China-Yangtze river dragon boat festival

All the expat teams in Singapore (Canadian, American, Australian, British, Irish and German teams) got together to form a traveling team, called the Singapore Barbarians. We practiced together only a few times before setting off to China for 2 days of racing on the Yangtze river.

We were guests of the government, so we only had to pay for our plane tickets. The bad thing about that was that we had to eat what they fed us... Eurk! Pork liver, beef intestines and all sorts of other things that I didn't want to know I had put in my mouth were on the menu. I neve thought I would say this, but where's a McDonald's when you need one???

We spent our first day on the water, practicing and making fools out of ourselves because we didn't have a cox on our boat (the "driver"). The other teams must have been wondering what was up with the crazy white folks! Then we went to the new Yangtze River dam. Around the world, people are complaining about the damage that this dam is creating. It was very eery to hear how the Chinese government thinks this is one of the greatest things that could have happened in this region....

I have never seen such a crowd show up for a dragon boat event! The banks of the river were crowded with locals (see photos) and we had a water parade to kick the whole thing off (maybe that's what people really came to see---who knows?). On the first day, the level was quite high for the men, but there were barely any women teams competing, so we were basically assured to medal. We had a packed lunch from the hotel (chicken feet and whatnot--I stuck to the rice) and ran accross the street to buy crackers to be able to survive the long day.

The next day, we took a long drive up the river, back to the dam. That's were the start of our next race was. During my 2 years as a paddler, the longest race I've participated in was a 1km race. Well, this was going to be a loooooong one: 35km, estimated to take us 2:30. Well, it took us 2:10 and I must say I was in less pain that I had anticipated. Still, as soon as we got back to the hotel, Alicia and I had a 90 minute massage.

Going back in time...

I've had a few complaints about not updating my blog--Oui, oui, je parle de toi, Annick! I have not taken any pictures around Jakarta yet, but I've taken many while traveling last school year and I never took the time to post them, so let's go back in time...

Let's start with dragon-boating. Sadly, it will be impossible for me to compete now that I am in Jakarta (with this insane traffic, it would take way too much time to get to practice), but I have a few pictures of my last race in Singapore (April). I was usually responsible for stretching the teams out before each race and would prepare healthy food for up to 60 people (breakfast and lunch), which Siti (my maid) did most of. I wonder what they're eating now....

Our men finishing first, in boat 3

Our women's team, paddling to the start of the 500 m race

The women's team, being goofy!