Club 97

Jon Cordiano. Aussie.  Quirky. Artistic. Brilliant. Wonderful. He invited us to go out with him this past Friday, he and some friends were going to a gay club. From what he knew, they had drink specials and there was supposed to be a drag show. Although neither of these were correct, the night was a blast. After a text at 6pm, stating that they would be leaving at 7:15pm, Andrew, Debbie, and I showered and got ready quickly. We had difficulty getting taxis to Hong Kong Island at this time because the taxi drivers usually have one side that they work for the evening, probably until around 11 when it is time for people to go out. Eventually we just decided to take the 1-1-5 bus into Central. Melissa, also Australian and in ITC, had two friends visiting her and Chris, yes ITC again, came along as well. 

ITC People

We found Club 97 quite easily on the main strip of Lan Kwai Fong and walked inside. The 5 girls in our group were the only girls in the entire bar. The bar was dark, obviously, with candles lit, high tables, very classy looking. We got a glass of wine and walked toward the back to stake up at a high table and chat. An extremely suave looking man was at the table next to us, champagne flute in hand, leaning against the wall. He was dressed to the nines in a nice suit, diamond bone cufflinks (Andrew was jealous), and an equipped with a iPhone of course. His whole persona was very debonair and Andrew and I just looked at each other, looked at him, and smiled. I decided to try my first dirty martini since I have been in Hong Kong. It was delicious, but somehow we made friends with the bartender and he proceeded to give us free shots. He called Andrew over and said, get your friends, shots on me (or something), as he set out 3 or 4 shot glasses. So Andrew called about 8 people over to take them. He made us one that was flaming and tasted like gasoline, completely gross. 

The Jon Cordiano. After the gross shot.

After a while one of the waitresses came up with a tray of chicken wings and fries and asked if we wanted some. I said, are they free? And she said, yes and they are kind of heavy so do you guys want some or not? We took some. And they were great! This bar was just turning out to be such a great time. After we danced for a while, the group went to a nearby restaurant for dinner, at about 11pm. After eating Jon, Chris, Melissa, and friends went to a gay club, which was a step up in the dancing from Club 97. Andrew and I (Debbie had to go home because her cough medicine has a side effect of drowsiness, who would prescribe that?) went to meet some other people at the rooftop bar at the IFC building on the harbor. 

On the rooftop at IFC

The IFC building is the highest in HK so you would assume the rooftop bar was on top, when reality it was on the 4^th floor, but still had a great view. Everyone was lounging outside on the patio furniture just talking and enjoying the view.  It was another great night in Hong Kong and strayed a bit from our normal evening out experience.