Macau? No Dice

[skepticalboffin]

So I said I'd be back on the 30th of December. Yet here I am, typing away at my computer like there's no tomorrow. What gives?

Well, it's "gave", actually. And it was my mother's ankle.

Here is a brief recap of our vacation:

22 DEC: MACAU
IN WHICH FAR'S MUM GAMBLES, AND LOSES BADLY

Flight to Macau was delayed for over an hour - which was of little

Comments

[coloneldespard]

How hugely disappointing! Reminds me alarmingly of my Dad's stories about how when he was travelling with his mother that little spot on her toe was diagnosed by a Cairo doctor as gangrene, and they conspired to whisk her onto a plane and back to Oz without her knowing what was going on (the ambulance waiting for them in Sydney was a tip off). Hope she makes a full recovery, as comfortable as the chair is. Found your account not only hilariously funny but terribly interesting, as this is a part of the world I know only through my ex-fiance's adventures there as a merchant officer.

Am most impressed by your Mandarin - the nephews and niece are picking it up in Singapore, but I know hardly a word. Sympathies on the egg tart situation...abalone is SO no substitute for sweet, creamy, custardy goodness (as a piece of rubber is no substitute for a chocolate bar).

[skepticalboffin]

Yipe, gangrene!! >.< Did they have to debride the flesh, or did they manage to treat it with antibiotics

[coloneldespard]

Hmmm...to be honest, I don't know...it was before I was born. We have an unfortunate history of gangrene in the family - my uncle had a blister in his toe turn gangrenous, and he spent all day on a hospital gurney before it was recognised. He had a heart condition, and died before they could really start treating it.

I'm not a huge abalone fan, but I suspect I've only ever had them overcooked...my Singaporean friends loved to add them to the steamboat style cooking, which is not really my preferred Singaporean cuisine. We have a problem locally with poachers taking them illegally off the rocky reefs. Abalone fisherman is not an occupation I think I'd go for, given the encounters they tend to have with great whites.

Glad that your mother had such an efficient hospital experience - wow!

[skepticalboffin]

Ewww I can understand why you never developed a taste for them then! Cooked abalone is like... oh, rubber mats, only with less flavour. Do yourself a favour the next time abalone appears on the menu, and snag a couple of the pink slices *before* they get dumped into boiling steamboat soup. I tell you, there's a world of difference between "rubber chew toy" and "deliciously soft adductor muscle".

[kittycallum]

Ack! I hope your mother's alright! Enjoyed reading your account, though.

[skepticalboffin]

Thanks for your good thoughts. :) She's just had two wires and a steel plate inserted in her leg to stabilise the fractures, and she's now home and in good spirits.

Glad you enjoyed the read. ;)