Customized Spasms

For the first time ever, I got stopped by Customs when I got into HK yesterday, and they made me empty out the entire contents of my bags.

Apparently one of the little fabric-y things they used to swab my bags set off some sort of alarm (3 times!) during a random (yeah, right!) scan, which then saw me taking bags to a quiet corner while they inspected every inch of my suitcase.

The officer in charge was very nice about it, but it was hard to look him in the eye as he went thru' my underwear and toiletries. He seemed to be looking for the apparent contraband that I was hiding somewhere in the lining of my clothes or the waistband of my briefs.

Throughout the entire episode, he was very professional and courteous, but it didn't stop from me sweating ever so slightly. It was all over in 20 minutes, and I was allowed to pack up my stuff after they didn't find what they thought they were looking for. They even unpacked a gift pack with baby clothing (a gift for my friend Brian & Jen's baby boy), just to make sure I wasn't being sneaky.

I wasn't carrying any drugs (outside of painkillers) and I hadn't handled explosives, so your guess is as good as mine.

Speaking of painkillers, how glad am I that i brought my bottle of pain relief medication, given that during a meeting with the boss today, my back muscle decided to tense up and have a minor cramping moment.

The combo of the search and the spasm could have driven me crazy, though not as crazy as these people who attended this year's Oprah's Favourite Things episode, which aired yesterday in the US.