Hardly news is it? What is she going to say? "I don't think I can be bothered trying tomorrow, I might as well just give her the game"
A couple of quick news.. - My roommate went to the Thursday's morning session and he apparently mistaken Mr. Agum Gumelar (Taufik's father in law) for a reporter. Here's what trasnspired. He went in, to the seating area. When he sat down, he saw Mr. Gumelar scribbling something on a piece of paper. He then asked him whether he's a reporter or a journalist. Unbeknownst to my roommate, he then asked what newspaper company does the person work for?...Then out of nowhere, someone said "It's that Mr. Gumelar"....My roommate suddenly pulled back and looked next to him and realized he was sitting right next to Mr. Agum and his wife...........And yes, Ami was there sitting next to them as well. - For tomorrow morning's session, apparently the Indonesian consulate has reserved the entire row of seating for the Indonesian contingency/consulate. I guess the reservation is for them to watch the Maria Kristin vs. Zhang Ning's match. That should be a cracker.. - It was raining for most of the afternoon today. Thank goodness for it. - Fengwei met Rexy at the athlete's village and took a picture w/him (however, the pic is in my camera:crying. He and Syaoran_Style (Tarek) also ran into Lee Wan Wah & Wong Choong Hann and another coach at the Wangfujing's shopping area (apparently after their earlier day's defeat). And no, Pemuda, we don't know if they actually shopped for one of those Olympics medals replicas.. *They should post some of those pics, later.. ..okay, that's all the brief news for now...chat again...
hmm.heard that lee chong wei and the whole malaysia badminton team had arrived at KLIA 3.30 pm just now..
A couple of quick side news.. ..(well, i'm here, at kwun's hometown, killing a bit of time while enjoying the nightlife at an internet cafe).. So, here are a few more (irrelevant) side news, before i forget them: - As noted by Loh, the security at the venue was very strict. However, during that night, during our get-together, we were able to get the tripod back after 30 min. Apparently, not only the restrictions were "broken" as there were some other reg. spectators who brought in their professional looking photog equips. - Yes, there were many2 scalpers roaming the sidewalk at the venues. A couple of times we encountered scalpers selling as well as buyers asking to buy tix. At the swimming venue, Fengwei and I ran into a bunch of scalpers selling tix right there and then at the spot. But, as expected, there were hardly any police or law enforcement in the neighborhood. - Taufik, Ami (his wife), Sony, Hendra & Markis came to the Indonesian consulate to celebrate the INA Independence Day, on Sunday. My roommate told me it was a festive atmosphere. Too bad, i was out and about shopping with the other BCers, as i wasn't able to take pics with them. - One of the most popular Adidas t-shirts was a best-seller. It is the t-shirt with the flame (orange/red) color, off to the side. Fengwei and Syaoran_Style(Tarek) were looking for that specific t-shirt all over town and couldn't find it. Not sure if they're able to find them or not. - We also ran into a couple of incidents involving security guards either yelling or telling us not to take pics of regular buildings (the front of the R&F club, where we played baddy for the BC get-together) or interior spaces of a public place. For one, i am still boggled by such behaviors. - A few of us BCers also went to BBESport and BBEShop to check out some baddy goodies. For those interested to see how they look like, Fengwei and Tarek took pics of the stores.. - A few of us went to Awana Malaysian restaurant earlier last week, as recommended earlier by yannie and Chu_liuxiang. Taste was pretty good, but the place was super-duper quiet. I believe we were the only customers, other than a couple other people. - The racket stringing area in the badminton venue was not visible. Or at least not visible to the spectators. We looked left and right, but couldn't find the stringing area. We could guess it's located just underneath the spectator seating/stands. - Our Mr. Fault (Cormac) is actually an umpire. He is from Ireland and we actually took pics of him. However, his pics are in my forever lost digicam/SD card... For those who remember the Sony D.K.'s match in the earlier round (i believe on Tuesday, 12th), Cormac was umpiring that match. Fengwei was able to chat with him for a few minutes, over his cellphone, though. Cormac was a really busy guy.
What is kompang' anyway? Oh, and anyone knows when INA badminton team will leave Beijing? To 63-years-ol' home sweet home? (Already answered. Thank you.)
