Work sent me to Auckland for a few days to mingle with one’s workplace masters and… well… let’s not talk about them.
The venue was the Rendezvous Hotel just off Mayoral Drive. Thankfully it wasn’t as seedy as the name suggests and the first floor bar-slash-smoking balcony had a rather pleasant view of the Sky Tower and assorted other anonymous buildings. The mid-1980s 12-floor atrium above the lobby was rather hilarious. Don’t even get me started on the irregular corridors.
Enjoyed dinner at this random place on Ponsonby Road called Thai House. The description beforehand of it being “reasonably priced” had me genuinely worried but the food ended up being pretty good. Started off with the “money bags” (seems to be a Thai euphemism for dumplings), which looked premade in a factory somewhere but tasted delicously juicy and homemade. Finished with the sizzling garlic prawns with steamed jasmine rice. Bit much coriander with the prawns but the dish came with a ridiculous number of them in the dish that sizzles and sears careless fingers. Colour me really rather pleasantly surprised.
Dinner was followed by a house party that was meant to lead into Cassette #9 but things got so messy we may have forgotten to leave and perhaps can’t entirely recall the rest of the night’s events. Don’t ask me when or how I got back to the hotel this morning. All I do recall is that the Prime Minister’s minders were in reception and I was late for breakfast with the man.
Not much else to say about Auckland except traffic is seriously ridiculous, the city’s doctors appreciatively obliging, and the cab drivers genuinely desperate for business.
Someone really should do something about that.