Day Three in Hong Kong - The Underbelly

20th June 2013.

The underbelly

I started off on Lockhart Road, Wan Chai in Hong Kong which has the reputation of being one of the centers of the bar scene.

The first requirement was to line my stomach and according to a swift internet search an Irish pub called Delaneys's would fit the bill. One thing I wanted to do during my stay was to eat each meal in different venue and to try something new for every meal so I ordered a pint of Tetley's and a beef boxty which was very nice.

One difference between the bars here and those in Bangkok quickly became apparent. Anything between 25% and 75% of the customers were Asian and everybody mixed happily together whereas in Bangkok the farang bars are for the farangs and the Thai bars are for the Thais with very little mingling.

Suitably fortified by the boxty I strolled up the road and popped into Carnegie's which had a huge range of drinks available,

including a menu of different Absinthes so I had to try one and chose one from Paris called La Fee. Green in colour with an aniseed smell to it. I took a couple of sips from the shot glass and the tip of my tongue went numb so I downed the rest. A couple of minutes later I knew I had drunk something strong. I stopped at one although if I was in some company (safety in numbers) I would have happily tried another two or three brands. Where are you Paul when you are needed?

Back out to the street and the bars were thinning out so over the road and back along the other side pausing at "The Old China Hand" which had this brief write up on one site I looked at "Best Bar to See People Who Look Like Wizards: The Old China Hand. Lots of old men who like rugby and 2-3 Gandalfs on any given night". Another pint of Tetley's and some entertaining people watching. Yes there was a Gandalf look alike there as well!

A couple of girly bars next door caught my eye and a girl caught my arm and ushered me inside one of them. A clean and nicely decorated bar was behind the blackout curtain and a pretty girl in a bikini was dancing on the stage. Apart from us the place was empty so a quick about face and out I went.

My online research had told me that the go-go bars are very expensive to drink in. Your drink will be similar in price to the other bars (3 - 4 quid each) but if you buy a girl a drink it can cost you up to 20 quid so although I put my head around the door of a couple more go-go bars I didn't spend any time or money in any of them. They all looked very tame when compared to a bar I had visited in the Nana Entertainment Complex, Bangkok last week. I had been enticed in by a pretty girl waving a notice board at me that had "Live pussy mirror show. No cover charge" written on it. In the interests of research to ascertain exactly what a pussy mirror show was I went in. A bottle of beer was expensive at 150 baht but there were plenty of topless girls dancing on the two stages. Around the edge of each stage were mirrors and a girl would come and dance near you. All they had on was a short, a very short skirt and yep, you guessed it, all her charms were clearly displayed in the mirror. Not even a hint of such a place in Wan Chai that I could see although there might have been down some dark alley somewhere.

Caught the tube back to Tsim Sha Tsui (no idea how you pronounce it) in Kowloon and visited 3 more bars. First "The hair of the dog" which Paul would have loved due to the number of smokers ignoring the no smoking signs. One G&T was all I had and then moved on to "The Whale"

which was a bit more down to earth and when I ordered a Mai Thai the girl had to go and check to see if they could make it. They could but a rather poor imitation of the real thing was delivered. The last bar of the night was also the best. called "Tequila Jacks" where I order a 4 quid margarita which was an impressive size

and very nice too so I ordered another one. The t-shirts for the female staff had "Eat my taco" on the front which made me smile.

It was now approaching midnight and being a bit squiffy I called it a day. Like all good pub crawls mine finished just a short walk around the corner to the hotel and I slept very well.

All in all an entertaining evening but the bits I saw were certainly not seedy in any form or fashion. Some bits were a little risqué and there were definitely ladies available but that can be said about any major city on the planet. 

Time for brunch and then the Dragon Boat Races with free beer :-)

Slater,

R.

Hong Kong is a lot more organised and well planned than Bangkok will ever be. The Thai authorities really should come and visit to see how things should be run but they are too proud to admit that someone who isn't Thai is actually smarter than they are.

Take a look at the map of my local underground station (an interchange between two lines) with all of the various exits. No idea how large an area it covers but you can easily walk for 15 minutes underground in air conditioned comfort away from the traffic and weather. Moving walkways join together the more remote areas and plenty of signs make navigation easy. 

In just a couple of days I feel at ease here with the well planned public transport system and friendly natives. As I mentioned in an earlier email I would like to spend a couple of months here some time in the future because I'm sure that there are lots of good places to eat and drink at as well as other neighbourhoods to explore. I might even find some sleazy bits to whet Malcolm's appetite with but not this time. Currency conversion is easy with about 4 Thai baht to 1 HKD (although that won't help Ricky next month who has the more complicated conversion of about 12 HKD to 1 pound).

As expected everything is more expensive than in Thailand but same as everywhere if you don't drink too much (or only drink free beers) then your living expenses can be kept under control. A couple of things that are noticeable by their absence are a) street beggars and b) mosquitoes both of which Bangkok has in abundance.I also miss the street vendors who are everywhere in Bangkok from whom you can buy anything from fresh fruit to deep fried insects but I haven't seen any here. Same same but different as they say.