It was an incredibly rushed trip let’s start with that, I
was only in Hong Kong for 1 night and not even 2 full days. The thing was that
I didn’t find out I was going to the tournament until just 4 days before the
tournament was to start. So that didn’t leave me much time to book my flight
and hotel and let’s say that it wasn’t that easy seeing how little time and how
expensive everything was working out to be. Lucky I found a flight directly
from Beijing to Hong Kong for around $400 with air china so thankfully it was a
star alliance airline. The hardest part was the hotel though, the official
hotel was the Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel in Kowloon and it was crazy
expensive at about $204 US a night which was even more Canadian around $260 for
one night which is super hard to justify for a struggling athlete but at the
same time it was such a unique experience to play in the event so was justified
that way.
Hotel room doesn't look to bad
Now that all that was taken care of it was just time to
prepare, the tournament started on Tuesday morning with the qualifications
draws at 9am. My flight was Monday morning and I would get there Monday
afternoon just in time to attend the team managers meeting at the hotel.
Thankfully nothing was delayed and I made the connection to the bus to get to
the hotel in time and was able to attend the managers meeting at 6pm on the
Monday. I got to the hotel and lots of players were arriving and around so I
checked in and got to my room which for the price was incredibly small but then
again it’s the location and the hotel that made it so expensive for such a
small room.
Until you realize exactly how small it is foe what it costs
That same night they had a welcome dinner, something that
the china super series didn’t have despite being a higher level tournament. But
let’s talk about the dinner itself, it was a buffet but the quality of the food
was amazing and they didn’t skimp out at all on anything. There was an
orchestra there playing live for everybody as well as some live singers
throughout the night. The food was plentiful and abundant but the taste and
variety was amazing from Alaskan king crab to caviar and some top cuts of meat.
Then there was dessert, oh my gosh the dessert section was out of this world,
cakes, pastries, anything and everything sweet that you can think of and
everything that does not fit into an athletes diet.
Some of the food from the buffet, there was so much
So many desserts they were amazing
Live orchestra and singers
So I spent some time at the dinner but I was alone for it as
I didn’t know anybody there very well, I recognized a few faces but nobody who
I was close friends with and had hung out with before. After a few platefuls of
food (I hadn’t eaten much at this point, the last time was the lounge in the
Beijing airport) I headed back to my room for the night to rest and prepare for
my match the following morning. Now keep in mind I got into Hong Kong at 4pm
and to the hotel at 5pm then the managers meeting at 6pm then the welcome
dinner at 7pm. That means I actually didn’t get to practice in the venue at all
or even go over and see the venue period so I had no idea what to expect other
than what I have seen from pictures of the event in the year past. My match was
one of the first few up and there was nobody to warm up with let alone any room
on the warm up courts to even have a hit. This meant I just had to warm up very
well and get ready to adapt to the courts during the warm up.
We got a nice invasion to dinner and my player tag and program
Tournament venue, very cool set up
My opponent was from Hong Kong, Lee Chak Wai and like the
greater majority of my opponents he was younger than me, not quite a junior but
still younger 20’s. There was 4 courts in the venue and it was a very intimate
venue, the courts were in very close proximity to the crowd and for a Tuesday
morning the stands were completely packed with people watching the event. I was
on court 4 which was on the far side of the stadium right next to the stands.
Hong Kong super series is always known for its giant banner, this is the promotional
banner that is behind the courts and serves as an amazing backdrop but very
colorful and somewhat distracting at time. The venue dynamics itself weren’t
horrible, the lights while bright wasn’t blinding and there weren’t horrible
drafts it was just the case that one side played faster than the other with not
much wind movement side to side. Once again the match started good, as always
I’m able to rally and keep up with my opponent but then there’s that moment
when I try and force it to much and make too many mistakes or they push more
and put more pressure on me. Overall given the situation of not practicing at
all or having a hit in the venue other than the warm up I’m pretty happy with
how thing went, of course I hate to lose but I was fortunate enough to qualify
and play a second super series even being the first Trinidad player to play one
let alone two. So that was my super series experience in Asia none the less
where badminton is at its greatest. These tournaments would also technically
help for my world championships qualifications for men’s singles but not by
much as I didn’t get to many points because I was qualifications, more points
than first round of some of the lower level tournaments.
