Hong Kong

As befitting a city of unbridled energy (and no law preventing open alcohol containers), Hong Kong’s night life blazes forward whatever the night or hour. With workdays often extending to after 8pm, Hong Kong nights start late and blend all too easily into mornings.

The entrepreneurial culture and high levels of disposable cash lead to a perpetual cycle of new ‘hot’ clubs, restaurants and drinking districts. Seeking entertainment is not tricky – going home early often proves a bit more challenging.

Kowloon’s restaurants and bars range from Knutsfords Terrace’s lively outdoor and overpriced restaurants to darker and less tourist-friendly bars run by the Triad. Most of the dive bars sell cheap drinks but make up for the low prices with a lack of atmosphere.

In Hong Kong Island’s Soho, many westerners begin their night at a trendy (read pricey) restaurant or bar. A few art-house cafes and wine bars have sprung up along Soho’s tight, sloping streets and offer more character with decidedly less attitude.

Lan Kwai Fong, opened in the mid 1980s on a former Hawker stand, fills most nights with well dressed western men and women – sometimes even inside the two bar lined streets. Entering from Soho provides a top-down view of neon and paper signs that hover above the packed crowds. Lan Kwai Fong bars, which range from the kitschy, 1980s music blaring Al’s Diner to the chic ‘list-only’ Volare to the old style Bulldogs English Pub, pump into the early morning hours on D’Aguilar Street and Lan Kwai Fong Street.

If the drink prices seem too steep, feel free to trudge down D’Aguilar Street to the 7-11 and buy wine, beer or other alcohol for about one-fifth the cost. The cashier will even open the bottle. To fill the belly, the frightful but misnamed, Rat Alley provides quick, tasty but not necessarily bargain Malay and Thai meals. Locating Rat Alley isn’t difficult. Sri Lankan and Indian men will find you at the base of D’Aguilar Street.

In Wan Chai, which sells everything at all hours, caveat emptor rules the night. The government offices, light industry and wet/dry markets that dominate daytime activities eventually give way to western bars and a red light district (where women strip down to bikinis). Wan Chai may offer bargain shopping during the day but it powers through the night on neon, booze and the ladies. When Lan Kwai Fong begins to loose steam in the early hours, Wan Chai awakens.

For non-drinking entertainment, Karaoke bars, scattered through Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, draw many Cantonese people to private rooms (no crooning a drunken duet of Summer Lovin’ in front of a room full of strangers). Since Canto-Pop music has a vice-like grip on the music scene in Hong Kong (i.e. there is not one radio station that exclusively plays western music), the Karaoke song menu contains mostly bland, single chord Cantonese love ballads.

Tickets to a range of professional cultural attractions and foreign bands are pricey but generally available with a few days planning. Hong Kong and BC Magazines (both free) provide details on the entertainment happenings.

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