The scoop on the best night ever

At 5:00, Roxanne showed up as scheduled at the Kowloon Tong station. We took the MTR (train) to Kowloon bay then a short walk to Micheal's (AKA SmaZ) shop. It was large for a Hong Kong shop and filled to the brim with puzzles. SmaZ is a well-known master craftsman of puzzles and was very kind to me. Roxanne was kind enough to stay with me for the entire night as I experienced the joys of shops devoted to puzzles. From Micheal's shop I got a total of 13 puzzles, 4 of which he gave to me as gifts (including one of his amazing customs, which is a true honour to have). Roxanne decided that we were going to dinner together when who should show up but Mr. Meffert! We had been planning on meeting him tomorrow but he was in town today instead. I got a chance to see some of the top-secret stuff that blew my mind, and he gave us 2 signed puzzles (a pyraminx crystal and Skewb Ultimate). He is a great man with a good sense of humour, and very kind as well. Although it was late by then, we proceeded to another puzzle shop that was somewhat smaller. That got a result of 12 puzzles (2 gifts). I also got to play with an 11x11 cube (it's a Knock-Off and it was HUGE, very unwieldy, and difficult to play with). Here's a list of things that I got (mainly for Victor's benefit):

1 teraminx

1 Crazy 4x4 type I

1 Crazy 4x4 type II

1 Square-2 SmaZ custom

2 QJ dominoes (don't know why we got 2...)

1 Crazy Domino

1 HQ keychain 3x3

1 Corner-Turning Octahedron

1 3x3 Dodecahedron

1 Trajber's Octahedron

1 C4Y cubic 3x3x7

1 3x3 Octahedron (not Trajber's but different)

1 Rubik's UFO

1 Quarks void 2x2

1 Mefferts Golden Egg (skewb egg)

1 Mefferts Skewb Diamond

1 Mefferts Holey Octahedron

1 Mefferts Fisher Cube

1 Mefferts Skewb Ultimate signed by Uwe Meffert

1 Mefferts Pyraminx Crystal signed by Uwe Meffert

1 SmaZ Sudoku 2x2

1 Micro 3x3 (it's really small...gnome-sized, in fact)

1 Eastsheen 2x2

1 Rainbow Cube

1 domino with SmaZ stickers

1 SmaZ custom Castle Cube

I think that's it...but what's even cooler was the things I got to touch...11x11, 9x9, Mr. Meffert's first Pyraminx prototype, some puzzles that I can't even tell you about but one of which you puzzle people will find out about shortly (I don't even know if I'm allowed to say that...), Marco's Pyramid, Marco's Cube...some really nice puzzles.

Our "Morning"

So "today" we decided to go to the local museums of History and Science respectively. At first, we tried the science museum but it was open only to school groups in the morning, so we went to the adjacent history museum. It happened to be free "day" at both so we didn't even have to pay. It seemed that many schools decided to take advantage of this as there seemed to be schoolchildren everywhere. It was merely a choice of whether or not we should move fast to keep ahead of them or slower to let them overtake us. The history museum was cool, especially the bits about local culture (featuring large towers of buns-yes, buns). Then we went to have some lunch. Across the street there was what appeared to be a large market. Upon closer inspection it proved to be an outdoor food court. As we stood there among the various restaurants and restaurant stalls (many of which featured fish, the smell and taste of which I happen to dislike), my mother's famously keen eyesight proved to be my savior. Amongst all of the Chinese she spotted an outpost of Western culture: a Subway! Hallelujah for the Meatball Marinara (the chocolate cookie sucked, though). Afterwards the Grandparents went back to the hotel for some R&R while my mother and I decided to explore the science museum. The main attraction there is a 3 or 4 story tall "motion machine" which features a large track for balls that are fired across gaps and against percussion instruments in to create brilliant displays of flashing lights and chaotic sounds. This, however, was out of order so we looked around for a bit then went back to the hotel to update our blogs.

To let you know

Here's the public links for the Gnome Pics and the Hong Kong pics on Facebook

Gnome: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027141&id=1549572760&l=1da486235b

and Hong Kong: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027272&id=1549572760&l=072a3ef2f7

Yesterday (or what will happen that did)

We went ti the Stanley market. It wasn't as crowded as I thought that it would be, and somewhat smaller. Very tight spaces and in a hilly region. Puzzle report: 3 places with 3x3s, a few with snakes, 1 with a Rubik's Magic, and 1 with a KO pyraminx >:(. Then we went to see the Mefferts factory (on a whim). I thought that I had remembered the address correctly so we went to the place and started asking around ("Meffert? Meffert?"). We went back to the hotel and found out that I was correct, even though we had no confirmation. We also had a questionable lunch experience involving some spicy noodles that weren't Italian and various varieties of salt (I am slightly afraid of local cuisine). No Gnome pics today because internet is sketchy.

Travel, etc.

We were able to get some sleeper pods for our first-class flight to Hong Kong. I was very well-fed on the flight. We had an open snack bar (including chocolate!!), a good meal of pancakes in the "morning" (notice the quotation marks around timing words, because things get confusing when you not only change time zones but you also change days (it's Tuesday, I think). I had also packed some snacks for myself. The sleeper pods were the best invention in the history of the universe because I imagine that it's difficult to sleep in regular seats. We took advantage of the sleeper pods (I think I slept for 5-6 "hours") then I watched 2 or 3 of my movies. Number of games of solitaire played: 21. Time spent teaching myself to use Blender (CAD program): 0 mins. Time spent with puzzles: 0 mins. I really didn't use the things that I thought that I would. I have already spoken with katsmom (she is a well-respected member of my puzzles forum) and we have arranged to meet tomorrow for some puzzle shopping and Thursday for dinner (we hope to have the head of a well-known and loved puzzle company meet us on Thursday as well). We are just now beginning to brainstorm ideas about what to do with the rest of the day (it's "Tuesday morning" here). Internet is quite slow and my Google toolbar is in Chinese (it sees my IP address and says "Oh! You're in China! You must want to speak in Chinese", even though I don't). I can still access most things though (China has some laws about access to the web and personal site creation).

Gnome pics and more

Computer here is a bit slow. I watched a movie. It was OK. Other than that I did some deep thinking (how do they get the caramel inside the Caramilk?). The flight to Vancouver was pretty nice because we were in first class (I got some nice pasta and 2 desserts). Score one for the grandparents! Mom even enjoyed the flight (as much as she could enjoy a flight, first class helped, I think). Here's some gnome pics for you.

Gnomie enjoying the in-flight entertainment

Gnomie on the plane, preparing to leave Wpg

Gnomie preparing to leave

Sorry for wrong order of pics (not chronological)

Introducing the Roaming Gnome

I was at Chapters today when I realised how successful the "Roaming Gnome" ad campaign was when I saw a little roaming gnome kit (not Travelocity, mind you, just a random "Gnome Away from Home"). Just for fun, I picked it up. This little gnome will join the Traveling Cow with me in Hong Kong. Hopefully he won't get lost because the little figurine is pretty small...

About the blog title, I had to visit the Rhyming Dictionary to find that. It's pretty sad.