Since I was out of the tournament and my flight back to
Beijing wasn’t until 8pm that night I had some time to kill. I had been to Hong
Kong a few time before and seen the city more so the harbour front at night
which is a beautiful sight with all the lights and the light show. This time it
was in the middle of the day but the weather was not favorable and raining but
that wouldn’t stop me. I ventured outside and headed to the walk of stars but
it was actually closed this was a bummer but they moved the statues to a garden
close by now calling it the garden of the stars. The Bruce Lee statue was there
and that I of course what I wanted to see and got my chance.
Harbour front on a slightly gloomy day
I do love me some panoramas
Bruce Lee statue
After walking around that area I headed down to the harbour
front and spent some time there getting pictures during the day this time as
well as enjoying the view and avoiding the rain. I have been to Hong Kong quite
a few time before but always ended up at the harbour front in the night, not
really the day. That killed a decent amount of time so I headed back to the
tournament hall to get through the rest of the time before leaving to the
airport and to eat as well. I had already packed up everything and left my bag
at the hotel storage. Since this trip was so last minute and so expensive
already I didn’t bring or take out any Hong Kong currency and was actually able
to get away with not spending any money on food or anything else.
Outside the Tournament venue
Outside the tournament venue
Back at the venue spent my time in the players’ lounge which
was outfitted with players’ Wi-Fi and of course the most important part food.
After spending some time eating and browsing through the web it was getting
close to head to the airport or well more so I was ready to head there early
and spend some time in the lounge before my flight. I was happy to be heading
back to Beijing even if just for a day as my flight home was the next day but
that meant since I would arrive back to Beijing after midnight and my flight
home was not for another day so I booked a cheap hotel for the rest of the
night. The flight leaving Hong Kong was delayed a little but what happened when
we landed in Beijing wasn’t the most fun experience. When we landed the
hydraulics on the airplane failed and the front landing gear gave out. We ended up stopped on the runway just
waiting there to be towed into the gate, but this took a long time and was
slightly nerve-wracking. Eventually we did get towed in be in very slowly but
got through custom and claimed my bag then got a taxi to the hotel which was
very close to the airport.
Gotta love lounge food
Security and all coming to our rescue while stranded on the runway in Beijing
This would mark the end of the super series tour and at this
point it had been about 2 weeks and a bit that I was away from home so it would
definitely be nice to get home for a little while. I was happy to go on the
trip and finally play my first super series tournaments, they are the highest
in the world and it was an honour to collect some player’s badges from them to
add to the ever-growing collection. I just had to sit through the 12 hour
flight back home and that would be it for this long trip. One last tournament
for the year and that was the 2016 USA international challenge down in Orange
County at OCBC. A tournament I had played many times and also a venue I have
played at even more times.
I hadn’t played a tournament in a month at this point which
for me was a weird thing after playing 4 in a row. But this would be a special
trip, this would be my first super series tournament, and a premier super
series at that. Let me give you a little breakdown of the levels of badminton
tournaments in the world, I’ll do that with a helpful little chart. Not to long
of a read but gives some context to how special of an opportunity this was.
BWF tournaments
Olympics – top of the top, highest level tournament and
requires players to qualify over a 1 year period
World Championships – same as Olympics just a level down,
still need to qualify over 1 year period (64 players in men’s singles, 48
players/pairs in all other draws)
Team tournaments – Surdiman cup, Thomas cup, Uber cup
Super Series Premier – top 40 in the world regularly attend,
top 10 always present (32 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)
Super Series – top 50 in the world regularly attend, top 10
always present (32 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)
Grand Prix Gold – usually players ranked top 100 in the
world will play (64 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)
Grand Prix – usually players ranked top 150 players in the
world will play (64 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)
International Challenge – low level and ranges by region for
strength (32 or 64 in men’s singles and 32 in all other draws, 16 in
qualifications)
International Series – low level tournament (32 or 64 in
men’s singles and 32 in all other draws, 32 to 64 in qualifications)
Future Series – lowest level tournament and does not have
any prize money, minimal world ranking points as well
Now in order to get into any tournaments listed below the
team ones it is all based on your current world ranking at the time of entry (1
month before the tournament). This ranking will be used to make the main and
qualifying report which lists all the players present in the tournament
accordingly on theory world ranking. A super series of either level has a 32
size main draw meaning there are 28 spots guaranteed and 4 spots for qualifiers
from the qualification. Super series of either level have 4 qualifiers and a 16
size qualification, meaning you have to win 2 matches to make it to the main
draw. On top of that there are players who simply won’t be ranked high enough
to make either of those lists so they have what’s called the reserve list,
listing players in descending rider of world ranking. This is in case a player
from the main draw or qualifications withdraws before the draw or even after,
then players from the reserve list can be used to fill their spots.
