Midnite's Global Journey of Spiritual Discovery* - Tiki Travel

M midnite Member 37? 47' N, 122? 26' W Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 1230	M midnite Posted posted on Tue, Oct 17, 2006 12:43 AM One if by land, two if by sea, more like five (hours) by cramped flying Muni bus in the sky. Been home too long, let's pack a bag and hit the road...or trail, Freedom that is. The quest continues and this time, to prove a great club can be found at home, we go domestic for a spot of Beantown fun. Yes, it's Boston, and her greater environs, for a quick trip this Fall, get it? The colors of Autumn, some fine food, a bit of tiki and a sneaky surprise visit to watch some football. All said, a neat-o excursion with a variety of bitchin' good times. This time yours truly was accompanied by a most tiki-loving nephew who also happens to be a Tiki Central member. Although, I am not sure of his TC alias. I think he keeps it secret so as not to be guilted by association with...uh, me. Up first this time round was a couple of days in that one-time tiki and Revolutionary War hotspot: Boston. Most things Polynesian and Tiki are long gone from Boston but a fun time is easy to find. Now usually I simply wear a NY Yankees cap and order chowder Manhattan style for a few laughs. Alas, this time in Beantown it was the more pedestrian fare: Freedom Trail, the public parks, great dining. The food is so good in Boston I did not even try the Marriott room service club. Nope. I did catch the Cheesecake Factory for a getaway lunch and enjoyed their very commendable grilled shrimp club. Dang yummy, a State-side fave of this traveling Yank. Boston is a great city, but it was time to move on. A short drive, even with the typical Boston traffic, to that paradise aside Route 1 in Saugus: Kowloon! It was time for the Tiki part of our trip and Kowloon did not disappoint. I've seen the pictures, read the reviews, talked to those who had set foot there before me. Nonetheless, I was not prepared for the sheer size of this, this...food factory. It's immense, it's so big I had to adjust my watch every time I went from one room to another. It's big, massive, large. There must have been 30 people lingering around the front entrance and hostess station. We checked with the hostess fearing, but not dreading 'cause it meant more cocktail time, a long wait. What would it be? Thirty minutes, closer to forty-five, probably? The hostess said "Party of two? about three to five minutes." Kowloon is a lot, but at its very base level it is a dining warehouse, a food factory serving Lord knows how many. Did I mention it's big? Plus, there's Keno! The nephew and I adjourned to the rather un-Tiki main bar and perused the board of faire. The drinks were selected and we two pseudo-Shriner brothers were off to the cocktail races. After all was said and drunk: eight total cocktails.The Good: Mai-Tai and Zombie. The Not Bad: Planter's Punch, Fog Cutter, Pi Yi. The "Oops, that was a mistake!": Typhoon Marie, Coco Mist, Navy Grog. After a few rounds it was off to the dining, uh, hangar, and an attempt to decipher the nine chapter, sixty page (it seemed) Kowloon dinner menu. I opted for a safe selection, the Hunan Shrimp. My nephew Richard, ever the adventurer and 23-yr old, tried the Flaming Ambrosia. Just how much syrupy pineapple and cherries can one eat with fried shrimp? Part entree, part dessert, part...ick, it's worth trying, especially if it ain't your dinner. I liked it, I had one fried shrimp. The Kowloon dining experience was loud, raucous, fun, but a bit disturbing. Sort of like a weird crazy Tiki-Oriental food-comedy-loving Aunt's house...that seats 600. I'd go back, but not if I had to travel that far. The final portion of our trip was through the Revolutionary War battlefields and historical sites of Central Massachusetts. We hit the good parts of Lexington and Concord. I saw a pond, pretended it was Walden and got quietly desperate. A highlight was some of the changing colors of Fall and the North Bridge where we upstart Americans started to kick some British Imperialist ass...sort of. Concord was all very charming, in a corduroy and Ralph Waldo sort of way. I'm more of a bowling shirt and James Ellroy kind of dude so we blew that Volvo stand and headed West. The last, but most important, aspect of our journey was a top-secret surprise visit to watch Richard's brothers, two more of my nephews, the football studs of the family, play for the Fitchburg State Falcons! It was a tough day for the Falcons but I got to see my guys lace 'em up and make the other team earn their victory. Hoo-rah! Awesome trip: fine food, pretty good tiki, a little football and a lot of family. Wicked good! midnite

One if by land, two if by sea, more like five (hours) by cramped flying Muni bus in the sky. Been home too long, let's pack a bag and hit the road...or trail, Freedom that is.

