As the song says, Here We Go Again with more of what you might wish to see and do when it comes to hanging out in Hong Kong during Longines International Week- the bars, the restaurants, the clubs and the good, the bad and the fugly.
Though we let others do our shopping for us- even when it comes to socks and underpants- we hear from them that Causeway Bay- particularly behind the Excelsior Hotel- is the main strip to find some decent clothes, phones, computers, iPads etc and not at Pacific Place prices.
All the shops there and at IFC need to jack up their prices because of the high rents they’re paying.
As for cheap knock-offs, Stanley market- there are some pretty good restaurants around the area well worth checking out- is still the place to go- you night even get a “Neki” and an “Eddidas”- while Mongkok is where all the fake “luxury” watches are sold.
A tip: Always offer them half of whatever is asked.
Meanwhile, Sahara, the Middle Eastern bar/restaurant in Lower Elgin Street, managed by our Egyptian “brothers” Dodi, below, and Hero is a magnet for many.
Why? It’s casual, there’s always a party atmosphere going on and an extremely international mix of customers- mainly females and there with their friends to smoke some shisha, eat, drink and be merry or Mary or Larry.
The old closets have opened and Hong Kong these days is seeing the emergence of a huge Pink Dollar market and this gay generation is everywhere- nowhere more so than at Propoganda in Pottinger Street and the Happy WednesGay nights at Bisous.
If not your scene,hang around Sahara and later- around 1am- walk up the road to Feather Boa, the small, cosy club that serves the best daquiris in town and throbbing with off-duty British stewardesses and local female banker types just out for a good time with no strings attached.
The clientele is not exactly young- and not ancient either- but who needs the hand that rocks the cradle? MILF is good for you.
If wishing to enter David Lynch land, try and get to Fifties on the fifth floor of 6 Lyndhurst Terrace.
The place is wonderfully surreal with tai tais- rich and older Chinese ladies with their toy boy escorts paid for the night- young and old lesbians, off duty policemen, some peaceful members of the main triad society and all there for one thing: To get up onstage and sing their arses off with the ‘live’ band who look more dead than alive and seem to loathe their jobs.
They and the very gay manager who dances to the beat of whatever is going through his head, adds to the surreal atmosphere.
All that’s missing are some clowns and midgets, The candy-clowned clown they call The Sandman and Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.
We have had many great nights at Fifties- up onstage- and with music execs from overseas and some of the world’s biggest artists and a great time has been had by all.
Back to normality, there are two Wagyu Lounges, both worth checking out- the one on Old Bailey Street, below, frequented by a number of “yummy “mummies” during Happy Hour and at dinner, but crawling with tedious Hooray Henry-type bankers for lunch- and the larger lounge on Wyndham Street.
There’s a small bar area outside which is a popular meeting place whereas the adjoining restaurant serves some decent enough dishes though somewhat on the pricey side for what they are.
Sure, their burgers are big, fat and juicy, but the price shouldn’t be as big and fat and not so juicy, Lucy.
Still, the crowd is always pretty interesting, reasonably well-heeled and a regular with many in the racing game.
Moving, moving, moving, keep them doggies moving, and, like Frankie Laine singing that theme from Rawhide, the private gentleman’s club Goodfellas is now on the fourth floor where Woolamoolo is situated on D’Aguilar just off Lan Kwai Fong.
Getting in is tough if security doesn’t know you so have someone who knows the owner take you or just mention the name Sonny and keep walking.
What’s at Goodfellas are some ladies from Moldova, the Czech Republic and quite a few from the Gold Coast on six month tourist visas.
There are private lap dancing sessions, some bored pole dancing or just sitting with the girls who might have charmed you into thinking you’re chatting them up and doing fine- they smile and act attentive while sipping sugar water martinis which keep your tab in a constant upward spiral- before the lights come on and they tell you that times up and they’re off duty.
The kiss-off and cut-off is severe and, like a nasty circumcision, the bill close to HK$8-10,000 really hurts.
If you’ve fallen in “drunk lurve” and want to take a girl out, that’s another $5k for nothing more than more chit chat.
However, for $5k one can take five ladies to Goodfellas’ well-hidden sister club in Lan Kwai Fong- La Cage- where they will continue to drink sugar water martinis, have these pile onto your tab with another add-on being if, for some weird reason, you might wish to dance in a cage with one of these girls.
Yes, this sister club of Goodfellas has cage dancing and a sight that still haunts us is a rather over-sized Indian owner dancing in one of those cages with a jockey and trainer. Eeeeeew.
To be continued…
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