So based on all this information for me to actually make it
into the qualifications was a decently big deal. Be it that I was only in the
qualifications it was still a Super Series Premier event and I was thrilled. I
was also on the reserve list for the Hong Kong Super Series that was happening
the week after China. China Super Series has always been notorious for not
being well attended despite being the week before Hong Kong, so this was my
best chance to play one and I wouldn’t be passing up the opportunity again.
Earlier in the year I had been on the reserve list for the Australia Open Super
Series but did not find out until 3 days before the event that I had been
promoted into the qualifications. Because of the short notice and how long it
would take to fly to Australia I was unable to attend the event. This time
would be different as I already knew I was in the qualifications draw when the
draws came out so I booked my flight. I did not know for sure about Hong Kong
though so I booked my flight to stay in China past Hong Kong just in case I did
get into play.
Lounge in Beijing, I am no stranger there
Lounge food in Asia is easily the best period
That time again to head to the airport, a place I hadn’t
been in a whole month. Boarded and started the route with a flight to LA, then
to Beijing and finally to Fuzhou where I would be meeting up with Yuko and Tuck
who were playing mixed. The flights were long and it had been a long time since
I went to Asia so that 13 hour flight from LA was a little long but nothing I
hadn’t done multiple time before. Arriving in Fuzhou it was late at night and I
made it to the room to see Yuko there and get some well needed rest after all
the travel, Tuck would arrive the next morning. Let’s start with the breakfast
at the hotel...the buffet was simply amazing so much variety and choice. After
eating for what must have been an hour just trying all the different food
mostly the Asian items, we went back to the room and waited for Tuck.
Breakfast at the tournament hotel, yes all that is just for me
We had practice in the main hall that day as well as in the
practice courts which words cannot describe. The venue was amazing and not to
mention had some intense security outside to go through. We were given our
players accreditation which had a special chip inside that would be scanned
when we passed through scanners. The arena though let’s start with the area
shall we. This tournament was being held in a sports park and it was huge it
had everything from a swimming center, tennis center, stadium and many other
buildings for sports and other activities. One of the later days Yuko and I
wanted to see what there really was around so we did a walk through the park
and saw it all. There were not many people using the facilities at the time
though but that might be due to the tournament taking place. So we toured
around and saw the giant stadium as well as all the other buildings, amazing
for a sport park and something that you would never really see in North
America.
The main stadium
Practice hall
Now getting onto the venue, this was a super series after
all and the set up was nothing short of amazing. Macau Grand Prix Gold was the
best set up tournament that I had attended up until this point but seeing this
venue blew that out of the water. Maybe because it was a super series that’s
what made it that much more amazing but it was huge. That also meant that it
was very hard to play in the main hall, the practice court area itself was huge
too and you could easily hold an international tournament just in there. We
spent quite a bit of time in there as we didn’t have a court in the main hall
as of yet. That is when we saw the majority of the top international players,
super casually we were surrounded by players ranked top 10 in the world. Famous
names like Chen Long, Rathanot Inatanon, Jan Jorgensen, and many more. This is
when we took the opportunity to get a picture with Chen Long, another top
player to add to the collection (Taufik, Lee Chong Wei, Peter Gade, were
already in the book) and later on would be fortunate to get one with Viktor Axelsen
but we will save that story. After some time of hitting in the practice hall we
finally had a court in the main hall and moved into there to practice with 2
other USA players, Beiwen Zhang and Maya Chen.
Playing in the main hall was so different than the practice
courts for sure. It was easily 3 times as large not to mention a few drafts and
you can’t hear your shot at all. Despite all this we were able to get a great
session in before qualifying started the next day for Tuck and I in single and
first round mixed doubles was also after qualifying for Tuck and Yuko. As that
was it for training we headed back to the hotel and went in search of food for
the night. Luckily there was a mall across the street with an abundant supply
of restaurants and a grocery store. This was the first time Yuko went to China
so everything was very new and shocking but to me it was pretty straight
forward and I had been to China many time before. Later that night came the
second picture with a big player of the trip. Yuko is very close friends with
Viktor Axelsen and long story short his room was next to ours in the hotel and
on top of that he brought his bronze medal from the 2016 Olympics to show Yuko.
