Astron's Notebook

Hello, Friends!


This afternoon, while on my stand-by period at work, I watched the last few episodes of America's Next Top Model Cycle 7 in the Green Room.

And then I took a nap. And then I had high tea, which I enjoyed with my close friend, Trish, while waiting for our stand-by time to be over.

I love my job!

***

On another stand-by period, I went to the Disneyland Hotel poolside with my little sister, Anthony, and m'belle, Melody.

We were only supposed to get some sun (i. e. quiet, mind-your-own-business, set-the-timer-for-quarter-hour-flips sunbathing), but the two younger ones (I'm ancient, see) ended up ordering some cool, fruity drinks while flipping through gossip rags. I had water and peanuts.

But being the camwhores we were, we couldn't resist just lying down by the poolside yakking. All three cameras came out of our bags and pretty soon, we had enlisted the help of a cheerful Cast Member to help us take photos.


Anthony, Melody, James

The sun was still very bright at 4PM; all our cams had trouble capturing a serviceable image. Or, being performers, we were just too vain-- we couldn't be content with pics that were just ok. LOL.

The sky was blue till about 7PM. We got to enjoy plenty of sun after it had expended most of its punishing midday heat.

Say no to skin cancer!

***

Disneyland Hotel is built to resemble an antebellum mansion in the American South. It's gorgeous. And being by the poolside emphasizes the fact that your are, indeed, in a resort. It doesn't even feel like Hong Kong any more.

Pretty soon, my two irrepressible companions had dragged me to go up on the water slide. It was embarrassing. There we were, three grown-ups, lined up with tots in front of us and behind us, waiting to slide.

Anthony went first. He went into the water en pointe. He was showing off his enviable arch.

Melody had the wisdom to slide down on her back, thus protecting her girly bits.

I slid down on my bum. The dips and bumps of the slide threw me around every which way, burning my posterior. (I was reminded of the regrettable fact that I do not have much of one.)

We went down the slide over and over and over again...

***

My little sister, Anthony, is a ballet-trained, former cheerleader from Mapua before he was plucked to join the happiest workforce on earth. Melody, on the other hand, already has the US National Tour of 4nd Street under her belt. Both these kids just turned of legal drinking age. I am jurassic, by entertainment terms.

It's feels great to be working with beautiful, talented, energetic youngsters in such a relaxed environment. Honestly, I can't think of any place better for me to be working in at the moment.

Of course I miss the administrative rigours and creative demands of my old job with the New Voice Company. But being here now is allowing me to enjoy so many things that I missed out on while hitting with the grown-ups back in Manila and Singapore.

I reckon I spend more time at work than I do on my bed; I don't need much sleep, any way. I count myself lucky that I enjoy my job so much. I never just walk on my way to work. There's a hop, skip and a jump. And, on occasion, jazz hands!

Cheers! Wishing everyone a fun, productive week ahead!


With Affection,
Astron

AT 6PM, I woke up with a rumbling stomach. I stepped out of my hotel to look for food, but what I found, instead, were ghostly streets and eery highways...


The pedestrian overpass and the City Hall Metro were mysteriously empty-- early on a Saturday night. Is this real, or am living in a hallucination?

Taipei, so far, hasn't ceased to assault my senses-- the traffic, stinky tofu, Big Daddy, and now, a few freaky minutes of emptiness.

And, oh... everything in Taipei talks back to you, I found out-- the lifts, the escalators, the trains, the ATM machines.

***

After my exciting but unsuccessful hunt for food (I don't speak Mandarin, so I was too embarrassed to enter a local restaurant on my own), Kurt and Avalo came by the hotel to rescue me. We did hot pot. Yummy. Food in Taipei is awesome.


Kurt, Avalo and two helpless cucumbers at the smoothie bar

Yes, and healthy shakes for dessert.

While greedily ingesting our health drinks, Avalo got a message from Lewis inviting us to come to his and Wessel's place. It was just a short walk from the fruit stand.

When we got there-- Salut!-- more alcohol. Oh, of the Veuve Clicquot kind. Wessel is very discriminating, after all.

Apart from the troika of myself, Avalo and Kurt and the pair of Lewis and Wessel, there were two other sets of beautiful male couples there. Lewis and Wessel were a popular pair.

"I can make or break you in this town," Wessel said, asserting his status as Gay Taipei's Queen Bee.

What a sweetheart.

***

At midnight, Wessel donned a knit cap, a Harley-Davidson tee, and the meanest studded leather armbands you've ever seen.

