Happy Valley Horse Races

Every Wednesday evening, there's a time honored tradition here in Hong Kong: the horse races at Happy Vally Race Tracks. If you want to understand how local culture combines with foreign influences, you need to look no further. First, the only way to get there in an easy fashion is taking a tram, a hong kong trolley on tracks that travels slower than pedistrans and costs only $2 for a ride (that's a quarter USD). The terminal station is the happy valley race tracks - a modern, football stadium-lit stadium that runs 8 races per week. Inside, the outside patio area is full of Brits and expats, mingling and drinking their way into a happy evening, placing the occasional bet or two. In fact, two of my friends betted HK$100 on a race and managed to win. All in good humor, nothing serious. Drinking and socialization is the focus, not the races themselves.

Go inside the actual stadium below the stands, that's where the hardcore betting take places. Instead of the staff explaining patiently to you how to place the bets, there are rows of automatic machines taking your bets. Hoards of people crowd around the TVs checking out which horses have won the race. It's not the race atmosphere itself, but the gambling that's the key for the locol hong kong participants (which seems to be all middle-age men from what I could tell). According to our friend, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which runs the races, contribute a significant amount to the Hong Kong tax revenue per year AND all the remote locations around the island are PACKED every Wednesday for those with the need to bet on horses to gamble.

Gambling is quite a big part of Asian male culture. Macau, which is only a 40 minute ferry ride away, has multiple times the gambling revenue of Vegas. At the tables, there are only serious Chinese men gambling, putting down thousands of dollars per round. In fact, so many high speed trains goes to Macau now that China enacted laws limiting Chinese nationals from going to Macau in fear of the rampant gambling. Still, all the tables are always packed and casual gamblers are usually cautioned away. The horse races are the Hong Kong version of gambling.