More photos...

Courtesy of Mr. Tan Kim Weng, who has taken so many photos during our China trip and special thanks to him for sharing some of his collections. So I thought I should share some of them here as well...

He has only given me part of his collection and already the first part has over 300 photos, more than what I have taken over my whole week there. But I won't be posting all here. If I do get the rest, then I'll try to post them here as well.

Me on the carpet for my first event. Ash, I kept my promise of showing the photo of me in my competition attire, but for the videos, hehehe... still dunno if I'll ever get it. Haha... must go pujuk the Crystal Princess first for it (",)...
Part of the team. Mr. Tan is the one on the most left. The one at the middle is our Team Manager, Madam Lin.
I look so stupid with my pouch and jacket on my hand... but we were on the rush back to the hotel for lunch when we snapped this photo... so I guess I'll forgive myself on this.
The team. We were preparing to enter the stadium for the opening ceremony.
This was the first time I actually wore a batik. The one beside me was the model who held our name banner during the march-past. All the models that night were at least a head taller than me... sob sob, standing beside them make felt like a dwarf :( And gosh, they can actually stand so still like a lamp post the whole night... that's how disciplined they are.


These were the photos I could not have taken as I was one of them down there, lining up.













The stage pictures... nice and clear. It never turn out well from my camera.













More photos at the Shaolin Temple. Steph, here's more picures of your favourite 'baldies'... haha

It'll take forever for me to be able to do that...



2 real cuties...
Some of their tough training routine...
Training, training, training... running around with 2 water-filled buckets...
And finally... the Temple main entrance...

Day 7 - Oct 21, 2006: Our Last Day in China

[Finally, the last part of my blog series]...

Got up early that day. Finally, it was time to return home to Malaysia. Man, time sure passes quickly when you don't keep track of it. We will not be going anywhere today. After breakfast we returned to our room, supposedly to be watching tv. But I guess everyone was still tired chatting over the night. We all returned to rest and pretty soon we fell asleep again.

We slept for a short while before we got a phone call from our Team Leader to prepare ourselves for lunch. I don't know what was mentioned over the phone because it was YQ who picked up the phone but there sure was some misunderstanding among the two. The plan was to head down to the restaurant for lunch before returning back to our room to collect our luggages.

But YQ told us to actually bring our luggage down along. Taking the luggages down to the lobby made the rest waiting at the restaurant while we were waiting at the lobby for them. I sensed something not right and sent YQ to have a look at the restaurant. Yup, they were all waiting there for us. So, what to do, had to leave our luggages at the entrance lor... Got the receptionist the bell boy to look after our luggages.

Well, actually, we did not have our meals in a restaurant. The hotel doesn't have any restaurant. What they had was I think 4 dining rooms and every meal we had was in the dining room.

Our final meal in China. Just look at the amount of food served. It was a table filled with dishes. And none of our meals had rice except when fried rice was served.


Soon, we left for the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave Zhengzhou Airport to Shenzhen at 1630. After checking in, there was a little spare time for us to do a little shopping and we all bought some souveniours home. At the airport we kept looking for a public phones just to give our 2 helpful interpreters a call before returning home but all they have are public card phones which requires phone cards. So too bad. Looks like we can only contact them via email when we reach home.

I was beginning to miss the people we met here already. The saddest thing was that we never really been able to just hang out with them. Our flight got delayed until 1725. We had to wait for almost another hour. On our flight, it was almost time for sunset.

Here are some of the views. Nice scenes can be seen but it soon turned dark pretty fast.














There was quite alot of the same photos, so I'd just post some of the sunsets on the blog.

Our precious insisted on having a photo with the sunset. Hhmmm... the sunset can't be seen much.

I felt so tired that I was sleeping almost the whole journey to the Shenzhen Airport. Once there and after collecting our luggage, we immediately proceeded to the international departure hall for check-in.

We waited for about an hour before getting onto the plane and flew home. Again, I slept almost throughout... don't know why I was feeling so tired that day.

We reached KLIA on time, at around 0130 the next morning (Sun, Oct 22) but we only able to leave the arrival hall at around 0300 due to the delay at the luggage collection. We arrived before our luggages did and they were very slow at releasing our luggages as well, making us wait for so long. By then, our parents was already outside waiting. Once we left the hall, we immediately returned home.

[updated - Nov 15, 2006; 16:13]
Ok, since my precious "princess" here has started mumbling that I did not give her enough recognition, I have to give her some compliment for taking the beautiful sunsets... (only because she was sitted beside the windows, k).

