4.06.2006
(Bath)Room with a view.
Saturday night, we stopped and had drinks at Felix, the world-famous restaurant/bar on top of the world-famous Peninsula Hotel, also known as "the really nice hotel we couldn't afford to stay at that was just across the street from the more affordable (that is, crappier) hotel we did stay at." Felix is famous for a few reasons: first, it's on the 28th floor of the Peninsula and faces Hong Kong island, so you have an amazing view of Hong Kong harbor and the Hong Kong skyline (also world-famous!); second; the men's bathroom is supposed to be very cool (can bathrooms be world-famous? If so, I think it qualifies); and third, it was designed by Philippe Starck (world-famous), who used to be an architect but now apparently splits his time between being an interior decorator and creating annoyingly colorful crap for Target and anyone else who will pay him. (You mean you haven't bought your Philippe Starck optical mouse from Microsoft yet? What are you thinking?)
We had been talking about going to Felix for dinner, but decided to only hit the bar since the food was too pricey. A questionable decision at best, since now that I think about it, our first round of drinks was about $25 dollars (really, I just realized that), although the free peanuts were very, very good, so maybe that makes up for it. But, you know, probably not. And now that I think about thinking about it, we probably shouldn't have gotten a second round at the same prices either, but I guess you only live once and all that. Unless, of course, you are James Bond, in which case You Only Live Twice, although since he used up his second life in 1967, he's back to living only once like all the rest of us.
Whatever. Despite the pricey drinks, Felix was actually a pretty cool place, as you can see from this picture of the bar, in which the skyline is sort of visible:
(Side note: the bar is also really small, so if you want a good seat at the table--no, that's not a typo--get there right at six.) (Okay, so "the table" does hold like twelve people, but still--one table? Really?)
Here's a bit of a closer view. You can actually see the skyline in this one. Also, I like to think it's "artier" than the other one without crossing that fine line into "artsy-fartsy." But maybe that's just me:
But enough about the bar. The real attraction is, of course, the men's bathroom. Which, for the record, is in the same hallway as the elevators, opposite the entrance to Felix. The men's is through the glass door on the right, which you are supposed to know because it has a small, almost impossible to see "M" projected onto the door from a light above. Which I only mention because it's pretty hard to look cool at a flash place like Felix when you are spinning around in circles wondering where the bathroom is, only to have the hostess point out that you are standing right in front of it. At least that's what I've heard, since that sort of embarrassing thing would never happen to me.
Once you get into the men's bathroom, the first thing you see is the sink, which is very fancy. So fancy, in fact, that it took me a while to figure out where the water came out. The metal thing on the far left--by the crumpled towel--puts out water, although I never figured out where the soap was. But still, it's cool, so what can you do? Function does follow form, right?
Here's the view from the men's room, which was as good as advertised. (Nice modern urinals too, don't you think? I mean, as far as you think about urinals, which is hopefully not very much.):
Another view from the men's room.
The only comment I have on the above photo is that it is apparently very possible to take a decent picture with my camera even if you are only using one hand. Trust me on this one …
We had been talking about going to Felix for dinner, but decided to only hit the bar since the food was too pricey. A questionable decision at best, since now that I think about it, our first round of drinks was about $25 dollars (really, I just realized that), although the free peanuts were very, very good, so maybe that makes up for it. But, you know, probably not. And now that I think about thinking about it, we probably shouldn't have gotten a second round at the same prices either, but I guess you only live once and all that. Unless, of course, you are James Bond, in which case You Only Live Twice, although since he used up his second life in 1967, he's back to living only once like all the rest of us.
Whatever. Despite the pricey drinks, Felix was actually a pretty cool place, as you can see from this picture of the bar, in which the skyline is sort of visible:
(Side note: the bar is also really small, so if you want a good seat at the table--no, that's not a typo--get there right at six.) (Okay, so "the table" does hold like twelve people, but still--one table? Really?)
Here's a bit of a closer view. You can actually see the skyline in this one. Also, I like to think it's "artier" than the other one without crossing that fine line into "artsy-fartsy." But maybe that's just me:
But enough about the bar. The real attraction is, of course, the men's bathroom. Which, for the record, is in the same hallway as the elevators, opposite the entrance to Felix. The men's is through the glass door on the right, which you are supposed to know because it has a small, almost impossible to see "M" projected onto the door from a light above. Which I only mention because it's pretty hard to look cool at a flash place like Felix when you are spinning around in circles wondering where the bathroom is, only to have the hostess point out that you are standing right in front of it. At least that's what I've heard, since that sort of embarrassing thing would never happen to me.
Once you get into the men's bathroom, the first thing you see is the sink, which is very fancy. So fancy, in fact, that it took me a while to figure out where the water came out. The metal thing on the far left--by the crumpled towel--puts out water, although I never figured out where the soap was. But still, it's cool, so what can you do? Function does follow form, right?
Here's the view from the men's room, which was as good as advertised. (Nice modern urinals too, don't you think? I mean, as far as you think about urinals, which is hopefully not very much.):
Another view from the men's room.
The only comment I have on the above photo is that it is apparently very possible to take a decent picture with my camera even if you are only using one hand. Trust me on this one …
