Police Escort!

A long day.

The FIS Excursion, always eagerly anticipated, and often a bit of a disappointment. I guess not easy to organise something amazing for 750 people! Today's event was a trip to PyeongChang, site of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

 The cavalcade of buses (some 12 or 15) was swept through the towns and villages with a a police escort - no stopping at red lights for us!!! A slick arrangement, with guards saluting all along. The roads thronged with soldiers on various exercises, rifles at the ready, old American-style army trucks...

Visits to the sites were less well organised, however. But we saw the Yong Pyong hills for the Alpine technical events, the cross country area, the snowboard and freestyle area and the ski jumping hills. And a massive buffet lunch at the Alpensia Convention Centre near the Jumpimg hills.

 It was a relief to get back, after seven hours. Back to the announcement of the World Championships nominations, St Moritz 2017 Alpine; Lahti FIN for the Nordic.

And an exquisite buffet supper/cocktail party. Dim sum, seafood, beautifully rare roast beef; some great puds and a fruit selection including various items previously unseen, unrecognised and unnamed (but delicious).

An early bath, and an early night. Watched some of the evening's light and fountain displays from my bed!

Meetings and dinners...

30th May - yesterday passed in bit of a blur.

After a good night's sleep (finally!), I went to the Legal and Safety meeting, welcomed with open arms, and enjoyed the discussions on back protector recommendations, child welfare, safety and responsibility on the slopes, and much more.

The afternoon passed in a blur of Alpine Committee, and then Equipment Committee, where I had to give the Medical Committee report.

 A rising tide of panic over all the reports I have to prepare for UK Sport before I get back to the UK. At least everything is in my iPad, so I will be editing rather than starting from scratch.

Hardly time to take a breath before dressing for the third formal dinner in a row. This was the most special, hosted by the hotel High1. Funny moments, the massive ice sculpture of FIS with a skier on top which wouldn't fit through the doorway into the dining room. Beautiful table decorations, bunches of flowers in massive complex vases, candles, menus tied in formal silk envelopes. More speeches, but all good and short. And really beautiful food, delicious and exquisitely presented. Six courses. An extraordinary performance by a Korean group performing rhythmic feats on a whole set of kitchen utensils, leaving piles of shredded vegetables all over the stage. The waiters standing round the edge of the room to take a well deserved round of applause.

The Snowkidz Awards presentation, where I had to go on stage to represent Snow Camp, one of 8 finalists. We didn't win, even though it does awesome work and deserved to, but won 3000chf, and a certificate to boot. Oh, and Mrs Yan, the Chinese lady standing for the FIS Council, gave me some rather beautiful pearls to thank me for our meeting last autumn in Zurich. A piña colada in the Sports Bar, and finally exhausted again!

Another formal dinner! 29th May

This evening's dinner was hosted by the organising committee of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PeongChang, just down the road from here.

More speeches, more great food, and some entertainment. Some beautiful Korean lady dancers, in red traditional dress - graceful, coordinated, elegant - followed by Korea's top saxophone player giving a great rendition of Danny Boy, and then the local school children singing a bunch of songs from (of all things!) the Sound of Music. Little Korean kids dressed in national costume from all over the world singing 'Edelweiss'! Sounds bizarre, actually very touching. 

So also during the day I had Youth & Children's Co-ordination Committee and Alpine Classification Committee meetings, plus a whole lot more informal stuff. I managed a short walk around the lake. Feel as if I'm working really quite hard for my luxury penthouse room, and only longing for a good night's sleep!

Fire & Water!

An early start, but I can only describe my 20th floor penthouse as more than comfortable.

Twice the size of the ground floor of my house, marble and mirror all round, it has absolutely everything a girl could want, including a huge glass walled bathroom to die for. Everything, from duvets to bath mats is of the very best quality. The view from my massive window looks over a lake, a small fake castle, a glass pyramid comme le Louvre, and surrounding wooded hills.

The lavatories everywhere in the hotel are the same as mine, warm, comfortable and adding a whole new dimension to 'all mod cons'!

 The service is second to none. Corridor 'guards' bow when you walk past. After dinner, where we had a waiter per table, they all lined up to bow as we left.

Breakfast was confusing (OK so it was early, approx 6.30), but it was hard to know what went with what - half Asian, half Western, and too much to choose from. I will do better tomorrow.