About the weather in Beijing.. ..the last few days in Beijing, at least on the weekend, were wonderful. Who would've expected rain and clear skies actually enveloped the city the last couple of days. It was still hot & humid but as far as i remember, there were only a few days, during my stay in Beijing, where the air was unbreathable. The weekend's weather was so good, we could see blue skies for at least 2 days. Thank goodness, as the track & field event has started this past weekend.
The whole badminton squad are there, except two xd pairs. Taufik came bit late with his family. Hendra, Markis, and Maria become the star, they bring their medal, everyone took picture and talk to them. So busy until they have no time to eat. Alvent and Luluk join the party, but Sony prefer stay outside the area and keep busy with his cellphone.
Not much Olympics souvenir choices in HK.. - I went to a few HK-based Olympics merchandise souvenir shops and i only saw very limited items in comparison to those in Beijing. Thank goodness i was able to grab most of the souvenirs in Beijing.. - HK will host a few of the CHN's Olympics winners, such as LinDan, Guo Jingjing and a few others at the end of August. Tickets were put on sale today or y'day and the same thing happened also like in Beijing. People actually slept outside the tix box office and tried to get those tix (was shown on tv). However, i believe the govt. put a limit of 2 tix/person.
wow, chris..u just grab the souvenirs there?? did u have a visit to the police station? just joking.bro.
Players encounters.. ..on a few occasions, i & other BCers ran into several players. - Well, if last yr i missed meeting the MAS' Juniors (during the WC), fate would have it this yr. On the Aug. 12th's night session, as i was heading back inside the badminton venue, i ran into Tan Chung Seang in the hallway(OMG!!!Who knew!); but i didn't bring my digicam. I first noticed him and then just about the same time we passed each other, i called out "Chung Seang!". He stopped and looked back and right away he smiled. Wow, he's really a friendly, down-to-earth fella! (yannie, you're right about him being so friendly. I even asked if he knew you and he said, 'yes'). After that, we started chatting, as if he knew me and vice versa (eventhough that was the 1st time ever he & i met); i asked him who he came with & how long they're staying in Beijing. Throughout the whole conversation (yes, we chatted in English), he was all smiles. He even told me where they (he and a couple other MJs) were sitting during the match. - Feng and I ran into Martin Lundgard Hansen, outside the arena, just after we finished watching JR & LP defeat LYD & JJS. Actually we were "player hunting". Feng was trying to ask Martin where we could meet JR & LP and possibly asked them to sign his t-shirt. Unfortunately, we couldn't meet them. But lucky Feng, during the press interview on the side area, just after JR & LP had won, he was able to wave to Jonas (with the BC t-shirt dangling on one hand) and JR quickly recognized the BC logo & acknowledged him with a smile. *Hope JR is reading this and remembers the young tall lad who waved at him. - Met with Eva Lee (U.S. Singles and Doubles player) and her parents (also on the 12th). I only spoke very briefly with her mom. They said they were planning to go to HK halfway during the badminton event week and then come back to Beijing the following week. - Ran into May Mangkalakiri (U.S.' Doubles player), also on the 12th of Aug. outside of the arena, as we were getting ready to meet with the other BCers. She came walking with 2 full shopping bags. I asked her, " May! How's it going? Just came back from shopping?". Which she replied with a nod. We chatted also quite briefly and she said the U.S. squad is staying in Beijing and will go back to the U.S. til after the badminton event has finished. Or maybe sometimes this week?? - (As mentioned earlier) i ran into Claudio Rivero, but didn't speak to her. Only asked her to take a quick pic. - (Also as mentioned earlier) Feng and Tarek ran into LWW and WCH at the Wangfujing shopping area, after their early defeat. I'll let them share more about their encounter. - A couple other BCers also ran into XXZ, inside the arena, i believe.
Lee Wan Wah looked huge! But WCH was quite tall aswell. Lee Wan Wah seemed to be friendly, but because they were in a slight hurry (it seemed to me) I only asked WCH for a picture. He was very friendly and liked the attention. I also met Zhao Jianhua inside the stadium, and I got an autograph of Boonsak Ponsana aswell. I met Rexy outside of the Olympic Village where he agreed to come and meet Chris and me. He was such a friendly guy, unbelievable! The day after, I also bumped into him inside the venue, and we had a chat about the losses of KKK/TBH and LWW/CTF. It was quite sad, but he was still the usual him, friendly and smiling. As Chris said, we met Lundgaard outside the stadium, he was in a rush, but still had a moment for us. Nice bloke I can easily have forgotten some other badminton sportsmen, met so many of them
