I have forgotten so much French that I have learnt, and since I said in my last post that I once got a feel of what is ‘nightlife’, I will ‘teach’ a word about nightlife to begin with:
我已經忘記了好多我學過的法語，既然我上個帖子說過我也曾參與過’夜生活’，我會’教’ 一個有關的夜生活的字來開始這帖子：
Le teufeur (in French) = raver/ clubber(in English) = ‘蒲友’ (in Cantonese)
I was never a teufeur in Hong Kong, meaning I never stayed out over-night in Hong Kong clubbing. I remember when I was a kid, in Hong Kong, only Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) was the place for ‘les teufeurs’ (the clubbers), and Knutsford Terrace was not that well-known. I just knew LKF was the place where I first learnt what is B52, girls might drink pimps or some kind of alcohol mixed with soft drinks, there was once a Russian ice bar providing fruity shots which I believed was closed down already now.
我從來沒有在香港當過teufeur，意思是我從來沒有在香港的club, 沒在外面待過夜。我記得當我還是個小孩子的時候，在香港，只有蘭桂坊（LKF）是給’Les teufeurs“（clubbers）的地方，諾士佛台可不是那麼知名。我只知道蘭桂坊是我第一次知道什麼是B52的地方，知道少女們可能會喝Pimps或其他酒精而混了汽水的飲品，蘭桂坊曾經有過俄羅斯ice bar，提供水果味shot，不過現在ice bar好像已經沒營業了吧。
The goal of this post is:
1) I finally have a post which is non mental health related;
2) I think as a Hongkonger but was once a ‘teufeur’ from time to time in U.K., I am qualified to point out how nightlife in Hong Kong may be so different from that of U.K.
這篇帖子的目的是：
1) 我終於有一個帖子是非關於心理健康;
2) 我覺得作為一個香港人，但曾經不時在英國的時候是一個“teufeur”，我有資格指出夜生活在香港與英國的夜生活的不同。
Even today, even more Hong Kong teens go to pubs and clubs (my parents’ time these are called ‘discos’), I feel that nightlife in Hong Kong still mainly be associated with late-dinner or supper provision: street food and sweet soup sold till late in the midnight, overnight karaoke and cinema. I feel that proper clubbing was too remote for most Hong Kong teens, and at my age now, I simply ask, why should I drink in Hong Kong when I can get a much cheaper price of the same drink when I am in Europe? LOL
來到今天，雖然香港的青少年已去多了酒吧和club（我父母的時候，這些被稱為“disco”），可是我感覺香港的夜生活主要相關於與好晚也可吃的晚餐, 或宵夜: 賣街頭食品和糖水提供直到深宵，通宵卡拉OK和電影院。我覺得正宗的clubbing和香港大部分青少年還是太遙遠，而在我現在的年齡，我只是問，我為什麼我在香港要喝酒，當我在歐洲可以得到相同的飲料卻付便宜得多價格呢？ LOL
Why not share my thoughts of the LKF area then? Actually head there for live music and food but not for clubs, if you ask me. I remember I once had the first African meal in my life at a restaurant named ‘Makumba’ there, where back then there was a live band, singing foreign songs to customers, and I could still remember I ordered Mojito; before I moved to Lyon, I would always choose Mojito over other kind of cocktails each time I happened to order an alcoholic drink. Is this restaurant still running? I really don’t know, but at least it was a piece of good memory in my head with two friends as a girls’ nights-out.
為什麼不分享我對蘭桂坊區域的想法呢？如果你問我，其實去那不要club了，去吃飯和聽現場音樂。我記得我曾經在一名為’Makumba’ 的餐廳第一次食非洲食物，當時有現場樂隊，對客人唱外國歌曲，而我仍然記得我點的飲品是Mojito; 以前，我搬去里昂前，每次我點酒精飲料，我總是會選擇點Mojito，而不是其他種類的雞尾酒。這家餐廳仍在營業嗎？我真不知道，但至少這是在我的腦海，是一片和兩個朋友girls night-out 的美好的記憶。
I could also recall another Mexican restaurant, but in the Soho area. Take that longest escalators in the world, when you got up to the very top, you should see ‘Le Souk’; they featured Mexican food, I went there with friends who were visiting Hong Kong as travellers, I think at least this one is not yet closed down?
