I've gone out with a couple of guys who are ABC's or similar UK or Canada etc.   Normally they do LKF, then when everyone is done, I pretend to go home and head to wanchai

It works well, I get to bond with the guys, watch them waste HOURS trying to pick up chicks, look at some fine women, then after that's done I head to WC to have real fun.  

We usually go to the same place, but Saturday nite, one of the guys got a tip from a buddy that a bunch of girls were getting together for a bray or party and the ratio was going to be awesome.

The plan started out normal until our leader got a call saying the venue changed from LKF to TST.

Puts me further from my final destination but it's ok.  We head to TST but don't know the exact address and have to waitan hour for further instructions.

Finally we are lead into a building and climb Several flights of stairs and lead to a tiny hole in the wall place.  My buddy climbing the stairs kept sounding like A old star wars character with his, "I got a bad feeling about this."

I was somewhat interested in a "local" experience, more curious then anything.

This place has a $320 cover charge and paper wrist bands.  I guess that the $320 covered all u can drink cuz I didn't pull out anymore money while there.

The surprising thing was how lame the vibe was.  We were doing clubs inLKF so this was a bit of a shock to the system.

Cramped place, sharing tables with strangers who are smoking in a a small area with no ventilation, who are playing a dice game while the music is an absolutely deafening ear splitting awful karaoke.

When we did finally move to another table it was underneath the dartboard so there was an ever present danger of getting a dart lodged in your ear depending how poor were the drunk people's aim.

The best part of all???   No chicks.  Bad intel.

So being an english speaking fool I can't understand a goddamn thing anyone is saying and all I can think about is I could be in wan chai with a girl in my lap right now that I could be pounding in Victoria hotel a short time after.

I had a buddy with me closer to my age that has no time for these single guys and their boring cat and mouse chases, and so I told him I have a girl already lined up for him in WC if wants to go with me.  I can trust him, so I'd take him but not the other guys that gossip like school girls.

My buddy was asking for patience cuz the bad intel guy was promising women but every second was torture.

Just when I thought things could not get any worse, it did...

The awful karaoke comes to a screeching halt and the lights turn on, amongst loud shouting and protest.

Im told cops are here but their uniforms are subtle, they have a thin vest over their shirt and a name tag, like the kind you see the guys wear who have backstage passes during a concert.

One belligerent fool in a private room with a host of people, gets tossed, everyone else is quiet.

I read something about raids on this forum, I was extremely chill cuz of that thread.  Kudos to whomever posted that, cuz it was helpful.

My only thinking was....why the fuck are they busting up a little shithole karaoke bar in some random building on some random floor.

There were no girls there, just a few regular local civvy girls, the ratio was pathetic and their looks were worse, especially when the lights came on.

Took 20 min to collect ID, I used my USA drivers license, worked out better than HKID, cuz my buddy is from US as well, and we get ours back immediately.  He said the cops don't want to bother with the foreigners anyway.

After 20 min they leave and everything is normal.


needless to say it was a serious buzz I'll and. Wasn't even buzzed yet.

Seriously the cops have nothing to do then bust this random shithole?  What were they looking for anyway!  U don't have to turn on the lights to realize there is not a chance in hell a WG would waste her time in this place.

Finally 1 girl showed up and our leader wanted to stay.  I guess forking over the cover and getting the unlimited beer was too much for him to leave.

My buddy asked for 5 min, cuz bad intel guy said ladies were downstairs and on the way.   A couple of awfully slow minutes later a couple fugly chicks walk in.   My buddy finally loses his patience and we walk out.

Within 20 minutes we are both in a bar with a girl in our laps drinking beers and toasting each other.  My buddy cant believe half the girls seem to know me by name and even the security guards know me.  Many hours later after round 4 with my steady girl I reflect on what started out as an awful nite turned out pretty well.   

I love Hong Kong!

This probably wasn't a working girl raid, most likely it's a noise complaint don't u think?

so they didn't arrest anyone from what i can tell from your post?

They are just looking for underaged drinkers not working girls. This is normal and happens from time to time.

As long as there are less idiots in the room, then the whole process moves along quickly and they are in and out and things can continue. But usually there is someone drunk already... so...

Apparently some undercover police felt the place needed a police checkup (raid) to check if any body was underage for drinking alcohol or maybe they felt the place was overcrowded. You have to be careful going to partying / drinking at any of these little shitholes on the upper floors as these places are on the borderline of just qualifying for their food and liquor licenses. Many of these places don't have proper exits in case of emergency.

