Last Minute Detour - New Orleans

French Quarters - New Orleans

I heard a rumor that there was Mardi Gras on the weekend when I was in the hostel in Houston …. A festival I had no idea what its about … a festival where in Malaysia / Singapore we watch on TV shows and have no idea what is the reason or symbolic meaning of it but somehow relate to it since we have our own version which is the Chinese Festival of the Dead Parade (aka 7 Month Hungry Ghost Festival).

Still it was Mardi Gras …. I was not about to miss the real thing while I was in America so I headed to New Orleans. If I had knew in advance New Orleans was famous for witches and voodoo and all the weirdest stuff you can find in midtown USA I would have definitely bookmarked this amazing town into my map. All I knew then was that it was the first settlement of the French in America. Blasted Guide Book … always telling you the history of the place first …

Detours Time - I love Detours …. 

Of sourcing and hunting the net … I found … only 1 night in a Hostel … only 1 night … all others are fully booked … motels are fully booked … hotels are fully book … fuck … Oh well … 1 night is better than missing it … so I took the 6 hours bus ride from Houston on the Greyhound bus …

The Queue for the bus was Horribly Long …. I was holding onto my discovery pass which means if the buses was already fully booked I could not board. Queue up and hope there was empty seats on the bus … that was basically what the pass was about since most of the time there was always always empty seats … I felt horror that I was about to miss New Orleans all and all with the queue forming …. Just barely 40 pax of people lining up in front of me …

As the bus dock at the bay and the queue started chugging up the bus stairs it was the moment of truth …. CRAP …. The bus was full and I was just short 2 people from boarding the bus …. and the SIGH followed by CURSINGS from people behind me … which could fill up another bus sank my heart preparing it for acceptance that I would not see Mardi Gras this round …. and suddenly another bus pulled up at the bay HOORAYY … apparently the Greyhound people saw the long queue and called up a backup double the bus number … too much good money to make to put to waste … so I was settle down in a cramp bus headed to New Orleans -

I once saw on TV show they show boobs to random strangers for something …. We shall see …. We shall see