The quest continues and this time, to prove a great club can be found at home, we go domestic for a spot of Beantown fun. Yes, it's Boston, and her greater environs, for a quick trip this Fall, get it? The colors of Autumn, some fine food, a bit of tiki and a sneaky surprise visit to watch some football. All said, a neat-o excursion with a variety of bitchin' good times. This time yours truly was accompanied by a most tiki-loving nephew who also happens to be a Tiki Central member. Although, I am not sure of his TC alias. I think he keeps it secret so as not to be guilted by association with...uh, me.

Up first this time round was a couple of days in that one-time tiki and Revolutionary War hotspot: Boston. Most things Polynesian and Tiki are long gone from Boston but a fun time is easy to find. Now usually I simply wear a NY Yankees cap and order chowder Manhattan style for a few laughs. Alas, this time in Beantown it was the more pedestrian fare: Freedom Trail, the public parks, great dining. The food is so good in Boston I did not even try the Marriott room service club. Nope. I did catch the Cheesecake Factory for a getaway lunch and enjoyed their very commendable grilled shrimp club. Dang yummy, a State-side fave of this traveling Yank.

Boston is a great city, but it was time to move on. A short drive, even with the typical Boston traffic, to that paradise aside Route 1 in Saugus: Kowloon! It was time for the Tiki part of our trip and Kowloon did not disappoint. I've seen the pictures, read the reviews, talked to those who had set foot there before me. Nonetheless, I was not prepared for the sheer size of this, this...food factory. It's immense, it's so big I had to adjust my watch every time I went from one room to another. It's big, massive, large. There must have been 30 people lingering around the front entrance and hostess station. We checked with the hostess fearing, but not dreading 'cause it meant more cocktail time, a long wait. What would it be? Thirty minutes, closer to forty-five, probably? The hostess said "Party of two? about three to five minutes." Kowloon is a lot, but at its very base level it is a dining warehouse, a food factory serving Lord knows how many. Did I mention it's big? Plus, there's Keno!

The nephew and I adjourned to the rather un-Tiki main bar and perused the board of faire. The drinks were selected and we two pseudo-Shriner brothers were off to the cocktail races. After all was said and drunk: eight total cocktails.The Good: Mai-Tai and Zombie. The Not Bad: Planter's Punch, Fog Cutter, Pi Yi. The "Oops, that was a mistake!": Typhoon Marie, Coco Mist, Navy Grog.

After a few rounds it was off to the dining, uh, hangar, and an attempt to decipher the nine chapter, sixty page (it seemed) Kowloon dinner menu. I opted for a safe selection, the Hunan Shrimp. My nephew Richard, ever the adventurer and 23-yr old, tried the Flaming Ambrosia. Just how much syrupy pineapple and cherries can one eat with fried shrimp? Part entree, part dessert, part...ick, it's worth trying, especially if it ain't your dinner. I liked it, I had one fried shrimp. The Kowloon dining experience was loud, raucous, fun, but a bit disturbing. Sort of like a weird crazy Tiki-Oriental food-comedy-loving Aunt's house...that seats 600. I'd go back, but not if I had to travel that far.

The final portion of our trip was through the Revolutionary War battlefields and historical sites of Central Massachusetts. We hit the good parts of Lexington and Concord. I saw a pond, pretended it was Walden and got quietly desperate. A highlight was some of the changing colors of Fall and the North Bridge where we upstart Americans started to kick some British Imperialist ass...sort of. Concord was all very charming, in a corduroy and Ralph Waldo sort of way. I'm more of a bowling shirt and James Ellroy kind of dude so we blew that Volvo stand and headed West. The last, but most important, aspect of our journey was a top-secret surprise visit to watch Richard's brothers, two more of my nephews, the football studs of the family, play for the Fitchburg State Falcons! It was a tough day for the Falcons but I got to see my guys lace 'em up and make the other team earn their victory. Hoo-rah!

Awesome trip: fine food, pretty good tiki, a little football and a lot of family.

Wicked good!
midnite

Post #261187 by midnite on Tue, Oct 17, 2006 12:43 AM