Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong

Over the years I have become increasingly desensitized to travelling long distances, so the first thought that ran through my head once I had checked in was where I would be going that evening. I had been told under good authority that Stormies in LKF was a great place to start so I had a taxi driver drop me off nearby and approached by foot. To give you some idea as to what this place is all about, it is an extremely dense collection of bars and restaurants, sometimes one atop another, along a series of angled streets. Streets which are perfectly navigable when sober but become more than slightly perilous when you have had so much to drink, operating a door handle seems a challenge. Here's a view of Lan Kwai Fong, to give you some idea of the layout and how busy it gets




I stopped at a few bars along the way. Of course I had no set plan in my mind of where to go, in these situations I tend to aimlessly wander around and pop in to anywhere that looks interesting. I found some of the best, most unique places while going around like this. Now, coming from England and Grand Cayman, I am more than familiar with paying exorbitant prices for everyday items. The only thing on my mind at the moment was alcohol, as I'd sobered up from the flight and had to start all over again.

One of the many things we cannot access on the island is good draft beer. There are a couple of pubs serving Guinness, Heineken and Stella on tap but that is all. Kronenberg, Grolsch, DAB, Becks and Straporamen are all non-existent here, so I was really looking forward to reacquainting myself with these European nectars. At the first bar, a place called Bulldog's I believe, all they had was Becks at about $10 a pint. Not cheap by any means, but not much more expensive than the bars in England where I honed my skills of alcohol consumption. The bar was about half full so the service was quick, I duly obliged by going through 5 pints in 90 minutes.

After this respectable warm up I set off looking for Stormies and found it within a couple of minutes. It was totally packed and I could get nowhere near the place which in my mind is always a good sign. I floated about around the area, most of my time being spent in a German pub which had a great selection of lesser known brands. Since it was my first night and I was starting to feel tired, 4 hours of solid beer drinking will do that to you, I decided to head back to the hotel. Not before stopping at McDonalds though, a recurring theme on this trip would be my drunk cravings for nuggets. Ordinarily I tend to avoid McD's, but to hell with it, I'm on vacation and supposed to do something crazy ;)