Hong Kong

My first week and a half in Hong Kong was definitely an eventful one. I arrived at Changi airport with more than enough time, which is such a rarity. Usually I am yelling at the taxi driver to hurry and rushing through security to get to my gate. It was actually quite nice to be able to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee and a pastry before having to board.

With my tummy full, I made my way to the gate excited to sleep on the plane. I had been up late the night before and had barely gotten any sleep, so my plan was to catch up on some much needed zzzs in flight. As I was waiting in the boarding area a very loud and annoying family made their way towards me and plopped down taking over the empty seats next to me and a little bit of mine as well. Clearly there was no regard for personal space or social etiquette. The mother was a true Singaporean (speaking only Singlish) and was dishing out commands to her sheepish husband and two sons. I immediately picked up my handbag and moved to the other side of the boarding area. "Get me away as quickly as possible" was all I could think. As the boarding process started, I was one of the first to board and quickly made my way to my seat and settled. iPod on, ear buds in,and I was ready to snooze for the rest of the flight. My relaxing slumber was very short lived. I was jolted awake by the sound of two whining boys and a mother shouting at them in Singlish. It was them! My hopes were that they were going to pass by my row, but of course they stopped right next to me. One of the boys shoved his way past his mother and claimed his seat and his brother soon did the same. This cannot be happening, it just simply can't. I waited for them to get settled and seriously contemplated asking the stewardess if I could move seats. I was so exhausted that I opted instead to take a Nyquil and turned my iPod on the highest volume setting. One of the perks of having long hair is that you can cover the cord to the earbuds for take off and landing which is exactly what I did. That was until one of the unsufferable boys said in a loud voice, "That lady still has her music on. Mom, why can't I have my music on tooooooooo?" Dear Lord, this was going to be a long flight.

As soon as we touched down I couldn't get off that plane any faster. I made it though immigration with out any questions and collected my bag. I hopped in a taxi after deciphering what the different colors meant, and told my taxi driver where I was going. No surprise, he had no idea what I was saying. I showed him the address to my apartment in English and Cantonese and he still had no clue where it was. I sat in the back seat as he drove towards the city and phone what appeared to be four different people to find out where he was going. 

Eventually, he got me to the cross street of my apartment. The reception knew where I was being dropped off and met me to show me the rest of the way. My apartment building was in the center of Soho, a neighborhood in Central Hong Kong. It reminded me a lot of San Fran the way all the streets are built on hills. I dropped my stuff off and headed straight to the office to find my way around and see what the rest of the work week looked like. It's only about a 10 minute walk from the apartment to the office and along the way I noticed a wine bar called Tastings that I wanted to check out. On my walk back home I stopped for a glass of wine a cheese plate.

The rest of the week was pretty intense with work and I was working long hours as was expected. My friend Regina was invited by a friend of her's to a private kitchen called Magnolia and asked if I wanted to join. I, without even thinking about it, said yes. At this point I had worked 11 days in a row and need to stop for something social for my own sanity. I had never been to a private kitchen before but found that they are quite popular in Hong Kong. The deal is they don't have a full blown license to serve food like a restaurant does and most of them cannot serve alcohol. They don't advertise, most of it is by word of mouth. We were allowed to bring any of our own alcohol and they would serve it for us which was nice. Regina and I were running late for dinner as we had a lot to finish up at the office before leaving, so we popped in to a restaurant and bought two bottles of wine to go. When we arrived, we weren't sure that we had the right address. The building looked deserted from the outside and there wasn't a sign on the door. Regina peeked in and said it looked like the right place so we entered. A woman greeted us and led us through two rooms, the kitchen where the food was being prepared, and up a flight of stairs to a private entrance. The door swung open and there were about 14 people already seated at a long table. We went through introductions and began the first of five courses. The food was all New Orleans Cajun and was amazing!

At the end of dinner we realized that we still had about 10 bottles of wine that were unopened. Solution? Everyone at the table will just have to have a new glass poured.

After dinner we made our way to a bar on Wyndham Street called Tazmania. Regina's friends had tables reserved and we wasted no time ordering drinks, chatting and meeting new people.