So to sum it up I got to meet Viktor and hold his medal while getting a picture
with him. That means that at this point the only picture left that I wanted to
get was with Lin Dan (he wasn’t at this tournament despite it being in China).
Thanks to Yuko I got to know Viktor and hold his bronze medal from the 2016 Olympics
Also got fortunate enough to get a picture with Chen Long, Olympic gold medalist
Now it was time for my match, due to this being a
Superseries it started on Monday with qualifications for all events in the
morning and first round of mixed. The matches came around, Tuck was up first
for men’s singles qualifications first and we all watched that one. I was up
next with my match and it was definitely a fun experience. I was fortunate
enough to play on court one, show court, and on top of that I had one of the
best badminton photographers to take pictures of me during the match. I was
playing against a Chinese backup national team athlete, Wu Xin and that was a
tough one to begin with. The match started off pretty good we had some long
rallies and then he stepped it up a gear taking the lead. I was able to rally
with him though and through the match was able to control him around the court.
He wasn’t always able to just overpower me or hit straight up winners which was
a nice feeling. The hall wasn’t a bad one to play in and didn’t have a crazy
draft the day of matches, it was almost ideal situation for such a huge venue.
Ultimately in the end though it was my mistake that ended up costing me the
match. Just like that my superseries experience was over but we had a few days
left in Fuzhou to experience the city and culture.
First up Yuko wanted to really get a cupping session done as
well as a massage so that was the first thing for us to find. We (each country)
were given a certain number of volunteers based on the amount of players that
the country had. I was given 1 because it just me but Tuck and Yuko being part
of team USA were given 2. So we went to our respective volunteers and asked if
they would be able to help us find a place. Low and behold they were able to
and we soon jumped into a taxi and were off to our destination. The place
provided massages (lower body, upper body, whole body) as well as cupping on
top of that. Tuck and Yuko choose the lower body massage while I picked upper
body, then we all got cupping done on our backs. Going into the room we were
given these retro looking clothing to put on and then lay on these chairs/beds
waiting for the ladies giving the massage to come in. The massages started with
screams from Tuck and Yuko as their feet were being massaged not only by hands
but also by wooden dowels and various other instruments in addition to scolding
hot water. I, on the other hand had a very relaxing time as the lady worked
over my shoulders, arms, back and the rest of my upper body. Now that all that
was over and the screaming had stopped it was time to bring out the cups for
use. If you have never seen or had cupping done then it is when there are glass
cups which are heated up and placed on the skin in strategic places. At this
point the skin is then sucked up into the cup because of the pressure
differential and it is left on the skin for 10 minutes or more. At this point
all the blood has been drawn to the surface and then the circle I a different
shade of red, the shade represents the amount of “toxins” in the blood and the
darker the circle the more bad stuff that has been removed. Overall it was a
great experience and a fantastic bonding experience for us all to have
together.
It was very relaxing
Somebody say fire
During
The aftermath
Once that was done and we were beaten up but built a new it
was time for a walk and to find some food. There was a street market outside
which we took a few walks up and down, checking out all the local goods,
counterfeit items, street food and various other things present. This marked
our second last day in the city and the following day was the last we would
have together as Tuck and Yuko were heading back to the states and I would go
into Beijing and stay with my friend for a little as I awaited to hear about
the Hong Kong superseries. So the Wednesday came and we started with Yuko and
me going to the tournament venue to watch matches while Tuck rested at the
hotel. We watched some matches and checked out the shops outside then headed
back to the hotel and walked around the mall a little bit more. I ended up
going for a workout later in the day which was nice even despite the small and
limited gym that the hotel had. We all went out for dinner together and then
settled in for the night, packing bags and getting ready for departure the
following day as we were all on the same flight back to Beijing.
