Catch Up_ Hong Kong Sevens

Impulsive? Absolutely! Knowing one another for only two months at the time, impulsive is exactly what this decision was. A few days before the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, Raquel and I booked flights and accommodation just to go and support her good friends playing for the S.A team at the Hong Kong leg of their season.

Sevens Rugby is the rugby we know, with altered rules. Just 7 members per team instead of the usual 15 and 7 intense minutes per half instead of the usual 40minutes. It was my first time at a live 7s game, and boy did I not expect it to be the crazy fun it was.

In no time, the 0.001% spontaneous Keke was on an evening, 3 hour flight to Hong Kong. Who woulda ever thought!? All the way there, I'm looking at Raquel and asking "Where on earth are we going?!" and at the same time praying all goes smoothly. You know how it is- the 1 time you decide to be impulsive, something goes wrong. I was afraid of exactly that!

Say Hi! to spontaneous Keke

Hong Kong being one hour behind Korea, we landed with an extra 60mins to breathe and find our way to our resting place. It's 11pm there and we are using a piece of paper with directions we got from the guest house's website.

We get on a bus headed to Causeway Bay. It's a double decker bus and we're seated up top, with another foreigner sitting in front of us. Non-Asians have never stood out as much as they do in Asia. This helps though, coz whenever I'm lost, I just follow the white guy and 9 times out of 10, it's a good call.

The bus that almost took us too far

The case exactly. Raquel and I both dose off on the bus, and at one of the stops I wake up and see the white guy getting off. "Raquel! Wake up! The white guy is getting off. I think that's our cue." She doesn't hesitate. We're up and following him down.

Luckily, Hong Kong has many people who speak English, so we double check with one of the young girls on the bus. "We wanna go here.." (pointing at the map). False alarm to follow the foreigner, but still a good call coz we were close. Hehe.

We get off, and not even 5mins being off the bus, a couple notices we're lost and offers help. They look at our  paper and point us in the right direction (Asians are so helpful. God's little angels always on our path).

After 20minutes of walking up and down the same road with two overnight bags, and a Springbok blanky in hand, we bump into 4, drunk, French speaking people who make it their duty to find our place for us since they know how it feels being a lost tourist. More little angels!

FOMO blanky!

Ha! Dodgy does not even begin to describe the place that sold such a good pic on the web (as they always do!). The elevator was lined with old boxes, and the spot was even dodgier. A good hour went by, us explaining to the lady that we had actually told her we'd arrive after midnight til the drunk owner just opened up her messy room for us to sleep in. What a joke!

An hour or two's rest, South African inspired outfits, and off to the Sevens we went. First, we needed to go to the (VERY fancy) hotel where the players stayed to get our tickets from the boys. A quick tour of the area and then on the subway to the stadium. The rest of the action packed day, I'll eave to the pics to explain.

Ready to cheer on the Bokke!

Bye bye dodgy guest house!

Feelin unworthy to be in even the lobby of the fancy Marco Polo

Foggy-yet-cool view around the corner from the Marco Polo

Sold out tickets? Not for us!

Pretty Hong Kong Dollars

I thought we were going to the rugby, not a KISS concert

Begging for tickets

Raquel ordered us alcohol-free beer. WTH? (Mommy, I promise!)

New Zealand supporters. Can you say Jock, bru!?

Spongebob crew stealing the limelight

Oom Piet and crew flew all the way from S.A! I love my country

South stand madness

What we came for

Even Mr.T didn't wanna miss out

Canadian supporters pitched with no pants. 

Therea int no party like a Red Bull party- even in Hong Kong

And straight after watching the games, we said our goodbyes and back to SoKo we went. I have never made such good, international use of 24 hours! Raquel Lyle- I thank you!