One of Regina's friends said he was going to go to another bar called Play to meet some friends and asked if we wanted to stay or go with him. We decided that a change of scene would be good and opted to leave. As we arrived at Play, the line outside was massively long and people were pushing to get to the front. I spotted a bouncer that looked somewhat friendly and pushed my way to the front. I said I was with two people and asked if we could skip the line. Shockingly he said yes, waived us through and made some motion to the stamp girl to stamp our wrists. As crowded as it was outside, it was more crowded inside. Regina pushed her way to the back of the bar where the tables were and found some friends. I met a bunch of people who's names I either do not remember or couldn't hear because it was so loud.

Around 3am I decided that I was super tired and wanted to call it a night. Regina said she wanted to leave as well and we made our way out of the club and on to the main street below. I looked up and realized that we were right in front of our office building. I asked why there were so many people lined up outside the front doors and learned that there is a club called Magnum on the third floor of our building. A little strange but, hey, I guess it works.

The next day I had made plans to have brunch with Regina, Travis, and Travis's wife Sarah at noon. We went to a place in Wan Chai called The Pawn and I would definitely recommend it to others. The food was great and the atmosphere was really cool.

After brunch we all decided that we wanted to spend the rest of the day at a beach. We stopped by the nearest 7 Eleven to pick up water and drinks and hopped in a taxi to South Bay Beach. The day was turning out to be beautiful and sunny and we wasted no time setting out blankets and laying out. 

The time was passing quickly and amidst all of out talking and recounting the events from the night before we heard a loud horn sound and a woman's voice speaking in Cantonese over the loud speaker. We looked around to see what was happening and then the English translation came. "May I have your attention please. Suspected shark sightings have been reported. Please do not go in the water." No one in the water could hear the announcement and continued to swim around. Soon, the lifegaurd raised a flag that had a fin on it to continue to warn people to get out of the water. 

When that failed to get everyone's attenttion, they paddled out on a raft to collect them and rowed back to shore. We knew we shouldn't go in the ocean to cool off and once it got too hot we opted to leave for dinner. Being in the sun all day none of us felt like anything heavy so went for sushi.

I was exhausted and stopped and got a foot massage on my way home. It was a great way to bookend a weekend in a new city.

Tequila. Friend or Foe?

Tequila and I have a love/hate relationship. I know that for a good portion of the night I will be the most fun girl you could choose to be around. Jokes: I've got them. Shapes on the dance floor: watch out. Friendliness standard to strangers: at a level 10. These are the great parts of the relationship. The down sides to the relationship? EVERYTHING seems like a good idea, and clearly everything is NOT a good idea.

It had been awhile since we had all gotten together for a proper dinner so we organized one at a French restaurant in Chinatown (sounds strange I know) called Taratata Bistrot. Val was leaving for the States in the morning for two weeks and we were glad that we'd all have time for a catch-up before she left. When I arrived, Kathleen, Adrian, and Val had already been seated and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc was being carried over by the waiter. I said my hellos and sat down next to Adrian. We started filling each other in on what had been going on in our hectic lives in the last week and half and before we knew it we had made through the first bottle. The waiter came over to see if we were ready to order and we stated that we hadn't even looked at the menus. He innocently followed up with a second question of, "Would you like another bottle of Sauvignon Blanc?" Val looked at him with a hopeless stare, smiled and just gave a single nod. He clearly did not know that we are big wine drinkers. Anna rang to let us know that she was running late and to not wait to order our mains as she might still be awhile. I informed her that we hadn't even ordered starters yet and to not worry or rush. Eventually we ordered a cheese plate and a few others appetizers to start and I was extremely happy by the time they arrived.

We ordered our mains and Anna arrived shortly after. She filled us in on her latest news and let us know that she was late to dinner because of a work conference call. She works for a company that is based in the US so timing of calls cuts in to social hour for her since we are a full day ahead in Asia. 

The waiter came around and let us knows about our dessert options for the evening and we decided to get a few to share. The soufflé was my top pick and it delivered in both presentation and taste! I sent the below photo to my friend Paul in Shanghai and he said it was the most boring photo I have ever sent him. Obviously Paul was mistaken!

We settled the bill, and took our drinks to sit outside at the tables that were directly in front of the entrance. We had called taxis but none of us felt like calling it a night just yet. 

