Hiring some Hong Kong hookers…
December 15th, 2007No, you don’t read the title incorrectly - last night will definitely go down in my life history as one to remember, but more on that later…
I actually managed to wake up at a repectable time (or at least, for me) and was dressed and out the apartment by about 3pm. I had no real plans, rather I thought I’d just walk around a bit and see what was about.
First stop, the harbour - and wow, what a harbour. Although the sunlight was dazzling, it was still easy to make out the vast expanse of water with the skyscrapers opposite, complete with large container ships drifting by every so often - I truely was amazed - indeed a great start to the day 
Here - have a looksie - sorry the photo is a bit squiffy, but I couldn’t see the screen due to the bright daylight, so had to just point and hope ….
The harbour front area itself has quite a few attractions too - there’s a museum, a theatre, numerous sellers peddling their wares, an observation deck (where you can look out over the sea) and this rather attractive area - although marred slightly by the dirty great “Prudential” advert which flashes in the background.
You follow the walkway around and eventually you hit the bus depot, although you do have the choice to take the “Star Ferry” which will whisk you over to Hong Kong island - however I wasn’t going to do this now as I had decided I’d go and try to find dad’s friend Jamie over in Mong Kok (up the road from the hotel).
However, a detour was to be made after I spotted a catchy sign for a game center nested between McDonalds and Starbucks - thus I duely went inside. Well… all I can say is WOW! Although the game center itself had nothing spectacular about it (all the games were the same as Japan, it was about the same size etc etc) the prices (or should I say, price) were amazing …. $1 … yes ONE HONG KONG DOLLAR - that’s 6.25p - PER GAME! And we’re talking all the latest games here! (Including, Mr Chris, Guitar Freaks Rock Edition - 6 pence! You could move here and become a GF Master in a week, all for the cost of a packet of crisps (well obviously not really, but you get my point)).
After an hour or so inside (and now at least œ1 worse off … lol) I made my way back up to the main street (Nathan Road) in search of some food, which was to be supplied by a Macau Restaurant in the form of scrambled eggs and a muffin, to the tune of £2. Not bad I guess, but a far cry from the prices of Taiwan.
It was then to the subway (or underground I should say - subway here means underpass, which gave me a few wasted trips when looking for the train - though I guess that’s normal British English …? I’ve been away too long, people are getting annoyed when I say “cellphone” instead of “mobile” …) to take the 30p train to Mong Kok.
Of course, as organised as I was, I had forgotten the street name, but I remembered from the time before that Jamie’s place was near the station, so I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find. Big mistake - 1 hour later I was still looking for the place, so had to admit defeat and find an internet cafe to look it up. Once online, it turned out I was in the wrong place completely - I was supposed to have gone to Hong Kong Central (ironically, where the ferry from earlier went to … DOH!) though there now wouldn’t be time (it was about 6pm) so I decided instead to find the clubs I wanted to go to later on.
I knew of 3 that were in the local area and were supposed to play the best music, anything from dnb to happy hardcore. Even better, they were all on Nathan Road - meaning if I were to walk back instead of taking the train, I should be able to find them all en route. Sadly though, it seemed Hong Kong wasn’t to be friendly to me today - as I got to the address of each one, I was horrified to find out they had closed down! (Checking later online confirmed this to be due to Triad drug problems earlier in the year - even worse, no equivilants had opened up in their place, thus the dance music scene was dead!)
Getting home and checking back online wasn’t turning out to be much use either - basically it seemed every club left running in Hong Kong just played RnB and/or Hip Hop … woopiedoo … it was therefore just a case of picking the best of the worst - which turned out to be a place called Club No. 9 - chosen as it was open bar for $120 (£7.50).
Arriving there, all became familiar - yes, this was where I should have come earlier to find Jamie - ah well - finding Club No 9 itself wasn’t too hard, just walk along Queens Road until you get to Ice Street then turn left, it’s then on the next corner. You then go to the top of the building and into the “club” - said in the loosest sense of the word, whilst large, most of the space is wasted in the centre by a massive stage, which seems to just cover a staircase? Drinks were free though, so I thought I should make the best of it, made increasingly more difficult by the terrible music that was playing - indeed I was just about ready to give up and go home, when I bumped into a similarly bored looking guy and his two female friends. They suggested I stay until 1am when the freeflow stopped and we all go to another club … hurrah!
One o’clock then arrived and, as said - we set off to find another venue (with a few high jinx on the way)
We headed back to the main bar area again and went into a place called, err, I forget its name actually …. hmm … anyway, it’s unimportant - with me nipping to the loo once inside. This turned out to be a fatal mistake on my part though, as when I returned, my new found friends were nowhere to be seen! Indeed after a good 10 minutes of searching and still not finding them, it was time to admit defeat and see what else was on offer.
A group of Englishmen outside the pub, who were busy playing football (at 3am) - suggested another area, about $15 in a taxi, which could be hailed from the top of the road - so off I set.
The road split into 3 seperate ways when I reached the summit, so I asked a group of passing girls which way to go. It turned out they were going there too, so how about we just shared the cab. An excellent suggestion, so off we set. We got there in about 5 minutes, and, as predicted, the cab did indeed cost $15 - which I ended up paying (a small price for the help provided).
One of the girls had to leave to go home, but the other two (Sarah and Rachel - both from the Philipenes) said they would show me around, how nice. First stop was a small bar just a short walk down the road - so in we went and drinks were ordered, followed by some more. After these were finished, the bill arrived, which it also seemed like I was paying … dar … it was £30 … 
On exiting the bar, I asked where should we go next and it was then suggested that we all go back to my room! Not quite ready for that (lol) I politely refused and was then met with some looks of confusion, before they asked me what should we do first then. I told them, it wasnt’ a case of first, I really didn’t want to go back with them at all - at which point they then asked “so why are you hiring us?” …. the penny dropped …. rofl.
Yes, I had indeed been out drinking with some Philipena “Ladies of the night” - who were expecting me to take them back home for the night (at a not unreasonable £100 for both of them … indeed one of them was very, very cute .. however.. ) - and thus, it was at this point that we parted company (though they did offer me a further discount if I wanted to change my mind) - so I was once again along on the streets of Hong Kong.
It was also 4am now, so I decided to call it a night and hailed a nearby taxi - £4.20 later - I was back at my hotel (on me todd) and able to stumble into bed …. ahhh …. a good night, yes, a shame I lost the guys from the first place, however the story I have now picked up, more than made up for it.
I wonder what will happen tonight …..