I met Lovely Cox and her friends at Pure for ‘brunch’
(around 5). They’d been seated around 4, but they were still eating and talking
gossip. His fellow Aussie friend was giving me typical 40s realness, and his
Brit (or Pomme as the Aussies would say) friend was all the
graying-at-the-temples, handsome-devil, unexpected-fetish-streak (in my head)
hotness one could hope for. And he was
clever.
We sat and drank for a couple of hours, laughing and
taking the piss out of each other, the staff, the island, etc. I’d planned to
cross the Harbour to Kowloon to check out the bar atop the Ritz Carlton, but
they informed me that a) it was a bit late to catch the spectacular sunset and
that b) it would be very crowded, possibly with a line.
Lovely took me to visit her (actual) sister at work at a
small restaurant on Cain Rd. where I had the most amazing grilled squid! Our
next stop was Tivo where Lovely hosts her monthly party. She discussed business
with the manager, a tall, slim white guy who couldn’t stand still.
At that point, Lovely went home, and I went to my hotel
for a disco nap, making sure to set the timer on my phone correctly. The first place I went when I woke up was Propaganda to get my
hand stamped while the cover was reduced. The place was absolutely empty. I
don’t recall how much the cover was (probably between HK$150-250), but I got a
comp pass for next Friday and a drink ticket for that night.
My next stop was Zoo, which I’d been told was very local
and very cliquey. I definitely didn’t feel as comfortable there as I did in
Volume, but I started talking to a rather handsome bear in his 40s. He was a
nice and seemed fun, so I told him he should join me for a drink at Volume.
Zoo never got overwhelmingly crowded, but when we walked
out on the street, we saw no less than 150 people out on the street with their
glasses and beers. We had another couple of drinks at Volume, and by the time
we got to Propaganda, I was kind of over the bear. I definitely wasn’t taking
him home. Plus, a younger, hot (as he put it) guy is hanging out with you, and you
want to get touchy-feely, but you can’t offer a single drink?
So I started talking to these guys and just kind of
migrated with them when they moved. The bear got the hint pretty quickly. I saw
him later, and he gave me a sheepish “hope you’re having fun” grin. It felt
awkward for about 3 seconds.
I ended up staying out til about 4:30, stumbling the 200
meters to my hotel (I told you it was a
great location). And what do you do when you’re on vacation in a foreign
country by yourself after the club? You sign onto Grindr.
 |
| Apparently, the work/life balance there sucks. |
There’s a trip to Cambodia in my future.
The next “morning” (around 4), I schlepped up the
escalator to Lovely Cox’s apartment.
Lovely: “You’re a big girl; make yourself a cocktail.
Here’s a glass. Ice in the fridge.”
This queen had a china cabinet that must have magically
turned bowls and dishes into liquor bottles. Every damn flavor of vodka you
could want! It was at that moment that I knew we’d be friends for life.
We shot the shit while watching A-List Dallas for a couple of hours, trading online hookup war
stories (one of which involved a trick failing to mention his cerebral palsy). After a while, we went up to her rooftop (what’s with me and white
guys in Hong King with rooftops) to see the view. Lovely’s building is only 20-something
stories high, but because of the elevation of her street on the mountain, we
could see over most of the sky scrapers in Central.
Me: “So is this fog over the harbour, or is it pollution?”
Lovely: “Honey, that’s pollution from the factories in Shenzhen!”
Me: “Ah, right. China. No regulation.”
Lovely: “It’s amazing. In about 2 weeks time, they’ll
close all the factories for 2 weeks for the New Year. The view will be crystal
clear until they start up again.”
Me: “Damn! 2 weeks?! I wish my—”
Lovely: “No you don’t. They really don’t get any time off
except for another 2 weeks in the summer. Hell, the government here didn’t
switch from a 6-day work week to 5 until 5 years ago!”
 |
| Lovely hates this pic on her rooftop, but it was too perfect. |
I bade Lovely farewell after another episode of A List
Dallas and tipsily headed towards Central’s main
transit hub en route to Kowloon across the harbour.
Did I mention how crazy that night eventually got (but I
gotta split this post up into 2… sorry)? Yeah.
Click here to check out a throwback Summer Sunday drink-a-thon with Bottomless Pitt.
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