Hero Saved My Night!

Sahara Restaurant on Elgin Street

It's been a while since I've written anything at all... I have had plenty of inspiration but lacking motivation. As upsetting as it is when I get into these modes, I'm trying to think of it as a break I didn't know I needed. Something like that...

It feels like a heavy day trailing off from a heavy few weeks. I'm starting to feel like I'm going down a dangerous path that I know all too well, and have spent way too much time in the past avoiding to just let it slip back into my life. It's money and time consuming. And it drains every bit of life out of me, and numbs my brain. It's the dark side of my moon, and I'm not looking forward to when it hits.  

After a busy day I met up with my friend Christine for a quick drink in the evening. I always enjoy her great company, so hanging out with her was exactly what I needed. So we went to one of our favourite rooftop wine bars and ordered our first glass for the night. Christine wasn't her usual self tonight, she seemed more riled than usual, and once the conversation unravelled I understood why. She opened up to me about how she was feeling very low, and that she was finding it hard to trust people around her. She was going through a rough patch. The selfishness in me didn't want to share these feelings she was telling me about, they were only reserved for me in mind. But off course, I was glad that she had opened up and told me the truth as to how she was feeling. She was certainly more courageous than me, who hadn't given her a clue about my messed up state of mind. We hung out for a while talking, trying to cheer each other up, but I was all too familiar with this feeling of emptiness, and feeling trapped. So I didn't try to give her a life coaching spiele but instead just listened while she got it all out. After our third glass we called it a night, and said our goodbye's, heading in our own directions home. Walking back to the apartment I realised that I couldn't go back yet. I needed at least a drink more to relax and spend a bit of time by myself so I headed up Elgin Street and plotted on an outdoor seating area of a lovely little place called Sahara.

Sahara, Sahara, Sahara! What a little gem. A cosy and welcoming setting, perfect for catching up with friends or just taking a minute for yourself, relaxing outside on a comfortable Moroccan styled seating deck, enjoying a glass of wine whilst watching the world go by. Egyptian owned with a multicultural team of staff, "Hero" (as he kept insisting his name was) and his brother really know how to run a successful restaurant. Sitting there, people watching whilst beautiful Fairuz was singing in the background I couldn't help smiling and feeling some comfort in that moment.

After a few skype calls and some random chats with Hero, I had polished off my last glass of wine, so I asked the waitress who had been serving me for my bill. After a few moments she returned with my bill and an open bottle of wine... she leaned over my table to hand over the check and started topping up my glass with another serving of red wine. I thought there must have been a mistake, so I quickly protested not wanting her to get in trouble, but in response she said that this glass was on her and it would make her very happy for me to accept, sit back, and continue enjoying my evening. Wow, I was blown away by her generosity. Could she tell that I needed some kindness and a hug? I told her her kind gesture warmed my heart and that the timing of her kindness couldn't have been better, and that I couldn't thank her enough. She said that it was her pleasure, and she could tell I was enjoying having some time to myself, so she wanted me to relax and enjoy the rest of the night. So I thanked her again, and off course left her generous tip! 

My evening was panning out pretty well. Sipping on my new glass of wine, Hero comes up to me and insists that I join everyone else sitting outside... he literally pulled three different groups of people together and successfully got everyone mingling, the star! So I continued the evening chatting to two great girls, both native Hong Kongers working in finance, who gave me some great advice and contacts for more potential charity projects to get involved in. I got to quiz them about their opinions on certain issues from a local perspective. It was unreal. They both agreed and strongly felt that the main issue with charitable organisations in HK was the dilemma of priorities... people donate 'X' amount of money to satisfy their own personal quota of good deed, but refuse to do anything further as donating their time will compromise their priority of making money! After a few hours of delicious discussion and a shot of something strong on the house, my early night turned into another stupid o'clock in the morning return home, but thankfully home was only a 5 min walk away, literally three streets away so the stumble back was pretty easy.

Hero, you really are a Hero. ᐂ