| 09 |
Only One Word, Amazing! |
| November |
On Tuesday, Joyce, Michael, Qabil and Wup arrived at the Asian Games in Guagzhou. In a daily blog Joyce will share her adventures with the rest of the world.
'Let's start with the very beginning... while I am writing this blog, I can say 'what a long day. We are up for more than40 hours now. I am not tired anymore. Was tired some hours ago but then the horses came in, so there was no time for being tired!
We flew on Monday from Schiphol via Hong Kong to Guangzhou. Our car stopped working on the way to the airport, but me managed to fix it right in time. We had quite a good flight, but eleven hours to Hong Kong is still long. However the 25 minutes from Hong Kong to Guangzhou is so short, we could have walked that bit (it felt that way).
At arrival in Guangzhou they had made a special terminal for people coming in especially for the Asian Games: passport control, baggage check, activating th eaccreditation, collecting your suitcases, etc. We were on the plane with e.g. the basketball team from India. Tall guys though! As soon as you arrive in Guangzhou, everything has got to do something with the Asian Games. Even the airport is especially built to fly in all the millions of people that come to the Games. There was a driver waiting for us, who brought is to the hotel.
The horses were not there yet at that time, but we went down to the showground and the stables for fun. Wow what an amazing stadium, so big! And all the stables are fixed stables, brand new, we have our own washing place, washing machine, etc. Every hundred meters there is a Chinese guard at the fence to look out, like a statue, impressive!
There is a huge amount of security, everywhere you go. No matter hotel, showground or the main athletes village. Everything that has got to do something with the Games is thoroughly checked: cars being checked, bags, everything.
In the afternoon we drove down to Guangzhou with our team, consisting of about 15 people at that moment (two mini vans) There isthe actual mainathletes village, with housing for 13.000 athletes, free restaurants, bakeries, hairdressers etc. We went to eat there in the big hall, which was so much fun because you get to see and / or know so many people from different countries, religions, backgrounds, sports, like Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iran, Jordan, Qatar, Myanmar, Chinese Taipei, etc etc.
In the meantime Michael and I received our official team clothing of the Malaysian National Olympic Committee. We can wear this in the opening ceremony on Saturday. It is a lot of orange stuff, the colour of us Dutch people, so I definately like it! It is about eight pieces per person so we have no clue yet how to fit it all in the suitcase next week!
At about twelve o'clock at night the horses arrived at the show ground, that was such an exciting moment! They were driven down there in air-conditioned trucks owned by the famous Hong Kong Jockey Club. Wup and Handsome were the very last to come off the trucks. I could not wait and nearly cried, I was so enlightened to see him again. He was full of energy, there was someone that travelled with him, and Wup had fun, teasing the guy, biting him a little bit. He was really happy and fresh out of the truck. We took him for some handwalking after he had been rolling in his box for 20 times at least, I think he was a bit itchy! I gave him an extra hug, missed him and I was very concerned also as he had never flown before. (stt I didn't tell him beforehad he was going to fly).
Now it's four o'clock at night, everything is organised, horse and tack safe and sound in the stable I might catch some sleep now!'
