More HK Tales...

Sleep. A man needs his sleep. Crawl out of bed past 6pm, get ready for some feed and head to the Sheraton across the Harbour in Kowloonl. Sit down at Morton’s. It’s the usual fare, same classic menu in all locations. Opt for the blue cheese riddled tomato and onion salad and smallest steak on the menu. Making a conscious effort to cut down on meat. It takes three days to digest and slows a man down major. Pacific Rim Peter picks up the tab. Good guy. He calls Dana Point in The OC his home. There’s nothing like The OC in my eyes. RGP and I head to the HK club district, Lan Kwai Fong and drop in for a drink at Club 97, pure ex-pats, all hip-hop, people of all ages getting down. Drink two quick Corona and we’re out. Dial a pay per view of Japanese flick Death Note and hit the sack…
It is now Friday, day eight on the road. A shave long overdue I pick up a razor in Central (cheaper than Canada for the same product). We visit a tailor and plan to head back for a measurement. Custom tailored suits can be had on the cheap within twenty-four hours. The deal here is pick a fabric, get a blazer, pants, and two shirts for 2980 HKD, or 4980 HKD using premium Italian Zegna fabric, which a serious deal.
Mong Kok is definitely my fave daytime spot in HK and without a doubt the best-named district. Let me hear you say it out loud and proud three times. LOL. It reminds me a Jackie Chan movie and I stand there waiting for an endless stream of Triad’s to appear and enact a martial arts ballet on some heads. Word is there are approximately 150 000 members in HK and they have their finger in pretty much everything. Paul (next day) says a friend of his stated her brother went to jail for an eighteen month span simply for asking someone on the street if they were affiliated. RGP says they do limited biz on the Mainland because if they attempted to step up their game the Chinese government would squash them. Pick up a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ at one of the stalls. Visit a dozen kicks stores, including Toronto Sports (two locations) and shoot pics of kicks for potential usage in the March Sneaker Edition.
Lunch in Causeway Bay is a real nice soup with fish balls and water spinach. Good stuff and at 16 HKD a fine deal. The ice tea is also a treat. A full glass of ice, half a sliced lemon and sugar for sweetening. Chop it up fine, sip and say ahhhh to a crisp refreshing taste. A short walk and we’re back at the Hotel. Plan is to hit the city hard in a few hours but we’re still low energy from Wednesday and end up walking over the bridge to grab the BBQ pork, rice and veg takeout container for 25 HKD. Order up the second installment of Death Note and finally close eyes at 6 am…
Saturday is the first day of the Hong Kong Electronics Fair. RGP is buckling down in meetings all day. Gio receives an invite to a seven- hour boat cruise birthday celebration in the Harbour and we taxi to Pier 7. Birthday boy Hiro is in good spirits. A premium denim designer, he is responsible for the entire WeSC denim collection and also manufactures denim for Armani. Limited heat on the boat, but good times and conversation nonetheless. We briefly dock at Aberdeen to pick up the catered Italian lunch with Champagne toasts, white wine, Heineken, sodas and more. Post meal a few people dive into the Harbour off the upper deck, including two Armani Mo’s from Italy in the requisite tight briefs. Jokes. Spend most of it speaking with Paul, Tuba player in the Hong Kong orchestra. The cruise ends at 5pm and there is a 7.30 performance of classic Opera Aida on schedule. He has lived in Asia for seven years, knows the place, speaks conversational Mandarin, and likes to get LIVE at night. Gio says he’s a pick-up artist extraordinaire.
Post-cruise we taxi to Shek O for a quick drink and Thai meal with HK playboy Gordon AKA DJ Yeodie. A fixture in the local tabloids, the man is LIVE. Check his MySpace page for an example of the talent he deals with on the regular. Wow. Peace scribe, That Guy now based in Taiwan, says Yeodie is the man who hooked him up with venues in HK. He was set to join us on the cruise but was arrested, fingerprinted and in custody the night prior for drunk driving. Shek O is a way cool beach community on the South mountain of HK. Watch out for “Savage Juice” all over the place, and my fave spot, Fuck Lee Market…
Sunday we stop by Causeway Way for a Chinese breakfast of fried fish, toast, tomato and mayo for 26 HKD and hit the HK Electronics Fair. RGP and Andrew hip me to some nice technology and hot items. Wireless so small a magnifying glass is required to peep the details and Toronto company Kleer offers up an alternate wireless solution to BlueTooth. I pick up on the Gweilo powered speaker mono bass. Gweilo roughly translates to White Devil AKA your man, Mr. Heller. Gio models a dope watch that screens movies. Smile at a few booth babes and we’re out. PM Gio and I drop into the legendary Fenwick’s but become disappointed. It’s all man and man in for the Fair. Walk over to Neptune II and it does not disappoint. Paul meets up with us and we head over to Lan Kwai Fong to pick up some smoke. Labon is real chill, he lived in Montreal and Toronto. We sit, bun a few and head end up back in the infamous Wan Chai district for drinks at a pub, Guinness on draft and all that good stuff. Bedtime for a fewm but decide to head across the Harbour to Kowloonl. This is the real HK, early am, Triad’s sitting on chairs playing Mah Jong, littered streets like in the movies, grime. We head in and out of buildings on various streets, up and down the stairs. Sit down and speak with a few locals, and finally head back to the Hotel for 5 am. In a few hours RGP and I will be on our way to the real China, Mainland here we come…