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Published: January 30th 2009
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Jodi, Jeff and I
That's all you need. Stunning Blonde and a couple of Handsome Men. I’ve lived in Shenzhen for about half a year now and have only been to Hong Kong less than a handful of time, even though Hong Kong is only a few MTR (Shenzhen & Hong Kong’s subway system) stops away. On average, crossing the border from where I live may take 20-30 minutes including customs. In spite of this, I had to make it up to my beloved city by spending my New Year in Hong Kong for the very first time.
The plan was to get a group of people to meet up in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong’s prominent bar street, and basically get “sauced-up” with cheap beer bought from 7-11 and just hang out in the middle of the street waiting for the New Year countdown. The icing on the cake was that we were going to get all dressed-up in our tailored suits for the men and tailored dresses for the girls. And here is an opportunity for me to using the saying, “I know a guy.” If you are in Shenzhen and you are looking for good tailored suits or dresses for a cheap price (480 RMB a suit, about 70 USD), look for me, I know a guy.
Ok, back to the plan. When you are in China, plans never workout as you wanted it to. BEWARE of last minute scheduling changes. Our gathering plan was of course planned weeks before New Year and when New Year’s Eve came around, my school had asked me to stay for a celebration that would take up our time until 9 PM that night. The festivities at school were unique. I saw some colleagues dress up in some traditional Chinese clothing, danced, sang, and even cross-dressed but it wasn’t what I wanted for my first New Year in China. As a result, Mike and David, my colleagues from the US, and I got out of the event after our mediocre performance.
Our performance (The couple card tricks I know and singing “I want it that way”) was conducted in English with a Chinese translator who has learned the art of “Putonghua” in 2 years, Mike. It was funny because everything I said in English, Mike would say something irrelevant to what I was trying to convey and instead repeated the simple Chinese you would find in a local kindergartener ‘s Chinese book.
Anyway, 9 PM struck and Hong Kong was our main focus. We took the MTR and got to Lan Kwai Fong around 10:30 PM. We actually got there a bit earlier but a swarm of people was also going to LKF. Cops had to regulate traffic and it felt like and upstream mosh-pit without the hitting of course.
Finally, after swimming through the crowd, I got a hold of Phong and the group. For the next hour and half, we spent it in Beirut, a Lebanese bar that has good drinks and good hookah. Jodi, a stunning blond in our group, got us a free table and we did not have to pay a 200 HKD cover charge. Her charm continued when she got us into Hong Kong Brew House, also for free. Lesson… When you go out to bars in Hong Kong or China, bring a blonde and make sure she wears 6-inch heels.
The night with friends was great and after a couple of erroneous countdowns and finally getting it right, we caught a glimpse of the fireworks. I say glimpse because the tall building around LKF blocked most of the view.
The night of course did not end there. I met up with my Hong Kong friends Natalie, Phillip and Alvena. I spent some time chatting and dancing with Natalie and her friends in Fong, another hip bar on the street, and then spent some time with Phillip who has been helping me around Hong Kong since 2006. Towards the end of the night, I allocated my time accompanying Alvena and her friend Carrie.
The night was still young but most of my friends were already hammered from drinking so a lot of them went back to their hotel. Me, however, persuaded Alvena, Carrie, Phong and Phillip to go to Wan Chai for the ever-famous basement bar, Dreams II (I am exaggerating, Dreams II is a bit dirty, but still has its’ fun side).
To be honest, I really just wanted to party more since I didn’t book a hotel. I even planned to pull and all-nighter. To help me with this mission, a good friend and a great sport, Alvena, continued the night with me a bit. Then when she left, I got to know a little bit more about my newfound friend, Carrie. Carrie is definitely a character. She was witty, funny and loved it when I spoke English? It is actually the first time I have heard of an attraction towards the language. French is romantic, Spanish is sexy, and Italian is…. hairy? I just thought it was interesting. God, I love English. Although I was a bit tipsy, it seemed like she could even dance? Right? Can anyone attest to this? Also, she has a great smile and something weirdly attractive; she has an extremely cute voice. Imagine, a small girl in a Japanese Anime. Yes, her sound, just like Carrie’s.
Anyway, when everyone left, I had no other plans and decided to look for a hotel. I was of course beyond tipsy at this point and did not care how much I paid for a hotel. Before this, I thought, “Wow, I am definitely not spending money on hotels because it is so expensive.” This quickly changed when I got into the cab and said, “Bring me to the closest Hotel with the cheapest price.” I got into the place, they said a price, I was oblivious to the price and the very next day, I saw a receipt for 950 HKD. Mistake? I don’t think so, I had a very good New Year and I had a very good night. The bed was comfortable, the pillow for some reason was extremely comfortable and the powerful shower, definitely a thorough cleaning.
The next morning, on New Year’s Day, I dreaded the ride home to Shenzhen because Hong Kong was exceptionally beautiful that day. I reached further down into my pocket and found more receipts expressing bad spending habits. However in the midst of calculating my spendings, I came across a new phone number. Yep, you know it, it was Carrie’s.
Happy New Year!
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