PART 2 - WE WANT VICODIN.

// 

APPARENTLY HE HAS BETTER DRUGS
THAN WE CAN GET OUR HANDS ON.

SO WE'RE HOPING HE'S GOING TO SHARE.
//

 

DEDICATED TO DEAR DEREK.

LOVE, 

GREG, ALLEN, EMMA, PETER, IAN, ANNA, JAMES, TIM & CHRIS

GET HYPERACTIVE!

NISEKO NEWS FLASH - DEREK CHALMERS IS EMERGENCY EVACUATED

// HIGH DRAMA 

ON THE HIGH JAPANESE ALPS. //

HYPERACTIVE ON A SNOWBOARD. REALLY.

LAI CHI WO: A 400-YEAR-OLD HAKKA WALLED VILLAGE

CANNONS.
GREAT WAY TO MEET VISITORS!

RED LANTERNS.
THAT'S MORE LIKE IT.
NEVER MIND IF THEY WERE INSTALLED BY THE HK TOURISM BOARD.

RODDY SNAPS A PHOTO OF A PRETTY, RED LANTERN.
PLENTY OF CONCENTRATION IS REQUIRED.

CHRIS, CARO, LORE AND RODDY DON'T LOOK VERY IMPRESSED BY THIS TEMPLE...

...BUT THAT'S 'COZ ITS TRUE GEMS ARE WAY UP HIGH!

THIS HORSE IS SO ALIVE,
I FEEL LIKE IT'LL SNEEZE ANY MOMENT.

HELLO, FRIENDLY DRAGON ON THE ROOF!

AND WE'RE FINALLY AT THE ANCIENT WALLED VILLAGE,
WHICH THE HK TOURISM BOARD THANKFULLY LEFT JUST AS IT IS.

THE GRANDEUR OF THE CONSTELLATIONS REMAIN THE MOST MAJESTIC ROOF OVER OUR HEADS, MY LOVE.

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT OLD BUILDINGS.
BUT IF IT RAINED AND YOU HAD USED MUD TO SEAL YOUR BRICKS, WOULDN'T YOUR ENTIRE HOUSE MELT?

THERE ARE RESIDENTS HERE, AFTER ALL.
SOME PRETTY GREEN PLANTS, PREENING AMONGST THE SHOCKING BROWN-NESS OF ITS ENVIRONMENT.

DIDN'T WANNA LOOK INTO THE MUG;
THAT WAS WHERE GRANNY WOULD LEAVE HER DENTURES OVERNIGHT.

A SPECTACULAR NETWORK OF VINES EMBRACE THIS NOBLE TREE.

UPON CLOSER INSPECTION,
THE VINES KINDA REMINDED ME OF NEURONS.
NEAT.

RODDY SWEARS THIS IS/WAS AN INCINERATOR.
I BELIEVE HIM.

I WOULD HAVE TAKEN MY PRETTY BASKETS WITH ME BEFORE I LEFT.
JUST SAYIN.

WE KISS IN A SHADOW...

CHRIS CONSIDERS WHETHER THE TRAIL TO THE RIGHT MIGHT BE THE BEST ROUTE TO THE CLOSEST PUBLIC TRANSPORT TERMINUS;
CAROLINE CONSULTS HER MOBILE MAP FOR A SECOND OPINION.
LORE AND RODDY ARE HAPPY TO BE THERE.

Just half an hour more walk away from Fook Lee Tea House is Lai Chi Wo, a 400-year-old Hakka walled village. It is now deserted. And it had nothing to do with the Chinese New Year holiday. Its residents just packed up and left years ago.

"The lure of the city is too strong," Chris explained. "Why stay here when you can earn 6 to 7 times more money working in Tai Po?"

I get it.

It takes 2.5 hours to get to Lai Chi Wo. By foot. Through one of only two hiking trails. Which means, not flat walking. And mostly no 3G signal. And to efficiency-addicted Hong Kong, I guess villages like Lai Chi Wo just never stood a chance.  