It was a sign. We were leaving.

***

The first stop of the night was Fresh, a mindboggling complex. It was a narrow four-storey building, with an expensive entrance fee. But the door bitch waved us all off by virtue of being in Wessel's company.

The first floor is a restaurant, the second floor is a bar, the third is a dancefloor and the fourth is an open terrace. A veritable temple to the homosexual lifestyle! Now, if they'd only build two more floors for a gym and a maze...

The most interesting thing about Fresh, apart from the multicultural clientele (an older crowd, to be sure, because the place was pricey), was the bartender's obsession with coasters. I think they were trained to always put drinks on coasters. If you so much as plunked your rum & coke on the marble instead of on the coaster, they would give you a disapproving look and proceed to put a coaster under your drink. It was fun. We made it into a game: we counted ten seconds, at most, till a bartender put a coaster underneath an itinerant glass of cocktail or beer.

***

I got bored, after a while. The place was very touristy, had a pick-up-y feel to it, and many patrons were kinda leery. The only engaging character I met was a thirtysomething Russian journalist who had fallen in love with Asia; he has since learned to speak Mandarin fluently and is now a popular broadcaster in Taipei.

Russian Broadcaster asked me to go to Jump with him, but I told him I've already been there last night and wanted somplace else to experience.

***


Funky, the coolest gay club I've been to.

Funky is awesome. It is a dark, cramped, crowded club in a basement. A cheap entrance fee comes with two cans of beer, which makes it affordable for the younger set-- and what a younger set it indeed was. I felt like a grandpa. Surely, the beautiful boys there could not have been out of secondary school? Jailbait!

The local boys were hot. They all go through two years of compulsary military service, so they all had toned, athletic physiques. I found them to be taller and darker than Hong Kong boys, in general.

Friendlier, too. Hong Kong gay boys tend to enjoy just the company of their small circle of friends, even when out clubbing. Taipei boys will smile and say hello and begin a conversation.

"So what do you think of one night stands?" a gorgeous boy asked me, snapping me out of my delirium; surely, this is what heaven looks like!

Gorgeous Boy was 19, a Classical Japanese Literature student (!) at a university in Kaohsiung. He spoke five languages fluently-- Mandarin, Korean (he was half-Korean), Japanese, English and German.

"I don't really think anything about it..." I replied stupidly. "I mean, if it happens, then ok. But if it doesn't, then, that's fine, too," I tried to explain, not wanting to seem too eager, but not wanting him to think I was not interested, either. "I don't travel looking to get laid," I elaborated, feeling that my brain must surely be turning to mush as he stared at me in amusement. I was tripping all over my tongue. "I mean, I don't want to be too keen on hooking up and then get disappointed when it doesn't happen," I concluded lamely. "I travel to sightsee."

Gorgeous Boy walked away to be with his friends.

Kurt looked at me and shook his head.

"He was interested," Kurt said.

"I didn't want to assume anything..." I shot back weakly.

***

What makes Funky really cool, apart from the unbelievably beautiful boys, is the music. The DJ unabashedly plays local pop hits side by side with house and techno. And just when you thought you've heard it all, a ballroom number comes along, which gets everybody up on their feet to cha-cha-cha! It is, all at once, hilarious, surreal, and incredibly liberating. It's all about music that makes you move.

***

Gorgeous Boy danced with me.

***

The next morning was the only time I got to enjoy daylight in Taipei.

Gorgeous Boy walked me to the Grand Hyatt, where I boarded the shuttle that would take me to the airport.

We did not exchange numbers.


I do not remember his name...





With Affection,
Astron

We got together at close to 1AM. Kurt treated Avalo and myself to spicy chicken poppers, fried fresh by the roadside. Yum-o!

We munched on the tasty little morsels as the cab sped to Taipei's biggest gay club, Jump.

Jump was unreal. HUGE. Glossy. Complete with an army of bouncers. And lockers for the gay boys, too! So unlike the cramped joints in Hong Kong!

It was the beginning of what was to be the wildest night of my life.


***


At around 4am, everybody had their shirts off. An older Caucasian man sidled up to me and asked, "Where are you staying?"

"In a small hotel on Songshan Road," I replied.

"Not tonight," he rebutted, then winked. He started grinding with me; I laughed, then discreetly threw Avalo a "WTF" look. Big Daddy (French, I later found out) was was a giant of a man, about 6'4", and sweaty and hairy. He had large eyes.

"Big Daddy wants you," Avalo prodded.