The stadium from the outside
Giant Soccer stadium
Up bright and early we headed to the airport and checked in,
we weren’t the only players heading back home as a few of the Europeans whom
had lost were also on the flight. The flight itself was a nice quick one and
definitely not too hard to handle like the 12 hour flight to Beijing. Now it
was just a waiting game for Hong Kong, I sent an email to the HKBA (Hong Kong
badminton Association) and was just awaiting their reply to see if I had been
promoted to the qualifications draw of the tournament. Until then it was time
to relax in China and have some awesome food as well as experience the culture.
CCTV building, I love architecture so seeing this was great
Morning on the other side of the world and I was ready for
the day to start. It was the fourth day of the trip and today I would be
playing some badminton. I hadn’t played since my last match at Manhattan Beach
International just a few short days prior but that was fine, I was itching to
get back on court. Before that though Belinda and I went to the grocery store
to get some fruits for her parents as a gift when I went to their house later
for lunch before badminton. Chinese supermarkets are always my favorite as they
have everything that I would and could ever want. After picking up a variety of
fruits (Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc) we proceeded to go to her
condo/house.
When we got there her parents had already started to make
lunch, dumplings. Of course I wasn’t going to stand by and not get in on this.
So on that day I helped and learned to make dumplings from scratch. It was
quite the process but they had already finished making the stuffing and the
dough. All that was left was the cut the dough into pieces that would be used
for each dumpling and then fill it. So I picked up the role of dumpling filler
and it was good. In the end couldn’t easily tell which ones were mine compared
to the pros (her parents). They tasted great and after we had eaten it was now
time to go to play badminton. This would be a different place than her parents
usually play at because it was during the week and they mostly play on the
weekends. But that was alright and they found a place, a pretty significant
place actually. The stadium that we ended up playing at was the stadium that
they built and used for the 1990 Asia Games and I would later find that out
when Ardy was telling me a story about being in Beijing.
1990 Asia games stadium where I played badminton
The stadium now has long since been repurposed into a
multisport facility with lots of different uses but primarily it had tennis
courts and lots…lots of badminton courts. There was also an indoor rock wall
which was cool to see families coming out to use that and not your everyday
common sight in China compared to North America. The courts were alright and it
wasn’t like I was playing a tournament or anything, just trying to make sure I
impressed her parent’s haha so they would do. We played a few games of 3 vs 1
and then Belinda and I played some doubles games against them. After a while
her parents left to get some stuff done but said they would be back later if we
needed them. When they left I ended up doing some drills, I didn’t get stared
at as much as I thought I would while playing badminton there. Some guys rented
the court behind us and when they saw me doing drills they ended up stopping to
watch for a while. We finished our session and the lights above the court went
dark, time was up. Belinda’s parents came back because it was pouring outside
so they didn’t want us to walk in the rain and ended up dropping us back to the
hotel. That night we had dinner plans with some of Belinda’s school friends
from when she lived in China.
The subway stations in china sometimes have awesome designs
Night time and the lights came on, but there was rain on this
night not to light but not too hard either. Thankfully we were just walking
across to the Golden Resources Mall to meet them there. With so many
restaurants it makes sense as the place to go for variety and what did we end
up having but Chinese hot pot. Her friends were incredibly entertaining and
actually spoke a decent amount of English, a well-rounded group and funny to be
around. We may have also bonded over the common ground of making fun of Belinda
but that’s normal when there’s somebody new in the group haha. The dinner went
well and we sat in the restaurant for a while, afterwards the night was still
young and it was a dilemma to figure out the next place to hit up for some fun.
A bar and club were out of the question, nobody was feeling in the mood to
drink or party that hard. But then somebody said it and we went to karaoke, now
anybody who knows me knows that I don’t actually sing…like at all. I would
swear that I am tone deaf and just have no singing capabilities at all. But I
still went along to have fun and just spectate what was happening there. They
sung some Chinese songs, mostly love songs but then it happened and the cheesy
English songs came on. But by that time my eyes were closing on me and sleep
had taken me for the night, I ended up falling asleep in the room and not to
long after we went back to the hotel.
Day 5 – Interrogation at dinner
After a good night’s rest and feeling very refreshed there
was another task to complete today. Find a gift for Belinda’s grandmother, not
just any gift though a gift that she would like and approve of. So we set out
and went to mall after mall, it was settled upon that we would get a necklace
for her. The nice thing about china you can find anything so we got the chain
and pendant separate to find the perfect combination for her. This however was
not as easy as it sounded, we needed to find the right combination and that was
hard enough already without spending an arm and a leg. But we did it,
ultimately it took a while but we found the perfect pieces and together it was
the one so we picked it up and then picked up some lunch to refuel our famished
bodies.
