My brother Michael and sister-in-law Karen arrived to spend a week with us following a two week hiking and biking trip on the mainland.
We had a good start since they were already acclimated to the time in Asia. So on one of their first nights we joined with several of our Steelcase friends to enjoy a night at the races.
Racing is one of the oldest sports on Hong Kong. It began very shortly after the British acquired Hong Kong Island in the 1840's. In those days the races were held in Happy Valley. They still are to this day although the race track has undergone some improvements.
It was the first time for everyone to go to the races and we were not sure what to expect. PARTY is the operative word including some pre-race entertainment in keeping with the season.
Who would have thought we'd find a Polka band in Hong Kong for Octoberfest?
First order of business was figuring out how to fill in the forms for placing bets. It took a while, but we finally got it sorted and then it was off to the windows.
The first few races didn't bring much luck. But then we got our bearings and everyone started to win some. It was exciting to see the horses charging in front of us in the final stretch.
Later in the evening some of the longer races were run and the starting gate was right in front of our seats. It made looking at the field much easier and getting them into the gate was as entertaining as always.
And then they were off.
Coming down the final stretch we were all yelling.
And with a final win we closed out our evening a wee bit ahead in cash and way ahead in fun.
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