My Experience around Wan Chai Bars
I originally posted this as a response to the thread "Warning for Wanchai bar punter" as well as seeing other posts about Wan Chai and thought I would give you guys a heads up about what I observed there.
In regards to Wan Chai bars. I was in Hong Kong last month and stayed in Wan Chai for a couple of nights. I was walking down Lockhart Road which is parallel to Hennessy Road one evening around 6pm. I found this area to be kinda of seedy (just in comparison to other areas of Hong Kong) but I was very safe, nonetheless. I walked down Lockhart Rd toward the Wan Chai MTR as if I were coming from the Admiralty MTR station to give you some perspective on the direction I was heading. Once I got to Luard Rd I came to a bunch of bars. Once you pass Luard Rd you will start seeing a lot of bars with girls around. You will see signs for the "Makati Pub & Disco" and the "Waikiki" on the opposite side of the street. (I hope this helps as far as what the area looks like. I took it from google maps and it is the direction I was heading: http://maps.google.com.hk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=22.278117,114.17174&spn=0.001832,0.003482&t=h&z=19&brcurrent=3,0x3404005b7e61fe79:0x242571e635c3d8ee,1,0x3404004c435d4ad9:0x6e0e524894ae1a66&layer=c&cbll=22.278123,114.171668&panoid=j4cxMv60i0GZVu_NqcAftA&cbp=12,90.51,,0,5.97. If this link doesn't work, try typing in Luard Road, Wan Chai into google maps and follow it to where it meets Lockhart Road). The bars I encountered are on the opposite side of the street of the Makati. I encountered four different bars right around this area, almost one directly after another.
The first bar had about 6 or 7 girls sitting outside in chairs. These girls spoke to me but never left their chairs. There was a middle aged woman, however, who came right up to me and tried to get me to come in to the bar. She told me that all she wanted was for me to go in and buy one beer for $20HK and talk to one of the girls. I said no and continued down the street.
The next two bars I passed also had middle aged women standing outside but didn't have girls in plain sight and the middle aged women also tried to get me to come in.
It was the fourth bar that almost got me to go inside. The middle aged woman actually walked out in front of me and blocked my path. Then she tried every which way to get me to come in. Here's where I could see a problem. She walked up to me and put her arm through mine making it a little more difficult to walk away, without me being a complete dick and either forcing her off me or being rude to her and telling her to get off me. She said that she needed me to give her "face" and come into the bar and whispered to me that her boss was watching her and if I didn't come in she would get in trouble. I didn't buy that, but you never know. She proceeded to tell me that it was very safe inside and that I should go in and have just one beer, again only costing $20HK. I said no thank you, but she was quite persistent. She then said "just look inside" which I didn't really want to do but decided to do just to try to get her to let me leave. One thing I need to mention is that these bars have very thick curtains covering the entrance so you can't see inside from the street. I reluctantly poked my head in and I don't think there were too many people in the very dimly lit bar because I immediately fixated on the only guy I saw sitting at the bar. He was barely sitting on a bar stool, with his back to the bar, with at least two, possibly three girls all over him. When I saw he was barely sitting on the bar stool it really looked as though he was being propped up by the girls. He looked incredibly drunk (or drugged). His head was down so much that his chin looked as though it was touching his chest. I just got a bad feeling about this place.  For the first time in Hong Kong I had that feeling that if I went in I wasn't coming out with my wallet. I pulled my head out and as I started to say to the woman that I was not interested, two girls came out through the curtain (from where in the bar, I have no idea) and stood there looking at me. Neither of them said a word. I was finally able to leave by telling the older woman that I needed to eat dinner first and then I would come back. I never went back!!!
This could just be me being naive but I wanted to let you all know about my experience so if you do decide to go to these bars you'll know what you could possibly encounter. Just trying to give you a heads up. These bars could very well be safe but I just didn't feel comfortable walking in. I apologize that I didn't get the name of any of these bars. Sorry guys, the best I could do was give the specific area where these bars are located. One other thing to mention is that all of the girls that I saw in this area looked either Thai, Vietnamese or Filipino. (Personally, my preference is Chinese girls, but if you are looking for Thai or Filipino girls then this area might be a good place for you). Also all of the girls that I saw had way too much make-up on. They looked nothing like the girls in the 141 pages.
I was more interested WG's that were in apartments that I could walk to, not the girls in bars so I was taken aback by all of this. I am not judging, but for me I was not interested in the bars, especially after seeing the guy in the last bar.
If this is your scene then I recommend staying at the Empire Hotel in Wan Chai, because it is very close to these bars and actually one night the guy in the room next to me had a very, very loud WG (hopefully  ) at 1am. Here was the great thing. I could not hear them from inside my room at all and I shared a wall with them. I could only hear them if when I was in the hall, and I don't think one person complained about her loud sex screams by the way. And another thing. The hotel staff doesn't care at all as far as I could tell. I think this would be a good hotel if you are interested in the Wanchai bar area.
 For a more in-depth review of WC bars I suggest reading "Hit and Miss at the WC bars" posted by kaleu in "Hong Kong Reports" | |
For the first time in Hong Kong I had that feeling that if I went in I wasn't coming out with my wallet. I pulled my head out and as I started to say to the woman that I was not interested, two girls came out through the curtain (from where in the bar, I have no idea) and stood there looking at me. Neither of them said a word. I was finally able to leave by telling the older woman that I needed to eat dinner first and then I would come back. I never went back!!!
) at 1am. Here was the great thing. I could not hear them from inside my room at all and I shared a wall with them. I could only hear them if when I was in the hall, and I don't think one person complained about her loud sex screams by the way. And another thing. The hotel staff doesn't care at all as far as I could tell. I think this would be a good hotel if you are interested in the Wanchai bar area.
For a more in-depth review of WC bars I suggest reading "Hit and Miss at the WC bars" posted by kaleu in "Hong Kong Reports"