"Well, I don't want Big Daddy," I huffed. "Let's go! Where next??"

"Ask Big Daddy. He's in charge," Chris replied, then left to dance with Kurt.

Well... If Big Daddy was the ringleader in Taipei, as he indeed appeared to be... I heaved a big sigh and tried to put on what I thought to be a sexy face. I slung an arm on Big Daddy's shoulder and asked, "So, what's next?"

Big Daddy wanted to take me home, but I wouldn't go home with just him; I was with Kurt and Avalo.

So Big Daddy invited everyone who was left at the club to come to his place.


Monsters outside Jump


***

Big Daddy was some sort of a design executive. He had homes in Paris, Shanghai, Bangkok, Rio...

His home in Taipei was impressive. The kind that confuses as well as excites. Spaces flowed into each other seamlessly.


Boys lounging in the living room, defined by the plushest red area rug, contemporary artwork and gallery lighting.


The living room and bedroom are separated only by a sliding glass wall and the most diaphanous white curtain.


Left: The guest T&B is defined by five transluscent nautical windows. It confounded everybody; we didn't know how to get in. It turns out, you just push. Simple. Right: Big Daddy's workstation is defined by a quirky wall clock, a plush pig and zero clutter.

***

"We're the only two tops here, I think," Avalo mumbled, a note of panic in his voice. He discreetly pressed a Viagra into my palm. "I am not fucking Big Daddy. He's yours," he declared.

I moaned silently, but the resolute look on Avalo's face left no room for argument.

We both downed our little blue babies.

***

Big Daddy brought me to his closet, which was twice as large as my flat in Hong Kong.

"Take your clothes off," he ordered.

So I did.

"You're not wearing underwear," he said, stating the obvious.

Thinking he was being attacked by mock modesty, I looked at him strangely and asked, "Is that gonna be a problem?"

"Of course!" he barked.

He threw me a pair of teeny tiny blue mesh shorts. His boyfriend's, he explained. The bf, a model, was obviously away.

Big Daddy, for his part, stripped and put on a pair of avocado green skivvies that said at the bum, "Can't touch this." I had to laugh.


Big Daddy and the notorious "Cant Touch This" briefs

He then led me back out to where the boys where lounging.

On Big Daddy's arm, I urged, grandly, "Come on boys! PANTS DOWN!"

***

Everyone had trendy underwear on. Candy-coloured, sporty, printed, fun, with cartoon characters, posh (of the Versace and CK variety, of course). Turns out, every gay boy in Taipei wears stylish underpants in case they get invited to an underwear party. Such as this one.

At this point, I was tenting my blue mesh shorts.

Kurt came up to me. "The boys are Laughing. They think you thought this was gonna be an orgy," he giggled.

Well... Avalo is gonna deny it, but we Hong Kongers did, indeed, think it was gonna be a sex party. That's why he gave me the little blue pill! And that's why I was tenting the entire night!

How embarrassing!

***

Big Daddy invited everyone to the bedroom.

"Clean boys on the bed, dirty boys on the floor!" de decried.

Avalo and myself showered together first, since someone needed to break the ice and we were the two most shameless boys, anyway. The bath was separated from the master's suite by, what else, just another sliding glass wall.

Since there was an abundance of cute Taiwanese boys, my gorgeous German brother ended up showering two more times. Ha ha!

***

About two hours later, we were joined by a gorgeous couple-- muscular Singaporean gent Lewis and his burly South African sweetheart, Wessel.


Smokers powwowwing in the laundry bay, finished in red Spanish bricks and adorned with art (!)


James, Sam, Ivan

It was a fun party-- drinking, cuddling, dancing, massages, and just talking shit.

Good times.

***

It was midday when Avalo, Kurt and myself left.


James, Lewis and Avalo at the party's end. Yay, we don't look too fucked, do we?? I've gotten the hang of allnighters, I think!

Big Daddy gave me his card, assuring me that the next time I came to Taipei, he would serve as "Your tour guide, Big Daddy; Your friend, Big Daddy; or your boyfriend, Big Daddy."




To be continued...

Hello, Friends!


Some months ago, I received an email update from the Marco Polo Club. I had accumulated enough points to travel from Hong Kong to Taipei and back.

So I resolved to make the trip.

Two things I learned straight away:

1. When people say you are welcome to stay with them when you travel to their city, most of them get shocked and flustered when you actually take them up on the offer. Which then causes you embarrassment-- for them and for yourself.

