Tanking-Up at Kai Tak before Long Flight Home: Anyone have any interesting stories?

[GammaGlobulin]

Dear Folks,

 

Speaking of nostalgia, is there anyone here old enough to recall the wonderful old days of Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport during its glory days?

 

Those were the days when one could completely Tank-Up at Kai Tak, and fly, completely drunk, out of Hong Kong to almost any major city in the world.

 

That airport, Kai Tak, was a jewel within the jewel of Hong Kong.

 

Nobody cared how drunk one might have been, just as long as one was not falling-down drunk, and provided one was polite, without having offended anyone.  If one were really drunk and weaving a bit, this was still considered to be fairly normal behavior. Neigh!, it was expected if one drank like a horse.

 

This is why I hate to fly in modern times. By comparison, in order to have really enjoyed one’s flight out of cities like Hong Kong, one, in ancient times, needed to start with a dozen drinks at several good bars at Kai Tak airport, and then to have continued on with two bottles of champagne, once seated comfortably aboard one’s flight.

 

Those were the days when the stewards and stewardesses would serve any well-dressed passenger without restraint. They did not care. And, if one were unable to disembark the aircraft upon reaching the destination, they would just order a wheelchair, and think none-the-less of the passenger.

 

Utter bliss and frivolity, at least for me, at Kai Tak. And, as I recall, I was not the only one. Sometimes, one just needs to let one’s hair down, and Kai Tak once was the place to do so.

 

Sadly, those Kai Tak days are now over. And, I know you will recall that wonderful flooring of the airport, with the hard-rubber bubbles (dimples), which made vibrating sounds as you pushed your luggage cart back and forth, from bar to bar.

 

Those bars were excellent with perfect decor and solicitous bartenders.  They would pour drink after drink, no matter how sloshed one became. And, if you could walk or crawl to the gate, then you were fit to fly.

 

Nobody was rowdy, back then, no matter how much alcohol had been consumed. And so, nobody feared the frequently-drunken frequent-flyer.

 

Well, any good stories to tell about Kai Tak?  And, I do NOT mean stories about the approach, or turning on final, or lining up with the runway. Those stories have already been told, and re-told.

 

I have a story to tell, but you first, please.

 

Sometimes, I just get so sick of our modern world in which any type of interesting behavior is banned. Or, they put you in cuffs and cart you off to the lock-up, for doing almost nothing at all.

 

Fortunately, I am now too old to have fun like that.

And, as well, I choose to no longer fly to Hong Kong…

Now that the communists have reclaimed the colony.

 

Regards,

Gamma

 

Note: Those were the days. The very-good old days.

 

Note2: They have taken all the fun out of flying, these days. No longer any point in flying, obviously.

 

Note3: I seem to clearly recall that China Airlines (Taiwan) would give us, in business class, flying out of Hong Kong, unlimited champagne, quality wine, and cheese. But you had to drink and eat fast. The flight was just too short in duration.  Yes, it was entirely possible to drink two bottles of champagne, and eat quite a bit of expensive European cheese, on that short flight.

 

When trying this, though, it was a must to, no matter how drunk, always be polite.

 

No Way!...do they offer this same service…now!

 

How I miss those great days of ….. FREEDOM…..!!!!

 

That, my friends…was true freedom, freedom which we have not now, these days of prudery and citizen-arrest.

 

Freedom: Poor old Richie Havens knew Nothing about Freedom, IMHO…and neither did the hippies…He was not free, free to fly the way Man was intended to fly.