Things took a golden twist afterwards when we headed to see
the Olympic stadiums from the 2008 Olympic Games that took place in Beijing.
The weather however could have cooperated better with us on that day. It was
very cold and got to be pretty windy which didn’t help at all when combined
with the fact the area was essentially a large flat area with just a few large
buildings greatly spread out. I got up close and personal to the birds nest and
at first it didn’t look huge but I soon realized that I was staring at it from
a weird side angle of the curve of it causing it to look incredibly small, when
I saw it from the side then its true massive nature hit me and the gravity of
the Olympics happened right here was a cool feeling. I had just gone to Pan Am
Games the year before which are a way smaller version of the Olympics but the
same concept so to see the scale of this area just blew me away. The water cube
was across from the Birds Nest and although it wasn’t night I could remember
how cool it looked all lit up. Snapped some pictures and then we were done and
happy to be getting out of the cold. Now the task of getting to Belinda’s
grandmothers place happened but eventually we got there runny noses and all.
2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium, aka the Birds Nest
Her grandmother has such an amazing view of the Olympic
Village and as soon as it turned dark she got excited to show me, it truly was
a beautiful sight to see the water cube lit up and the national stadium lit
again. After some tea and quick talking
we ended up getting dressed up again to brave the weather and headed to dinner.
I would be meeting her family or well those that came back from their recent
trip to Hinain province for Chinese New Year a few days prior. I did not know
what I was walking into that is for sure. We arrived at the restaurant and
found ourselves ushered into a back room which had a gigantic table with lots
of chairs set up in it. There was already about 5 or 6 people in the room and
then add them to the group of 7 or 8 of us that just walked in and a few more
people who came a few minutes later there was a lot of people. We all sat and
got acquainted with one another, mostly it was people asking questions about me
and Mengran translating it for them to understand. A few of her aunts and her
mom understood English so they could verify that what she was translating was
in fact what I was saying. All during this amazing food dishes were coming out
and we were eating, as well as drinking (some super strong famous alcohol that
her uncle brought, how I did not get wasted I don’t know) and discussing
anything and everything you could think of about me.
The Q&A of who is Nick came to an end finally and then
we moved in a different direction, towards a slide show presentation about the
family’s New Year’s trip and celebration. That was a pleasant slideshow and a
familiar place that I have gone before so was cool to see other people enjoying
it and to share that connection with them. This whole time we were eating
dinner and some amazing Chinese dishes not to mention having some rice wine
that was brought for the occasion. Just like that 3 hours had passed and the
night was over as people had to head home for the night. Overall it was a
fantastic dinner and great time even if I did get interrogated by quite a few
people. It was time to call it a night and then get ready for the final day in
Beijing.
Small portion of all the people that were at dinner
Day 6 – Time to Say Goodbye
It was time to leave Beijing, seems like it was just
yesterday that I arrived but time had definitely flown by. Both Belinda and I
were flying out on the same day but to 2 different places for different
reasons. I was heading back to Calgary, to training and coaching as well as
life as I knew it. Belinda on the other hand was heading to Atlanta as she was
now on her last rotation for the GE program that she was in. So she would spend
6 months working in Atlanta. It was February 14th, valentine’s day,
and we were flying to different cities from the same airport and just so
happens that our planes were next to each other at their respective gates. We
boarded our flights and headed out for new journeys that lay in front of
us.
The first tournament of the year had been completed as well
first trip to Asia for the year was completed. I wouldn’t have another
tournament for a while, the next one would actually be Trinidad and Tobago
national championships in April. I would be defending my national title there
but first a 12 hour flight back to Calgary and a lot of movies to catch up on.
Being on the Olympic grounds, maybe one day ill be able to be there as an athlete
*Warning this is my longest blog post to date…its long and
has lots of pictures hence why it’s in 2 parts*
Manhattan Beach International had just finished and I found
myself at LAX but not on a flight home to Calgary, rather on a flight to San
Francisco where I would catch my connection to Beijing, China. Belinda had
invited me to go to China with her and meet her parents/family and I said that
I would. I would also try and get in some training as well while there, it is
China after all and home to badminton. I was already planning the trip when I
thought I would be in Thailand the week before and it would be easy to fly over
from there but when that got cancelled I still decided to go to China anyways.
