Race Night!!!

Coolest horse track in the world

I have been to the race track in Hollywood.  It is a seedy affair, but the $1 hot dogs and beers and the fun of a little gambling lures in me on Fridays in summer.  And I have been to the posh race track at Del Mar by the Sea, full of flowery hats and sundresses and men in blazers and expensive sunglasses.

But there is nothing like the racetrack at Happy Valley in Hong Kong.  In a country where skyscrapers and mountains are planted in every square inch of land, it is bizarre to see the expanse of green turf that is the horse track.  Of course, the stands are built vertically in proper Hong Kong fashion, but the designers wisely left most of the course surrounded only by a low wall.  Thus, when one sits in the stands, watching the horses fly by on the neon green turf, US$20 hot dog in hand, the view of 100-foot blinking buildings rising all around is mesmerizing.

And the best part: yes, you can buy a 2-Liter of draft beer.  For 110 dollars.  (I won’t tell you if that’s Hong Kong or US currency.)

Hong Kong beer girls