Johnny Case in Wonderland . . . hopelessly adrift in popular culture

In Hong Kong it’s often said that one should never get a haircut on a Wednesday night during horse racing season, the joke being that the barber will be paying much more attention to the action at the track than the hair on your head.  This is undoubtedly true.  The race track is in Happy Valley, which is just south of Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island.  The course has been in the same place for 125 years.  Happy Valley is actually a cemetery (which is still very much there) called “Happy Valley,” which is aptly indicative of the relationship with death the Chinese have, which is very different than that of Westerners.  They believe it’s good luck to live near a graveyard and the high rises that overlook the cemetery are among the most posh in HK.  Racing season at Happy Valley runs here most Wednesday nights from late September to early July, 8 races a night, post for the 1st race at 7:15 PM.  This might sound like the NBA or the NHL seasons, which are interminable, and maybe it would be if it wasn’t so much more awesome.  Happy Valley racetrack is one of the most decadent places on earth.  I’ve been around 15 times since I got to HK and other than the food and some people, there is nothing about HK I’ll miss more.  It’s dirt cheap (for me, because I’m not a high stakes gambler) and it’s ridiculously, stupidly, indescribably fun.

There’s a $10 HKD ($1.30 USD) charge to get in and the first time walking through the gates is revelatory as the racing grounds are built right smack in the middle of the urban jungle that is HK island and it’s immense and overwhelming and really incongruent with its surroundings.  It’s huge, just cavernous, completely surrounded by high rises and inside there’s an enormous grandstand consisting of stadium style bench seats, rows and rows of chairs, TVs, and betting windows inside the bowels, and tons of luxury boxes.  The first three shots are the track as viewed from left to right:

It’s kind of like Dodger Stadium in that the crowd arrives a little late, or at least the Westerners do.  So I like to get there 10 minutes or so before the first race and stake out a spot right on the rail, which you can keep for the whole night as long as you’ve got some friends with you.  Once you have a prime spot, it’s on.  Here are a bunch of different views from my spot on the rail last night.  The first few are of the track before, during, and after a race, while the last one is of the infield and grandstand behind me:

And here’s where it gets really culturally interesting as it’s a completely segregated experience.  For Westerners, the races are purely social.  Most people come after work and are well dressed.  There are a ton of men and women on the prowl and they gather in the infield, which has to be the whitest place in HK.  In fact, the infield is well known as the “Gweilo Ghetto.”  Look at these shots of the infield and you’ll see the euphemism, though crude, is accurate:

Note the above picture and see the grandstand.  Inside the grandstand there are places to sit and watch the races on TV and plenty of betting windows.  Whereas the infield is primarily Westerners, the populace of the bowels of the grandstand consists almost exclusively of Asians.  For the most part they don’t drink, they don’t smile, and they don’t yell, root on their horses, or hit on women (or men, as the case may be).  They don’t come on the infield because it’s a drunken mess and no one is really seriously gambling.  For the Asians sitting inside, this is a job.  They are here to gamble and they pour over their racing forms and they take it VERY seriously.  And for the locals, gambling here is like nowhere else in the world, at least when it comes to the ponies.  It’s nothing short of a religion.  Each race on a Wednesday night brings in upwards of $100 million HKD in action.  That’s almost $13 million USD per race!  Most of the betting comes from OTB sites, which are everywhere in HK, and you can also bet by phone and online.  I’m telling you, on a Wednesday night seemingly every local in town is glued to the cell phone making bets and watching for the results.  It’s crazy!  Here’s a bunch of shots of the gamblers in action:

On the flip side, Westerners do gamble, but the amount and intensity just aren’t the same.  Almost nobody in the infield has a racing form.  I normally bet $10 to $20 HKD per race, which means over 8 races I spend somewhere between $10 and $20 USD.  Not exactly high risk!  Like the rest of the Westerners, I’m there for the fab people watching and the drinks.  It’s one of the best parties in the world, and it happens weekly.  And people treat it like Mardi Gras, losing their minds and going nuts.  And you can buy hard liquor drinks here by the pitcher.  I know the sign says “jar,” but they are 60 oz. pitchers.  For about $25 USD.  And Stella Artois is $100 HKD (just under $13 USD) for a pitcher. Are you freakin’ kidding me???  It is debauchery at it’s best.  And I wouldn’t miss a Wednesday night for the world! 

And once it’s all over, usually around 11PM, you get caught up in the crush of people moving towards the gates and are then dumped out on the street where the double-decker old school tram buses are lined up waiting.  For $2 HK you can get on a tram, all of which still have wooden interiors, and move through the old rickety streets just like it was the 1930s.  I like to ride on the top deck and watch the world go by.  Last night I got the front seat, which was an amazing way to unwind after the thrill of a night in Happy Valley, the best place on the planet.