Wan Chai
The first thought that comes to mind when you arrive at the Wanchai district in Hong Kong is “Amusement park”. The thought Amusement park will run through your mind because of the staggering number of neon lights that brace the front of most of the bars and clubs in this district. If you are looking for mainstream fun, then we advise you to stay away from these types of establishments (the ones with the funny neon lights). This is mainly because they are suited to the “pay for action” or “pay for play” crowd.
The second thought that comes to mind is “seedy”. That is because of the number of “comfort girl” bars in the district. In the past, Wanchai used to be very notorious for prostitution, gambling and outright seediness, however in recent times, things in the area have calmed down a bit. Through a renaissance of sorts, Wanchai has geared itself towards the more mainstream type of fun we like to get into at the partytrail. Getting the “Amusement park” and “seedy” thoughts out of the way, you will find that Wanchai is one of the more fun and interesting neighborhoods to hang out in all of Hong Kong.
Getting there………
The entertainment in Wan Chai is centered mostly on “Lockhart road” and that should be your compass when trying to get to the nightlife in Wanchai. If you are already in central, the easiest way to get to Wan Chai is by taxi; otherwise you will have to use the MTR. Wanchai is on the Island line of the MTR. Other forms of transportation like the bus or trams are also options you can use to get to Wanchai.
Once there…………
Wanchai has a variety of bars, pubs, and, restaurants a patron can visit, however, word on the street is that Wanchai is best partytrailed on a Wednesday night because that is when most of the clubs, bars, and, pubs in Wanchai have “Ladies Night”. We partytrailed Ladies Night in Hong Kong and it was quite the experience. Most of the other neighborhoods we visited in Hong Kong were filled with older, more uptight expatriates but in Wan Chai on Ladies night, the crowd comprised of mostly students from the prestigious Hong Kong University (H.K.U). While the crowd was noticeably younger and more fun, they were just as diverse as the crowds in the other entertainment districts in Hong Kong (we talked about this in our earlier posts). In one Wednesday night out in Wanchai we were able to meet people from Italy, The United Kingdom, Holland, Austria, Nigeria, Ghana, India and so many other countries. If you like a diverse and international crowd to party and mingle with Wanchai is the place to be especially on a Wednesday night.
Another interesting aspect of ladies night in Wan Chai is the fact that most of the bars have set aside some fine liquor to serve the attending female patrons for “free” all night. Hence, the ladies turn out in full force. Other nights in Wanchai are also fun but it seemed from our experience that Wanchai drew the most interesting and fun crowd on Wednesday night.
Where to party………………
Here is a list of the bars and nightclubs we partytrailed in Wanchai
1. Carnegies
53-55 Lockhart road,
Wanchai,
Hong Kong
2. Typhoon
37-39 Lockhart Road,
Wanchai,
Hong Kong
3. Mes Ami
83 Lockhart Rd,
Wan Chai,
Hong Kong
4. Delaneys
2/F, One Capital Place,
18 Luard Road,
Wanchai,
Hong Kong
5. The Pawn
62 Johnston Road,
Wan Chai,
Hong Kong
While Wan Chai is great on any night, if you really want to see it in all of its nightlife glory, we would definitely advise a visit to this neighborhood on a Wednesday. Partytrailing Wanchai on ladies night resulted in us meeting some people that we went on a trip to Macau with. (We will give you the details of that trip in a later post).
We advise as always that you explore other bars in Wanchai. Lockhart road has so many other entertainment options not mentioned above. We hope we were able to give you some useful information on what Wanchai nightlife is like.
In our next post, Hong Kong – The Cantonese Expedition (VI) we take you to another neighborhood worth visiting in Hong Kong. The locals in Hong Kong (as you must have noticed love their acronyms)call this district T.S.T. which stands for Tsim Sha Tsui.
Well that is all for now, till the next post, keep healthy, enjoy life and stay on the partytrail …….
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photo credit: Nightfall in WanChai via photopin (license)
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