I decided to walk around the SOHO area and noticed that every last person was wearing a suit. Apparently I was in the middle of the after work happy hour for the financial district. So I passed up on a bar that was jam packed and kept walking, seeing as how I was totally not dressed for the occasion.... I came across this italian restaurant where I figured I could grab a beer and ponder where to end up... the door man (Alijandro) informed me that it was a private party. But gave me directions to a bar he said I would love, and that when I was done... I should come back to him and he would tell me the next place.. It just so turned out.... he pointed me back to the packed bar i had passed up...
I stood there awkwardly for a moment sipping my beer... until I finally had it. I asked the well dressed man (Patrick) who was standing next to me..."where can I go to get away from guys dressed like you?". He chuckled and replied in a thick french accent..."you my friend... are screwed." He made me aware at that moment of two things... everyone was going to be dressed formal because of work, and secondly that I was going to be spending a lot of time with him and Joel (there new local rep who had migrated there from switzerland). Both guys were great to hang out with. I met Joel's CEO who had lived in indonesia currently part time. his name was MIke and absolutely a pleasure to speak with. He really loved the fact that my name was Bacon.. He also informed me at one point in the night that there is a support group dedicated to Men who are married to Korean woman, whom his friend was a member. Its international even. "bullet dodged" he informed me. I thought that was pretty classic. I tried to find the website... but no luck.
Joel, Patrick and Mike where asset managers here in Hong Kong. So we spent a fair amount of time talking about business, Russians, money laundering, and tunnels under the convenience store of his clients house that was used to get the girl friend in and out of his house. Some people have absolutely crazy lives and way too much money.
From there, we were only supposed to stop at one place.. but as the night ran on I am pretty sure we went to at least 4 other restaurants/bars. One was a fantastic vietnamese fusion restaurant that absolutely rocked. We had numerous dishes, beer and shots for four of us.. and it only ran us about $100 USD. We also went to the rooftop of Joel's apartment (see pictures). This apartment must have been 10ft by 15 foot.... tops. And it cost him 2k USD a month. I didn't feel so bad about my little studio in San Jose any more.
Along the way a friend of Joel's friends (from NY) met up with us as part of all of this. Her name was Suada. She was absolutely fantastic to talk with. She had spent the last year traveling after selling her document management company (about 400 employees). From that time onward she spent her time in either NY city, her hotel in Mexico, or jet setting around the world. She was truly living the dream. She also shared the same love for spending ungodly amounts of money on camera equipment. So we had a great time talking about Leica, cannon, etc.
At the end of the night (for most) I ended up talking to a german girl and her chinese (I think) friend for a bit. The main focus of our conversation was me making her feel bad about saying "why would your parents do that to you? Why would they name you Bacon?". I had way too much fun making her squirm. The two of us walked the town, hitting various dance clubs.. cutting a rug. at the end of the night Franziska and I went to this place called the Amazonian where there was a live band. The live band was fantastic. The only issue was that I am pretty sure 4 out of 6 woman (while pretty) where on an agenda and very aggressive.
I cant tell you how many people i met last night. All extremely friendly. No Agenda other than to have a good time. Very classy. It was a nice change from what I typically see in American dance clubs with people just looking to hunt something down (you know what I mean).
Now all I need to do is explore today, eat food, and make sure I don't miss my flight tomorrow. Hong Kong is a totally different city once the sun sets. Its insanity. In a good way. I cant say thank you enough to all the great people I met along the way.