And dear, sorry that I've totally forgotten about that incident. Here was what happened. During our flight back (I think from Shenzhen to KLIA), the 2 gals was actually chatting among themselves ( we were sitting in a row of 3) and they suddenly made some funny sounds of 'mmm'.... which made me really curious. So, after I asked them what's happening, Tiffany's reply was... their 'engine' could not start. That got us laughing aloud. I think it was the funniest incident during our way home, but somehow it just slipped off my mind.... hhhmmm...

Also, I forgotten to mention that some of the team mates bought local fruits for us 3. It is actually the raw Chinese 'hong chou' that we get in Malaysia, which becomes red after it has been ripen and cooked. Our 2 gals here were actually enjoying themselves separating the fruits into 4 portions at the Shenzhen Airport while waiting for our flight back to KL.

Day 6 - Oct 20, 2006: Shopping Time

All this while, we never knew of the travelling plan until we were actually told just before we begin our journey there. In the day earlier, we didn't know where we were going until we got into the van. We didn't even know of the next destination until we got back into the van.

Today was no different, only that we knew during breakfast of the day's plan. While the plan was to visit the Yellow River (Huang He), we 3 youngsters (yes, it's the same 3 of us), were sought of 'sent' shopping. I do not know where else did they visit. There wasn't space for us to sit in the van anyway. The whole time in the day earlier, the 3 of us were sitted at the back of the van at the luggage compartment because we're the youngest in the group. The rest are old uncles and aunties that could not take the ride at the back. Maybe they realised it's a little suffering to sit that way over a long distance on the road, so they allowed us to go shopping instead. Who knows?

There was nothing much to buy. It's not worth buying things in China anymore IMHO because prices are only a little cheaper than what we get in Malaysia and it also adds up to the weight of our luggage. In this case, being underweight is better than being overweight.

So we were in the city the whole day, walking about from one shopping mall to another which are all within walking distance away from one another. There are also pedestrian bridges outside, connecting all the malls around. We were looking and asking around for the local market because that's where we can get really cheap items.

Pretty soon we got tired and bored and as we were wandering around, we came to a cinema. After some discussion, we decided to watch a movie to kill some time, since we do have the whole day for ourselves. So we watch 'The Banquet'. A pretty slow moving movie and the storyline was pretty boring. The only surprise was at the end of the show. Watch it and you'll know what I mean.

After the movie, we tried to call Liu Jie (we only had her number, we couldn't get Xi Lei's) to join us in the city centre via the public phones. Unfortunately, she and Xi Lei have already started the new semester at the university. They were having classes when we called. So we were left by the 3 of us. Soon after, it was time for lunch. Fearing that we might get the right food since the local taste doesn't really suit us, we decided to try out the McDonald's there. Hey, even if it taste difference, how far the difference will it get?

The restaurant does not charge any service or government tax. We ordered the medium sized value meal which cost us RMB 17. That's around MYR 8.50, cheaper than Malaysia's prices. They have a 4-piece fried chicken which I ordered. They should not have called it 4-piece fried chickens but 4-piece fried chicks if you ask me..... The pieces are so small, that the drumsticks are only as big as my thumb. Should have ordered the burgers. At least the sizes are reasonable.
We finally found the market we were looking for after asking a McD's staff. At the market, there was so much food we could have tried, so much item we could have bought... yet, I didn't buy any simply because all these items could be found in Malaysia. I also didn't want to carry the stuff back unless it's really really really worth buying.

Walking around the market took us the whole afternoon. When it was around 1800, we wanted to return to the hotel already. On the way out of the market, I was really tempted to try the kebab there and bought one I did. Well, even before buying, I was already expecting it to be oily and salty which it was. Other than that, there's nothing special about it. It was kind of cold as well, eventhough there was a kept warm.

Anyway, since Tiffany has reminded me to write about her Taiwan sausage eating-spree, I thought it's fair to metion it at the very least. Haha. I think she took almost 8 sausages that day. Including one that she dropped while trying to wipe away oil on the sausage because this particular one was exceptionally oily compared to the rest. Her reaction after that was like a little girl who dropped her ice-cream... muahahahaha. Sorry, just kidding. She only whined about it for a while.

The one she dropped happened when we were trying to find our way back. We tried to call our team leader to have her friend pick us up if they happened to be nearby but they were still quite far from the city centre, so we took a cab instead.

