And They Are Off!

After breakfast, Gill and I joined 89,998 other people in Hong Kong and headed north to the races. I guess racing is a big deal in Hong Kong and the first races of the new year is particularly popular. Getting tickets was an issue, but Gill found a 'tour' where the transportation and tickets were included. We took the metro a couple of stops down and waited at another hotel for pickup.  

This essentially went as planned and soon we were picking up another group across the harbor and then a 30 minutes drive north. It was a huge venue, and we had a box with 'free food.' Everyone else in our group pretty much did nothing but eat for the next 4 hours.  

We put together a kitty and some rules and proceeded to bet on the races. We won the first race and this was exciting and got us off to a great start. However, we then went on to lose the next 9 races. We even tried leaving the box and going down track side to change our luck, but this didn't work.  

The lower levels were very interesting, as when you looked over the side there really weren't that many people out by the track, but on each level there were thousands sitting on chairs and steps, betting and watching on TV.  There were lots of break away horses and at least 4 got scratched in 4 different races for running off before the race. This delayed everything, but was very funny. Sometimes they looked crazy as they ran off, sometimes exhilarated, but mostly they just looked put out.

We decided to make our own way back as there was a metro stop next to the track and we were going to have to metro anyway. When we got over there, we realized we were going to have to change 3 times, and we agreed no matter what we were getting on the trains. The first train came and we pushed our way on. This turned out to be the most difficult part of the journey, because it thinned out every time we changed. We got back to the hotel in around 30 minutes.

When we came out of the metro station, we saw hundreds of mostly women sitting around the sidewalks - on blankets and cardboard. There were some guys, but they were mostly selling things, like clothing. We had seen the women sitting in the tunnels and had assumed they were 'camping out' for the fireworks. And then when we left this morning we saw lots of women with big sacks streaming out of the metro. They were even line dancing in the street. Now, you have to imagine that along these streets are Prada, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton, so it was an interesting scene. We have also seen lots of signs about littering and fines for spitting, and the streets have been pristine, so this just seemed like anarchy.

We changed for dinner and then headed out for our Peking duck - we still hadn't had that yet. The concierge had made us reservations, and we managed to walk it without going outside and crossing two streets - Gill's got this town.  

The restaurant was very nice and the food was excellent, but our service was lacking. They seemed a bit put off that we were there; again, the tables were mostly filled with families. We started with vegetable dumpling and green beans with pork and then finished with our duck.  

The pancakes that came with the duck made you realize you never actually had the right kind of pancakes. In the middle of dinner, a chef came out and demonstrated how to hand pull noodles. Then a little guy came along and hoovered up the mess.

On the way back, most of the ladies had gone, and there was a crew out with a power washer cleaning the streets and the sidewalks. We googled this strange scene and found that these women are the Hong Kong 'helpers,' mostly Indonesian and Filipinos that work as domestics. The law demands a good wage and indicates that they must have 12 consecutive hours off on Sunday. Since they must live with their employer, they have no place to meet, so they converge on the streets to talk, eat, play games and line dance. We had seen a campaign in the metro about treating your 'helpers' as family. Bit sad really.