On the way back from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, the second destination in a month of work-travel was, as expected, very much more eventful than Vietnam was. But that was only because it was so much more work in a city noisier and demanding of one’s energy.

That, coupled with the fact that I had a couple of people bringing me around during leisure time and a three-day conference (as opposed to the usual half-day seminar and 45-minute interview) which tried to outdo its own previous years’ efforts, delivering presentation after presentaton, all while shuttling you about site visits.

The first site visit was to where else but Disneyland. Admittedly, I was completely captivated by a talking trashcan, all throughout a couple of the onsite demonstrations. Look. Talking trashcan versus the wireless integration that allows Disneyland’s online ticketing solution? Talking trashcan.

Presumably equipped with a camera and mic, controlled remotely, it was scooting around talking to park visitors. Turns out it’s appropriately named, Push.

I’m sure they have its counterpart in other Disneyland venues, but being in Hong Kong, with China so nearby and the Japanese maniacally flooding each Disneyland in every part of the world just to thrust two fingers in a V-sign at a camera, it had to be somewhat trillingual.

“Nihonjin!” it squealed at a bewildered tourist. Rushing over to a Chinese child, it asked politely, “Ni hao ma?”

And I was sold.

The next day, they took us to Dragon-i, essentially a lounge that serves dim sum. Or it could’ve been a dim sum restaurant that looks like a club. Either way, it was all very Shanghai Tang. They had an interesting toilet though, which will, like so many other places, anchor the memory of the place in my mind (going to show you where my priorities lie).

I took a couple of pictures of the metallic-tiled unisex toilet, paired with transparent-plastic toilet bowls and dimly lit in a pinkish light. Will post those tomorrow. But what will stick in my head will be the (perhaps) unintentionally off-coloured remark made by another Singaporean lady queueing for the stalls. Gesturing to the last cubicle—different from the others, housing three urinals instead of a bowl and sink—said to the three men behind her, “Go, go! You can kill three birds with one stone.”

If you’re like me, and you take a special interest in badly-cobbled, loosely-connected crude Hokkien jokes, then you will see what’s just so darn funny about birds and urinals. Ho ho ho.

And somewhere, inbetween all the talking trashcans and fancy dim sum, there was time for work. No, really. I filed a story at three in the morning yesterday, so you know I is meaning the biznez.

(Update: Do we really need another Asian Disneyland theme park?)