Use "sex club" and "Hong Kong" as search terms and you would come away thinking the city is an erotic Nirvana.

"Hong Kong is one of the easiest places to get laid!" claims Rocketreports.com (ooo!).

"The most popular red light district in Wan Chai!" breaths the Happymassage blog (aah!).

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"A guide to going out and getting off!" oozes Timeout.com (so much for subtlety).

The sad fact is that Hong Kong is not nearly as lascivious as the stories say. Nowhere is. While the East has long been famed for sexual innovation, horny tourists will find a fairly demure society that is not nearly as rapacious as some claim. In fact, Hong Kong, and China as a whole, rarely even discusses the matter out loud. That being said...

"Chris" runs the Swing and Bang sex club, a space where Hongkongers can explore their sexual fantasies in a safe environment. He must be doing something right; his membership list (strictly confidential) tops 3,000 members. Not held in one location, Swing and Bang migrates all over Kowloon as a type of circuit party.

But before you start booking your flight, Chris is very upfront that there is no such thing as a free ride (ahem). There is a fee. All sorts of body-types are allowed. House rules, such as "no means no," are enforced, and members are kindly asked to leave their inflated egos at the door. After a careful vetting process -- one simply cannot show up and enter -- and getting a clean bill of health, members are allowed to free their sexual inhibitions and explore what turns them on. And off. 

The idea of a sex club may sound titillating, but the idea is hardly new. Americans will be familiar with the notorious Plato's Retreat in New York, and gay travelers the world over would barely raise an eyebrow. Even in China the idea is not unheard of, but the professionalism of Swing and Bang separates it from the more seedy destinations all the guides gush over.

The story that Chris hears most often is how until Swing and Bang, members went about sex entirely the wrong way. Sex is nothing new, but in China, candor about it is. Men don't know how to kiss, women don't know how to relax, and neither group knows how to articulate what they want, when they want it, and to what degree. In some cases, Chris provides color-coded bracelets denoting what experiences they are looking for.

Swing and Bang has its advocates and detractors, all of which brings the a once taboo-subject into the light of day, and communication about and between the sexes is something Chris hopes to foster. Opening in back in 2007, Swing and Bang was long on the down low, but as China becomes more open, Chris and his creation gained enough of a following as to enter public discussion, come what may. Pardon the pun.

But as for Hong Kong being a sexual candyland? Don't believe everything you read.