The whole time in China, we never come across any traffic jam but that evening the jam was terrible. The lady taxi driver said that it was because it was a Friday night and everyone's out for the night. Before we got into the cab, we showed the hotel business card to make sure she knows the place. She wasn't really sure and even called her friend for directions.

The night was totally dark very soon and I really felt like it was already 2200 until I saw my watch. Only 1930. After being stucked in the jam for almost an hour and a half, we finally reached a hotel only to tell the driver that it was not the hotel we stayed. Great... another long journey in the cab coming. She tried taking lots of short cuts to avoid the jams but I guess all the effort was wasted. So we had to start making phone calls.

Only then she knew the exact location of the hotel which she never knew existed. Not even her friend despite showing her the card which has the map at the back. Below are the images of the card. Sorry, I need translators myself for this.












I think she got pretty freaked-out after knowing where we were actually staying and reduced the taxi fare for us with the jam as an excuse for the reduction. I thought she would have said that because she lost her directions and it's her fault. The final fare... RMB 14, but only reduced from RMB 16. I was told that the fare was already very cheap.

We were joking over dinner that she may have thought that we were children of some minister or high ranking officials to be able to stay in this hotel that she dare not over-charge us or do anything funny with us. I'd spoke some English in the cab so I'm pretty sure she knew we're not locals.

Dinner was as usual, served with tens of dishes which we could not finish. Finally we decided to pack for our 'driver' for the past week and the team leader's friends since they're locals and are not staying in the hotel so that the food are not to be wasted.

We then headed back to our room. That night we only watched tv and had some chatting since it's our last night in China. The local TV programmes are all in Chinese. Even all the English movies were translated. We watched a drama series acted by Pamela Andersson but I can't remember the title. It was once shown on Malaysian TV many many years back. We were lucky to have found 1 channel which are totally in English. The news, movies etc are in English but spoken by locals. Naturally I would have a little hard time trying to understand their slangs, but it was ok...

After that movie, we continued chatting until past midnight. Then... bedtime.

Day 5 - Oct 19, 2006: A Day of Visiting and Travelling

Well... we were supposed to move out of our hotel (right) into another hotel because it's cheaper and better but not all of us will be moving out. Some stayed back for an extra day before moving to somewhere else to prepare for their Wushu examination. So those moving out today had their stuff packed and moved to another room before we head down for breakfast and to checkout.

A friend of the team leader made an arrangement for a van to pick us all up. Our destination... Kaifeng, the ancient capital of China. And you know who was our driver? He's a Chinese FBI and we were actually sitting in a police van. I was just a plain and simple van so I didn't even realised that it's a police van until I was told of it but the locals recognises the van immediately. Every toll we passed we need not pay for it. All the driver did was to show his pass and we're off.

The first location we went to is the 2nd oldest temple in China (or was it in Kaifeng, I can't remember). It's called Da Xiang Gou Shi. The oldest was destroy during the war but I'm not sure which war.

At the entrance:
When I was in the temple, it felt very much different than the temples in Malaysia the whole time. It was very serene... very relaxing. The whole temple was very well maintained and upkept. Being a temple, you would obvious know what to expect in it. So just enjoy the photos.


















Our next stop is a place called The Millennium City Park. The place was built and decorated according to the ancient times in China. Even the workers were all dressed in ancient costumes. Because it's a tourist spot, it was obviously well maintained. For that it comes with a fee of RMB 80, if I remembered correctly. So that would make up about MYR 40. Of course there are performances, dancers and singing which we missed all of it because time disallowed us to stay there long. All the shows are either late evening or at night.

Anyway, it's gonna be another flood of photos. Enjoy.
The group photo right after we entered the area.









The sceneries are just mesmerizing.














Prior to this, we were all 'outside' the city and below is the city gate. Every gate would have rows of gold coloured cylinders (sorry, I don't have any photo to show, so had to explain). If the gate has 8 rows, it means that it's only a normal gate used by commoners. If there are 9, then it means that it's the gate the emperor uses. You get the whole idea?

[updated Nov 16, 2006]
If you can't imagine what I was talking about. Look at the gate at the background. See the yellow dots. The emperor only passes through gates with 9 rows.
[end update]















Afer that, we had lunch. Lunch was at a restaurant nearby and we were served with I think over 30 dishes of varieties. Some taste pretty good, some was ok. But ALL are oily and salty. Oil and salt must'd been really really cheap in China. We spent almost 2 hours eating and we still could not finish all the dishes. What a big waste.