我也記得有一間墨西哥餐廳，但在蘇豪區。乘坐那世界最長的自動扶手電梯，當你去到終點，你應該看到“Le Souk”; 墨西哥菜是他們的特色，我之前去那裡誰是因為有朋友來香港旅行，而我想起碼這家餐廳仍在營業吧？
Then I would recommend this pub on Peel Street named ‘Peel Fresco’ as a night out activity in the Soho area. It is a tiny pub, but if you want a taste of live jazz music, this is so far the best one I reckon. I went there twice, in fact I went once this year, for a ‘Le French May’ live band show.
然後，我將推薦在蘇豪區的卑利街的這酒吧，名為“Peel Fresco”，作為一個晚上的活動。這是一間很小的酒吧，但如果你想享受現場爵士樂表演，這是迄今為止我覺得最好的一間。我去了兩次，其實今年我去了一次，聽了“法國五月”的現場樂隊表演。
In the U.K., nightlife is all about drinking and clubbing, of course, but things are different in the capital London than how they are in the Northern parts of the country. In my university town, to club was almost obligatory for me in my second year there, but with the sole proper purpose of dancing; haha, yes, nothing more.
在英國，夜生活的所有就是關於泡吧飲酒和club，當然，在首都倫敦的又在該國北部地區不同。在我念大學的城市，在我第二年幾乎有必去club的理由，但跳舞是唯一目的，目的正當; HAHA，是的，僅此而已。
Now that I recall all these memories, I am so glad that I went clubbing as a member of the university’s Hiphop Dance society, not that I went with some peeps who might got me drunk and then the day after I would regret on a night-out having got carried away by people I don’t know, doing things that I would regret. Of course, the golden rule is to always have trust-worthy friends to go for a night out with you, unless you want to get something more than fun in the club and afterwards….hmmm…you know what I mean. I remember I didn’t go out at night much compared to many other students, but I can tell you some little information about university clubbing life when studying up north of U.K., where I got my bachelor done.
現在，我記得所有的這些回憶，我很高興，我去club是作為大學hiphop學會的成員以去，而不是我和一些可能會使我喝醉了的人，然後以後的日子我會後悔在一個晚上我被不認識的人帶走，之後我會後悔發生過的事情。當然，金科玉律的告訴大家，要和值得信賴的朋友一起出去，除非你想要得到的東西是要超過在club裏have fun ….嗯……你知道我的意思。相比許多其他學生，我記得我晚上出去的日子可算是小，但我可以告訴你有關於大學clubbing是怎樣的，就以我之前讀書的那大學城市來說，我就是在那的大學拿到我的學士學位。
Any drinks, from cocktails, shots, beers, bombs, a jar of sangria, whatever alcoholic drinks that is, all are sold much cheaper at pubs and clubs up north, which I guess is a good news for the students? You start drinking either with a group of friends at the student accommodation, or you can go out as a group to move yourself around the pubs drinking – this is caled pre-drinking. When you are drunk enough but not yet wasted, then it is time for you to go to club and dance you heads off; if you want, at clubs you have the alternative, to ‘make new friends’ and ‘develop the relationship in one night’, if you want. Be clear at what you want to get out of going out there, this is what I would say to anyone who is a fresher to this kinda teufeur world. I still remember in this northern city, a club entry was as cheap as £5 (it was for a club named ‘Plug’), which would be at least from £20 up if you were in London. Don’t expect too much from a club like this cheap one though, because the DJs often play not so catchy and random music, face palm.
所有酒精飯品，由雞尾酒，shot，啤酒，bomb，一jar的西班牙水果酒，總之什麼酒也好，在北部地方的酒吧和club便宜好多，我想，這對學生來說是好事吧？開始可以是在一學生宿舍聚在一起喝起酒來，或者是換場，穿梭不同酒吧去點酒來喝，這就是所謂的pre-drinking。你喝到微醉但不至於快什麼都沒意識了，你就是準備好去club狂跳舞了。你想的話，當然也可以有做點別的，就是「交新朋友再於一晚之內有關係」。務必明確的自己去的night out是為了甚麼，這就是我要說給可能剛接觸teufeur世界的大學新生。我還記得在這個北方城市，club entry可以只要£5（這是一個名為’Plug’的 club），如果你在倫敦，£20以上至少。不要指望從像雖然這便宜的club太好，因為DJ們經常放不那麼上口和不知名的音樂，唉。
For pubs, which would be closed normally around 2 am, I remember the Hiphop dance society would always tried to stay a little while at each one, so to show off a little their dancing at each pub for a very short time. ‘DQ’ is the pub-like club where the society as a whole would stay in the end ultimately, because it plays hiphop music. Yet, I still remember the names of theses pubs before the crew stopped at ‘DQ’: ‘Cavendish’, ‘Players Bar’, ‘Tiger Works’, ‘Varsity’, ‘Vodka Revolution’, and the other girly dance society which is actually just named ‘Dance Society’ however would always bring their gang to our own University Union’s pub area as their final destination, where they stayed and danced and gossiped (I joined them once, and then I learnt that the Hiphop Dance Society would always be the better choice).
