Aside from the bodybuilders who really planned to compete, a couple of people were "accidentally" forced to witness the history in the making event. I was unaware for the need of a return ticket when travelling out of the Philippines as a tourist, so had to book a ticket on the spot in the airport for a next leg of my trip to be able to depart out of Manila. Reysan was also chosen the last minute because coach Dondon had commitments that came up and thus cannot make it to Hong Kong.
As Jacques and Joseph has had prior experience in competing in Hong Kong, they were aware of the importance of a kitchen in the run up to the competition. Jacques searched for an apartment and found one that could comfortably fit all of us. We were 8 in the group, Reysan, Jacques, Joseph, Momo, Abi, Martin Ricci and me. For those of you who believe in Chinese astrology, I guess yes it did bring some luck as all the competitors brought home medals.
As we bought our tickets separately, and coming from different countries, we arrived in Hong Kong at different times. Reysan arrived first, taking the first flight out of Manila that Sunday morning. He waited for the others in the airport. The instruction was to wait in burger king, but since he couldn't find it, he waited in the next best thing - McDonalds. :)
The next group to arrive was Joseph, Jacques, Abi, Ricci and Martin. They met a few other Filipino that will be competing in their fligh, including John Rey Prado, to Hong Kong. Also in the flight was Nicky Tsai of Ensayo Gym, and who is also a PLBF official that represented organization in the event. He also attended the IFBB Judges seminar while in Hong Kong.
After they found Reysan, they took the airport bus to Panda Hotel for the registration. They were assisted by Nelson Condez who facilitated the registration for the pinoy athletes in the event. They waited for Momo in the hotel and went back together to check-in the apartment. I arrived later that afternoon, and after getting lost due to the wrong information, I finally found them in our temporary home in Hong Kong.
The apartment building is huge, but was under construction. It looks like one of those buildings used in the typical stunt scenes in a Jacky Chan movie with bamboo scaffolding and netting to protect from falling debris. The interior of the apartment though was clean and functional. We had to thank Jacky Sweet, who lent us a rice cooker to cook the rice, sweet potato and pasta for the carbo loading of the Abi and Joseph.
After a few hours rest, the 3 decided to do their final workout before the competition, so we searched for a gym. The nearest ones seems to be in California Fitness Mongkok. It was a challenge to converse with the taxi drivers we had. Don't know if it was illegal to drop us at that location because both our taxi dropped us at some walking distance from the actual building.
We met a few pinoys at the gym. John Ama brought some sweet potatoes for Joseph and Abi, and Aze Cruz who was also competing. So while the 3 were doing their workout and Reysan assisting them in the gym (yes they need assistance as don't have their strength due to their zero carb protocol), the four of us went to dinner. Nom nom nom nom :)
To be continued...
Great write-up. Please continue to write and update as there are many lurkers in this blog (like myself) who find the information valuable and enjoyable.
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