After lunch, we went someone's training centre. Remember the Shaolin diciple I mentioned few post ago? He made an arrangement for us to meet with some Tai Chi master there. While everyone else was exchanging knowledge and learning from one another, I was practically stucked at where I sat (and stand) because I don't know what they are doing and perhaps will never will, simply because I don't learn Tai Chi. I think we spent almost 2 hours or so there.

We then continued with our visit. And this time, it's the Kaifeng ancient court... the court where Justice Pao used to hear his cases. The place has been made into a tourist destination with some extensions around the the court. We saw the court, the dungeons, and training ground for the army (Justice Pao has his own small recruits of army) and of course, his residence.

I'll let the pictures do the showing and talking.
Outside the main gate. Funny the entrance was not at the gate but beside.
From outside the court garden into the court arena.
The replica of Justice Pao's official seal.
Outside, at the garden.
Anyone mind translating this for me?
Ah, finally, the court itself.
The 3 beheading equipment used by the judge. The one with the dragon head (middle) was used to behead corrupt royal family members. The one with the tiger head (right) was used to behead corrupt imperial and government officials and the last one on the left, the one with the dog head was used to behead other criminals during his days.

That was the last photo of the day. After that, my camera battery died again. The court was also our last destination before we headed back to our hotel, our new hotel that is, for those who was moving out.

And now, a little description of the new hotel. To even get a stay in the hotel, you must have a diplomatic relationship with the local government or you know someone of high authority. The hotel was actually reserved for the use of high ranking officials in the Chinese government. It is actually located behind two government buildings, hidden the view of many. We must have authorisations to stay there. And because it was reserved for government officials, none of the common people knew about the hotel and its existance.

I was told that the area was guarded by over 300 policemen (I think it's on a rotation basis, because I did not see that many policemen when I was there) and to reach the hotel itself, we had to pass through 3 security guard post. The hotel guaranteed the cleanliness, hygiene and nutritious food... so we can be sure, we won't get SARS, bird flu and other diseases. Hey, the food isn't as oily or salty as the food we had so far, so it's seems all good to me.

I dare not take any photo of the hotel because I didn't want to be accused of spying. Kind of looking forward to the experience of staying there. Later, I went back to the first hotel we stayed to collect our bags. This time, the person who drove us back to the first hotel was an army man who was with us the whole trip. When we return to the new hotel along with our luggage, I don't remember seeing him showing his pass or anything. It kept me wondering. I was trying to look for any symbol or plate on his 4WD or anything to indicate or show his authorization to enter the area and I could not. Even his 4WD has no number plate. So I guess I'll be wondering this for the rest of my life.

The biggest regret of the day... we all missed the closing ceremony of the compeitition because of this trip. Today was the last day of the championship and also the day where the closing ceremony were to be held, at night. It's really something that I had not wanted to miss (in an athletes point of view), but I also didn't want to miss travelling around China (in a tourist's point of view). But I guess I can always attend another closing ceremony in my future competitions if I ever were to compete again but to miss the chance of visiting China like that, not a chance.

We were all so tired, we went straight to bed after unpacking our luggages. End of Day 5.

Day 4 - Oct 18, 2006: Last Day of Competition

Time really flies when you're occupied with work. In a blink of an eye, it's now already my 4th day in China. The day did not start off as well as the previous few because the 'down' moments had continued from the night before.

Yes, Tiff did had a hard time last night. She was practically talking to the walls when she was trying to strike some conversation with YQ. Least, that was what she told me. And YQ's black face was still clearly shown. It's as if her face isn't dark enough, she had to make it darker. I was really getting annoyed of her attitude because she just ignored the rest of the world.

It has always been a problem, just that I was never bothered of her. I could just ignore her completely if not because I promised her father that I'll look after the 2 gals while in China. Not only that, her rudeness and disrespectful of others had gotten others speaking to me about it. In a way, they complaint. Well, what did you think was my response? I could not say anything. I didn't even know how to response. All I could say was that we (those from our association) have gotten used to her attitude problem. Only Alex could stand her and he admitted that to me.

As always, the day started early as breakfast was at 0600 and bus left at 0700. Maybe a little later because of the delays. Tiffany's event was the first of the day, meaning that there was no time for procrastination. Her appetite was pretty good despite of her losing her voice from last night. Her deep voice has made her sounded a man that morning.

When arriving at the gymnasium, she immediately got started with her warm up. I accompanied her while YQ just sat down at one corner, day dreaming. I let her be. After she was called for standby, I brought her things up into the stands as there was nothing more I could do now except to take the video of her event.