Somehow, Pangaea made its way in to the conversation and we all agreed that it would be our next (and final as it always is) stop. We had just rounded 12:30am so it was still a bit early to head over, but we decided to go anyway. As we arrived we decided that we would not get bottles as none of us wanted to have a massive night. Val stated that she was only going to have one drink as she had a 9am flight the next morning. How naive we were to think that we would be calling it an early night.

After ordering a round of drinks we made our way to the main area and started to take over a table. It was still early enough that it wasn't packed and we were able to sit, chat and sip our drinks.

Adrian asked if I wanted another drink as he was going to the main bar to get one for himself and Kathleen and I said I'd walk over with him. As soon as we walked up to the bar, I made eye contact with my friend Lev (one of the bartenders) and he came right over to give me a hug. I introduced him to Adrian and we ordered our drinks. This is the EXACT moment that things started to take a turn for the crazy. Adrian suggested we do a shot. Lev seconded that thought. I reluctantly said okay but quickly asked what shot and said the only way I'd do one is if Lev did one as well. Both the boys, no surprise, wanted to shoot Patron. I gave in. "Uh oh, he we go" I quietly thought to myself. The three of us took our shots and the boys rebounded like it was water they had just drank. Lev started laughing when he looked at me and gave me some actual water to help ease the burning in my esophagus. We carried shots back to the table for Anna, Kathleen, and Val. It made me feel a world better that their reaction was very similar to mine pre and post shot.

Gareth had been in contact with Kathleen and was on his way with some friends. Anna was preoccupied talking to someone that she had met a couple weeks back when we were all at Ying Yang and Kathleen and I were trying to get her attention to let her know we were headed to the bar to get a drink. Mistake number two was about to happen. Lev walked over and before I knew it there were two shots of Patron sitting in front of Kathleen and I. I shot Lev a look that signaled "Seriously?" and his reply was a huge smile and a nod. I replied, "You know the rule". Lev reached down for another shot glass and poured himself one. One, two, three and we all raised our glasses. My throat burned more with this shot than the first, Kathleen slapped her hand across her mouth and ran to what I could only suspect was the bathroom, and Lev was just as fine as could be. I realized Kat might not be back for awhile so I picked up our drinks and headed back to the table.

In the midst of all of this happening, the table that we had so slyly taken over was about to slip out of our possession. The group of guys that had reserved it were incoming. Enter one of the benefits of tequila - - Friendliness standard to strangers: at a level 10. I walked over to the guy I suspected was the most social and started up a conversation. Two minutes flat was all it took to solidify that we could share their table with them. I looked over to my left and Val had struck up a conversation with another one of the guys. 

One by one we were all introduced and I promise no one remembered anyone else's name. It was past that point in the night to legitimately care. Kathleen had re-emerged from the ladies room and said, "Yup, it came right back up." Enough said; no need for further discussion. Much to my surprise she rallied like a champ. 

This is a great thing because we were about to learn a very useful party trick from one of our table-mates. You take you camera and set it on the timer function. Set it on the ground with the lens facing to the ceiling and everyone crowds over and smiles. You would have assumed that with the amount of photos we take we would have thought of this already! None-the-less we were stoked about this new found camera angle.

Our group continued to grow as Gareth arrived with his friends in tow. We were throwing shapes on the dance floor left and right, and suddenly I concluded that we did not have enough room for the shapes that I felt were necessary. 

Gareth widened the circle of free space and started twirling me around. This would normally not be an issue but I started to become dizzy and nauseous. 

I spun out of his grip and walked up to the bar to grab a bottled water. Lev took one look at me and reached in to the fridge and handed me a Fuji water. He commented that I looked like I needed to eat something. Note to self: this is a bad sign. He looked around to see if there was anything he could give me and handed me a glass of cut strawberries that were obviously there to garnish drinks. He said very firmly and slowly, "Eat these and drink that water." I nodded and complied and happily walked back to the table with my new goodies in hand. Mistake number three happened in the short distance from leaving Lev to returning to my friends. I pulled out my cell phone started texting everyone and their mother. Why wouldn't someone want to hear from me at 4:30am? I had important things to say, how dare they not answer my quick witted text messages. FAIL.

