It might seem a long way to go for a rugby match, but I had never seen the Lions, and we went with my sister-in-law and her husband, David and Michelle, who lived there in the late 90's. David was in the Army at that time, and was last one out switch the lights off when the former British territory was handed over to the Chinese.
The temperature for the game was about 32 degrees with humidity at 96% so it was pretty hard going for the two teams. The HK rugby authorities did a good job with the hospitality and match presentation , so all the spectators had a good time. Many were there just for the one off, including a group from the Gurkha regiment in Brunei, this lass from Wales, though was in it for the long hall.Hong Kong are building a new stadium now on the site of the old airport at Kai Tak which will have air conditioning under its retractable roof, so that could see the Lions doing more one-off games in the future.
The attraction to Westerners of Hong Kong has often been the shopping opportunities in Stanley market and other places, rummaging for end of run and sample products from designer brands which use China for their product production. Sadly this aspect of island life would appear to be diminishing as the work moves to mainland China, so if we go again, we may have to travel to Shenzhen to do our shopping.
Other than that, there were opportunities to dine at a 31st floor Australian steak restaurant, and subsequently drink on their rooftop terrace, Fat Angelo's Italian has turned into a Pizza Hut type chain so that was a bit disappointing, but the usual array for Chinese and Thai outlets more than made up for that one blip.
So all in all a great few days, now its back to shed building.
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