As most of you know, I am not one to celebrate birthdays as I am a keen believer that they are overly self-indulgent. Having had a blast last year for my 21st with some of my dearest friends, it was hard to top this year, being solo in HK.

Thankfully for old friends from Vancouver who happened to be either traveling or working in HK, I decided to venture out the infamous Lan Kwai Fong clubbing district in the city. Needless to say, it houses a collection of 20 or so bars, in one of the city’s steep slopes embedded in its downtown area. During the day, it’s a delightful walk-through, with open patios and quirky boutiques for mostly expats (or locals who want to be like expats). At night, I was stunned to see it transformed with virtually every bar on the street being filled with guests, who were enthusiastic to meet passer-by’s. Thanks to the hospitality of some incredible local friends, we checked out a few venues: Azure (homebase for rich foreigners, overlooking the city’s nightlights from 3oth floor), Dragon-I (the city’s most esteemed venue, featuring a stringent door policy to only allow the best of the best looking to enter, a giant bird-cage [think Miley Cryus' music video] and creative drinks menu), Prive (annual membership of $250 CDN required for entrance, mostly asian bankers and lawyers), and some other bars.

Needless to say, the scene is epic; with foreigners left, right, and centre, it’s easy to meet people. However, I was uneasy with the amount of 40-year-old men that packed the LKF district. Locals tell me that there is a phrase for “MBA,” in reference to a particular group of men. They don’t have a professional designation, but rather they are men who are “married, but available.” With that atmosphere in mind, I saw so many young girls being bombarded by the richest (and oldest) of men for probably the worst intentions. You wonder where their wives are, and why they are clubbing at the age of 45 years old.

Some neat observations I saw while hopping around were the exclusivity of this city’s bars. Contrary to Vancouver, where a group of friends can easily head out after dinner impromptu for a bit of dancing to sway the night. Here in HK, most bars require table reservations (at the price tag of around $1g CDN, not including drinks) a week before your intended going-out weekend. Moreover, many bars attempt to filter through the crowd that it attracts by enforcing annual memberships, which do not include any perks other than entrance. D-I is the most creative in that it pre-screens every girl at the door, feeds the good-looking with ever-flowing free drinks, and charges most men a cover of $50 CDN to weed out their selective demographic. As the owner mentioned, your crowd is your currency when you’re running a bar business, so they are as reckless as you can imagine in being picky.

Not only does the amount of old men prying on young girls concern me, HK bars don’t seem to enforce much of an age requirement either. I have seen girls who were at most 16 who got into the even most esteemed venues without hassle. Even though the government suggests that bars should ID  patrons, and only allow those who are 18 and over to enter, as soon as you step into any venue, it is evident that this is hardly enforced. Besides, these girls attract filthy amounts of older bankers and lawyers – prime clients to spend copious amounts of money every visit.

Nevertheless, it was an evening filled with much curiousity and great companionship. I though it was quite neat that bar-stamps are all invisible, only seen when placed under black-lights. This eliminates the possibility for anyone trying to rub off stamp ink to friends to avoid lineups. It didn’t hurt that I had only spend 100$ HKG all night (equivalent of $12 CDN since girls get around with cover and drinks). With the night ending around 3:30AM, I don’t know how many more LKF adventures I can embark on during my stay here!

Thank you to all for the wonderful birthday messages, it would have been ever better had I been able to enjoy it with friends back home!

Lovely friends all meeting up in HK