Oddities and brief adventures during a recent trip to Hong Kong.
The EA Experience, how Coke relates, androgynous Hello Kittys, surrealist jazz bars and getting chatted up on a plane…
This is a loose continuation of a post on a recent trip to Malaysia. You can find the related post here: Malaysia 2009.
The view from our hotel room was impressive, but it was nothing compared to what they are building across the harbour. When complete, the International Commerce Centre (ICC) will be Hong Kong’s new highest building – 75m taller than their current tallest building, the International Finance Centre (IFC). The ICC will have the third highest roof in the world. Apparently it was going to be taller but it had to be “… scaled back from earlier plans due to regulations that didn’t allow buildings to be taller than the surrounding mountains.” Right.
The view from The Peak is one to savour. We arrived just before sunset …
… to see it transform.
A trip to The Peak is what one would expect, but then you run into this – The EA Experience.
I’m not sure who at EA thought this was a good idea because it makes no sense. Is this what EA spent all their money on before the global financial crisis hit? Hundreds of visitors walked right on by with barely a glance, but as a long-time gamer I could not resist. What is contained within this temple of EA? Exclusive merchandise and collectibles? Rare memorabilia? Unique insights into upcoming games? At the very least, how about some cool Spore statuettes and figurines for purchase?
No. Just lots and lots of boring EA merchandise. By boring I mean nothing you couldn’t find at your local games stores (except EA clothing but who in their right mind would wear EA?). Why bother with this expensive endeavour if it has nothing exclusive or interesting to offer? As a gamer this could have been a very worthwhile and pleasant surprise. Instead it was just a confusing disappointment. What a wasted opportunity.
Happy Valley Racecourse
An amazing racecourse situated a short tram ride away from the city.
It seems this is where a great portion of expats congregate on race nights. An inverse racial demographic to the rest of Hong Kong.
The view from the topmost public balcony. A lush shade of green I haven’t seen in a very long time.
Did I mention it’s spectacular?
And yes I placed a bet and yes I lost because I had no idea what I was doing.
A trip on a ferry around Victoria Harbour is a must, as it reveals parts of Hong Kong you wouldn’t normally see from the land. Sights like…
A massive pair of guns atop HSBC. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure they point towards the Bank of China.
A large hillside graveyard. A view to die for…
Apartment blocks with huge holes in the middle so that dragons can fly through them. Really.
Wine bottle sized uh, bottles of Tsing Tao beer.
I jest. This was actually soon after the ferry ride. Alcohol is so cheap and prevalent in Hong Kong it puts Australia to shame. You can purchase two of these bottles in any 7-11 for HKD$20. That’s around $2.50 Australian per bottle!
Dada Bar & Lounge
A surrealist jazz bar located in The Luxe Manor.
The Luxe Manor is an intriguing celebration of the abstract and the extraordinary. As richly diverse in style as the origins of our guests, The Luxe Manor is a boutique hotel as though fashioned from Salvador Dali’s fertile imagination. Surreal yet unexpectedly comforting, discover a delightfully rich eclectic mix of Oriental and European decor with Post-modern sensibilities.
In reality it’s insanely impressive.
A unique experience, full of weird and wonderful things.
Tables full of jewels.
Ornate décor and much, much more (if you’re only going to click one link, this is the one).
Unfortunately on the night, we were basically the only patrons around. The jazz band (who were great considering) played to us exclusively but we could only last a set before the awkwardness of the whole situation became too much to bear. It was a great place but hopefully next time around there’ll be others to enjoy it with.
The Coke side of life. In Hong Kong that means eating the craziest hot pot ever while being crazy happy (I can’t read Chinese).
Microsoft teams up with fashion label XLarge to promote Halo Wars. Obviously game marketing is ‘different’ in Hong Kong. I thought the EA Experience was the exception. I was wrong.
In hindsight I should’ve bought the special Halo Wars pack and resold it on eBay. Only in Hong Kong…
An androgynous Hello Kitty. It looked at me longingly…
This explains its origins. I guess…
We flew with budget carrier Air Asia X the entire trip. Usually it’s what you would expect from a budget airline, but due to their recent acquisition of new planes, flying Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur ended up as quite an interesting experience. Why? Free in-flight chat between passengers.
What does it offer? Private and public chat rooms, customisable names (the seat number is mandatory), and word censorship (swear words and sensitive terms like ‘terrorist’ and ‘bomb’ are asterisked but oddly enough ‘fuckshitifoundabomb’ isn’t censored).
So what would you do if you had access to in-flight chat?
And much to my surprise, everyone in the chat room knew what it meant. IRC is alive and well.
On the flight back to Australia, the 15 of us (Australians, Malaysians, Canadians) got to know each other without ever meeting one another. We were dispersed throughout the plane and we could see each other but no one ever made physical contact. Classic really. But that wasn’t the end of it. Oh no.
So 14J (Loves To Spooge) and 26F (me) got to chatting about this and that. You know, defending our respective cities (14J Gold Coast, 26F Brisbane), slagging off other cities (in Sydney the gangsters have bazookas), where we’ve just visited, when we’re going back to work, and then the food carts arrive. Being Australian the topic of beer comes up and well… 14J asks, “26F: Can I buy you a drink?”
Of course I said yes. It would be impolite to say no. The second I accepted I could hear giggling nearby, and gasps of disbelief from my partner sitting next to me. “Is 14J serious?” exclaims my brother in the seat in front of me.
A few minutes later.
“Excuse me sir. Your friend from 14J says this is for you.”
Typing on the screen, “My shout next.”
“Sure thing mate.”
And I never even met the guy… Australians…
A few minutes later I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was home.