Ach - Internet Explorer had to close (big surprise), and I just lost my whole draft. Neat. Well, here's a chance to write a better post. I'm not really in the mood to rewrite what I was working on before, so I'll tell you another drunk tale. This one is unremarkable save for the vast quantities of alcohol that I and some buddies consumed on Friday night.

I planned to meet my friend R and another reporter, A, at a bar in Lan Kwai Fong, that area a little east of Soho in Central where I first went drinking with some of these cats. It's a fun area, and, as I mentioned before, there are lots of places to eat and drink. I arrived at 7 and, not seeing R, had a couple beers and tried to raise him on the mobile. He showed up a few minutes later and we were joined shortly afterward by a hardcore longtime expat who is also a reporter. We'll call him Nate-dogg. At that time, the drinks were 2 for 1 for happy hour, and we proceeded to launch into a steady, deliberate, college-style imbibing session. R and I drank San Miguels, while Nate had some pints of Carlsberg. At some point - around 10pm or so - A finally showed up and started putting in work, and we managed to shout (it's really loud in the bars) and drink our way through a pile of beers. The receipt shows 26; however, 5 of the San Miguels and 2 of the carlsbergs were 2 for 1, so we're looking at around 33 beers total - only a small portion of which A played a role, since he arrived so late. Nate was telling me some crazy tales - a woman who got busted trying to bring chiva into Japan and ended up doing about 8 years in a Thai prison (they got her leaving, before she made it to Tokyo), another woman who was murdered by her American boyfriend up in Chiang Mai in Thailand somewhere (he did time too), and the ways in which you can get out of jail if you are in a situation like that. Nate-dogg has done a lot of living over here - a LOT - and he had all kinds of history in him compared with the relative newbies with whom we were drinking, myself included of course. I mean, A just got here a week ago and is still looking for a place, while Nate has been coming to Asia on and off for about 15 years. He wears that raging on his face, too - some things just do that to you, I guess.

The bar, called California, was ok - a little more cheesy than the first bar I went to and chock-full of expats in an annoying way - but it was pretty cool to hear Fannypack playing all the way over here in Asia. They may not have blown up, but they sure went global - a sure sign of the power of word-of-mouth, both within and in the market created by the DJ community. The receipt shows me checking out at 11.53 and, if the way I wrote the tip is any indication, I was completely pissed, as they say over here. Not that I need the receipt to tell me that. Yee-ha.

I walked out and down the hill - crazy scarecrow man again - and rushed home to start repairing the damage. I heated some water for a cup o' noodles, started pounding gatorade and scarfing crackers, and turned on the TV. God bless - the original Bad Boys was on. Y'all seen that film, with Sean Penn going to juvie jail? It's great, and it's an excellent early indicator that he was going to be a fine actor. So many of us first met him at Ridgemont High during the fast times, but this is pre-Fast Times and he's still a little raw but demonstrates genuine talent. I burned the crap out of two of my fngers trying to pour the water into the cup and ended up spending a little time chasing a tiny ice cube around the apartment as it repeatedly slipped from between my pinky and ring finger (yeah, I burned that webbing at the base - owwww). I wisely decided that the pain was not worth a vicodin after eight to ten beers. "I am so smart, S-M-R-T..."

Anyway, I settled into Bad Boys and tried as hard as I could to reach my favorite part - the part when he's filling up that pillowcase with soda cans and preparing to take out the two thugs who run things inside. His cellmate says, "Do you need help? Want me to stay?" and Sean just says - with this perfect blend of fear and confidence - "No, I'm fine. It's okay. Just get out of here." Ah, it's so good - it's up there with my all-time favorite lines/moments in movies.

Sadly, I didn't make it to that awesome part. Woke up at 3.30 sitting upright on the couch and God knows what was playing on the television at that point. I noticed that I had some noodles left, ate them, and got to bed as quickly as possible. Those are the times when I wish I had a webcam or security camera to see myself slowly emerging from my passed-out state, looking around a little, looking at my watch, looking at the TV, then at the noodles, polishing them off, and scurrying around the house turning off lights and locking doors and such. Might be a little unsettling, but sometimes I just get annoyed by the fact that I know nothing of the past few hours. I wanted to know what woke me up. Plus, the sitting up thing - man, I must have looked funny.

The next morning I managed to pull myself together and get on a bus to a town called Stanley, on the south end of Hong Kong Island. I made sure to take the bus that wound its way around the mountainside rather than going through the boring tunnel, and it was worth it despite my periodically wanting to heave my noodles from last night. We headed east through Wan Chai, through the little interior decorator district and up onto the highway. We passed a steep, terraced graveyard, all sorts of apartment buildings, condos, and mansions (all with pools), beautiful beaches, and lots of amazing views. I sat on top of the double-decker to get the full effect of the insane, twisting journey, and there were a couple moments when I found it truly regrettable that I did not bring with me a sturdy plastic bag. Not totally regrettable, though - my tummy and I managed to deal just fine, even though I had to grip the seat bars a few times to minimize the jostling.

Stanley was really beautiful, but there's not much to tell. The horizon was dotted with windsurfers in the foreground and huge freighters in the background, and there was even a kayaker out there doing his thing. A little indoor/outdoor market sells clothes, art, jewelry, and the like, and they were just starting to sell ski gear - bibs, gloves, the whole thing. It was strange to see those products in a hot, sunny market, but it's no different from the US, I suppose. I had a burger and fries - ah, the hangover diminisheth - and bought a couple t-shirts. Headed back on the bus and got off a few blocks from my house so I could do some more browsing, shopping, etc. Picked up another t-shirt that says, "I Love Hip Hop!" and "I'm here for the music!" along with an image of a little baby wearing an ornate headress. Who knows... I love it.

More later,
Chucky