Chris and I had intended to see Lai Cho Wo the next morning, but since Caro, Lore and Roddy were still gung-ho for more trail walking, we went ahead immediately after lunch.

The place is creepy. Nobody lives there anymore. It's now just a tourist spot for more assiduous (and physically fit!) travelers who enjoy treading off the beaten path. Honestly, I was surprised that there weren't even concession stands selling soft drinks or snacks or souvenir items. This is Hong Kong! I guess for even the most enterprising merchants, the Lai Chi Wo is just too much of a bitch to get to and out of, on a daily basis.

After having circled the village once - there was nothing else but beautiful, old, crumbling, empty houses - the girls and Roddy decided it was time to head back for home. Chris consulted his large paper map; Caroline consulted her digital mobile map.

"We won't get lost as long as we follow the WI," Lore said matter-of-factly, referring to the large group of shockingly fit British octogenarians.

"Indeed," I agreed. By the looks of them, they're hardcore trail walkers. Forest animals might get lost but those folks will always find their way.

We kissed Roddy and the girls goodbye promised to do another walk before Chris and I took off for Niseko.

There was a noisy, happy group of diners when we got back to Fook Lee. Former Lai Chi Wo villagers, we later learned. They're now in their 50s. Many of them were sent overseas by their parents the moment they left the village. The accents are fun to listen to. Northern American, Aussie, Irish...

It's now part of their ritual to come back once yearly, during Chinese New Year, to remember.

THE ANCIENT WATER VILLAGE OF ZHOUZHUANG

 

1 hour away from

Swissotel Kunshan

by taxi.

About RMB125

one way.

// WANDERLUST. //

WHY-peractive in W Hong Kong

W Hong Kong's Jasper Cheung and The Hyperactive Gay Boy™

// WHERE DO YOU WANNA BE? //

Skin Deep With Sarah Fung Hosts The Organic Pharmacy's 10th Anniversary Party at Harvey Nichols

Linda Petrie, Thuy Dong, James Gannaban, Cat Mak, Charmaine Mirandilla

HK Magazine Editor and Skin Deep Columnist Sarah Fung with The Organic Pharmacy Founder Margo Marrone

Emma Hammonds, Katariina Franklin, Thuy Dong, Tomoko Kojima

Hollie Allman and a pretty party guest

Nissa Marion and Lisa Christensen

// Event video by 

THE HYPERACTIVE GAY BOY™ //

MR GAY HK SEND-OFF PARTY FOR MR. GAY WORLD

JIMMY'S BOARD OF WELL WISHES

CHRIS ADAMS, "COME AND GO" AUTHOR HANNELORE ARBYN AKA LEE HARLEM ROBINSON, CAROLINE MANCHOULAS

ANGELINA JOLIE

ANSHUMAN DAS

ANGIE PALMER

CHRIS ADAMS & JAMES GANNABAN

JIMMY'S FEROSHA FEMALE FRIEND

CLOCKWISE FROM FROM: THUY DONG, KATARIINA FRANKLIN, COREY FRANKLIN,
KENT TRUONG, JIMMY WONG & EMMA HAMMONDS

NIGEL COLLETT, JIMMY WONG, FRIEND, ANSHUMAN DAS, DIRK DALICHAU

JAMES GANNABAN & JOSEPH CHAN

// GAYTASTIC MR GAY HONG KONG
JIMMY WONG MAKES US PROUD. //

Hyperactive MC's Salon de Ning's 9th Open Mic Night at The Peninsula Hong Kong

// SING FOR YOUR SUPPER. //

Hyperactive at The 8th Estate Winery

The Hyperactive Gay Boy™ at The 8th Estate Winery

  

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I walked into The 8th Estate Winery - a pioneer amongst a tiny handful of urban wineries in the world.

"We're the winery that's closest to the water, too," said Lysanne Tusar, CMO. She gestured towards the Lamma smoke stacks, directing our gaze towards the vast openness of the South China Sea. "We're ten feet away!"