I would be there during Chinese New Year which is something that I haven’t
experienced in Asia as of yet.
Day 1 – Arrival
The flight to China is nothing new to me, I have gone there
and to Asia many times before so the 10-12 hour flights isn’t something I
dislike or stay away from. The flight over was standard as usual in terms of my
routine, sleep half of it and watch movies for the rest according to the time in
China. Once I arrived I was greeted by a driver that Belinda’s family had hired
to pick me up and take me to the hotel. The family and she would arrive the
next day as they were in Lingshui, Hinan province for Chinese New Year. I had
just gone to Lingshui January 2015 for the China international challenge. So I
had a day and a half to kill before they arrived back to Beijing and I was in
luck with the location I was at.
Across the street from the hotel was the second largest mall
in the world called the Golden Resources Mall, funny enough the first largest
mall was also located in China just in another city. It was true this thing was
huge and it barely fit into a panorama, nothing compared to any mall in Canada
or anywhere else in the world. So I spent quite a few hours exploring that as
well as getting my food and groceries too. After all that walking it was time
to call it a night and prepare for the following days activities. Located a
little walk from the hotel was a park or rather palace park. It was the
emperor’s summer palace and highly recommended by Belinda to check out so I
planned to spend the following day there. I would be greatly surprised by the
sheer size of the area when I got there.
GR Mall... huge thing just barely fits in the whole panorama
Day 2 – Self tour of the Summer Palace
Day broke and the weather wasn’t terrible, despite all the
fireworks going off the night before the air was pretty clear and the sky
wasn’t overcast. Being February it was still winter in China and I thankfully
brought my winter jacket which I definitely needed that day as well as one more
layer underneath. So I started the walk down the canal towards the Summer
Palace and it was just a few kilometers away nothing to bad and I love to walk
so it’s always a pleasure for me. Boy was I in for a full day of walking, climbing
up and down stairs and walking through ancient buildings/temples. The river was
still partially frozen but getting closer to the park there were people
swimming in it. I paid my entry which allowed me to see everything in the park
and then walked in, at first I didn’t grasp the size of the area. Walking in
and seeing the emperor’s palace all the way at the other end of the lake I was
just thinking wow the royal family was incredibly lucky to have all this to run
away to. I could just think how lucky the kids of the royal family would be to
have all this space and so many cool things to explore and play around.
The river while walking to the summer palace
The place had amazing buildings and all the details mind blowing
I had a lot of ground to cover, thankfully I had almost the
whole day as the park or well access to the buildings closed at 5pm and it was
only 11am in the morning. Start walking I did and did I ever walk, I ended up
taking the “shortcut” which cut through the lake and that a lone was filled
with many little buildings and bridges along the way. Some of which were turned
into restaurants for people to eat at. Despite it being Chinese New Year and
lots of people left Beijing to go back to their home provinces the park was
still packed and there was lots of tourists…Chinese tourists not so much
foreign ones (I saw less than 10 foreign tourists the whole 6 hours I spent in
the park). I brought my DSLR with me and started taking pictures of everything,
there was just so many intricate details on everything and such beauty in the
architecture. I always liked Chinese history and Japanese history as they are
so rich in cultural experiences, events that took place and the physical sites
still around, we don’t have the same kind of history or historical sites in
North America.
I decided to save the palace for last or well almost last
instead of just going straight to the main attraction. So I walked around back
where there was a sort of shopping area set up down on the water, it was cool
to walk around the narrow edge and see all that was there. Following that I
went up the back way of the palace and saw some of the beauty in the artistic
detail on the buildings, each roof piece had the same carving in it. All the
artwork on every beam of the ceiling it was amazing and must have taken a long
time to do all of that. I came to the palace from behind and made my way down
the hill seeing all the auxiliary structures and temples/statues. Now time for
the main attraction, walking up there was a lot of stairs that needed to be
climbed but these didn’t feel like normal stairs they were steep. Making the
way to the top was a statue of Guanyin and in all its glory in front of us. Of
course it said no photographs but every single person was taking pictures so I
snapped a few as well. Making my way back down I visited all the various other
rooms seeing how they were set up and the history behind what they were used
for. The view from the top was amazing you could see over the entire lake all
the way to the entrance and that’s when I truly appreciated the size of the
park and the palace itself.
