Rugby Recap

I’ve finally recovered significantly from this past weekend’s Rugby Sevens tournament to sit down and write about it! It was exhausting from start to finish, but boy was it fun—my third Sevens, and perhaps the most memorable yet.

As you may remember, tickets for the tournament are not particularly easy to come by, and Hong Kongers participate in a madcap scramble for them over the weeks and even months leading up to the event. Tickets are only sold as a three-day bundle, but if you get one of these sets, you are free to split it up and re-sell each day's pass individually. Two years ago, I managed to find a ticket for Saturday’s event only on Friday evening, meeting the seller in Wan Chai the night before. Last year, I got lucky when Kevin got me a free set mere hours before the first games began. Both times it worked out perfectly, but my days were stressful heading into the weekend.

This year, it was much easier. My friend Sarah plays on a netball team, and each member of the team is guaranteed two weekend passes to the Rugby Sevens at face value (HK$1500). However, Sarah’s mother and sister happened to be arriving in Hong Kong for the first time ever on Friday afternoon. Not having seen them in almost eight months, Sarah had no interest whatsoever in attending the tournament, and instead offered her tickets to me! So yes, in the end, I paid the full value of the tickets, but I’ve had no need to worry about anything these past months. It was so easy!

Still, if the stress of securing tickets had all but vanished, I still had to put up with my fair share in order to find the perfect costume. The South Stand of Hong Kong Stadium is the most fun place to be during the tournament, and many of the attendees choose to don fancy dress for the event. Last year, I went as a penguin while Rich went as a giraffe. It was a fun and easy way to participate in the costumed revelry of the South Stand. But the most memorable costumes are usually plucked from the headlines of current events, and I wanted to find an even better costume for this year's Sevens.

Owing to the very recent election of Pope Francis, I thought a topical papal costume would be a great fit. Apparently, almost all of Hong Kong had the exact same idea. I headed straight to Pottinger Street to search for a costume, but I was out of luck. Everywhere seemed to be sold out, one shop owner informing me that it would take two weeks to order one.

I even went so far as to visit the Catholic clerical store in Central during one lunch break, checking out legitimate priest vestments. The garments were expensive and absolutely beautiful, so I just could not bring myself to wear one in the infamous South Stand, where the potential for spillage and damage was just too great.

I found a list online of about ten Hong Kong costume shops, and began making phone calls and sending emails. Again, the replies were not too promising. But on Thursday afternoon, I called a lady named Gill at House of Siren. She was extremely friendly on the phone, and when I asked if she had a Pope’s costume, she excitedly began to describe one. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” she explained, “and must have cost around $40,000 to create.”

The second she said that, I knew it wouldn’t work out. There was no way I’d take such an expensive garment into the South Stand. About an hour or so later, she must have put two and two together and realized what the costume was for. She sent an apologetic but polite email saying that she couldn’t rent her costumes for an event like Rugby Sevens because they were of too high a quality. Still I was so intrigued by her description that I decided I would visit her shop after work that day anyway. Located just off Robinson Road in the Mid-levels, House of Siren is more of a private costume design studio than a simple store. Gill took me around and showed off various costumes, including the outrageously awesome $40,000 Pope costume.

Gill also said she had one—and only one—set of relatively simple costumes that she would be willing to rent for an event as dangerous (from the clothes’ perspective) as the Sevens. It was a pair high-quality Fred Flintstone caveman outfits, and I fell in love with one when I saw it. I even tried it on, got a picture taken to send to my email, and told Gill I’d have to sleep on it for the night.

Flintstone costumes at House of Siren

When I got back to my apartment, the one and only Amy was waiting for me. She had flown back from London for the Rugby Sevens, and this was the first time I’d seen her since I’d been in England over the summer. Excited about my potential Flintstone outfit, I logged into my email to show Amy the photo. And lo and behold, another costume shop, CDRP, had emailed me regarding my request for a Pope costume. The email had four photos attached, and one of them looked absolutely perfect: A white and stately chasuble complete with a deep red stole and uber-cool papal mitre!