2. It doesn't make them bad people. It just means they are casual acquaintances who were feeling either grateful or benevolent when they made the offer. It was a sincere offer AT THE MOMENT IT WAS MADE. Don't burn bridges with these people straight away. Chances are they will still manage to show you a good time, in whatever capacity they can.

So through AsiaRooms I booked to stay three nights at a small hotel on Songshan Road, just off the Taipei City Hall. Great location, I thought.


****


Whatever made me assume that my green Philippine passport will allow me entry to Taiwan sans visa?

I was held in disbelief when the ground crew told me I could not travel to Taipei without the requisite travel document.

It would take another day to process a visa.

Thankfully, the Cathay Pacific staff was endlessly courteous and helpful. They gave me the contact details of the office that will give me a visa, and assured me that I would not have any trouble rescheduling my flight.

Upon getting back home from the airport, I went online to check for visa requirements. To my consternation, even citizens of far-flung Angola can travel to Taiwan without a visa BUT NOT FILIPINOS!!!


***


As soon as I picked up my visa the next day, I rushed to the airport.

I arrived early for my flight.

But because I was a Marco Polo Club member, I was bumped up to a flight an hour earlier-- and into Business Class.

Thank goodness for small favours.


***


The city is beset with narrow highways, bad traffic and humidity. And gifted with the most amazingly helpful, hospitable people. All smiles, every step of the way.

A Taiwanese lady saw my confusion and approached me with a greeting in Mandarin; she didn't speak a word of English. She tried Japanese. After I shook my head in embarrassment, her precocious companion came forward and spoke with me. He was her son, 10 years old, and he spoke perfect, unaccented English.

They were going the same way I was, and they promised to let me know when I needed to get off.

The bus trip from Taipei's international airport to the city took longer than the flight itself.

I got off at the Grand Hyatt. I gratefully waved goodbye to my new friends.


***


The Grand Hyatt was right across Taipei 101, the world's tallest building:



It was awesome an awesome structure, to be sure, but oh-so-out-of-place. Most of the buildings around it, while beautifully outlined in neon, were boring boxes:



And what is this iconically New York sculpture doing in Taipei??




***


My hotel was surrounded by night markets and street food hawkers. I almost missed its entrance; it was through a small door beside a convenience store.

As soon as I got settled into my room, I called up my super cute Taiwanese friend, Kurt. Turns out that another good friend of ours, Avalo (gorgeous German gent in a previous post), was in Taipei, as well!

Avalo and Kurt told me to stay put in my hotel; they were coming to pick me up.




To be continued...

Hello, Friends!


As we glumly contemplate the condensation that has been pelting Hong Kong endlessly for a few days now, let me share with you some photos from a recent excursion.

Repulse Bay is the tourist beach du jour (Pizza Hut and 7-11 are even on it, hurrah!) and South Bay is gay boy heaven, of course. Since I was in the mood for a fuss-free beach experience, I stayed away from either.

Shek O Beach was a remarkable alternative.

Tended by villagers of a quiet fishing community and surrounded by magnificent rock formations, Shek O is, at once, quaint and magnificent. Instead of the trappings of cyberkinetic lifestyle found in other beaches (incessant public service announcements, gigantic automated sandsweepers, fastfood chains, for crying out loud!), Shek O has dark, sleepy shops that look the least bit interested in doing business. Lounging seems to be the order of the day. 



How can you complain when you are gazed upon a man with such a heartstoppingly impish smile? 



The beach itself is short, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in other features, like these rocky outcrops embraced by green fingers of grass and moss, and decorated by jewels of the showiest barnacles. Tread with care. Blue waters as far as the eye can see. A quiet, serene waterscape that's respite from the manic crossings at Victoria Harbour.

Enjoyed a late, leisurely lunch of hearty Thai food and San Miguel Beer at a homey joint. Thankfully, no faux-Thai decor. Just honest-to-goodness monoblock chairs and tables, just good food and cold drinks. No gimmicks. 



Even the sun is lazy here. It emitted just a warm, honeyed glow throughout the afternoon.

A gentle lull of a day away from the stress of a bustling metropolis, from the aggression of extreme weather conditions, and from the pressure of social networking. 


This is Shek O. 


And his name name is Chris. 




With Affection,
Astron

Hello, Friends!


Who has seen Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer? Brisk, funny, uncomplicated. It was amazingly entertaining, to my relief. (I was not too happy with the first one.)

