Thursday, 24 January 2019

Blog Update: Asia Championship Winter 2019 Experience

Post-event experience.
For sharing and also for my own archival purposes.



For Dsummon's vlog, check it out at the BeyondTheDuel youtube.



Started my day (or rather, night) at 1.30am.
Left home and reached the airport via cab.

Our flight was 6am, so check in time was around 4.
I am going with SanganFTK for this trip. We had other friends waiting to see us off. They were already at Macdonalds at the airport since dinner time. Just chilling.
Me, on the other hand, was considered late. late for being early.





 Checked in, using the automated check in machines. The counters weren't opened.


Boarding gates weren't allocated yet either. So we went ahead and took a turn towards the left and chose a random gate.
E2.

Will we be destined to be near our boarding gate?




This was my set up while waiting near the benches.
SanganFTK was napping

Went around for a walk as my laptop charged for battery at the charging ports available.



Airport is pretty nice, as usual.
Hey, number one in the world right?
Although most shops were closed



Walked by the famed movie screening threate.
The credits were rolling when I went there :(
The seats looked really comfy though.


There is the internet area. And a Spa (which I didn't go)
Also wanted to add that due to our early check-in, we had plenty of time. Waiting time.
Which is why we haven't got a boarding gate yet and I am walking around
Also I am a little hungry



Time to cure my hunger. 


Minced-meat noodles. (Bak Chor Mee) For $5SGD.
Tasted better ones at hawker centres.
But hey I won't complain. Was really hungry


Although I can't decide if that was supper or breakfast. at 3.30am


After I ate, went back to find SanganFTK sleeping like a Snorlax.
Woke him up, and we checked our boarding gate.

It was....... F26

And you thought, E3 shouldn't be far from F26

WRONG
WRONG
WRONG

F26 was at the other end of the airport. (Turn right after immigration)
So we walked, and walked, and walked.

"Given our luck, how far would it be? far end?"
"Probably"

Ya it was. Pretty far end



Arrived pretty early so we just sat down on the carpeted floor and duelled.
One passenger on the bus even asked us what we were playing lol

We played 4 games of Goat. ( I won every)
Chaos Turbo vs Chaos Turbo. SanganFTK is pretty much my only Goat opponent at this point. The rest, I rarely have the chance to meet up with them.

Back to the duel - pretty fun times (attacking with Spirit Reaper, Don Zaloog) with more banter.




Time to board the plane. Plane isn't as empty as the pic coz we boarded early.
But it wasn't completely full.
4 hrs flight. We chatted, nap, and sat throughout the uncomfortable budget flight.
Yay scoot...

Love the pun.
MA-velous.

Landed in HK.
Disembarked and we walked down to the airport runway. had to hop onto a bus to bring us to the airport.
Not sure how is it like in other countries but in Singapore, it usually connects directly to the airport departure.



Cleared the immigration, walked out of baggage claim since we didn't have any.
And proceeded for our breakfast (10am)



Ramen was so good we finished it up.



Hopped onto another bus to bring us to the hotel. Direct bus with a short 10mins or so walk. Not that bad. Met up with Dsummon before the bus ride. SanganFTK had a different hotel, 20mins away from ours so he alighted earlier.

One stopt too early.




The weather was really cold. 15 degrees.
Singapore has always stayed above 20 lol. 


 Mini Hotel Map. It was at IW Hotel.


Time for a little pit stop.  Heading towards the office with Dsummon for some logistics and also the player's briefing later.
Another location = another bus ride.


 Player's briefing notes.















Dsummon was busy for a while so I took the free time for some sightseeing and trying to search for some food. This was somewhere in Hong Kong island.



Finally arrived at the player's briefing.
Thank god, I am famished (Ya that's my secret. I am always hungry)
















Food was so amazing. For more you can check out Dsummon's video. I
I was too busy eating to take good quality pictures. Sorry

(THEY HAVE SALMON IN FOUR DIFFERENT COOKING METHODS)

Beijing duck, fresh seafood, rib-eye steak, wanton noodles. I could go on.


Oh and their dessert table? Amazing.
An entire section by itself. Four tables, three fridges.
Cakes, ice cream, frozen yogurt you name it.

God i miss the place.



Had to make my own way home. Luckily enough there was a direct bus.
Passed by Tsim Sha Tsui.
Previously 9 years ago when I first came HK, this was where I stayed.


Day 2.
Event day.
Breakfast location with Dsummon.
For more info on breakfast, check out his video featuring me as a bobblehead.










 Lunch menu on event day.
Was so busy I didn't get the chance to choose.
But hey I am happy to just have food.




And the event has ended.
Ya lol I was too busy to take pictures during the event itself. Apologies.
Once again, Dsummon's vlog covers it quite well.

We had a nice dinner with the other Singaporeans after the entire event too.

Went back to the Hotel, did some editing, and crashed like a dead rock for the night.



Woke up and tried to find the hotel card which I couldn't find the night before.
It was under my playmat. Wasted 1hr or so the previous night looking for it. =3=


Dsummon and I had different flights home so I stayed and did more sight-seeing












Ended up in Smiling Plaza coz Player's Club was closed coz we were too early.










Visiting more card shops.


Found one where they sold cards for 5HKD ~ less than 1SGD.
Any and every which you can find coz quoting the owner 'I was too lazy to pack'

Also basically had to navigate and be translator throughout the journey coz I was the only one who could converse in Cantonese. (yay thanks mum)


Okay, time to head back before we missed out flight.
SanganFTK refused to leave.





Cabbed there.
Shoutout to Bryan from Hong Kong for helping us call for one.

 Arrived at the airport just barely on time.


Apparently when in HK, you have to take trains between check-in and departure

Cultural shock, sorry. Doesn't happen in Singapore or anywhere else I have been to recently. (Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia)


 HAHAHAHAHAH
THEY CHANGED THE GATE

Seems to be a trend for this trip.
More walking.


 And we made it in the end.
 Used the remainder of my money on the Octopus card to buy a snack from the vending machine at the gate. Left with a couple dollars on it, but i used as much as I could. Also, I was pretty hungry coz WE SKIPPED DINNER COZ WE WERE LATE

Also, seeing a trend? Ya I am hungry again.



We got the last row in the airplane. :(

 

 Bye Hong Kong.
It was a nice trip and I hope to return here soon.
Either for vacation or for another event.



 Meanwhile on the plane. SanganFTK can't lower the the seat for his inflight meal.


 And I am here, back in Changi at 11.45pm
tired, needing a shower, I read an email i had an assignment due 12am later
Prof emailed the cohort only at 12pm that day
(he ended up extending the deadline but i managed to rush the 8-MCQ in 10mins)



Our journey had officially come full circle
Ending with Row E and Macdonalds.



My loot from the shop (literally named Good Place)
Mostly just GOAT-format foils and my Gold Rares

Also found these random stuff when I was packing



And that's the end of the post. Sorry it took so longfor it to be up. I have to catch up with work once I returned. (still am)
Sem is ongoing.

1 comment:

  1. Awesome stuff. I wish I could see more goat format discussion and deck profiles on here. You guys are fun to read.

    ReplyDelete