"Ok, time for my most memorable Hong Kong pickup," Alan says.
I'm visiting Alan and his partner and their friend Tarik in Norfolk. Today we drove out to Colonial Williamsburg. Now we're having a very healthy vegetarian dinner and swapping stories of sexual exploits in days gone by.
"Picture it: seven million people crammed into 426 square miles. 7 of the tallest buildings in the world. Over 50 shopping malls, including Harbor City, with over 700 stores."
"It sounds awful," I complain. "Everything I hate about big cities, the reason I prefer small-town gay neighborhoods."
"You don't know what you're missing. The lights, the color, the shopping. The 3.5 million Chinese men..."
"The 15 hour plane flight..." his partner Sandy continues..
"Not to mention the horrific anti-sodomy laws," Tarik adds. "Life imprison for gay sex, not repealed until last year."
Alan glares at him. "Need I remind you that your beloved state of Virginia still makes gay sex a felony? That doesn't stop the guys down on Granby Street from cruising everybody in sight."
Hong Kong, Summer 1990
Alan was living in Paris. Anxious to meet some Asian men, he spent his vacation in Hong Kong, shopping and sightseeing.
Gay culture in Hong Kong wasn't well developed -- very few organizations, only three gay bars, only one very unsatisfactory bathhouses. But street cruising was an art in itself. Beaches, malls, parks were teaming with men, Chinese and Western, gay and straight. Most were available, some for free, some for pay.
One day he went sunbathing at Middle Bay Beach, where a lot of local gays hung out. He saw a cute Chinese twink with an older white guy, who was pretending to be asleep.
The rest of the story is too explicit for Boomer Beefcake and Bonding. But it involves the older guy and his son.
You can read it on Tales of West Hollywood.