ATFC tells us about his recent Asian adventure...

Well, my weekend started a little prematurely on a Wednesday as I was due to play in 2 of my favourite cities in the world, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Drop Bar in Hong Kong like to showcase their guests on a Thursday so there I was at Valencia airport catching the first of 3 flights and bracing myself for almost 24hrs travelling. All went according to plan (and to be honest it seems so long ago now I can't remember exactly what happened) but I landed in Hong Kong in relatively good spirits – probably due to the fact I'd stayed in the Mandarin Oriental before and was therefore well aware of the delight to come.
 
After pushing all the buttons in my room, trying on the dressing gowns, slippers and silk robes I met Simon, the manager of the club for an exquisite Italian meal before making our way to the club.

Hong Kong Skyline

Drop Bar is a great little place (about 150 people max) where I truly feel at home DJing, and I don't really know why. It's quite transitional in that it has a bar vibe where people come and go throughout the night, so it's not a full on, shirts off, hands in the air, sweaty club. I think it has to be the family atmosphere there – it’s members only and you have to be invited to join, so most people truly know each other and you can feel it. I walked in and was greeted by the bar staff, resident DJs and some regulars who all remembered the last time I played and made it feel like a bit of a homecoming.

It's rare that I don't look at my watch at least once in a night but 4am came quickly and it was time to hand over the baton.

The next day I only had one thing on my mind and that was shopping. Cathy, a lovely young girl from the company took me around Hong Kong in my quest for dodgy watches, little pink princess knickers, hairbands etc and some Pokemon toys - yes you guessed it, my 7yr old son is into Panerai watches and my 4yr old daughter just loves Pokemon.......the little pink knickers, however, are a private matter.

OK, so after smuggling a few hotel pens into my hand luggage it was time to fly to Tokyo (I had my suspicions confirmed that the Mandarin Oriental pens are pretty special when I once walked in on my father-in-law saying to my mother-in-law 'Here...feel the weight of that!' I can't explain the utter relief it was to see him holding one of the pens I'd brought back from a previous trip).

Shibuya, Tokyo

After the usual seemingly never ending drive from Narita to Tokyo central I arrived fairly late and knowing I was going to be going straight from the club back to the airport (and despite the Sirens from Shibuya calling me to shop) I decided reluctantly to get some sleep hours in.

I'd heard a lot about the club AIR and there can't be much I can tell you that you haven't already heard from the plethora of Defected DJs that have trodden the booth before me... BUT I can confirm it is a little beast of a club, with state of the art sound system and equipment (the first club I've played in with 3 Pioneer CDJ 2000's, tech spotters) and most importantly an amazing crowd. The Japanese never fail to deliver when it comes to pure unadulterated excitement and overwhelming joy on the dancefloor, something I hope they never lose that the way some countries have. Another 4hr set later and it was time for a quick shower before the long drive to the airport.

AIR, Tokyo

So, with thanks to Joel, Simon, Cathy and Liz from Drop in HK and Take, Youichi and Jun from Air / BBQ, I'm sitting here in the lounge at Tokyo with a warm feeling inside and a fixed grin on my face..........ok so the grin is because I've just been upgraded on my BA flight back to Heathrow - let's PARTYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

Aydin