Wan Chai is no holds barred for nightlife
Wan Chai is no holds barred for nightlife
Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Hong Kong
Once upon a time, or rather, at some point of time in the
1950s, novelist Richard Mason came to stay in a hotel in Hong
Kong, where he wrote a book about a touching but unlikely love
story between an American artist and a Hong Kong prostitute.
The story was set in Wan Chai, a part of Hong Kong Island
where the Wesley Mission and the red-light area are almost
literally within earshot of each other.
The World of Suzie Wong became a best-seller, and was for a
long time a favorite play performed around the world. It was even
made into a box-office film.
Years later another novelist, Gavin Young, came to stay at the
same hotel in Wan Chai, and wrote Slow Boats to China, which also
became a best-seller.
So, is there something magical about this Wan Chai?
Magic, like anything intangible, only visits those it randomly
and seemingly arbitrarily touches. Maybe that is also the reason
people want to see where magic has been.
However, to find in today's Wan Chai, the ambience which
invoked the creative je ne sais quoi in writers like Richard
Mason and Gavin Young, it is necessary to visit the place in the
evening, preferably after 10 p.m.
This is because during the day, devoid of the night atmosphere
and colorful incandescent lights at various heights overhead as
well as at eye-level, the vibes of a commercial center selling
mostly bathroom fittings, Wan Chai could only inspire those who
have interior decorating in mind.
In the evening, the place assumes a different personality. The
center of Wan Chai's nightlife, Lockhard Road, comes alive with
numerous girlie bars, with one or two more "respectable" pubs
sandwiched between them. This is such a convenient arrangement,
because these pubs serve sensible food as well as reasonably
priced drinks.
It is advisable to have your sustenance in one of these
establishments before you continue your exploration. Once you
enter a bar where scantily-clad young women saunter sexily on
stiletto-heeled shoes, or gyrate sensuously on the table, forget
about food, if you haven't already by then.
From this point onwards, the jaunt will benefit male more than
female visitors, so it is just natural that the costs are also
tilted more heavily toward their end. Unless you, and here I mean
male visitors, just want to sit and gawk at the alluring women --
in which case you can buy a glass of something innocuous for
HK$55 (US$12) and hold on to it for the whole evening -- you need
to set aside a budget for your personal entertainment.
As soon as you enter, a very prepossessing woman, usually
young and wearing something which may remind you of a bedroom but
not necessarily your own, will welcome you warmly, announcing
that it is her birthday and asking you to buy her a drink.
So you buy her what is known as a "lady's drink" for HK$220,
and she will be happy to tell you her life story. If you become
too friendly, your companion will ask for another drink.
At this point a seasoned girlie-bar patron will know what to
do. He'll look at his watch then look around. If it is late (or
early if you are thinking of the new day) and the bar looks
deserted, you can get away with buying a "small lady's drink" for
HK$110. Your companion may become a little less enthusiastic as a
result, however.
To a fellow woman, these bar girls are generally friendly and
happy to chat if the bar is not too busy. Most of them are not
from Hong Kong but from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.
While to Westerners they look 19, they are actually in their mid-
twenties, and many have families to support back home or
somewhere in Hong Kong.
What you get at Wan Chai's girlie bars is a titillating type
of a temporary companionship. There are no strip-tease or live
sex shows.
When you have had enough of being titillated, you can cool
down and recuperate round the corner, at one of the most
frequented pubs by expats, Delaney's Irish Pub, where, if you
forget to look out into the streets, you'll think you are in
Dublin. The decor is heavily Irish, the patrons mostly Caucasians
speaking with various accents from the British Isles.
Occasionally you hear American or some European undertones. Even
the Asians here speak English with choppy accents.
And the Luk Kwok Hotel? It is still there, having been
remodeled into a more modern accommodation, and more upmarket
compared to the way it was in Mason's and Young's days. However,
if you bring your own old-fashioned typewriter, and clutter up
your room with some nostalgic items, you may just recreate the
atmosphere to inspire a restless soul to write another chef
d'oeuvre. Good luck.