Liquor-Treating

Halloween's sacred status in Hong Kong might actually rival its lofty position in New York City amongst the population. Like New York, it is one of the biggest party event of the year. Children and adults of all ages take it very, very seriously. Treat-or-treating is widespread amongst the expat communities according to all the MD's with children. Festivities officially begins on Friday and lasted the whole weekend given Halloween was on a Sunday. Like New Yorkers, Hong Kong dwellers take any good excuse to dress up.

On Sat evening, the big night for Halloween parties, 3 friends and myself decided to honor a Yale-conceived tradition called "Liquor-treating". Thanks to my friend's genius idea and her friend's diligent planning, we each planned a shot at our respective apartments where the guests come and collect their treats. The first stop brought out all the stops with 3 different types of shots including gummy liquor, peanut butter and chocolate, and Arnold Palmer infusion. At the second stop there was constant favorite red headed sluts (the host is a red head as well). At my apartment, mango flavored jello shots were provided followed by an all out DJ/dance party at the last apartment. The fun started at 9PM and by 1AM, I was thoroughly exhausted. The party was a thorough success. At one point, I think there was over 40 people in my apartment (which is less than 500 sq. feet). I actually had no idea that many people can actually fit into my apartment. I loved the jello shots so much I think I will definitely be making them again very soon. When I was making them the night before, I began to freak out because I had to use paper cups instead of plastic (because there was no grocery store that sold plastic shot cups!) and I thought the paper was starting to break given everything in Asia is a bit less durable than US (due to a various of environment savings and just cheap quality). However, they turned out perfectly well and the mango flavors masked the vodka quite well. The party was extremely taxing however. So much so, I didn't even manage to go witness the insanity that is LKF in Halloween. Supposedly, the entire blocks are barricaded and patrolled by police officers and all the pedestrians must walk in one direction into LKF. Absolute madness.

The Halloween costumes were absolutely nuts as well. When I showed my friend my flapper outfit, she looked at me with a straight face and said "is that a costume? Hong Kong people wear that normally." Given the insanity in clothing in normal days, Halloween is even more intense. A favorite trend here in Hong Kong is cross dressing, especially drag by the men. My friend wanted to go drag but I convinced him otherwise. At the party, there was a chubby white boy in a curly blonde wig as a Barbie doll. Then a few minutes later, Sarah Plain showed up (the person is definitely male). While in the US, very few occasions and communities would find drag in Halloween. Here in Hong Kong, it's actually quite a popular concept. Straight men in the US would be much more unwilling to go drag but here, it seems perfectly fine without any consternations