All 3 of us had our events shot on video but because her carpet was the furthers from the stands, her image was still very small despite having zoomed to the max. Obviously our most precious one here, complained. Mine was fine because my carpet was just beside the stands (sorry guys, I still have not gotten the videos). Too bad, but at least she already has a gold medal for remembrance.

This time, she could not perform to her full potential and she knew it too. It wasn't her 100%. Still, it was a good silver. We joined the rest of the team at the other end of the stands where others were competing after that. We waited for a couple of hours before we could actually return to the hotel and then back to the gymnasium after lunch for YQ's event. A few others are also competing in the afternoon. Today would be the last day of competition for the whole team. None of us has any event in the last day of the competition which will be the following day.

During that time, they organisers suddenly annouced the award ceremony for my 2nd silver. Luckily I was there to collect them. Initially, they said they would only pass the medals to the respective team leaders after all the first day afternoon events had their ceremony postponed.

So me collecting my 2nd medal.
I don't know who snapped this. But it's definately not me because I was waiting to collect my medal. So don't blame me for this.














I still do not know why the pictures turned out so dark. I tried editing them but would only made it worst. Can anyone help me?














Tiffany too got her 2nd medal at the same ceremony.
Looks like she got too bored waiting she had to resort to listening her phone music player. Notice her earphones by her left ear?














While waiting to go back for lunch at the hotel, we snapped some photos to kill time.















When we returned to the hotel, there wasn't much time for us to relax or do anything else. I could not have my camera battery recharged as we had to leave immediately after lunch.

It's was pretty much the same thing in the afternoon. This time, the good thing was that we managed to buy some weapons. One businessman was smart enough to set up stalls (in a van) just outside the gymnasium and I so happen bumped into them. But we still could not get all the items we wanted.

Already we bought quite a lot, but it's still wasn't enough. And they're leaving in the next couple of hours and won't be returning the next day. I can't help but wonder, are these Chinamen so dumb at doing business or are there actually restrictions imposed on them. Since they knew we're here for competition, they could have guess that they'll have good business here because almost everyone wanted to buy a weapon or two. But only 1 miserable stall opened at the gymnasium and only for a few hours.

Well, at least we won't be going home empty handed. During this moment I was running 2 ways. One was to see how's YQ warm up. See if she needs any assistance. The other was returning to the van where I left Tiff alone with the weapons we had chosen. After YQ was called for standby and weapons bought, we returned to the stands.

In this event, YQ faced a tough challenge. Her competitors were strong. They were excellent. They had the agility, speed and grace. It was flawless. The only thing lacking a little was the strength, which was understandable since they're playing the Northern style while we're playing the Southern style. YQ was lucky with a silver. She was close to a bronze.

After her event, again she was showing her black face. I couldn't be bothered anymore of her. I did not even take a photo of her receiving her 2nd medal.

While waiting outside, we took a photo with some Venezuelans.
Part of the team from Venezuela.











As we returned to the hotel, it was the most relaxing night thus far. We could finally take a long comfortable bath, enjoy our food (the food was exceptionally delicious that night) and walk about. While the rest returned to the gymnasium for their final events, we spent the night walking at a nearby shopping complex but not for long. It closes at 2130. We could only walked for about an hour or so. That night was also the first time I tasted the Taiwan sausage, sold at RMB 1, which is about only RM 0.50, far cheaper than what they sell in Malaysia.

So after that we just returned to the hotel since it's starting to drizzle. We just watched tv for a moment before we went to bed. It's been a tiring day. I slept most comfortably that night.

Day 3 - Oct 17, 2006: Visit to the Shaolin Temple

After a day of competition, we prepared ourselves for the visit to the Shaolin Temple at Shong Shan, located at Dengfeng. Again, we had to get up early because the bus leaves at 0730. Dengfeng is about 2 hours drive away. We're expected to return by 1530 because there will be some events tonight. The 2 gals are competing.

I was told that about 120 buses convoyed that day and with an average of 40 people per bus, that means 4800 athletes, officials, guides, organisers and the interpreters had made the trip. It's gonna be a jam-packed mountain up there. During the trip, when we're still in the city of Zhengzhou, I realised that bicycles and motorcycles outnumbered cars, buses and other bigger vehicle. And 99% of the motorcyclist doesn't wear any helmets. During the whole trip, all I could hear is bus drivers honking at other cars, cyclist, pedestrians etc on the incoming buses. If you think Malaysian drivers are mad on the road, I would say that these people are crazy. Cars were actually seen overtaking the bus without looking at the rear. Fortunately the bus drivers were VERY alert the whole time, unlike sleepy Malaysian bus drivers.