When I returned Val was nowhere to be found. Anna, however, had a full bottle of Patron in her hand and was pouring shots and handing them out. I knew I needed to escape before things got further out of hand. First, I had to finish my strawberries! I gleefully finished my make-shift snack, then grabbed my clutch and quickly told Anna I was making a move so that someone would know that I had left. The guy that I had initially struck up a conversation with said he would walk me out. I was not paying much mind to him; all I knew was that I wanted to leave before mistake number four was to occur. 

Walking outside it was POURING rain. I am talking monsoon (would-be-romantic-if-I-was-standing-next-to-someone-I-fancied-and-not-drunk) kind of rain. I was, however, standing next to a guy I did not fancy (albeit very cute) and was shivering from the mixture of rain and humidity on my skin. I couldn't hail a taxi and the line for one was at least a 2 hour wait. I made my peace with the fact that I was going to get soaked and started walking towards the CBD. The guy saw me walking away and shouted something to the effect of "Hey where are you going?" but I kept walking. I made it about 3 minutes when a taxi pulled over and the driver rolled down his window. He kindly said, "Miss you are getting rained on." I thought "No shit, really? I hadn't noticed." but figured I shouldn't say that as he might be nice enough to take me home and not continue on to the taxi stand where people would pay an additional fee. I stated the coordinates of my condo building and he motioned for me to get in. Thank goodness!

The next day was spent recuperating and slowly piecing back together the events of the night. I found out that Val overslept and woke up at 8am and her flight to the US left at 9am. She barely made it as the gate was closing sans shower or any breakfast. A 24 hour flight to the east coast is brutal after a night of tequila. I phoned my sister in the afternoon to tell her about my night. As she asked questions I kept cringing at memories that were creeping their way back to my conscious state of mind. Tequila, how quickly you go from being a friend to a foe.

Around the World @ The Tanglin Club

Theme parties can either be done really well or fail to deliver on the promise of a good time. Our friend Gareth is the master of throwing a great theme party (see the entry on WTF Are You Wearing?!). He is also a member of the Tanglin Club, one of the private country clubs in Singapore. When he invited us to the Around the World theme party at the Tanglin Club, there was no question that we were all going to attend. The only stipulation was that you had to go dressed as something “worldly”. I had had a very busy week at work and had no time to pull out all the stops for a great outfit. This is where my quick wit and fashion sense kicks in. What is more “worldly” than a cocktail dress? You can wear it anywhere, regardless of country and still fit in. This was my plan and I was sticking to it. 



Anna and I arrived at the club at the exact same time that Gareth and his friend were arriving. We exchanged hellos, sorted out getting checked in at the door, and made our way inside. Gareth informed us that Kathleen and Adrian were already there and were in the process of getting drinks. Adrian’s sisters were visiting from South Africa and I was excited to get to know them better. 

The Tanglin Club had transformed each section of the grounds in to a different theme based on country. Not only was each room decorated by country, there was a massive buffet filled with the cuisine of that particular country. We made our way through Japan, India, Spain, France, etc. By the time we re-grouped in the main ballroom we were stuffed full. Then came the dessert. I thought I had no room left in my stomach, but obviously I found some! 

The Club held an awards ceremony for the best costume. Gareth should have won hands down, but were weren't allowed to cast a vote :( 

We all started chatting and decided to walk through the grounds to work off all the food we had just consumed. The party reminded me of one that my parents would throw, only with alcohol. It was great to see civilized adults move through the spectrum of being sober to not so sober. The DJ started spinning tunes and we headed towards the outside deck. On out way there we saw there was a mechanical bull and it was beckoning Anna! She dutifully complied and hopped on. Anna lasted all of 15 seconds before getting spun off!

We eventually made it to the dance floor and sweat off all the calories we had just eaten. It was hot and humid night and we were dripping in sweat. None of us seemed to care since we were having such a good time dancing. 

Once we realized it was getting too hot for our own good, we decided to head to Marina Bay and go to Avalon to continue the night. The DJ was spot on and we continued the rest of the night just as we had at The Tanglin Club, save the difference of air conditioning!