APAC 2009: The Free and Easy Days

Well well, it has been almost a week now since I came back from Pyeong Taek, South Korea.
Haven't been able to blog about it cuz you know, have been away for a week, therefore a lot of catching up to do, with a lot of stuffs...

First, you have work. A few assignments stacking up with the boss sniffing behind. Pressure wei.
And another self-created burden, Borak. Penang Floorball League ended few days before we left and as usual, the not-so-efficient Malaysian drag things late, so had to rush some updates before the topics lose heat. However, I am pretty drained after booming up 4-5 posts, so now, its time to delegate. The rest are yours bros!! Good luck.

Distracted...

Back to APAC.
Hmmm... this would be a long recall.
Where should we start?
Hmmm... how about the day we left for KL.

21 Mar
Sat
Rainy
Down to KL

Chris, Sam and I decided to drop by at KL earlier a day before our flight to...
I don't know about them, but for me, it was to keep myself at ease. At least I know I am there earlier, and nearer to the destination. Plus, in case we need to, do some last minute shopping.

Anyways, since I needed a ride to the bus station, and to do some shopping, I headed down to Gurney around 12.

What to shop for? Nike Pro sweat shirt.
I heard is was good, blah blah blah...
How good I donno, maybe got influence by peer pressure?
I thought it would be a good idea to buy a body hugging shirt to wear on as we'll be battling in a cold country. A decision I was pretty proud of. haha..

So, we head on to Gurney's Nike and was confused.
There were at least 3 designs and more that 3 prices on each design...
Crap. WTH was going on.
In the end, after some extensive research and pestering, the truth was reveal...
The prices was determined by the arrival date.
If it is new, it would be pricier; if it is old, you'll get like max 70% discount.
I settled for the 70% cuz that's the only one that had my size although I preferred another design.
Ah what the crap, its covered up anyway!!

530pm
Board the bus and head down to KL.
Slept all the way.

1200am
Arrived at Pudu.
Had supper, a treat by Chris's dad.
The food was pretty good.
Super full. haha...

Tired, but quite awake.
Online la.
3.00am
Can't tahan already, off to bed.
Crap... No blanket and under the air con..

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

22 Mar
Sun
Hot
Flight day

Woke up late.
Free and easy day.
Hang out in the house, had breakfast, watch tv.

Lunch?
We had it at the famous Ipoh Chicken Rice which we gave up on during out last KL trip.
It was packed with people and like the high class restaurants, they actually get you seated and ordered through some high tech radio stuffs. Cool.

Food?
With three hardcore eaters, it was a feast.
Add here add there...
Chris even order extra curry mee.
Satisfying meal but with quite a hefty price by Pg standard, RM15 per person.

Evening?
The duo decided to check out IOI mall's Fitness First, so I hop in for a trial.
Nice place.
Nice facilities.
Free flow drinks. XD
And good work out.
Maybe should consider finding a gym when I'm back?
Maybe... haha... we shall see.

eh, am I bringing too much?

9.30pm
All of us met at KLIA.
Most of the team were already there but 2 more were missing, Hadfiz and Sjaiful.
I already knew ahead that Hadfiz was going to miss the tirp via Facebook, but the Captain missing as well?? The already fragile defense looks even more miserable.

From the KL training camp up till this moment, we have been dealt with severe blows by having our 4 key defenders pulling out.
What the heck!
What to do?
Life goes on la...
We'll just have to do with what we have. Haiz.

are they going onot wan? confused la...

planning the surprise, "ok, we slash 'dad' to 'coach' and 'golf' to 'floorball'. sui!"

11.55pm
So our journey begins, to the Land of the Morning Calm.
Boarded the plane, first impression... ooo... the stewardess not bad wei... haha...
Way way better than last years Perth. haha...
The service?
Superb!
Fully served all the way.
The food?
Delicious and full of variety.
Totally satisfied!

sunrise on the plane.

yummy breakfassss

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

23 Mar
Mon
Cold
The Arrival

Incheon International Airport.
Finally we arrived.
Almost 7 hours in the clouds, my butt was already aching.

arriving at Incheon

where is the bus?

We were greeted by the Hotel Manager, led us to the bus
It was another long ride, 2 hours to our stay for the next 8 days... Kyonggi Tourist Hotel which was situated in Pyeong Taek.

Kyonggi Tourist Hotel

With nothing on our schedule, we left our backs, rested for awhile and headed off to explore around while looking for lunch.

Our first stop, Korean road side snack.
It was a stall covered with some sort of tent to keep the inside cozy.
The food?
It's sort of like Korean style loh bak, a variety of fried junk food to choose from.
Which is then oil bath and served.
It was pretty nice. Maybe cuz its new to us, plus hot stuffs served in cold weather. Its dope man.
My favourite?
The fried green onion and radish(I think) soup.
Superb!

Hanguk Loh Bak?

After the appetizer, we continue in search of other food.
In the end, most of us settled for Japanese food. Weird.
Me?
Undecided and paid the price of eating alone.
They serve damn slow!

Our first food scouting, the experience?
Frustrating & helpless.
The language barrier is just... huge.
TM & Chris got cold noodles instead of hot ones.
haha...

5pm
We gather again after a short rest and...
went for a jog.
To get use of the cold air kononnya.
It was a short 15 min run, quite enjoyable. No sweat.

Dinner time, Guan and Kok Ee decided we need to had some Korea food!
And so we did.
Not after some painful communication process that ended with the shop owner "calling" for help.
We order through passing the phone.

Galbi aka Korean Beef BBQ was... super nice. And they served an amazing variety of side dishes.
Some were nice.
Some were too sour.
Some were too spicy.
Some were just plain weird.
Culture shock.

galbi + side dishes = feast!

The discovery over dinner...
Coach Dennis is a super Kimchi fan, any unfinished plate will be served to his table. haha..

It was our first day in Korea and we celebrated with a birthday!
Coach Ed turning....
Donno.
The surprise?
The guys bought the cake during free hours after lunch and pakat with Dennis.
Coach Dennis was assigned the task to unlock the door so that we can penetrate the room by surprised.

Few minutes before 12, we gathered outside the door, lighting the candle and getting ready.
Ok. Set. Hit the door bell.
Surprise!!!!

!
!!
!!!
Ed: sshhh...
Us:......

Potong steam.
Apparently Dennis was already in dreamland and it was the man we wanted to surprise that surprised us. Crap...
hahaha...

the surprise

the surpriser. we give up already!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

24 Mar
Tues
Frezzing
Training Day

Today is our first day of Floorball action in foreign soil, our Training Session.
Pretty slacking I would say.
Jet lag kah, tired kah, the food kah, the weather kah.
I donno. Pace was pretty slow.
But it was good having training, hopefully it will get us warmed up for tomorrow's match against Japan. Sweat.

humongous!!

the battlefield

By afternoon, after training, its once again free time.
Our last one before battle commences tomorrow.

The highlight of the day was our discovery of HanYang, an English speaking Korean Traditional Food Restaurant.
It was our savior.
It was a God sent gift.
It was our food haven.
And we continue to feast there numerous times.
It was quite a distance away and slightly pricier than others, but the convenience in ordering food is just too tempting, plus the food were pretty delicious and the side dishes were more edible for tourist in my opinion.

godsend/ savior

So the free and easy days comes to and end.
By dawn, the battle begins and funny enough, our first games is against Japan, the land of the rising sun.
Tough first match wei...
As I tuck myself to bed after a full load of Korean celebrity shows, I prayed that we'll survived with a respectable scoreline...