The weather had warmed up a bit and the sun was shining in
an almost cloudless sky. I began walking back towards the entrance on the
opposite side of the lake this time when it happened. I turned to see the
palace looking at me across the lake with some boats in the water. I thought it
would be a cool shot and I snapped a few pictures not thinking too much of it.
Later when I was sorting through all the pictures there it was the picture that
I had taken and I just couldn’t stop staring at it. Instantly it was my
favorite picture of the trip and just the way that I captured the scene blew my
own mind.
My favorite picture that I have taken to date
I still had one more little island to visit before heading
out and it was a peaceful little place, sitting in the lake you could have a
view of everything in the park. I was just thinking about taking a swim in the
water come summer haha it looked like it would be such a nice thing to do. Alas
the time in the park had come to an end, I spent roughly 6 hours in there
walking around and seeing everything that I could. Time flew by and I couldn’t
believe how long I spent let alone how many kilometres I must have walked
within the park that day. Time to walk the canal back to my hotel, it was still
light out but getting slightly colder again so I put some gloves on and started
the trek back to my temporary home…with a stop at the mall for some food first.
Belinda and her family flew back in that night and of course I was able to see
her that night, it was so nice and she also told me about the plan for the
following day what we would go do and see.
Day 3 – Tea in Beijing
We awoke that morning and got ready to head out bright and
early, there were more fireworks the previous night as it seems people were
still celebrating. First on the agenda was to go to see the Forbidden City so
we figured its best to go early as there was only a limited number of tickets
available for the day. We jumped on the subway and headed towards the center of
Beijing, switching lines a few times in order to arrive. Once getting there and
stepping outside there was a lot of smog and fog in the air, it was really hazy
and limited visibility. There was also a ton of people with the same idea of
going in to view the city. Again it is one of those things that you can’t fully
comprehend the size until you are standing there and can see the size of things
with your own eyes. There was a lot of walking and once you are past the iconic
front wall of the Forbidden City you get into the bowels of the area,
unfortunately for us the tickets were all sold out for the day so we would be
unable to go inside the city. That was alright at least I got close enough to
it and gives me another reason to come back to China in the future.
We left the Forbidden City and walked out past Tienamin
Square as well as one of the national museum’s which had a line wrapped around
it of people waiting to get in. We kept walking towards a small little area
that was filled with shops and more importantly places to eat food, I had
worked up quite the appetite at this point. So we walked around the area and
saw lots of goodies for dessert afterwards but food first. There were a few
places but the lines were crazy long so we eventually found a quiet little spot
which had amazing food. It was at that moment the reality sunk in that I was in
China after being in North America. But this time it was different, I have
always traveled for tournaments and although I just played a tournament this
was kind of like a vacation and a nice time away from badminton for a few days.
After we had late lunch we walked around some more and got dessert and headed
to see some shopping before meeting up with Belinda’s parents later that night
for dinner and a show at a famous tea house.
Tienamin square, famous for many things
Nom nom nom all the desserts
The darkness crept over the city and with it came some rain
but the bright lights of Beijing and amount of people out would have you think
otherwise that it wasn’t nighttime. We met Belinda’s parents at a little
restaurant and had some nice traditional Chinese dishes. After dinner we walked
over to a famous tea house where they display a bunch of different performances
from Chinese culture for foreigners. Many famous people have passed through
those doors from former USA presidents to actors/celebrities from all over the
world. The show started and they of course gave us some tea and various snacks
to munch on throughout the show. We sat and watched the variety of performances
and what would be somewhat spectacles. They were very impressive but all did
tell a part of Chinese history which has happened for generations and
generations, some of which still are practiced today. Upon the end of the show
we got some pictures and looked around the little museum like house which was
the theatre. There were lots of historical items present as well as many kinds
of tea for purchase. The rain had more or less passed at this point and we went
for a little drive before Belinda’s parents dropped us off at the hotel.
Inside the tea house
Performances at the tea house
Three days had passed just like that, I had done so much
already and see so many things. Not to mention eat a lot of delicious authentic
Chinese food, yum. It was time to call it a night and then the adventure would
continue the next day…or well in the next blog post for you.
