Updates on Day 2

Today was the start of the Softball tournament for both the ‘B’ division and ‘C’ division boys and they were up early in the morning to have their breakfast and to head down to the field to have their warm up before their game.

The boys queuing up for their buffet breakfast at the hotel.

The weather in the early morning was really cold! Upon exiting the hotel, the cold morning air just gushed towards us and when we blew air out of our mouths, there was like mist coming out from our mouths! It was good that the boys were prepared and were armed with their jackets to fight the cold early morning. The boys acclimatized to the weather easily, after running their usual warm up routines, the boys were warmed up and ready to go. The sun also started to rise and the temperatures slowly rose, letting the boys get more comfortable while doing their warm up.

The ‘B’ boys had a good game as their opponents were from one of the local SW University from Chiang Mai. In terms of size, strength and stature, they certainly looked promising compared to our boys. However, our boys proved their might and easily scored runs while we on the batting side and also held the other team without letting them score much in the first two innings.

Score between CHS and SW University at the 3rd inning.

Our boys won the game comfortably and the Coach was also able to test out other players for certain positions and pushing them a better potential on the field today.

On the other hand, the ‘C’ boys did not have the chance to play with their opponents today, as their opponents did not show up. In the end, they had an walkover and later on joined the ‘B’ division side, cheering on and learning from their Seniors’ games with other opponents.

After the games, the boys then headed off to start their cultural learning journey and having a glimpse of how Chiang Mai came about and also to learn about the many well known handicraft industries, mainly, silk, silver, gemstones and umbrella painting. Firstly, we headed up to Doi Suthep, where it was named after a hermit who lived up at the mountain. The boys got to visit the famous temple at the mountain and climbed a flight of stairs before reaching up there.

Listening to the guide

Picture of the boys while walking up the flight of 306 steps up to Doi Suthep.

Doi Suthep, 1500m above sea level. The view of Chiang Mai up at the mountain.

Now being the new year period, where people in Chiang Mai are given 5 days off, many locals were seen also visiting the Doi Suthep to pay their respects and also to pray for a better year, also a time of giving to the poor. Many youths were outside the temple asking for donations to help the poor in Chiang Mai.

After which we headed to a buffet lunch at a hotel and as usual our hungry boys just hit the food area and really had a good lunch. Many of them were seen taking 3^rd and 4^th rounds! The boys really can eat. The buffet was good as it has Chinese food, western food and local thai dishes like Som tam, Tom Yam, minced pork meat paste, glass noodles etc that the boys can have taste.

The boys getting their food from the buffet line.

After lunch, we headed to the Chiang Mai Museum to learn a bit more of the history of Chiang Mai where from Lana Kingdom it merged with Siam Kingdom and how it developed of what Chiang Mai is today.

The boys also learnt a trick or two at the different industries, they learnt how tamarid can be used as a cleaning agent for silver, the way how Thai silk threads are being made from cocoons of silkworms, the different types of gem stones and the way paper umbrellas were made from the bark of the mulberry tree. Even though each trip to each industry was quite short, but it was sure an eye opener.

Silver Industry, the guide explaining to the boys how to differentiate real and fake silver.

Tamarid, it can be used to make silver shine again.

Silk threads

Umbrella making

After all the cultural trips, we headed back to Chiang Mai University for a welcome dinner that the Softball organizing committee had put up for us. The boys once again had the chance to savour the local food and the ambience of eating out in the open field with the cool climate and nice night view of the full moon. =)

Dinner by CMU

Setting off of fireworks to kick start the dinner

Traditional Thai dance

There were performances for us and the boys had a good time of chatting and bonding with one another.

Lastly, the highlight of the day was the setting up of huge lanterns where each of them wrote their wishes on the lanterns and within groups, they had a chance to set the huge lantern flying up into the sky. Chiang Mai people set off these lanterns during festive seasons like the New Year or when there are celebrations to help convey dreams and blessings they might have. Many of the Sec 4-to-be boys were seen writing wishes for their O level results, others wishing good health and happiness to their family members, others wishing the team championships for the upcoming Nationals.

It was nice watching the boys bond over such an event. Each of them excited in letting of the lantern. The boys also got a chance to play with sparklers and we ended off with each of them holding a stick firework cannon that shot our mini sparks, the boys took turn to hold the stick, a meaningful passing down from the senior captions to the junior captains to the rest of the softball team itself. The camaraderie and friendship that is slowly budding is welcoming and so very important for both teams for their upcoming nationals.

Setting of lanterns

Handing down the firework cannon from the captains to the members =)

Well, its still 11pm now in Chiang Mai, but 12 am in Singapore already so here’s wishing all a blessed 2010!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Updates on Day 1

Day 1 of the Chiang Mai Softball Trip 2009 went well at the airport with the giving out of the tags and ribbons to better recognize our luggage. The team is blessed with supportive parents who turned up to give support for their sons and to send them off for the competition.

We took a group photo and it looked like one big happy family with the nice banner that the vendor, ISE Travel had done for us.

We continued to take pictures within the departure area itself and took the opportunity to take another group photo against the nice backdrop seen below.

The first flight to Bangkok was on SQ and it was a really nice day with us on the plane without seeing the sun and yet being able to witness the light rays of the sun in the midst of flying in the clouds. The sight was breathless.

We then had our first meal of the day served to us, we had a choice of cheese omelet or fried rice accompanying the bread, fruits and juices.

Meal on SQ

While arriving at the Subravni airport, it started to rain and thankfully, we need not have to travel from the plane to the destination of where we are going to embark on so that we were not caught in the rain.

We had some time to spare and so we headed to the food and shopping area where the boys had their own time to spend before meeting up together at a stipulated time.

Guess what most of the boys did?

They really are growing boys who need a lot of carbohydrates and protein. Immediately when they were released and were given time to either shop around the airport, all of them rushed to the food court and a majority of them went on to purchase Burger King Meals as brunch!

Even after eating breakfast on the SQ plane.. And the Burger King meals did not really come cheap, at around 225 baht per meal at it's cheapest.0.o

Food was really on the minds of our boys as they continued to snack on the free food given out by Bangkok Airways, the airline we were taking to head down to Chiang Mai.

Upon arrival to Chiang Mai airport, it was really a short trip to or hotel Lotus Pang Sung Keaw and we reached in 5 mins from the airport itself. We were warmly welcomed with drinks and the boys were given time to freshen up, change into their softball attire and to be prepared to head down to Chiang Mai University.

What the rooms where the boys stayed looked like.

A session of warm up with Coach RJ for the upcoming other games for the following days.

The boys doing their warm up

The boys then headed back to the hotel on a Song Teow just like how they went to Chiang Mai University.

The boys on the Song Teow on the way to competition ground.

They had time to wash up, eat their dinner and do a little of grocery shopping of buying plain water etc.

Some of the local dishes

The day ended with a short debrief and motivational session with the boys setting targets for this whole softball trip and what to expect for the start of the competition.

The boys doing target setting and debrief for the day and what to expect for the next few days.

Tomorrow, the boys will have their first match in the morning and we will be heading to Doi Suthep and the different industries instead as there are matches on 2nd Jan, so the program will be shifted to tomorrow.