"That man is on the all blacks"
I give her a blank stare
"He just won the world cup"
"I've actually never seen a rugby game in my life"
"You've never seen a rugby match and you came to the Hong Kong Seven's?!"
Fortunately, the HK 7's are only marginally about the rugby.
We're standing outside a bar in Lan Kwai Fong. The open British style pubs that line the narrow streets have all long overflowed with people. Brick roads, small footpaths and stairways wind their way steeply up the hill, each one filled with a continuous, well inebriated crowd. Music pumps out of every open bar. Above us sky scrappers reach upward into the night sky outlined with flashing lights.
I'm forced to use words to describe the scene because my phone, the pictures it contained and a non-trivial piece of my dignity are still in Hong Kong.
It turns out her and the other five women she's with are all doctors from London
Not exactly the type I had pictured when I thought of the people who would be traveling half way around the world for a rugby tournament.
The crew and I had traveled about a 10th of the way from Tokyo. Arriving on Friday evening around 10pm at the hotel we made our way straight to LKF to check out the scene that was already well under way. The opening day of the three day tournament had concluded a few hours earlier.
Seven's, unlike normal rugby I'm told, consists of shorter matches of seven man teams. Each match consisted of two 10min halves. Teams from around the world compete through group and elimination stages over the course of three days until one is crowned champion.
But as I said earlier HK 7's is only marginally about the rugby. It turns out the brit doctors were actually fairly representative of the people that come to this event.
I had been mildly anxious that I was walking into testosterone fueled three day sports riot. Instead, the mood was exceedingly cheery. The gender ratio surprisingly well balanced.
We took it easy and got back to the hotel by three am, we had a long day ahead of ourselves tomorrow.
The tradition at the Hong Kong Seven's (and possibly other seven's tournaments?) is to get dressed up in the most ridiculous out of control costume you can think of.
The majority of the people in the stadium were in some costume or another.
The real action was in the South Stands. Essentially a coral for the most committed partiers. There are no assigned seats, everything is open and first come first serve. We arrived at 9am in order to beat the rush to get into this coveted ground. By 11am the line to get in was over two hours long.
In my tuxedo I walk up to one of the 20 or so crew members of the Concordia.
With a grin on his face he asks, "too soon eh?"
"Well I'm a bodyguard for Whitney Houston over there," pointing at my friend wearing a dress and whig.
He laughs.
Depending on your perspective, and probably your degree of family relation to me you might say we over did it a bit
or did it precisely the right amount
Sleeveless tuxedo shirts were a great call. By this guy.
By around 1am I had managed to loose my phone. By that time we were back in LKF with the rest of the jovial crowd.
The next morning I got started a bit later. Not in any hurry to get going again I made my way back to the bar where I thought I lost my phone to see if they found it around.
No luck.
I spent a couple hours on my way back to the stadium just exploring the city a bit and taking a few pictures. Hong Kong has a totally different feel from Tokyo.
Visually Hong Kong is stunning. The dramatic skyscrapers trapped between the mountains and ocean. In Hong Kong you can always look up and see green hills.
The buildings are taller and much newer.
Hong Kong feels like the future.
Tokyo is retro.
The city feels much more westernized. Peoples body language and gestures all felt very familiar.
People acknowledged others and excused themselves with a raise hand, no bowing.
Almost every shop clerk spoke perfect english.
But for all its arresting visuals, I felt Hong Kong lacked some of Tokyo's enigma.
I took it easy Sunday for the most part as I was planning on heading into our Hong Kong office on Monday to meet some colleagues.
During an introduction to one brit in the office he mentioned he had heard the American team had done well this year even reached a final.
"Really?" I asked
He laughed.
Oops
