Giles Morgan

Fans from near and far come to celebrate the region's sevens Top Gun pilots, Muppets, nuns and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Also, businessmen. Lots of businessmen.

The Cathay Pacific HSBC Hong Kong Sevens is all things to all people - or at least the ones in town for the weekend.

It's one of the world's top rugby events, one of the world's most colorful parties and one of Hong Kong's biggest weeks for business.

"There is no way to describe this," Olivier Bedus, a French fan who lives in Indonesia, said on Saturday as he looked out over the south stands at Hong Kong Stadium. "You must be here to see, to hear, to feel. It is vivid."

He's right - it is nearly impossible to explain the atmosphere. It's part Halloween, part business convention, part Mardi Gras. Thousands of fans converge on the stadium for the three-day event.

The epicenter is the southern stands, where the hardest of the hardcore gather for wild costumes, lots of beer and lots of yelling.

Probably more of all three than you'll see anywhere, ever.

Meanwhile, suites packed with executives ring the field.

"Many companies have big events on the week leading up, and then on the weekend we can invite them to the festivals," said Giles Morgan, HSBC's group head of sponsorship and events. "That's a brilliant way to do business."

And it's not that far from the networking going on in the suites to the chaos going on in the stands. Alan McIver, who's from the UK and lives in Dubai, teamed up with a friend to dress up as the Mario Bros. McIver was Mario.

"People who have been here say it is the best drinking weekend on the planet," he said. "People who have been to Rio for Carnival, Munich for Oktoberfest - this is it."

Getting to those south stands is no small feat, especially for those who don't plan ahead. Scalpers were selling tickets in the street on Saturday for about $250 to $320. Getting into the south stands is first-come, first-served, and by 2:30 pm on Saturday, the line stretched most of the length of the stadium and the estimated wait time was four hours.

It may have been even more dire than that. Australian Richard McCave - the unlucky man at the end of that line - said he'd been at the rear of the queue for half an hour and it hadn't moved.

Worth the wait?

"Probably not," McCave said. "But it's kind of worth it. It's a little bit of a party for the 30 and 40-year-olds, guys a little older. It's a little bit of a boys' trip."

Morgan said that though three quarters of the tickets are sold to Hong Kong residents, organizers estimate about half end up in the hands of international fans, and even more people are in town just for the festivities. Last year, the event drew about 20,000 international visitors.

"I believe a lot more people come to Hong Kong simply because there's a party going on," he said. "That sort of carnival, that sort of celebration, it celebrates Hong Kong's international (appeal)."

Perhaps the best way to describe the event is that it's the only once-in-a-liftetime international event that involves dressing up like Hulk Hogan, or members of the evil dojo from Karate Kid.

Andrew Goodell came from London with seven friends. He was one of four dressed as Ghostbusters on Saturday.

"This is the session of all sessions," Goodell said. "In your life, there are certain things you have to do before you die. Hong Kong Sevens on Saturday in the south stands is one of those things."