 And then we worked. I had five meetings today. The Medical Committee overlapped with the Youth & Children's meeting, but I managed most of the second and a large part of the first! And some quite important liaison between the two. An injury survey update at lunchtime. Another MedCom in the afternoon, and then a seminar on Women's Health. All that plus many smaller informal meetings. Lunch was snatched at the World Championships candidates' stalls - rice and mushrooms from Slovenia and chanterelle soup from Sweden took the biscuit!

 Five minutes to grab a shower, and then a formal dinner, guests of the Korean Ski Association, accompanied by some quite good speeches.

 The hard work of the day was finally more than counterbalanced by the post-prandial show. A full hour of fountains, water displays, laser light shows and finally fireworks, never seen anything like it! Breathtaking, spectacular, awesome, extraordinary, not enough words to describe it. Will bore some of you with a few video snatches when I get back, and will post the best when able to do so at home. London 2012 can hardly hope to come up with anything as spectacular! We may be miles from anywhere, but will not forget this place!

Asian Travel - HK to Seoul, toilet PS

So, from the beautiful Butterfly on Wellington, fairly basic but beautiful all the same, to Korea.

 Woke rested, packed, with all sorts of plans for the morning, thwarted by the discovery that my flight left two hours earlier than I had remembered.

 A quick taxi ride to the town check-in desk at Hong Kong Station in the lower reaches of the IFC Building. And another aimless wander in the endless shopping malls above. The best store is the City Super, a great exotic (expensive) supermarket selling odd things like chocolate covered crisps. Free sample tasted good, and they came highly recommended by Max's friends. A tawdry breakfast at 'Asian Twist', sad considering had planned another assault on Luk Yu for more dim sum. Oh well.

The airport express is super cool and super efficient. A smooth silent departure from the very centre of HK, leaving every 10 minutes, and taking 25 mins to reach the airport. What else to say? A good efficient Korean Airlines flight, and then a four hour bus journey to the North of Seoul, to the High1 Resort at the Kangwonland Hotel. A super room on the 20th floor, massive, everything you could ask for including the most wonderful bathroom, to which I'm about to repair. Will be a fairly short night, lost yet another hour as the clocks shot forward!

OK, just had to add a postscript. The loo is no ordinary loo. It has a heated seat. And more than that, has an inbuilt bidet system with adjustable rhythm of water delivery, and a fine hot air drying system... Korea, I'm impressed.

Day of the Fish; failed to complete the plan...

So today I dodn't achieve everything intended.

 Thwarted by torrential rain, I failed to see really any views from the Peak. Having walked to the Peak Tram, the rain started as we left the bottom station. I circumnavigated the Peak, 3.8km in torrential rain. My dress, and even my new Adidas rain jacket were soaked through. I might as well have swum round it, had I been a fish. If I had seen something I would have been happy, but there was no visibility through the rain and clouds. Almost a glimpse of the south side of HK Island, but not quite... So missed the planned extended walk, and descended, defeated and soaked, in the tram.

No time to go back to the hotel to change, so moved onwards... Star ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui, and then a taxi to Mong Kok, and the Bird Market. Pretty little things in pretty cages. Noisy, and bustling with sparrows trying to steal the caged birds' food. Then the flower market, the goldfish market (a whole street lined with shops and stalls selling goldfish in bags, and other pretty aquarium fish), and then the Ladies' Market. Nothing but tat, as far as the eye could see.

A couple of glasses of prosecco in the Aqua Bar with Dave Edwards, surprised to find him here in HK, and then watched the light show on the HK Island skyscrapers from the waterfront. Pretty spectacular, just a tad touristy.

 Back by Star Ferry, and a good supper in the da pai dong street restaurant. It's been good, and it's an interesting place, but it isn't China. It's British, and Chinese, without quite getting the best of either, and certainly full of the worst of Western excess. As Max said yesterday, it's 'easy Asia', and I'm longing to get back to the real thing again!!

Day of the Snake - Luk Yu, Dragon's Back, Shek O, and a few beers

Day 2 A great night's sleep! 

And a quieter morning, as I knew that strenuous exercise was to follow.

Breakfast in Luk Yu, just down the road on Stanley Street. Colonial style tea room, serving, yes, tea, plus delicious dim sum. A very civilised experience, followed by a walk to the East, to check out some prices in the Apple store.

