[YourExcellency]

Dim Sum
“RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG~~~~~!!!”

The next morning, I was awakened by the loud ringing of my BB and in my half asleep state, I saw Liz’s name in the caller ID.

Liz: “Hey sleepy head! Good morning! Wake up for breakfast!”
Me: “Hey, good morning… What time is it?”
Liz: “Its 10am now, you wanna get something to bite?”
Me: “Yeah sure, give me 15 minutes to wash up?”
Liz: “Ok, see you at the hotel lobby! At 1030hrs?”

I got out of bed and went to brush my teeth, and took a long hot shower. I got dressed in a short sleeved piqued pink polo shirt with casual khaki slacks and a dark blue sport jacket with matching dark blue loafers. I sprayed some Armani onto my chest and headed towards the lift lobby.

When I got down to the lobby, I saw Liz. Like me, she was dressed in a red short sleeved cotton polo shirt, and a pair of cotton cream casual ¾ slacks that hugged her shapely hips perfectly. She had a light taupe pullover draped over her shoulders and she topped her extremely chic look with an over-sized cream baseball cap. She had on a pair of elegant taupe leather slip-ons. She looked amazingly casual and yet, there was this air of elegance around her that I just couldn’t put my finger on. When she saw me, she walked over to me and gave me a hug and a friendly peck on the cheek. Not wanting to appear standoffish, I reciprocated.

Liz: “Hey Leo! What do you feel like having?”
Me: “I’m starving, how about the dim sum at the Marriott? Man Ho is pretty good for dim sum, are you ok with that or would you like to go somewhere else? But it has got to be my treat this time ok?”

Liz laughs and says, “Ok sure! Let’s go see how good they are!”

She hooks her hand around mine and we take the lift up to the 3rd level. The lift door opens and we walk out to the restaurant reception. The waitress, upon seeing us, greets us and shows us to a small table.

I fiddle with the dim sum menu and order a few of my favorites and enquire what Liz would like before putting in the order. Soon, we were enjoying ourselves, chatting away happily like long lost friends and sipping 功夫茶.

Just then, the captain walks past, and purposefully makes a round of 功夫茶 for us, at the same time saying,

Captain: “鄭小姐， 你好！ 唔好意思， 剛剛無見到你地入來！”
Liz: “唔緊要， 我今日無定位， 系同我friend來飲茶的。”
Captain: “今日要唔要蒸條魚啊， 還是如過你們已經吃飽了， 要唔要來些甜品？”
Liz: “Steven啊， 這餐系我朋友做東， 禮貌上你應該問佢！讓我介紹， 這位系Leo先生， 系你地酒店的客人”

The captain apologized profusely and explained to me that Liz was a regular at their restaurant and so naturally thought that she was entertaining me, that why he had approached her first. I told him it was alright and ordered some desserts that he said were the specialties of Man Ho. He insisted on not charging us for the dessert to apologize for his mistake, which I accepted graciously. We had a really good time at dim sum and soon I signed for the bill and we decided to do some sightseeing.

I had been to Hong Kong many times for business but I was usually alone, and so never bothered to do much sightseeing. I knew Hong Kong well but Liz insisted on showing me around Hong Kong and since it was Saturday, I happily obliged to having such an attractive lady by my side, being my tour guide. We went down to the lobby again and this time, once we walked out of the hotel, Liz’s Cayenne Turbo was waiting for her at her at the entrance. I didn’t notice her number plate the night before, “LC8”, must have cost her a pretty penny. She waved at the valet and turned to me and asked if I could drive?

The valet came up to her and said, “郑小姐， 你好！系晤系衣家走啊?”

Wow, so she is a regular here... she explained that she frequently put her guests at the Marriott and for convenience sake, she also liked to entertain at Man Ho.

Me: “I can drive but I need some road guidance!”
Liz: “No problem! I can guide you but I just don’t like driving!”

I took over the driver’s seat and soon we were cruising along the roads of Hong Kong Island, admiring the beautiful harbor and the endless sky skyscrapers that lined the Victoria Harbor and the Northern shore. I had driven in Hong Kong many times during my trips and knew a little about the layout of the roads. We chatted easily and made lots of jokes with each other.