The photo CDRP emailed me of their Pope costume

Between their broken English and my dodgy Cantonese, I tried to arrange to visit their shop in Ngau Tau Kok in Kwun Tong on Friday afternoon to pick up the outfit, still not 100% sure the costume was actually in stock. Having lingered in the Chapel Thursday night after the pub quiz until it was time to go to work on Friday morning, I wasn't entirely in the mood to gallivant across half of the SAR. It was a trek to get to, switching trains twice, but the journey was worthwhile. The costume was pitch perfect. It cost HK$600 to rent for the weekend plus a HK$600 deposit, but I didn't even have to think twice about hiring it for the weekend. I was beyond exited to get it home and show everybody.

I went over to the rugby on Friday evening with Amy and Bernadett, bumping into various other friends in the South Stand and soaking up the atmosphere, enjoying a few drinks, dancing and singing. We had sushi for dinner with Sonia and Motez, who had also flown up from Singapore for the weekend. And we decided to call it a (relatively) early night, hitting the hay around midnight to wake up early for a champagne breakfast at 7am before heading straight to the stadium.

Some rooftop tunes, mimosas and scrambled eggs kick-started our Sevens Saturday. I donned my papal vestments, while Amy suited up as a panda and Sonia and Motez put on traditional Tunisian attire. Bernadett soon arrived dressed as “all black,” a play on the moniker of the New Zealand rugby team. And off we went to the stadium and got there early enough to waltz right into the South Stand.

Panda and Pope

The Meeting of Two Pontiffs

My mitre became my best pal for the day, the perfect place to store my phone, tiny bottles of booze, loose cash and several other items. It was so convenient, especially for someone wearing a costume that made it so difficult to access one's pockets.

Mitres—putting pockets out of business since 1150!

Bumping into friends right and left—and making new ones—they day literally flew by. Sonia’s brother Kareem and his girl friend Jen joined us. And later, my friend Vivian showed up. Eventually an entire group of my French amis all arrived in stereotypical Frenchmen costumes. And all day long, the crowd was singing along to “Hey, Baby,” “Sweet Caroline,” and a live mid-day set by the Beach Boys. This is what the Sevens is all about!

With old friend Max and new friend Julian in the South Stand

With my French friend Edouard

At one point, a note was passed around so that the entire South Stand would do the Harlem Shake in a few minutes, and the video created as a result sums up the day about as perfectly as I’ve yet seen. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this video is probably worth around a million!

The Harlem Shake

By day's end, my perfectly white robe had soaked up its fair share of spilt drinks and other less-than-savory liquids covering the floor of the South Stand. Although it still looked remarkably clean considering the circumstances, it had clearly had a rough day. All things considered however, the papal robe survived with minimal damage. (The same cannot be said about my red “shoes” that I had to throw away the following morning.) The only true casualty of the day was a pair of lost fake sunglasses that I had bought in Malacca.

The Papal shoes did not fare so well!

Before heading to the rugby again on Sunday, I dropped my costume off at the downstairs drycleaners to ensure I’d get my HK$600 deposit back. And off we went for yet another day at the Sevens!

One thing I seem to have forgotten to include in this “rugby recap” thus far is any mention of the actual rugby! That’s what the South Stands will do for you! However, Sunday is the day where I actually enjoy watching some of the matches. With Sonia’s parents and other proud supporters of the Tunisian team, I spent Sunday morning watching the fast-moving games. I left the stadium at 12 to attend Palm Sunday mass, but when I got back in the afternoon, the view of the South Stand was just too tempting. I made my way down to meet up with my friends and send the weekend off with a bang, again dancing, singing, drinking and making new friends! Post-rugby fireworks lead to post-rugby rooftop drinks. Post-rugby rooftop drinks lead to post-rugby Lan Kwai Fong action. And our night finished up in Wan Chai after 5am!

Sunday in the South Stand

Post-Sevens LKF fun

Needless to say, work on Monday wasn't the most fun thing in the world, but the memories of the weekend helped me get through! As expected, the 2013 installment of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens once again reinforced just why this weekend is the most anticipated event of the Hong Kong social calendar.

Already looking forward to Sevens 2014!