The winery is on concrete, surrounded by high rise industrial buildings, in Ap Lei Chau. I wouldn't have believed it if I weren't there, physically standing on it.

It's visionary in every way.

Lysanne generously shared with us a yet unlabeled bottle of rosé. "There'll only be 1,750 bottles of this," she said, "and they'll all be sold before the summer even starts."

Thanks, Lysanne!

The 8th Estate Winery is so awesome, Chris and I decided we're doing his birthday party there. It's my new, favourite place in Hong Kong and an experience I'll make sure my out-of-town guests get to have, too.

Hope you enjoy the short video I made from my and Chris' visit earlier today.

// FANCY A SPLASH OF SHIRAZ? //

HYPERACTIVE AND THE HONG KONG SEVENS

Hyperactive at Swindlers, Wan Chai

My JD's smaller than your Tsing Tao.

Is it just me, or do these "hangover cures" look like bottles of poppers?

It's hard to knock the Hong Kong Sevens. Sure, the South Stand is a giant waterfall of human pee and vomit and who-knows-what-else, but that sorta just reminds me of "Spartacus," honestly. Sweat, saliva, armpits, fists, tits - just everything hanging out for all to see. Nobody cares. Body parts, bodily fluids - all part of the fun.

Bajillions of advertising dollars are poured into the Sevens. Tourists happily empty out their pockets to buy more beer in Wan Chai than you can ever imagine. There are more crazy costumes on the street than on Broadway, West End and HKAPA combined. I saw a guy committedly carrying around a ginormous, red dragon; a human banana vandalised with drawings of penises on his back; and of course the obligatory oh-no-not-that-again pair of Fred and Wilma Flintstone. I mean, honestly, you'd think all that beer would get the creative juices flowing more freely, right? Can we please see the British Parliament headed by The Iron Lady herself, Dame Margaret Thatcher? Now, that'd have been epic.

But hotel rooms are occupied, restaurant tables are filled, bars are bursting to capacity and even nasty Wan Chai dives are cashing in like it's Christmas. It's good to see, the good times are rolling. 

There was this cute, little, muscle boy who took his pants off along Lockhart Road and mimicked Tom Cruise jumping around in his underpants in Risky Business; this scrummylicious fratboy dressed as a female cheerleader, asscrack hanging out, humping the hood of a cab in the middle of the goddamned Wan Chai traffic; and some Buddhist monks who were asking for alms, per usual, except I couldn't quite tell whether they were for real or just costumed buffoons. I could have sworn that one of them had an "I <3 Mum" tattoo on his left bicep.     

"Where are you?" Caroline Whatsapped Thomas.

"Stuck in traffic," Thomas replied. "Cabbie says there's been a threat of nuclear attack."

In front of Swindlers, I'm swigging JD Coke straight from the bottle - premixed, natch. I needed the sugar-caffeine-alcohol triple whammy to get into the state of mind as everyone else. And then "Sweet Child of Mine" started sex-ing our eardrums. It's irresistible. And so what are we to do except sing along to it?

"I must have been 15, 16... when this track came out," Lore reminisced. "Classic."

"Yeah," I agreed. Although I never was much of a Guns N' Roses fan, I was horribly infatuated to Axl Rose back in the day. I must have been 12, 13... I wondered why I was having wet dreams about a skinny, white, shirtless dude who enjoyed dry-humping a microphone stand? According to Sister Veneranda del Rosario, heavy metal wasn't even music at all and is the work of the devil. I was so confused and lonely that "Sweet Child of Mine" became an anthem of sorts - the track I secretly loved listening and singing along to after choir practice for the epic Easter Sunday mass.

"It's so homoerotic," Lore observed, "all these guys in shorts, piling up on top of each other. Grabbing each other from behind. Pushing each other's heads into their sweaty crotch." 

Shit, the JD Coke must be working because suddenly, the Sevens were sounding sexy again... 

Sign me up for next year. I'm dressing up as Stanley Tucci in "The Hunger Games."

// AH, HUMANITY. //