酒吧一般通常凌晨2點左右關閉，我記得Hiphop舞學會總是試圖在每一個酒吧都停留一小會兒，很短的時間內炫耀一下他們的舞蹈。 “DQ”是酒吧般的club，Hiphop舞學會作為一個整體將最終留在這，因為它放hiphop音樂。不過，我仍然記得當大家停留在“DQ”前所去的酒吧：’Cavendish’, ‘Players Bar’, ‘Tiger Works’, ‘Varsity’, ‘Vodka Revolution’，而那女孩的舞蹈學會，名為“舞蹈學會”的，總是會會帶成員們到我們自己的大學Union的酒吧區作為他們的最終目的地，在那裡跳舞和閒話（我加入了他們活動一次，然後我才知道，Hiphop舞學會將永遠是更好的選擇）。
Let me also mention that because of the great Chinese population in the town, there are several Chinese-style karaokes in my university town, one of which even has a Hello Kitty theme. As I came to the final year of my bachelor degree, I don’t even join the Hiphop Dance Society nights-out anymore but to study whole-heartedly, and then I remember I ended up only showing up at two pubs named ‘Yates’ and ‘Weatherspoon’ in turns, but at lunch time for their cheaply-priced steak, which is just around £9 for a complete steak set with a coke. Sometimes, I would choose to go for lunch at ‘Vodka Revolution’ too, when they had that Monday offer selling lunches at much cheaper prices. Anyways, in my next post, I would write about how being a teufeur was like when I lived in Lyon as an exchange student.
讓我也提提，因為這城市有好多華人，所以有幾個中國式的卡拉OK，其中一個甚至有一個Hello Kitty的主題房。當我來到了我的學士學位最後一年，我不加入Hiphop舞學會了，全心全意學習，然後我記得我最後只在名為“Yates”和“Weatherspoon’的兩家酒吧輪流去，但是，是在午餐時間，吃他們便宜價位的牛排，僅僅是約為£9的一個完整的牛排。有時候，我會選擇在“Vodka Revolution”供應的午餐，因他們週一有更便宜價格出售的午餐。不管怎麼說，在我的下一個帖子，我會寫關於如何我在里昂生活作為交換學生成為一個teufeur。
If you my dear reader have read my previous post ‘The imagined funeral 夢中的葬禮‘, you would not believe that I was once even a ‘teufeur’ right? I stayed out with the dance crew, I did not see walking back to my accommodation at random times in midnight as a danger, even would go to fried chicken shop which opens till late to get some super on the way back. Again, I wonder why depression has turned me into a person who over-reacted to being alone when it’s 12:30 a.m. in Hong Kong, the much safer city. It seems unbelievable, but I could in the past just dance in midnight time , in places like pubs and clubs, without noticing the clock was ticking, time was passing, not posing questions about safety.
如果你，我親愛的讀者，看了我以前的帖子“The imagined funeral 夢中的葬禮”，你不會相信我曾經可是’teufeur“吧？我和舞蹈學會的同學待外，我沒有理會午夜時步行回我住的地方的危險，甚至會去在回去的路上去開放至夜深的炸雞店買宵夜來吃。我不知道為什麼抑鬱症已經把我變成反應過度，於上午12點30分，在一個更安全城市，香港，怕獨處。這似乎令人難以置信，但我在過去在午夜的時候可以在像酒吧和club的地方跳舞，沒有注意到時鐘滴答作響了，時間在走，不去想有關安全的問題。
Depression and bipolar seem to slowly but forcefully turn me into a different person, for bad, or could it be for good?
抑鬱症和燥狂症似乎緩慢而有力地把我變成另一人，是壞，或可以是好嗎？