But during the whole time, what impresses me most is that the buses has the right of way throughout the journey. At every junction you'll see some policemen/policewomen. And at every junction you'll see cars lining up, waiting for the buses to pass through. Man, I've never felt so priviledged in my life. We were like VIPs that morning. I would loved to show you some photos but the buses were driven so fast that I couldn't get any clear photo. None turn out nicely.

At the foot of the mountain is the town/city called Dengfeng where many of wushu schools were setup. And every school we drove pass gave some form of performance outside the school. If compared to the events 2 years ago, this time is much more simple and quiet. It was so grand 2 years ago that the roads were flooded with performances, banners and decorations. Because there wasn't that many performance on our way, the bus sort of sped through. These were the best photos I captured. The rest sucks.














Outside the entrance into the Monastery. Just look at the crowd below.














China Central TV (CCTV) made a live coverage of the visit that morning. Reporters and cameras were seen everywhere and a helicopter were circling the area over and over making
the coverage.

The moment we entered the area, we saw numerous performances by the Shaolin students of all ages. Just enjoy the photos.



















Up to this point, we're still outside the temple. If you walk, it takes about 10-15 minutes from the main entrance to reach the temple entrance. Just imagine how big the area is. Just imagine how many students they have there. I'm not sure whether were they gathered from the schools nearby or are they actually students in the Shaolin temple itself. Either way, it's huge, both the place and number of people.

Below: The actual entrance into the Shaolin temple. Being a temple, you'd expect to see shrines, statues of buddha and HIS students etc. Some of these photos turned out blur because there was too many people banging into you. It's difficult to get a nice still shot, especially when the guide kept asking you to hurry up. It's been a day of rushing.














Below: Inside the Shaolin temple.














Below: This is the famous hall where the monks used to train stamping the floor until the floor forms a sunken patch. It's much clearer if you see it in person. We were not allowed into the hall. We're only allowed to see by the doors.
For those who's got 'mata sepet', see the highlighted spots below. You'll notice the area sunked in.
Up to this point, I took no more photos of the area because my camera were already depleted of its battery. We then adjourned to one of the Master's room for tea.

Below: The master who took the photo with us.
He's only 5 months older than I am. He's not a monk but a student who's been practising Shaolin Kung Fu since childhood. When he's outside the temple, he's just an ordinary guy like us.

During the whole time at the temple, a few of us was very eager to leave immediately because we wanted to buy some weapons sold at the shops by the entrance. The rest who were there on leisure just kept taking their own sweet time walking and talking while we who wanted to get the weapons and items feared that we may not have enough time to choose or pick our stuff. Our bus were to leave at 1400 and it was already like 1245.

Still, we had to join them out of respect. And as we were having tea, we were sort of "saved" by one SMS I received from Alex and I used that as an excuse to get us out. Hehehe... if it wasn't of the message, I may not be do daring to open my mouth. No, I did not lie, it was really something related, it was not made up. Ended up, everyone who wanted to buy the weapons or wanted more sightseeing left. Only a few remained in the room.

Anyway, it's another long walk back to the entrance and the whole time I was worried of the gals. Needing to compete that same night, they need to rest their legs so we controlled our pace. At the shops, it was quite a disappointment. We did not get the things we wanted. All the weapons sold were meant for souveniours and gifts. None were proper for competition except for one or two but is of no use to us.

We ended up buying other things instead. And the whole time, we were rushed throughout because the bus were leaving soon. We didn't even get to bargain much which made us buying some items in a more expensive price. Imagine having already bought something only to realised it's sold half the price (yes, it's HALF the price) next door. That's a big difference though the item I bought was really something cheap and I only found out when I was leaving that area.

Finally the bus left at 1430, 30 minutes behind schedule which also meant that we'll reach the hotel 30 minutes later than expected which would then have given us 30 minutes less time to rest for tonight.

Again, on the way back, we had the right of way. The bus was very quiet because everyone's tired and it's now a good time to take an afternoon nap if you could sleep in the bus of course.

After dinner (dinner was served at 1730, as it has always been), we were back at the competition arena. The funny thing about me was that I kept getting the time here wrong. The sun rises very early. By 0700, it's already very bright and sunny. The sun also sets very early. By 1900, the sky so dark I kept thinking it's already 2100.

