Just got back in. We survived. No one got left behind. Remember the part in "The Hangover" when Mike Tyson was drumming to Phil Collins and... you'll have to wait. More to come.
I was already tired on Mon night when we got back and then a friend dropped by and we polished off a bottle of wine. I was completely shattered on Tues, like in a fog so barely anything got done. I finally got round to downloading the pics today. I will post a report and some initial pics later tonight. No tigers were involved even though the Calgary Zoo was not too far away. And no, we did not bump into Mike Tyson.
4 of us left the darkness of Richmond at 5:00am and rendezvoused with KKBird at Metrotown at 5:30am. One passenger jumped over to the other car so we had 3 in each. First stop was a Tim Horton's in Merritt (about 2.5 hrs in) and that was the last time I saw KKBird's car until Calgary. We finally rolled into Cowtown at 6:30pm and headed straight to Sunridge Badminton Centre. Sunridge is housed in a massive grey building with an even more massive parking lot. I swear the parking lot size was a bit of overkill. Our 7th member flew to Calgary and was waiting for us at Sunridge. Richard (Sunridge manager) then brought us to have some Chinese before we played. Food in Calgary is not cheap compared to Vancouver but the food was not too bad. Car #2 driven by KKBird finally showed up after they had their own dinner. We were all kinda reluctant to change into our badminton gear after the long drive but a couple of advils can perform miracles. Which unfortunately could not be said about our game that night. Richard was kind enough to introduce to some of the Friday night regulars and we had a good time playing and chatting with them. I think we finally packed it in at 11:30pm and one of the regulars took me for a very rushed beer run. Armed with more food, snacks and beer, we settled into more chit chat and watching the China Masters online. Day 1 pics to follow...
Lots of smiles from the players. And each looks pretty supple considering the all-day car ride. Badminton has really kept you all very fit and happy. Nice pics! Thanks for sharing. (Looks like your trip was sponsored by Heineken. )
Looks like a very classy joint! . Great floors, good lighting, lots of space between courts. How many courts in total? 12?
Oh yeah, cooler. I actually called him and left a voicemail. Never heard back from him. Richard thought he would be there on Fri and Sun but both times no shows.