Monday, November 07, 2016

Road To Bali: First Step

I was in Bali over last weekend, representing TheOrganisation in Scrabble at the Games. There were two tournaments held to select the players and the few of us then had to undergo practice sessions to determine the ranking – yes, we took it very seriously indeed. After all, we were the champions for the previous two times when Scrabble was contested and we wanted to ensure we defended the trophy. After we had finalised the players’ list and ranked them, we then had twice weekly practice sessions after office hours (well, we were given time off for the practice sessions). I was tasked to play in the women’s single category and had to practise with my sparring partner who was assigned to play in the men’s single category. I missed two practice sessions when I took leave returning from KK and Gaya Island and when I had to attend a meeting.




Besides Scrabble, the other games contested were bowling, women’s volleyball, mixed badminton and table tennis. There was also executive golf for the senior people. The games were all agreed to at the previous Games (similarly, the games for next Games were already discussed and agreed to at the just concluded Games). We were given sport attire – four t-shirts (each to be worn during the opening ceremony, game day, farewell ceremony and city tour), a pair of track bottom, a cap and a pair of shoes. This wasn’t my first Games though it has been a while since then.

We flew out to Bali on Friday, 28 October 2016, by various flights. My flight was at 08:50 and I left home right after morning prayers. Abah sent me to Ampang Park and I rode the LRT to KL Sentral (50% fare discount for journeys between 06:00-07:00, nice!). I had checked in online but couldn’t print the boarding pass so I obtained it from the KL CAT and dropped off my bag. I took the 06:30 KLIA Express and was there before 07:00. After meeting up with two of my other teammates, I went in to clear immigration. There were a lot of other travellers too which surprised me somewhat. As I had time to spare, I took the aerotrain to the duty-free boutiques to browse. I’m quite broke right now (story of my life of late) so I could only browse and lust.

The flight took off on time and it was pretty full. There were a lot of Indians on the flight, perhaps celebrating Deepavali there? We landed at almost noon and I quickly made my get away. Cleared the immigration then waited for our bags to emerge. I then discovered that the small water container provided by the airline broke in my handbag so I had to go to the washroom and dry it out as best as I could. Harrumph!

We finally emerged out (a team member was subjected to a random search while another’s bag had broken during the flight) and were greeted by a representative of the host. We then boarded the bus to the hotel. It’s a newly renovated hotel not far from the airport but the traffic! It didn’t help that the road was narrow and only has two lanes, one going each direction. It was a bright hot sweltering day.

We were given a little welcome drink (the mug was big but the content was pitiful) and collected some ‘door gift’ before collecting the card keys to our respective room. My room was on the first floor (second floor to them, how American) and right at the very end of the corridor. It was a twin room with a balcony but didn’t face the garden and pool. The room felt how no matter how much I fiddled with the AC control and after hunting and feeling the wall, I finally found the luggage area and wardrobe – in the bathroom! What a strange place to put your luggage and have a wardrobe. I mean, won’t the condensation spoil your bags? Or did the hotel designers thought the steam would help keep your clothes wrinkle-free? After some time sorting out my things, I went to join the others for lunch.

I decided not to go with our team captain to check out the venue where our Scrabble games would be held when I heard it would take about an hour each way to get there and return back to the hotel. Plus it was simply just too hot to be venturing out. So I agreed with the other two lady players that we would have a practice session later in the afternoon. I returned back to the room, performed prayers and ironed my scarves. I also changed beds after deciding I couldn’t possibly sleep in the first bed (I hadn’t trashed the bed yet and my roommate hadn’t arrived either). I once spent sleepless nights in a hotel room because the AC was situated such that the cool air didn’t reach me and I wasn’t about to endure that again. My roommate arrived shortly after ;) she had a big suitcase that couldn’t fit into the luggage area so she decided to put it beside her bed. She went down for lunch and I made my way to NAN’s room and they were just about to start practice too. We played for two rounds as we needed to get ready for the welcoming ceremony.

After showering, I went down and walked to the beach to watch the sunset. Luckily for us, this side of the island afforded good views of sunset. I didn’t spend long there before hurrying back to my room for evening prayers and getting ready for the welcoming ceremony. The Malaysian contingent had to don the sport attire provided: collared t-shirt, wind cheater, track bottom, socks and sport shoes. The welcoming ceremony was held at the grand ballroom and after some Kodak moments of the senior management of the four participating bodies of the various contingents, we were ushered into the grand ballroom. Ah, AC relief at last!

We had buffet dinner and were kept entertained by songs performed by a group. Finally the speeches began and the performance continued with local dances. The ceremony ended around 10 p.m. and we made our way back to our rooms. We had an early start the following morning. The captains of the various sports had to stay back though to trash out the finer details of the respective competition.





To be continued