imthepilot | Honeymoon in Hong Kong

Bodhi takes the card Jay give them and opens the door. It opens into large five star hotel suite - champagne chilling in a bucket and roses by the bed. In the corner of the living room are several large crates labelled climbing equipment. There's a welcome pack with maps and travel guides, ferry tickets and the number a car service.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi grins. "Then that's the direction we're going next." He slips his arm in Galen's and wipes the last of the sauce off his chin. "Let your nose lead on!"

From:

galen_erso

"It's some sort of fried fruit," Galen says.

It is, in fact, a stall selling deep-fried fruit in batter and served with honey, sesame or coconut flakes -- like the banana dessert known to Westerners, but much more varied, utterly fresh and fried so quickly, the very core will still be crisp.

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi croons happily and asks the names of all the fruit, repeating them back much to the laughter of the stall holders. He ends up with a tray with a little bit of everything, feeding bites to Galen.

From:

galen_erso

"This -- this is the best!" Galen declares. "Tart inside and sweet outside."

It's pineapple.

From:

imthepilot

He nibbles on one and moans. "Try this. It's carambola." He glances to the stall holder for conformation. "Star Fruit." Little five pointed stars with a citric tang.

From:

galen_erso

"Edible stars -- how very fitting!" Galen declares, taking it.

From:

imthepilot

"A star for my star." Bodhi croons, playfully mushy.

From:

galen_erso

Galen grins at him, and eats another one.

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi takes Galen's arm and they wonder on, exploring the sights. They round a corner that opens out to the sea, with a view of the islands.

Bodhi's breath catches. "We're going to climb those?" He can't believe his luck.

From:

galen_erso

"Those are sone serious rocks," Galen says, awed. "They almost look designed as a challenge."

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi chuckles. "Yes but the rain isn't trying to wash us away this time."

From:

galen_erso

"We will need sunglasses!" Galen says, grinning.

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi returns the grin and nods. "I think I saw a stall back there. They even had goggles."

From:

galen_erso

"Good ones to take care of the more exotic kind of rays suns can emit," Galen nods. "I guess there's something about that in the brochures?"

As there would be on any decent planet.

From:

imthepilot

"It's the only settled planet in a pre-stellar travel system. I'm not sure they'd think of anything here as exotic." He points out, chomping on another piece of fried fruit.

From:

galen_erso

"Then I need some equipment to measure the sun's rays myself so we get the right kind of protection," Galen muses, biting into a fruit that is longish, soft, and slightly mealy inside -- finally, a banana.

"Or we can be reckless and just do what the natives do."

From:

imthepilot

"I don't have my grandmother's colouring but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be careful." He halves the last of the fruit, a strawberry, and offers it to Galen.

Bodhi asks one of the locals as best he can. "There seems to be an electronics store up the road. We can go see what we can find."

From:

galen_erso

Galen takes the fruit and eats it up. "We have to come here again -- this was excellent!" he tells the people at the stall before they leave towards the electronics store.

From:

imthepilot

They seems to have made fast friends there and the stallholders wave them goodbye, calling them to come back soon.

The electronics store is huge, loud, and several floors high. Bodhi's eyes widen, trying to take it all in. "I... hope you know what you're looking for. Because I don't know what any of this is."

From:

galen_erso

"Neither do I -- oh, I know that one! It tests wire conduits."

There is a shopping cart, and in goes the cable tester -- and soon, several other things, including a few books on engineering, in English.

"I'll cobble up something in the evening, between dinner and bedtime," Galen says. "Oh look, a cleaning android -- but we don't need that, the hotel will have their owns. And it seems to be not very intelligent."

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi spots a display of flying drones and action cameras, somewhat fascinated by them. "We could use one of these, to plan our climbs. or scout ahead. The controls are pretty primitive, no intelligence here either but I'm pretty sure I could build something more intuitive."

From:

galen_erso

"Oh yes," Galen agrees, "that would be very useful. But what are 'smart phones'?"

The copy on the drone packaging mentions them.

"They come as Android and ios? Where the ios symbol is an apple with a bite taken out of it?"

What on any planet has that to do with engineering?

From:

imthepilot

"Personal communicators. I've seen them at the bar." He looks around, finding a whole section of things with the half eaten fruit logo.

A well dressed little sales girl comes bustling over, chattering brightly in Cantonese. None of which Bodhi understands.

From:

galen_erso

"Excuse me," Galen says. "We don't speak that language; that's bad form of us, I know. But we might need one of those to fly that drone here?"

From:

imthepilot

She bows and swaps to good if accented English. She's quick to recite all the products benefits, piling up all the things they need for it. And a few things more like a better (read more expensive) camera.