Cheeky writing, great styling, sleek effects, a goodlooking cast. Everything that a popcorn movie needs. What I liked most about the movie, though, was... SHANGHAI!


***



East-Meets-West on Nanjing Lu: Chinese adverts light up the facade of a colonial building

It was a delight to see familiar historical and architectural landmarks. And since these were structures I've already seen before, the horror of their destruction in the movie seemed even more horrific.

You have to understand-- the Chinese build everything BIG. The public parks, the highways, the buildings. Shanghai's are specifically awesome because they were built for a city whose population, at 20 million, is more than all of Australia's.

And so when armageddon almost befell Nanjing Lu (a wide, cobblestoned shopping avenue), I was shocked-- Nanjing Lu, after all, is pedestrian-oriented! Off-limits to motor vehicles! 20 million people, run for your lives!!!

The writing was hilarious in its camp daring. But the heightened feeling of reality it aroused in me was alarming, too-- after all, I've seen these landmarks up close!! I've even posted photos of them on MySpace before, for crying out loud!

If I were to describe the armageddon sequence in just one word, it would be: Sensational. In every sense of the word.


***



The Bund / Pudong

I once read Shanghai likened to an old prostitute. Everybody has had a taste of her-- Brits, French, Yankees.

Yeah, I suppose Shanghai might seem like an aged whore-- and I mean that in the best possible terms. She proudly shows off the prizes she's won for her storied trysts with itinerant outsiders. And as if to prove that she is still the star of the bordello, she flaunts her two amorous lovers-- The Bund on one side and Pudong on the other.

The Bund is a glittering stretch of colonial buildings that embraces the dark Huangpu's riverbanks like a golden necklace. In the photo at left, the building at the center is where I stayed. That's the Westin Shanghai, architecturally definitive because of its beautiful gold crown. The hotel is famous among the moneyed set for its Sunday champagne brunches as well as for its expansive, palm tree-laden lobby that would be right at home in Vegas just as in Monte Carlo.

(I chose the Westin because, well, I'm a Starwood member and I figured I could earn points, so why not. An amazing thing happened while I was checking in. I got upgraded to a Junior Suite. I don't know how, I don't know why. But I was not about to complain. My digs were amazing. It even had its own mini-gym.)

The Bund is Shanghai's gentleman admirer. On the other side of the Huangpu, however, as though competing for attention, is Pudong-- her brash, younger lover.

Pudong has the flash of glass and steel that only a bottomless well of new money could buy. Its most popular landmarks are the positively alien-esque Oriental Pearl Tower, which was swarming with tourists from that other rising Asian superpower, India; and the Jin Mao Tower, the world's fifth tallest building.

Jin Mao is famous for housing the oh-so-grand Grand Hyatt Hotel and Cloud 9, the world's highest bar. Of course I *had* to go! Foggy day, sadly, so there was little to see from the deck.

But I had an appletini (overpriced) and a saucer of mixed nuts (free).


***


Pushing the whole prostitute analogy further, I found Shanghai to be tired and dirty in the morning. You can see mountains of debris from the night's hedonism.

That's usually the way with a prostitute, 'no? She is most beautiful at night, when the darkness conceals her flaws and amplifies her mysterious charms.

***

Xintiandi is an old Chinese concession that has been preserved, renovated and transformed into a modern lifestyle district. Here you will see quaint textile shops (oh, of the Giorgio Armani and Shanghai Tang persuasion, of course), a German pub, an Argentinian churrascaria, a gelataria and-- my favourite-- a Veuve Clicquot Bar!!!


In a perfect world, Veuve flows freely from my tap.

I almost died when I saw chairs of canvas with the yellow label of my favourite champagne. An entire establishment peddling nothing but liquid heaven.

"Garcon, a bottle of your most precious reserve!"

Hong Kong what?? LOL! Shanghai Rocks!!


***


The Parting Shot:

Me = Queen

The photo above was taken in front of Dairy Queen at Yuyuan Bazaar, which my Shanghai-based British friend derisively refers to as "Chinatown in China." Shamelessly touristy, to be sure, but nevertheless a worthy effort. So this would be what Starbucks, KFC and their ilk would look like in the era of dynasties. Fascinating! LOL!

***

I miss Shanghai.

The city, despite (or maybe because of) all references to being a whore, is elegant and endlessly fascinating.

Come with me next time??


With Affection,
Astron



Post-It:

EEEEK!!! It's the ex and myself (center) photographed in Shanghai's Club Deep. The photo appeared on party website I-Candy. Que Horror!