Tue 12 Aug 2008
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There’s not much that is old in Old Hong Kong. What’s left is mostly in a district called Mongkok on the Kowloon side of the harbour and even that is hidden behind a barrier of concrete and glass, shops, malls and traffic jams.
According to the Guinness book of records Mongkok is the most densely populated place on earth. It’s easy to believe, but if you elbow your way through the crowds and head off down a side street towards Shanghai Street and Reclamation Street you can get away from it a bit.
Reclamation street once ran along the western side of Kowloon and, as you might have guessed, was built on reclaimed land. Now it is about a kilometre inland but around here it is still possible to find some older buildings, shops and markets.
 The menu |
It’s also possible to find some old brothels so the other afternoon I went off in search. They’re not difficult to find. Along Reclamation Street they are about the only things that have any neon outside. All the other signs hark back to a time before neon. The ‘menus’ are a bit of a give-away too though they seem mostly to be more wishful thinking than reality. Perhaps they too hark back to an earlier time.
At the top of the narrow staircase I was greeted by the manager. “We have Chinese girl $350 or Thai girl $300″ he said. How about Russian girls I queried but he shook his head “Only Chinese and Thai.”
 Reclamation Street |
It looked like the reception of an old hotel. A wooden reception counter to the right a few chairs, and old wood panelled walls - cheap looking but old none-the-less. I asked him to show me some Thai girls. He took me down to a room and asked me to wait.
The room boasted more wood panelling, this time interspersed with mirrors. There were also mirror tiles on the ceiling suggesting that this had been a brothel or short time hotel for a good many years. A black and white TV was showing Japanese porn but the bathroom fittings were pleasingly modern but the Athenian corners were cheesy.
After about five minutes two girls appeared. I’d already decided I’d send them away if I wasn’t happy with them but one of them was really very cute indeed so I paid the man and sent the other girl away.
She had a shy almost frightened look to here which was explained by the fact that she had only been in Hong Kong for two days and was very new to this line of work. I spoke in Thai as far as my abilities would allow me which seemed to relax her. She said she was planning to stay for two months, the maximum her visa would allow, and go back. After that she would decide on whether to do a stint in Singapore.
Despite being on a time limit sex was slow and gentle, she gave me what is known as a good GFE (girlfriend experience). Afterwards she showered pronto and made a bolt for the door. “Bye bye” she said, and blowing me a kiss she was gone. I was still pulling my trousers back on. She was a cute girl and she’ll probably do well for herself in this business if she’s sensible. But the first thing she’s got to do is learn to wait for the tip.
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