Brilliant Proposal at the races

Wed 12 Feb 2014

It was our last day in Hong Kong already. The time had flown by and there was still so much to do. When researching Dim Sum the other day, we'd found the world’s cheapest Michelin-star restaurant here in HK.

Today was the day for the visit, so we figured out our route and taxied to the Star Ferry. We hadn't yet made it to Kowloon. The ferry is an absolute bargain and a beautiful, even if chilly, way to see Hong Kong. The skyline completely changes as you see it from the water, and this is the best place to see the nightly light show.

We took the route right off the ferry to the 'walk of stars.' It was lucky that we'd be in LA in a couple of weeks where we could walk the original Hollywood Walk of Fame because apart from Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, we knew no one.

We hopped from one bit of pavement to the next as we dodged photo shoots of people with their favourite celeb stars... only snapping one of ours. Over by the water, we clocked a guy holding up a handwritten sign (in both English and Chinese) that read "Will you marry me?"

His friend took a photo, and then he folded up the sign and ran over to his mate, looking quite bashful. It was very cute with HK Island in the back and a bodged-together handmade sign written in big red pen. We thought maybe he was preparing for Valentine’s or maybe he was going to send her the picture there and then from his phone. We'll never know, but it was brilliant.

We caught the tube and navigated our way to this restaurant. Checking road names and building numbers, we found the location but no restaurant. After walking all around like idiots for about 10 minutes, we asked a girl who said it had closed. :(

By this point, we were both starving, in desperate need of wees, and ended up grabbing a McDonald’s.

On the ferry, we'd spotted an H&M building and decided to try and get some cheap coats. We’d clocked the location and got the tube to Admiralty and followed the skyscrapers to track our way to the building. Once in, we found the information desk and enquired where the shop was, only to be told this is just advertising.

We got back on the tube to Wan Chai to check out the weird market. We saw bodiless fish flapping their gills, headless eels wriggling, tortoises bagged up ready to be added into a stew, and cages full of frogs.

Back at the flat, we ate a quick homemade sweet and sour and headed out to the races. In the cab on the way over, we realised that neither of us had actually been to the races before, and HK was a super cool place to pop our cherries.

The beautifully maintained green grass course was encased by skyscrapers in every direction. We’d only missed a couple of races, which would be great for our pockets. We picked a timetable and treated ourselves to a mulled wine. "This pisses all over the German bar."

Chinese New Year had just passed, and it was the year of the horse... a very prosperous time to be at the races.

We were given all kinds of horse memorabilia, posed with some Chinese dragons, and then got snapped by the local paps. We bet on a couple and came close but no win.

Race number 6 came up, and there was a horse running called 'Brilliant Proposal'... we obviously decided this afternoon's proposal was a sign and that we had to bet on this horse. We walked to the area where they trot the horses about, and he looked good.

I gripped onto the betting slip, rolled up the listing book, joined the crowd at the finish line, and let out my best fishwife voice as I willed Brilliant Proposal across the line.

Second place! It was a win and put us back in the green.

We did one more small bet and then canned back to get an early night for tomorrow's Tokyo trip.

At the front door, we couldn't get the key to work. We tried one way, then the other, with no joy. Sabelle has only just started sleeping through, and ringing the bell would surely wake her.

We went to the doorman to see if he could show us to the maid’s entrance so we could knock for Joy. After 5 minutes of tapping, we had to buzz, and a very sleepy, grumpy-looking Joy greeted us. We apologised profusely and said our good nights.