Picture of the Day: Sevva

How can you not resist photographing this view from the 25th floor?

Today a well known high-end restaurant called Sevva is celebrating its 10th anniversary tonight and its founder Bonnae Gokson held a memorable celebration.

At first it seemed like it was just cocktails but she had other plans up her sleeve. Three Chinese lions appeared to do the traditional dance complete with the cabbage wrapped with lai see (one for each!) and confetti spewed everywhere.

But that wasn't all -- with the brigade of chefs came a singer who would only give us his name as Robert, who used to perform in musicals in London. He belted out Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast and Memory from Cats.

Gokson was so relieved the weather cooperated and so are we! The view from the 25th floor of Prince's Building was fantastic.

So here's a panoramic shot from tonight, starting all the way from Victoria Harbour to HSBC headquarters.

The Mesmerizing Courtney Act

Courtney Act performing The Girl from Oz at Sevva

I'm still starstruck.

I've just come back from talking to and watching amazing drag queen Courtney Act at Sevva on the top floor of Prince's Building. Not only does she look fabulous but can really sing and hit those high notes.

Originally from Brisbane and grew up in Sydney, Shane Gilberto Jenek was an actor and performer, and around 2000 started dressing up in drag for fun and then realized he loved it so much.

Three years later Jenek tried to be a contestant on Australian Idol as himself, but was rejected so the next day he came as Courtney Act and ended up a semi-finalist on the show.

Courtney singing her heart out

And then in 2013 Courtney Act was in the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and ended as a finalist, beaten out Bianca Del Rio.

In her career Courtney Act has performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, got to be on the roof of the Sydney Opera House and even be an ad girl for American Apparel.

She had come to Hong Kong before, but I hadn't seen her act until now and now I know why she's someone you cannot miss.

First of all, Courtney is damn attractive. Everything is so put together, the makeup is flawless, perfectly lined and tonight her eye shadow was glittery too. Then her wig put on made her look like a modern Marilyn Monroe.

Then it's about her body -- hardly any fat on it, perhaps because she's vegan, does a lot of meditation and drinks concoctions made from Chinese medicines. And her legs! So long and skinny. When she wears a corset, her waist is accentuated too!

Once Courtney starts singing, you could close your eyes and not even know it's a man singing. The voice together with a seductive strut and flirting with the men in the room, one can't help but be mesmerized.

The show she performed tonight was The Girl From Oz, singing a number of songs that have come from Down Under that you may or may not have known about. The Aussies in the audience couldn't help but beam with patriotism.

She clearly enjoyed playing with the men!

The more serious side of Courtney explained to me beforehand about how it's important for people to express themselves, and if it means men wearing eyeliner and high heels to a nightclub then so be it!

I asked if she felt like a role model, she said it helped many people feel it was OK to do what they wanted to do, or that it was OK to be attracted to men or women regardless of your sexual orientation.

Jenek is very happy to be a man and also to dress up as Courtney; she allows him to express another side of him, but at the same time not have to worry about being caught like celebrities without make up going to the grocery store because Courtney would never do that.

Seems like a neat gig he has there, and makes sense.

But what really impressed me the most was how Courtney was such an amazing person on stage -- confident, sexy, happy, witty and flirty -- clearly enjoying herself and entertaining her audience.

The passion for what she/he does comes through and is a good reminder for all of us to find what we love to do and sing our hearts out doing it.

Now if we could only figure out how he hides his package down there...

Hong Kong's Bubble Class

Prince's Building in Central, where many tai tais like to shop and dine...

In Hong Kong, there are some people who completely live in a bubble.

They are so used to other people serving them that they can't do anything themselves.

And I was incredulous to witness this first hand this afternoon.

I was in a card shop in Prince's Building in Central, and one young expat woman was asking a barrage of questions, where wrapping paper was, if there was black cellophane tape and so on, while the one staff manning the shop was trying to look after another customer. Was she really in that much of a hurry that she couldn't browse and find the items herself?

Trying to be polite, the staff member did her best to multitask, though at one point she had to leave the cashier to help the woman find all the stuff she needed. No matter that it cost more than HK$600...

Then there was a tai tai in her 60s who asked if the shop had gift tags in the form of stickers. The staff affirmed there were, but the tai tai had to know exactly where and even though she was pointed in the right vicinity, she still couldn't find them.

She seemed to want the sales staff to again leave her position at the cashier to make the rest of us wait, but the staff refused to budge, probably used to seeing many customers like her.

Finally the tai tai finally found something, and even though she opened it up to see what was inside, she had to ask the staff again how big the stickers were even though it was clearly shown.

In the end she paid for it, but how pathetic is that?

Can this tai tai not do anything herself?

Has Hong Kong's elite really degenerated into a segment of the population that expects everyone to wait on them hand and foot?

Or have we enabled them to be like this?

Either way it's no wonder they are completely clueless about what's really happening in the city!