The police have a very big say on whether a bar/club/restaurant gets a liquor license or not. As part of the application, the manager has to go to the local police station for some in-depth grilling by a police inspector. Not a great experience I tell you as it felt like I was being interrogated as they ask many probing questions to determine I was going to run a dodgy place or not.

When the police come by for an inspection, they have the right to speak to the person who signed as the person holding license for behalf of company. If that person is not on the premises during the inspection, the police have a right to keep the place closed until person shows. Hence most of those people are there at the bar or nearby just to talk to the police at a police checkup.

PS: these raids 99% never about looking for wgs because the wgs (if any) in bars can claim they are just there for drinks.

Reply Wander:

It was really just an surprise liquor license inspection.



On the other hand I had been caught in real raids whereby the cops rushed in to look for major unsavory characters.  These were not the typical situations when the police politely ask the staff to turn on lights, ask patrons to be quiet so they can check some ids as most ppl had experienced in LKF and wanchai.

In one case the cops were shouting at this large group of ppl sitting at a corner booth. Shouting for a major dude to come out. Eventually after some back and forth shouting back by both parties, the guy came out. Hair-raising to say the least and to make it worse no one could leave the premises until cops cleared everyone.

On another time, I don't know what the police were looking for but they made the guys line up in one line to be questioned and searched by a male cop and the girls line up in a separate line to be questioned and searched by a female cop.  I felt I was in a triads vs cops movie.  I do admit I was in a pretty dodgy, local club in TST so this type of raid was kind of expected for the turf.


One thing to keep in mind, as long you are polite with the police and show an id (doesnt matter what type), the cops will not bother you. They are just there to look someone else (unless you a baddy) or something.

I figured it was underage drinking or liquor license check.  But sure seemed like a waste of time.   The place was cramped but the LKF clubs are much worse fire hazards then this place.

I don't think anyone got arrested, just one drunk guy looked like he was escorted out in the very beginning.

I can't speak a word of Cantonese so I can only guess and my buddy from NY also had no idea what was going on even those he's fluent.

It wasn't a noise complaint other floors had loud club music which could be heard a floor or two away, this place was just awful loud when within th premises. off tune ear splitting drunk singing also is more painful then just really loud club music.

Once everyone shut up and kept quiet the police were decent, not rude.

Got caught up in a few raids back in the day, when all the dodgy discos were still up n running. That was mainly for K and underage. Us foreigners always got shoved into a backroom and the police would just poke a head around the door. I remember the longest raid was about 2 hours whilst they checked local IDs. Was a good opportunity to meet some Japanese and Korean girls though haha

Don't worry, there are occasions when the locals arrange such parties of unlimited drinks and Chinese karaoke. I've been to afew. It takes a while to break the ice into a friendship ring, but can be accelerated by playing those dice games and hand dexteritygames. Often the "promise" of a boat load of cute girls is used as bait to bring more customers in, praying that you'll be so drunk by the time girls get there that you won't know the difference between beauty and the beast. And the shots are usually very diluted too. Not really value for money, just different experience.

As for the raid, nothing to do with WG hunt. It's just checking on liquor license as these parties are sometimes done without proper homework. But glad to hear you kept your cool and whipped out the foreign ID instead! ;)

is US DL a acceptable form of ID in HK or mainland China?  I always presume not.

[ Last edited by  sirtiger at 7-7-2011 08:14 ]

The US DL is fine as ID in HK and China. Of course you cannot use it for conducting banking transactions at the teller as the banks prefer to see your passport.

In case you are worried that some security will not respect your US DL, you can always keep a photocopy of your passport in your wallet.

I have HKID but following my buddy's advice we tried to stand out as foreigners.  Seemed to work OK.

Hey DH, I've used my DL for counter banking at HSBC.  The girl did pause a moment and ask the manager behind her who immediately O.K.'d the use.  I suppose she paused merely because it was uncommon, but they did take it.

slightly OT... strangely, seems like some banks and govt (like police) accept DL....in some states here in usa, some people don't accept out of state ID like alcohol purchase Possible that some establishment can't tell if IDs are faked from areas they are not familiar with

Of course it works out ok to use a non-HKID. The HK law just states that everyone has to carry some form of ID at all times. Funny thing is most ppl interpret the law as everyone has to carry the HKID card.

Sometimes playing the foreigner angle via showing a non-HKID or speaking in only English will not discourage the police if they are seriously investigating something. Once I had two cops, one speaking English and the other speaking Chinese both interview me at separate times about my presence at a certain location (apparently a major state vip was staying nearby and I was stopped by the security). I had to make sure my story was consistent in both languages.