One Night in Wanchai

It was my first night out in town and I didn’t know what to expect. The shuttle bus from the hotel took me into town, down the freeway, passing New Territory towns like Yueng Long, Tsuen Mun, Tsuen Wan, over fantastic suspension bridges crossing islands and harbours. It only took 30 minutes to hit Kowloon. Once there the traffic reached a standstill. Taxis, buses and a plethora of German-made vehicles clogged the road. The minibus inched ever so slowly toward my destination, past the front of the very grand Peninsula hotel. The Peninsula was built in 1928 to be THE luxury hotel in Hong Kong to cater for the luxury steamers from Europe and the trans-Siberian railroad. They added a 30 storey tower in 1994 with a helicopter pad. I was lucky enough to land on that in 2005 in a trip arranged by a friend of my mother-in-law. Down on the road, I could only imagine it there, high above the crowds gathering in Tsim Sha Tsui. Reaching a snail’s pace and turning the corner I could see the full glory of Nathan Road, a neon jungle advertising everything known to humanity. Finally half an hour at arriving in town I alighted from the bus amongst a throng of people. I managed to meet up with the others—my brother –in-law and some of his work mates from his international school. We were booked into an Indian restaurant in Hankow road somewhere. Typically Hong Kong, the restaurant was hidden up a few flights of stairs—turn left and it was an Indian foot massage clinic, right an Indian food place. It was a great meal, buffet style with jugs and jugs of Carlsberg thrown in for free. Amazingly, every time my glass was empty, it was refilled! After dinner it was time to explore Wanchai over the harbour on Hong Kong Island. By day, Wanchai is a shopper’s delight, by night a barfly’s fantasy. Again bright neon lights beckon the clubbers like flies to the flame. Be careful though, a round of drinks will end up costing you an arm and a leg. By 4.30 am I was totally legless and stumbled along Hennessey road (isn’t that a Cognac?) to find my bus back home. I lurched myself onto the bus, the closest seat I could find to the door. Fighting back the nausea I fell into a stupor…An hour later I managed to find my hotel and my room.