So while the gals were warming up while waiting for their event, I snapped around. My job now is only to take care of the 2 since my events had finished and I was supposed to be a free man to enjoy myself... so I'd wish. I was more concerned of them that I can't seem to enjoy myself that much. Didn't even get to know people from other countries.

Anyway, it was kind of dark and I'm not good at controlling the flashes. Nevertheless, the
photos:

This gal was so happened doing her stretching in front of where I was sitting. No, it's not what you think. There was no particular reason that I snapped her photo. And I think she's from Taiwan.

These 3 are either from Myanmar or Cambodia. They were practising somersaulting and cup-wheels. It happened so fast I can't seem to capture them nicely.

These 3 are from Ukraine and they were practising a 3 person pre-arranged dual. I got fedup that I could not capture a nice photo of their fight, so I got them to do a pose for me while they were resting. Many thanks to them.

Ah... finally the events done. The 2 gals were competing in the same event. The results, Tiffany got 4th but got gold. YQ was 5th but silver. She got equal score with 3 other gals and was only 0.02 points lower than Tiff's score of 8.68. It's been a wonderful and lucky night for Tiff. YQ was pretty unlucky this time.

The photo of a gold medalist. She couldn't stop smiling after she knew she's getting gold but somehow could not smile for the camera... haiz... but anyhow, well done to our sweet darling here...














The rest of the photos taken during the award ceremony.














The photo of the silver medalist.
This gal had a black face the whole night. It soon turned from a happy bright night for Tiff and I into a dull quiet night because of her. I'd even lost all the mood to snap her photo since she's been avoiding my camera the whole night.

Anyway, another good news was that I got another silver for my second event. I did not see the results myself but Xi Lei (one of the interpreter) saw my result and quickly informed me of it. I could not believe my ears when I heard that. I thought she was joking.

So it's now 2 silver for 2 events for me. Somehow this has broken a trend I long had. I've never gotten a silver medal before. In all the individual events that I've competed in, it's either a gold or a bronze or no medals at all but never a silver. Not only the trend was broken by 1 silver, it was 2. I guess in a way, my collection of the colours are complete though a gold would have been very much better for me. I just did not do well enough.

So things have gotten pretty well today. We have a gold medal to cheer for Malaysia, another silver in the bag and the news of my 2nd silver. I think everyone slept well that night. But I'm sure Tiff had a tough night, especially when her roommate is YQ.

Day 2 - Oct 16, 2006: The War Begins

I woke up at 0530 because breakfast is at 0600 and the bus leaves at 0700. After getting ready, I headed down for breakfast at the restaurant at the lobby. As I entered the restaurant, was immediately given the ticket for the opening ceremony tonight. With the opening ceremony being held tonight, today would be a day of events. In the morning, I'll have my first event, which is the weapons (categorised as "Double Apparatus" because it's a pair of weapons that I'll be playing), the hand form will be in the afternoon and the opening ceremony of the championship in the evening. And guess what... the ticket cost RMB 400 each. That makes up to about MYR 200. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw it.

I was in a quite confident mood having already found out from the night before that my first event will only have 6 competitors. I will not do myself any justice if I do not win any medal in the first event.

Once done, it was time to leave. In every competition, we always have our teammates to accompany those competiting not only to give moral support but to help take care of the stuff when competiting. So the 2 gals would have to accompany me eventhough they don't have any events today.

As we arrived, I was amazed with how beautiful the place is. This is how the place looks like.















Believe it or not, this is actually a residential middle school, something like a lower secondary school in Malaysia. And all public schools here are named using numbers. I'm not sure whether all public schools throughout China or is it just this city that has such naming policy. But this is school no. 47. I heard that only private schools are named using names.

The competition arena was held in the gymnasium of the school.

Left: This will be where I'll be competing on. I'll be competing in Arena 2, which is the top left carpet.

My event will be the 3rd event this morning.

The decorations around the gymnasium. I managed to snap a few before I get myself ready.
















While taking these photos, I can't help but felt injustice because the rest of the competitors had a training session the day before while the whole Malaysian team arrived only last night. It didn't seem fair. But that feeling soon went away..... fortunately.

During the whole competition, we will be assisted by 2 volunteers (every competing nation are assigned 2 volunteers). They're the ones who will coordinate and interprete things for us. So in one way or another, I'd like to put it that they're our "baby-sitters" where the championship is concerned (hahaha, I sound so bad and mean).

Left: The 2 pretty volunteers I just mentioned. The one on the left is Liu Jie and the other one is Xi Lei. Both local uni students.