It's That Time of Year Again or: Boom Boom Boom

March—as you probably know—is one of my favorite months in the city that I called home for the past three years. The weather starts to get better after the short winter, and several events occur that have come to define Hong Kong for me. The first junk trips are organized, signifying the start of the summer season; Saint Patrick's Day—always a good excuse for a party—takes place; the infamous Rugby Sevens tournament lures in visitors from every corner of the globe; and the extraordinary Hong Kong International Film Festival turns the city into a cinephile's paradise for the last two weeks of the month.

A Saturday afternoon picnic at Victoria Peak Garden

On top of all of this, I needed to renew my Hong Kong working visa, pay the second installment of my Hong Kong taxes and apply for a new passport, since my old one had only six months validity remaining! (In true cliché fashion, my new passport photo has got to rank among the worst pictures ever taken.)

So even though I've officially moved to Singapore, I couldn't resist the temptation to return to my old stomping grounds for March. My visit also coincided with the return of my friends Will and Tory, who moved back to New York around the same time I relocated to Singapore. In fact, I was hardly on the ground for two hours when I met them and some other friends for dinner at Chilli Fagara in SoHo. It was great to catch up and hear about their new life, all the while reminiscing about the good times we used to have when we all lived in the Pearl of the Orient.

Singapore friends have also made their way to Hong Kong. My new buddy Issam, who used to live here too, came up and stayed with me for a weekend, and Taz found herself here for two days on business, giving us the chance to meet up as well.

The weekend Issam came to visit from Singapore

And of course there are the usual Hong Kong happenings, like the Wednesday night races, leisurely Saturdays basking in the beautiful weather and catch-up sessions with old friends. It's great to be back here, and at times it feels like I've never left.

With my friend Ric at the Wednesday night races

On Thursday, I once again participated in the Canadian International School's annual college fair. It's hard to believe, but this was my fourth straight year representing Villanova at the fair. The past three years, I've gone alone to speak about my college experience with international and local students and parents trying to find their own perfect fit. This year, I recruited my 'Nova friend Christina to join me. As always, it was a fun experience, and hopefully we reached some future Wildcats who might not have otherwise heard of our alma mater! Of course, Christina and I also had fun at the post-fair reception, chatting with Hong Kong-based alumni from many colleges and also university admissions representatives who had travelled out to participate in the fair.

The Canadian International School's college fair

On Saturday, my friend Romain organized a junk for his birthday, and although the morning weather didn't look ideal, it quickly turned into a beautiful day. We sailed to Repulse Bay, and since Romain and 99% of the boat-goers were French, you can bet the homemade food was way better than your normal run-of-the-mill junk grub.

Romain's birthday junk

The next day, Sunday, was Paddy's Day, and we used our Happy Valley rooftop to host our second annual Irish-themed bash, with green beer, car bombs, leprechaun hats and John Ford's The Quiet Man playing on loop throughout the day.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Yes, these past couple of weeks have been a fun but exhausting onslaught of nonstop action, and what's more, there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. With Saint Patrick's Day having come and gone, last night, I attended my first movie screenings of this year's film festival: an Italian documentary called The War of the Volcanoes and a strange but none-the-less intriguing Portuguese noir called The Last Time I Saw Macao, set in our neighboring SAR. I have a packed agenda for screenings as the week goes on.

This coming weekend is the highly anticipated Rugby Sevens tournament, and friends are flying in from far and near to be in town for the beloved event. As in years past, the whole city is buzzing and nobody seems to have anything but rugby on their minds.

In the past, these events have always occurred relatively near to one another, but this year, the calendar gods have taken things to a whole new level, with literally no break between anything. One event seamlessly turns straight into the next—boom, boom, boom!

The film festival continues throughout the Rugby Sevens and carries on the next week as well, which happens to be Holy Week. That week's crop of films includes the one I think I'm probably most excited for—a restored print of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia being projected on the massive screen of the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Of course, Holy Week culminates in Easter Sunday, and then it's suddenly April! You see what I mean about time flying faster here than anywhere else I've ever been!?!

So far, this trip back has been chock full of the things I love and miss most about my old home, and I can only hope the next two weeks continue to be as fun and memorable. Somehow, there's hardly any doubt in my mind that they will!