Penang Dragonboat... Part 2

Ooops... I forgot all about the part 2 of the Penang Dragonboat Race.

Anyway, we started Day 2 with some training at the beach. The Thais were already up and running by the time we strolled there. And we passed by the cafe where we were supposed to have our breakfast... ooooo.... the cereals... the breads... the omelettes... I was tempted not to go for training and go for breakfast... But I did not succeed.

We started with a run, a short run, very very short. Then, we did some kind of telematch, everybody had to do some burpees, pushups, crunches and more pushups. Then, we did some exercises with the elastic bands. Training ain't tough but it was torturous as images of the food kept floating across my mind. I was really glad when the training ended and we could go for breakfast.

Time was short as we needed to rush down to the dam for the opening ceremony. We had 1.5 hrs to wash up and eat our breakfast. So, we "chop chop" showered, changed and rushed to have breakfast which was really really good. Ok lah, I could have been hungry hence the food tasted great to me.

Next up in the schedule was the opening ceremony. We reached the dam early, around 11am and waited for the guest of honour (GOH). We waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited and waited... By 12.30pm, the GOH was still nowhere near the dam. It was hot, tremendously hot. With nothing much to do but waiting and more waiting... I was impatient. Everybody was.

The local host even suggested to us that it was possible for us to leave and not attend the ceremony. That certainly appealled to a lot of us and we were all for that idea. However, we were representing SAFRA and hence we have to think about her reputation as well. Dilemma? Yes, we were. Some thought that we should go and some thought that we should stay.

And we stayed. At about 1.30pm, there were finally traces of the GOH. We waited 2.5 hours for this GOH and did he apologise? Of course not, he is the GOH mah, Chief Minister for Penang, don't pray pray...

Once the ceremony was over, we evacuated as well. We returned to the hotel and changed; we were all sweaty and stinky and.... Shopping and lunch was next! Hurray!!!

Fast forward a bit... after shopping and dinner, we had to rehearse for our performance. Why did we agree to perform during the closing dinner? WHy?? But it turned out well and I must say, it was good memory!