Hong Kong Chess Club

I managed to escape the family for a couple of hours and get along to the Hong Kong Chess Club. Basically it is like any other chess club I have visited, but specifically, it is identical to the Belconnen Chess Club in Canberra.
The HKCC meets at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, using the conference rooms on the 1st level. The rooms open up onto a balcony where you can look down onto the indoor basketball/badmiton courts, just like the Belconnen Community Centre.
Last night was Rd 2 of the Hong Kong Open and there were about 30 players playing. I had a quick conversation with Mingo Lam (club treasurer) who told me that the tournament wasn't "strong" enough, so the top HK players weren't playing (just like Canberra!) More than half the field were junior players, but the quality of play was probably higher than what is seen on the lower boards at most Canberra clubs.
I watched a very interesting top board clash which started with an English Attack against the Najdorf and ended with a nice queen sacrifice. I will try and post the game when I return to Australia.
And one more thing that makes it like most other chess clubs. Apart from the quick conversation I had at the start with Mingo (which I initiated), no one else spoke to me for the whole night.