And then back in time to shower and meet up with Max Clissold for an adventurous afternoon. A taxi ride out of town towards Shek O, and then a strenuous walk up the Dragon's Back track to the summit where I gently glowed (actually dripped) from the exercise. In my defence it was very hot, and although the sun was shining in parts, it was humid, very. The views were a spectacular all round when we broke through the dense vegetation in the lower part of the trail.

We interrupted a snake, some four foot long (no joke!), feasting on a toad. The poor toad was so paralysed with fright when the snake shot off to avoid confrontation with us that it simply didn't move. A lucky break, but the snake may have come back to finish what he had started. Down to Shek O, the last part in a bus at breakneck speed - to a great Thai restaurant with excellent food and a certain amount (nearly said lashings) of good Tsingtao beer.

Taxi back to HK, and a couple more beers on a pier overlooking the harbour, this time from the HK side. Good company, Max's partner Christine amongst them. And then to dinner in a tiny Nepalese restaurant far above the crowds, excellent food again, and great company! A wander back through party goers to the Butterfly on Wellington, another shower, a cup of tea, and sleep...

Day of the Rat - Hong Kong 2012

Hong Kong Day 1

Arrived after long and largely sleepless journey. The smoothest entry, and the easiest journey to the Butterfly on Wellington Hotel. Airport Express, fast, clean, frequent trains - directly to Hong Kong Central, and but a short taxi ride.

Tim strikes again! The hotel is located in a busy street crammed with people, cars, market stalls, no distance from the Star ferry, or from the best of Central and Western districts of HK Island, and is overlooked by the peak. No room available at 8am, so off to wander the streets....

 Not yet hungry, headed westwards first, and came across a very posh shopping area. Could have been New York really! Rounded back on myself and headed west, and suddenly very clear that this is China. Des Voeux Road West, crammed with shops overflowing with dried fish products, sacks of seaweed, sharks' fins, birds' nests, black things that looked like tongues but turned out to be (well, Tim forewarned me) reindeer tails, good as a remedy for something or other (he'd forgotten what). The smell was overwhelming and all-pervading, and I have to confess quite nauseating on top of the jet lag. 

Onwards to a grey municipal building, selling VERY fresh food. A fish department, dripping with wetness and fish blood, a meat department selling absolutely every part of an animal you could imagine, the long tails still had the skin on, and the pair of eyeballs just purchased by an old man were still connected to each other by furry skin. The poultry department, well, it had me making a quick exit. If you want to ensure freshness, well, you buy it alive. Need I say more?

Some stunning Chinese silk in the Western Market Hall. A quick visit to an incense laden temple amidst the skyscrapers, a glimpse into a coffin shop where the massive coffins appeared to be carved from very solid tree trunks, and a wander back to the hotel where my room was now ready. An hour's most welcome sleep!

An then a walk via Marks and Spencer (couldn't resist!) to the Star Ferry terminal. Hard wooden benches, the backrest flipping for each direction change, and the quick journey across to Tsim Sha Tsui, at a massive cost of 2.5 HKD (approx 20p).

I was worried that it would get dark soon, on an overcast, grey and humid day, with no clue as to how low the sun was. Tim said 5.30, so I hastened to the Aqua bar on the 29th floor of abuilding overlooking the harbour, with the most wonderful views of HK Island, and across to the west where myriads of small bots were ploughing their way through the channels between the islands. A cocktail, an Aqua Spritz with Aperol, apricot brandy and prosecco to watch the dusk deepen and the lights go on across the water. The only trouble was the light didn't really fade, so I had to have another cocktail. And still it remained obstinately grey. Of course it did eventually fade, but not until 6.45, and then the light show was spectacular!

A journey on the MTR to wander through the night market in Temple Street, and then back on the Star Ferry. A walk back via the elevator system that transports millions of people up through Central towards the Peak.

Almost back to the hotel, and hungry at last, I stopped off in the da pai dong treet restaurant just around the corner from the hotel. Sweet and sour grouper fish, a dish of vegetables and a large Tsing Tao beer. The food delicious, prepared from an amazing mid-street contraption of burners, tin cupboards and bare light bulbs, noisy and mechanical, (made me think of a Raold Dahl machine) by one cheerful guy with a hard-working assistant.

All this and only one rat seen! Honestly, it was brilliant! And then back to sleep like a log.... I didn't waste the first day.

Off again this week...

To Hong Kong on Wednesday, and then on to South Korea next weekend. Can't wait!