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View Full Version : A Year Ago Snowden was hanging out at a bar I frequent.




Mani
05-02-2014, 01:00 AM
It's 18 days since Snowden reached Hong Kong on May 20th. It's almost coming up on the One Year anniversary of the Edward Snowden Leaks.


To bring us back to that nostalgic moment I thought I would mention an interesting aside from talking to people here in Hong Kong.


Snowden stayed at the Mira Hotel in Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui (or TST). Hong Kong has 3 sections (besides the many islands) The new Terrorities, Kowloon, and Hong Kong Side.

I live on Hong Kong Side, and its an expat rich area. There are expats all over Hong Kong, in various pockets and in all 3 areas. New Territories (which is near the airport, and also some of it borders China, it's 30-60 minutes from the main hong Kong). Kowloon is the other part, it's still on the mainland side of Hong Kong, the most happening and exciting and busy part of Kowloon is TST. It's a small concentrated area, full of tourism: hotels, restaurants, shopping, everything. TST and Hong Kong side, are separated by Victoria Harbour. And from TST is the main spot people cross the harbour back and forth to hop into Hong Kong Side.

Hong Kong side is just the island of Hong Kong. I believe originally just the island was Hong Kong, and later Hong Kong expanded to Kowloon and NT.

So while Kowloon has a smaller expat community, TST is a pretty popular tourist area. I did live in TST for 6 months before moving to HK side. TST is a fun lively area.

The Mira Hotel is across from a mall, and I've walked by the hotel a bunch of times, because there's a decent cinema in that mall. Although there are about 5 separate cinemas in a 1 mile radius of that mall, so I don't always go there. It's a decent hotel, never been myself. Actually I've never stayed in a hotel in HK (except for my first week) because..well you don't normally stay in hotels in the town you live in right?

I have a friend who's a bar hopper in the TST area. He's got 2-3 bars that he regularly frequents and he knows ALL the bartenders, ALL the waitresses, and even knows all the singers/musicians who play. He even knows all the bar managers very well.

So one night we are hanging out at Hari's Bar. It's an iconic bar, been around forever. It's at the Holiday Inn. The Holiday Inn in TST is a super popular hotel. It's right on the main strip, it's reasonably priced, and it has Hari's Bar. Hari's bar is about a 5-8 minute walk from Mira.

The street Mira Hotel and Holiday Inn are one of the busiest foot traffic spots in all of Hong Kong. It would be easy to be lost in the shuffle, although it is a more Asian crowd maybe 90%. While HK side has bars and areas that are more diverse and you'll see people from every country hanging out. It may be more like a Benetton ad. Some bars it looks about 50% international expat/tourist and 50% Asian or Hong Kongese. Local HK folks call themselves Hong Kongese or Hong Kong Chinese. They don't call themselves Chinese, there's a definite distinction.

Personally i dislike Holiday Inn...but I do get the attraction of prime location, and reasonably priced.

Hari's bar is an old bar, very famous, and had a reputation at one time for being the bar of bars to pick up a lady of the night. People still go there for that purpose (although there's like 20 bars in HK for that purpose, more on HK side, there's a red light district which handles most of that on HK island).

However, I think people go to Hari's bar because it's pretty chill, comfortable, look at the lady's, listen to a good live band, and it's also enclosed. On a rainy day or a cold winter day, it's the perfect spot to still hear live western music, it may be the only bar in TST. The rest of the TST bars with live bands are outdoor pubs or are more lounge then bar. The other advantage of Hari's. You can keep to yourself in a corner and not stand out. Since the bar is on the Mezzanine and it has 2 sections. One is an open area of couches and stuff, but the other area is in a closed off corner, kind of shutting you out from the rest of the world. No one is going to see you in that bar while walking the street or walking through the holiday Inn. It's a way to corner yourself and enjoy a drink and feel secluded yet entertained.

Personally I dislike Hari's bar. I found it a bit dark, secluded, and claustrophobic. I'm also not a smoker and the indoor smoke is a turn off (although it's not extreme, I'm super sensitive with Asthma, and I'm not having asthma attacks walking out of there). I prefer the open air bars. Seeing people walking the streets, getting some air, and seeing the beautiful lit up Victoria Harbour at night. I love the open and lively atmosphere.

However, if you want to enjoy a drink, get out of your room, but keep yourself somewhat secluded yet still enjoy music, people, and what not, it's a decent spot.

So my buddy who knows EVERYONE at Hari's bar..One day he was talking to some of the bartenders. They said they recognized Snowden as soon as he was all over the news. They said he came to Hari's bar a bunch of times. He was friendly, polite, kind, decent normal guy. They had no idea who he was until after all the news broke out, and they were surprised, HEY, we know that guy.

I'm pretty sure Snowden's bar visits were PRE-LEAK, as post leak I believe he bunkered down and never left the hotel.

I don't have any specific juicy details or anything, but just general comments that he seemed like a good kid.


So that's my Snowden story. I know it's not much, but I just thought I would share a personal tale about this guy who's changed the world so much since 1 year ago.

MRK
05-02-2014, 09:22 AM
That's cool to know.

I should also point out to those not familiar about Asian bar culture. You'll often find freelancer type girls at many bars, especially tourist locations where expats are. The girls' presence don't make it a place a dodgy bar for sexpats, it's just part of the environment in most places.

Good info about that mani.

Mani
05-02-2014, 09:12 PM
That's cool to know.

I should also point out to those not familiar about Asian bar culture. You'll often find freelancer type girls at many bars, especially tourist locations where expats are. The girls' presence don't make it a place a dodgy bar for sexpats, it's just part of the environment in most places.

Good info about that mani.

That's a great point. Even in the so called, Red Led District, in Hong Kong, there's a ton of normal bars, and great restaurants. In fact most of the best sports bars are in that area, and there's nothing dodgy about them. When I first moved that's how I watched my first SuperBowl. Monday 6AM a few of the sports bars were packed with expats and tourists. I just wanted coffee but some of these guys were drinking beer. BEER at 6AM!?!

What's cool about these bars, is if you call them 24 hours in advance and say, "Hey. I've got a group of 8, can you open at 2AM so we can watch XYZ sports program." They will almost always say yes. It's very cool. If you give them a heads up and have a minimum head count, they will open up the place for you. Every year when the University of WISCONSIN goes to the RoseBowl, the alumni in HK picks a bar and everyone shows up at 4 or 5AM to watch the game.

I just find a lot of places are flexible and open to doing stuff. And there aren't crazy regulations enforced everywhere. People are standing around in the street enjoying a beverage. I'm so used to this now. Seeing people in public enjoying a drink with their friends, enjoying the evening out in the open and creating a lively atmosphere.

I sometimes wonder why it works so well here but the U.S. has all the open container laws. Back in Amerika people are getting arresting for drinking ice tea in public. :confused:

And the freelance ladies of the night. It's just a part of the scene. It's not really a big deal. Even some of the very upscale clubs during the late hours they might show up hoping to catch those late night folks. There's no specific drinking curfew. So some of the bars just close when the people leave. I've seen some bars open until NOON the following day! :eek: (Saturday night to Sunday nooN!!). I've been to some post-clubbing bars. It's funny coz they are dead empty at 1 or 2am, when the others are peaking. And when a lot of the clubs shut down at 4 or 5AM, then everyone goes to these morning bars which are jam packed from 6AM to 10AM.

Hong Kong is a fun place. And the couple other Asian places I've been to seem to have a more liberal attitude.