Halloween Crazy

Halloween is celebrated to an extreme level here in Hong Kong. It is mostly ex-pats who do the dressing up, while the Chinese come out with their gargantuan cameras to take pictures of the costumes. Regardless, the place we went to, the bar area called LKF,  was absolutely packed with people.

We played it smart and got to the place early, around 5:30. The show didn't start til 8pm. We staked a claim at a bar that had raised street side tables to view the pandemonium. We also got to watch the police men set up the "route." Essentially, so many people come into this bar neighborhood that they have to restrict where people can and can't go so there is some kind of flow. They also smartly set up an "Emergency passageway" so that if someone really needed to get out, for medical reasons or whatever, there would be an open passage with which to do so.

Our costumes were all from the Little Mermaid. My friend Frank was Ariel, Drew was the father King Triton, and I was Ursala the evil octopus. I even made eight legs out of black T-shirts rolled up and attached to one of Drew's black belts. Some of the legs were longer than others, but you couldn't tell, especially when I twirled them like this... ;) 

This was my mean face...

Actually, nobody really knew nor cared what I was. The whole night, the spotlight was on Drew and Frank, and deservedly so. Maybe the idea of men in dresses was new to them, or maybe they had never seen a man with so much chest hair, or just men with their shirts off in general, but they were a huge hit.  

This is a pic of everyone taking pics of Frank and Drew. I had my 10 minutes of fame in Guiyang as the blonde alien; tonight it was Drew's turn. 

There were plenty of great costumes out there. Such as this great batman. Everyone wanted to take a picture with him. 

I think this is Frank in a Disney convention. I see Belle from Beauty and the Best, another (much creepier) Little Mermaid, an Aladdin and Jasmine, a Snow White, and a Minion? Not sure what the first lady is, maybe Simba? 

Surprisingly, a lot of the costumes, especially for women, were far less sexy this, sexy that, but more gore. They used makeup to do crazy things with their faces. In that sense, the costumes were much more interesting. Adam and Tiffany, you would have fit right in!

Also another great thing about that night was that we actually ran into our friend Diana in LKF before the festivities even began. Totally impromptu meeting. It might not seem that weird to run into a friend on the street, but in a city of 7 million people, I'm still always amazed at how easy you run into people you know. That is Diana standing in front of Drew and I in this pic. 

At the end of the night, Drew and I had to get back home somehow, so we took the subway, where this picture was taken. I think we were tired enough at that point to not really care about the stares we were getting from regular passengers, but at least they weren't trying to pretend that we weren't in costume. Such as this gentlemen on another mtr. "This is total normal... I don't see anything different about you guys..." Happy Halloween!