"SLAUNTJE!"

Jojo waiting
In front of Starbucks

Erin
Louise and Marc
Tired in the cab.


St. Patrick's Day in Hong Kong. Melissa initiated a gathering at Lan Kwai Fong to go to an Irish Pub to celebrate the Irish Patron Saint. Arriving at LKF, Jojo and I were sitting down on the stairs in front of Starbucks, when Jojo appreciated the Irish manner of cheering to random people, passing by the entrance. One of these was an obviously completely stoned junkie who had a lot of stories to tell. He was a good laugh until he mentioned having lost his heroine. This was the point I, in secret had been waiting for, so I told him to "go over to that lovely street sign who wants to listen to all of these stories." He then asked whether he should leave and I assured him he understood me and quietly he left. I felt pity for him.

Soon after, Erin arrived and sat down beside us, still waiting for Lorna and Melissa to show up. When they eventually arrived, all of us got stocked up with "Irish-saying-buttons" Melissa's Mom had sent over. We crossed the street and got ourselves some beer at club 7/11 (for all of you who might not know what it is: a supermarket...) and went straight to the amphitheater to await the arrival of the rest of the group. Jojo's friends Dave and his older brother Mike arrived and soon after we were also joined by Louise, Marc, Adele, Ted, Hana & Franky. As you can read, a nice bunch of people, willing to go full-on for St. Paddy. The expectations were high, the result rather poor. With all the ex-pats in this city you would expect more than this. Only at one point there were actually people in the street celebrating but the group did not want to stay here but move up to one of the Irish pubs. We went into "Dublin Jack" but since the music was very quiet and the atmosphere not really good either we left and from then on just strolled around , trying to find the ultimate...no, not beach...location. We eventually ended up in "Dublin Jack" again, where I drank my last drink for the night: ice cold Bulmer's. Next year there's a better party to come. No dislocated arms though.