Here's an adventure that I was in the middle of blogging about but forgot to post halfway. A couple weeks ago, I went to the Hong Kong Jockey Club (in Happy Valley) to watch the horse races for the first time. Horse racing is huge in HK so even though I'm definitely not a gambler (although I do have a love for BINGO - I'm such a grandma right?), I thought it would be interesting to tag along with my other two Canadian friends and see what the hype was all about.
It was a huge stadium with a whole tonne of people. Obviously, there were all these gung-ho horse racing fanatics who actually had memberships and could afford the box seats. Us commonfolk just paid $10HK to get in and watch from ground level (where all the other tourists were). haha. Apparently though, if you bring your passport along with you, you can actually go and get better seats up-top with something called a "tourist ticket".
My friends actually ended up betting money and both of their horses won. Beginner's luck! One of the best parts of the night for me though was eating a giant FOOTLONG HOTDOG and getting SPARKLY PURPLE BOWTIES! Since it was Easter, I kept on seeing people at the stadium walking around with either a purple sequined bowtie or furry white bunny ears (all these European guys were walking around with beers + bunny ears. you might spot a couple of these real-life playboy bunnies in some of my photos below ).
Anyway, I really wanted a bowtie so I tracked down the booth where I thought they were selling them. But unfortunately they were all out of bowties. I was walking away with a depressed face when suddenly I saw this guy holding a whole bag full of the purple bowties!!! I instinctively pointed at the guy and probably yelled a slightly toned-down version of "WHOA!!! THERE THEY ARE!!! ATTACK!!!" The guy saw my overly-excited face, and gave me four bowties for free, probably so that I wouldn't harass him. That totally made my night. HAHA. I love free stuff.
After the races were over, we took the TRAM to a nearby ROOFTOP LOUNGE called Wooloomooloo Steakhouse where we had drinks surrounded by a gorgeous 180-degree view of Hong Kong. I didn't try the food but I would just go for the view. If you're in the Wan Chai area, I would definitely recommend that place to visit at least once!
Okay enough nonsensical narrative. Here comes the PICTURE ONSLAUGHT!
Isn't the view gorgeous? Aside from my occasional complaints about the poor air quality, the stifling pollutant smog, and the heavy humidity, Hong Kong is such a beautiful city. =P
amazing fotos!! i have heard marvellous things of HK and am eager to visit one day! so are you living over there or here in YVR?
ReplyDeletei've lived in vancouver all my life but this year (and this year only) i've been living and working Hong Kong... its been crazy... but i'll be back in Canada in 3 months!
Deletelol when i read 'my two Canadian friends' it never occurred to me it could actually be people I know so when I scrolled down and saw the picture of the three of you i was like..WHAAAT?!? haha looks like a fun night!! i'm glad you got those free bowties! it's nice to know your overly excited face is so handy!
ReplyDeletehaha yes.. my overly excited face is useful i guess, but more often than not, its a royal give-away of my real reaction when we encounter unexpected unwanted eye candy.
DeleteNah, I find BINGO fun, too! Anyway, how long did the horse race last? You don’t seem to look tired after it. I admire how energetic you were back then… The people who just came from a horse race event usually get tired easily because of the cheers and all that. But, you… you were still able to get up the tram and view the whole place. The views probably helped you relax, right?
ReplyDeletehaha well i suppose i wasn't actually the one racing ON a horse, so i guess being a spectator is less tiring =P plus it was my first time going to a horse race so it was super exciting! but yah, the view from the rooftop lounge was definitely relaxing!
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