The First Real Night Out

8-31-07: Today I went to the international students orientation. Yeah, there are a lot of us. 900. Caught up with some people I’ve met so far and met a few new people, too. It was pretty good, lots of talking though. It’s gonna be an awesome semester, that’s for sure. Hong Kong is so fast-paced and nonstop, I already feel like the HK lifestyle is work hard, party hard. I got tired today so I came back to my room to chill a bit, because I want to go out tonight and experience some nightlife. 9-1-07: So my roommate arrived yesterday afternoon! She is from mainland China, she is really sweet. Her name is Penny. She has been out and about to buy all of her stuff, but I think she will be a great roommate. Thank goodness, this room is quite small. So last night Sabrina, Irene and I headed over to meet our friend Julian, who wanted to have a little party on the roof of his hall. We had to go through the whole visitors signing in process of course. It is so strict, and we all had to leave by 11. Anyways, it was really pretty up there, you can see the lights, islands, and the sea, and all the boats. There were even some distant fireworks. I met tons of French people, which is hilarious, because despite the fact that I didn’t go to France for study abroad I can use my French. I can understand when they are talking, although I am embarrassed to speak since I am so slow at it. They were all very nice. Then I met up with Justin and Remco to go out, because I wanted to go with some people I knew a bit better rather than a huge group of people who I had mostly just met. The three of us headed to Lan Kwai Fong around 12:30. It is the big party street. It’s all foreigners and it is just all these bars and clubs. It’s quite pricey though so it is hilarious, everyone buy drinks at the 711 and drinks on the street. It’s very crowded, tons and tons of people all night long. We went to a few places, and we kept trying to find my friend Tim. We finally found him and then headed to Wan Chai. Wan Chai is pretty sleazy, there are tons of hookers and a lot of strip clubs. There are some decent bars with a lot of foreigners, but they wouldn’t let Justin in because he’s not 21, although they needed girls pretty desperately so they would let me in. Tim and I went into a bar but it was a bit too sketch for me. The men were quite touchy and creeper. I guess people kind of go to Wan Chai after they’ve hit up Lan Kwai and SoHo, but I don’t like it much. Anyways, at least I saw it and got a taste of what it’s like. We headed home around 4 am. So today, I am having a chill day since tomorrow I am going on a tour of Kowloon and then Monday classes start. I gotta still figure out my classes and everything. Justin and Remco found a swimming pool with a nice view of the sea nearby so I might check that out today too. But I will definitely have a lot of time to explore the nightlife more, although it was good to see what LKF and Wan Chai, the two standard party streets, were like.