. This resulted in the camera falling from the top-deck, down the stairs, splitting in two and rolling to a stop on the bottom deck. Again, good fortune prevailed and some great photos were rescued.

A few guests offered to give Mr Shallot and I a hand to take some things back to our car (mainly the recycling and some gifts) at the end of the day. We were leaving it in the secure car park overnight given the state we were in and that we intended to go out.

In a fit of youthful exuberance, Mr Shallot had Disaster Number Five. With a panda hat on (see Tropic Thunder), a brown paper-bag under his arm containing three bottles of expensive alcohol (gifts) and the La Rousse Gastronomic World’s Greatest Culinary Encylopedia, he ran through the Airport Express Station. His feet moved so quickly, they out ran him. He came to a crashing face-first halt while taking skin off his knees and hands.

He doesn’t remember this at all.

Some of the recycling

* Thanks to Slim Dusty for the title to this post (albeit modified).