Min Ron Nee Visit – September 2016 Hong Kong – Part One

Basically this was a happy and exact “copy & paste” to our last year’s trip.

Frank drove down early so we could have a few good cigars and a light lunch in my village. It was hot, hot enough to sweat in the terrace when we had some coffee and another cigar making time.

A shower and change of attire and off to the airport. Effortless check-in, love my company. Duty Free : No Talisker this time, price has gone up outrageously and we have a “sentimental” affection for Teeling after having been to Dublin. So a bottle of wine cask and one of rum cask – guess what, the rum cask would win hands down. But both very good.

A beer and a MC 4 at the gate and soon it was boarding time.
First flight on the A-380 and looking forward to it. I retired just as it was being introduced at Lufthansa.

Very impressed with the cabin lay-out, the generous seats and later with the rock-steady and extremely quiet flying comfort. The cabin air quality was also brilliant, important on such long-haul routes.

It was Jack Daniels & Ginger Ale after take-off and a nice dinner before sleeping most of the flight until 2 hrs before landing in Hong Kong we had breakfast.

Hot and humid in HK and it would stay like that except for some breeze caused by a typhoon that disrupted some of the Full Moon/Mid Autumn Festival activities around the South China Sea, specially in Taiwan.

We were picked up and taken to the Shatin hotel that we consider a very fine place for the week and was so familiar to us from last year. Copy ‘n paste …

There we would meet J. & T., my northern Chinese friends that flew down to spend three days with us and be introduced to our friend Min Ron Nee.

A quick iced tea and a MC 4, a shower and off we all were to meet our host Min Ron Nee.

He was happy to see Frank again and intrigued about J’s Chinese background and cigar knowledge. I was happy to see the chemistry working between them.

Long conversations with our host in a multilingual atmosphere switching from Cantonese to Mandarin to English to Spanish and German ….

After the introduction cigar and drinks we had dinner with Min Ron Nee, his wife and son.

Lovely long dinner, very tasty and washed down with some fantastic bottles of vintage champagne, from Roederer Cristal to Taittinger, Krug and Veuve Clicquot.

Cigars were 1970’s  Montecristo Nr 1 from a sealed box that our generous host opened for us.

Past midnight we retired to the hotel pool and finished the day with Teeling and cigars as we always do anywhere – from Cuba to Asia.

Waking up early is hard to do with a 6 hrs time difference but we somehow managed and after a lavish breakfast buffet we drove into town paying a short visit to MRN in his busy downtown office and then going for a PL PC and some iced tea at the LCDH Sheraton.

Most relaxing 2 hrs as always with J. & T. joining us there.

We then all walked back up Nathan Rd to Hillwood St and a small corner bar that serves Belgian beer for a cigar and a relaxed hour before meeting our host’s family and his neighbour Mr Lu for a sensational dinner of king crab, seafood, duck, chicken and a myriad of other delicacies. Same restaurant, same table as last year. Copy ‘n paste …

Absolutely mind-blowing food. I was happy to add three bottles of my local village Weinmann Riesling to it, but we stuck mostly to champagne and Mr Lu’s Alvarinho.

It was then back to MRN’s house for drinks and cigars and some good conversations.

The night was finished as always by the pool with Teeling and cigars.

Nino