Anyway, I've been mentioning quite alot of the 2 teammates of mine. Here's the photo of the 2. They'll be my little pets... oops, I meant pet sisters for the whole week. Beware of them. They kick asses.

The one on the left is Yi Qian while the other one is Tiffany (our self-proclaimed Crystal Princess, and she acts like one too) Hehehe... she's a real cutie... a really adorable gal.

Being a "princess", she would naturally have an evil side of her. So beware of her sinister smile.

Left: Me waiting for my turn. Photo taken with Xi Lei.

If you notice the background of the last 3 photos, it was where we did our warm up.

The open space covers 6 basketball courts, 3 tennis courts, and further to the other end is a football field with stands. The 2 big buildings behind me are the hostels. You can just imagine the facilities they have there.

The best thing is that the floor covered with the hard rubber like those used in athletic tracks, not cement like those in Malaysia.

For the first event, my turn came, my turn gone. I was the 3rd to enter the carpet for my event. Because I hadn't tested the carpet, I tried stepping at one corner of while the participant was the other end. Getting used to the carpet is important so that you will not slip or fall when you're performing. All I did was to try rubbing my shoe sole on it a little, hop a little and spin a little. That was all I could do.

When the 2nd person entered, I knew from that moment on, my chance of finishing first place is beyond reach. So I could only fight for the 2nd place. But I was quite confident of myself until I saw my score. I couldn't believe it. I only got 3rd. I felt I was underscored but nothing much that can be done. Well, looking on the bright side, getting 3rd in a world event in my first world competition is something I should be proud of. Anyway, time to focus on the next event.

During the gathering for the award ceremony, I was suprised to know that I'll be getting silver. The first 2 is getting gold. Surprised? Myself included. It was then that I realised that the medals are awarded not by the score you got but by the standard you show over the number of competitors. The organisors also want to ensure that everyone returns home with something. So everyone will somehow get a medal. It was pretty even up for my event. The first 2 got gold and the next 2 got silver. Had I finished 2nd, I could have gotten the gold already. I was so looking forward to tell the others, "First event, first gold", but it seems not to be.

I was partially hidden in the photo, but that was me on the podium getting my first medal.














This is me with Damien, who got 4th in my event but also a silver. He's an Aussie. Some of the Australian team had been training in Beijing for the past month prior to this competition and he's an Optometrist by profession.














Other miscellaneous photos.














I could have taken more photos had my camera battery not died.

We had to go back to the hotel for lunch before returning here for the afternoon event. So the routine is pretty much the same. I waited for my turn, I got on the carpet, I performed. And when I'm done, I left the carpet and waited for my final score. But this event had been a long wait with almost 36 people competing. I did pretty well myself, finishing 8th or 9th. I can't really remember what position I got. In fact, after I entered as participant no. 8, I was leading until about participant no. 20 or so before one by one started pushing me down the list.

This time, the award ceremony was postponed so I have absolutely no idea will I be getting a medal. With almost 40 people in this event, I got a pretty good chance for a bronze at the very least.

So we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the opening ceremony. We all wore a batik for the march past but I didn't take any photo of myself because my camera battery has very little left. I did not get the chance to charge them full before I came. So I had to snap with care. You'll see me in my batik when I get the photos from another teammate. He couldn't stop taking photos that night.

I was the flag bearer that night. After marching past the VIP, I had to go seperate ways with the rest because the flag bearers must remain on the tracks while the rest adjourned to their seats. Darn, I had to stand still the whole time for 4-5 people to make their speech. And since I'm already at it, I might as well snap something.

The photos from the flag bearer's view.

Below: The stadium stand. It was a full house that night. But I'm not sure what's the stadium capacity.














Below: The dancers who performed earlier. I didn't get to see them perform. They stood behind
me.














Below: Another group of the performers. They too stood behind me, beside the group of dancers above.














Once, the whole thing ended, I found my way to my seat to watch the rest of the performance. Or rather, one of the volunteer found me and took me to my seat. Hehehe... it was pretty exciting to be part of the march past at a world stage. Just look at the crowd cheering. It's phenomenal.

From my seat, the view of the stage below. Many of the Shaolin temple students and artist from China and Hong Kong performed. The pictures did not come out nicely. It was pretty dark, but you can still the stage. There were fireworks the whole night.















Here's the performers who performed but I could only recognize the Hong Kong duo TWINS.


















And on the way back, we lost our way while looking for the bus. It took us a long walk and our legs were tired, we're all tired and sleepy, and the next day would be a trip to the Shaolin Temple. We need rest, and a good long one too.

End of Day 2