Hong Kong Jazz

My toes are tapping and my head’s gently bobbing. My chair is comfy and the music is incredible, a repertoire of jazz tunes old and new. To top it all off this is the best gin and tonic I ever had! It was worth the trouble it took to get here.

Sitting in the Langham Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, the slow simmering satisfaction of a day well spent flows through me, washes over me and carries me in it’s current like the music here in this lobby lounge. The female singer, piano player and bassist could not sound any richer if they were a full orchestra. The sound coming from just the three of them is transportive. The only word I to describe them is smooth, (like my gin and tonic), which is exactly how I feel at this moment. Their velvety tones are like a rich chocolate mousse at the end of a delectable 6 course meal.

Just like such a feast, this day has had many flavors. And like a person who hasn’t had a decent meal in ages pulling up a chair to a banquet, I began this day licking my chops, starved for something I could not only sink my teeth into but that would wow my pallette. Yesterday was an “amuse bouche” and today I was ready for the main course.

A sleepless night and a three hour flight with seats that didn’t recline was more than my body could take. I had to leave Elizabeth and Melissa last night in hopping Tsim Sha Tsui to return to our hotel, The Royal Park in Sha Tin. My feet were swollen and busting out of my shoes (I’m surprised none of my toes fell off for lack of circulation), my legs were shaky and my head was dizzy with little bursts of vertigo. To have any hope of walking today, I needed to buy different shoes. Before retiring to my room I stopped in the Sha Tin Town Centre Mall, which is adjacent to our hotel, in search of shoes that wouldn’t squeeze my feet like a tube of toothpaste. I found the perfect pair that were not only comfy for walking, but super-cute too. Today involved quite a bit of walking and the shoes served me well.

Today the tour I took to Lantau, while the other two were in their workshop, returned later than I expected. With no cell phone to use in Hong Kong I had to rely on pay phones, of which there are three in Hong Kong, and one is broken! In this cell phone generation people actually laughed at me when I asked where there was a pay phone, and the younger ones had no idea what I was talking about. When I finally found a pay phone that worked, I stayed nearby so I could keep calling the hotel leaving messages for Elizabeth and to see if she left any messages for me. Figuring I would meet them in Tsim Sha Tsui, since this is where we would be for dinner and entertainment, I didn’t want to go all the way back to the hotel only to turn around again. I had no luck. I finally took the shuttle back and my pal Hassan, the bellman, told me she left to go to Tsim Sha Tsui. Elizabeth had been waiting in the lobby not in the room, therefore not receiving my calls to the room. However, several times I asked the operator and the receptionist to see if she was anywhere else in the hotel. They said no, but she was sitting right there in the lobby in full view (and they know who we are). Another shuttle was leaving to go back to the happening area and rather than spend my second and last night in bed, alone, again, I hopped on it and planned on just getting lost. By time we reached the shuttle drop off I made attempts to find my way to the Ladies Market area, but I was too tired, too confused and my feet and legs were not having it. I had visions of the three of us out on the town ‘tearin’ it up’ in Hong Kong, but it just was not meant to be.

So hear I sit here, alone but not lonely. I had no idea what I would do. I let go of expectations of what my night in Hong Kong should ‘look like’ and I landed in this luxurious, place as content as can be. I suppose when you let go of expectations you open up the possibility for enjoyable things you never even considered. The trio is playing “Just The Way You Are” by Billy Joel with their own hip take on it. It’s a blast from deep in the past – junior high, to be precise. It was part of the soundtrack of the young girl I was, yet barely remember – the girl who had all her dreams ahead. It was a time when anything was possible and ‘fairy tales’ could maybe come true–or so I thought. Sometimes what you didn’t expect is more than you even hoped for. Back then a trip to Hong Kong was as real as Prince Charming. It was more the stuff of make-believe than somewhere I would ever truly find myself. But being the dreamer that I am, I never ruled out fairy tales coming true, and still don’t.

There are adult fairy tales and I’m in one, right here in my hotel lobby lounge in Hong Kong. I don’t want to ever leave this lounge, this music, or this moment. My second awesome gin and tonic may be making me a bit tipsy, but this moment is perfect. It’s a grown up version of my fairy tale fantasy. Instead of fanfare there’s subtlety. Instead of Prince Charming sweeping in to save the day and give me worth, there’s me, and the sweetness of feeling comfortable in my own skin, even here in this foreign city.

I feel like Morgan Freeman in “The Bucket List”. I’m surrounded by luxury and excitement, but it’s what’s in my heart that is making my spirit soar. You never know where you will find a little piece of Nirvana. It can be high on a hill in a monastery with a Buddha that can be seen from miles away. Or, it can be in a cozy spot in a Hong Kong hotel listening to good music while just feeling comfortable in your own skin.

I don’t even want to write anymore. I just want to float on the lilt of the piano and the singer’s agile voice, to give in to the melodies that are sweeping me away in my cozy corner of Hong Kong.

Apple, the singer with the trio. We got to chatting in between sets.
I had my cab drop her home on my way back to the hotel.
A beautiful girl with an incredible velvety voice.