2011 Macau Grand Prix Gold

Going to Macau from Hong Kong was a little bit tedious, as we had to carry all our luggage from the hotel in Hong Kong, walk through crowds of people, take the MTR until the ferry terminal, and bring all our stuff on board. Most people didn't have much luggage, but since we were in Asia for about a month, we had quite a lot to carry. Fortunately, there weren't too many stairs at the MTR stations so it wasn't to bad. The ferry from Hong Kong to Macau was quite short, about 45 minutes to an hour, but it was very busy. Seats were a little cramped, but it was manageable for the duration of the ride. Upon arriving in Macau, the customs lines were quite long and it seemed longer especially when people try to cut in front of you. There were two lines, but this older Chinese couple decided to form a middle line... but we foiled their plans with our luggage as we pushed our bags to block this 'magical third line that popped out of nowhere'. In the end, they kept trying to cut, but I guess the customs people caught on. I don't know what happened after, but I just don't know why someone would feel that they need to try to cut the line? Weird...

TurboJet Ferry

We took a cab to the hotel, as we couldn't find the hotel shuttle. After we got in, we had to wait for a while because we couldn't check into the hotel until Grace got in because it was under her reservation. We went out to eat and found some a market as well. After we finished, we made it back just as Grace got in, so everything worked out. Unfortunately, since we didn't stay at the tournament hotel, we didn't have any idea when practice times were or anything. The next morning I took a shuttle over to the Venetian Hotel to try to figure things out. After walking around the hotel and getting lost a few times, I finally figured out where the tournament organizers hid themselves and arranged for practice times for the day. I passed the information on to my teammates and we had an afternoon practice.

 

Venetian Hotel

Also the Venetian Hotel

Later in the evening, we had the welcoming dinner at the tournament hotel. It was in one of the ballrooms and it was a traditional Chinese dinner. We were stuck in the back again, but I guess Canada is kind of in its own place anyway :P The dinner was quite good, but started quite late, so a lot of athletes left early. They had some draw prizes and I actually won :) I was rambling before about calling out your number, and I guess it worked this time and I won an iPod shuffle with '2011 Macau Open' engraved on it :) One less Christmas gift to shop for haha

L to R: Derrick, Alex, and Joyce at the dinner

L to R: Adrian, Michelle, Andrew, Joyce, and Andy

Crown Plaza and Hard Rock Hotel at night

Venetian Hotel at night

The next day were qualifying rounds, with Andy Lam and Andrew Lau playing in the evening. The rest of us went to the practice in the late afternoon, but we were able to make it back to watch their matches. The tournament was quite delayed, so they ended up playing quite late. Michelle started off the next day against Hong Kong and won in straight sets. Unfortunately, that was the only Canadian win aside from Adrian and Joycelyn in the XD, later in the day also against Hong Kong. Grace and I lost to Indonesia in 3 sets, while the others lost in 2 sets to their opponents.

Thailand and Korea at the practice hall

Michelle was up against Bae Youn Joo of Korea the next evening, playing a long 3 set match. She just fell a bit short in the 2nd and lost it, and she couldn't come back in the 3rd unfortunately. Adrian and Joyce had a tougher time with their Thai opponents, as they lost in straight sets. That's pretty much the last of our tournament in Macau. Fortunately, my mother is originally from Macau, so she asked me to meet her childhood friend who she hasn't seen in about 40 or so years! We actually managed to meet up and she took us around Macau, showing us different places including her restaurant she recently sold, the border gate to China, and a lot of other landmarks in Macau! She also treated my brother and I to a traditional Portuguese dinner which included prawns, roast suckling pig, and... Sangria! (red wine mixed with pop haha). It was a delicious dinner and we took a few photos to show my mother back in Canada. Thank you very much Auntie Mil! :)
 

Main Venue

Sightseeing

My brother and I with Auntie Mil

Roast pig!

That's pretty much the end of my Macau trip... some parts were 'a little fuzzy', but that's another story ;)

A little... fuzzy...

Keep posted for our final week in Asia... Korea revisited!

Full Results via Tournament Software: [MACAU GRAND PRIX GOLD]

Matches via YouTube:
WS R32: Michelle LI [CAN] vs. CHAN Tsz Ka [HKG]
Full Match

WD R32: Alex BRUCE/Michelle LI [CAN] vs. WANG Rong/ZHANG Zhibo [MAC]
Full Match

XD R32: Muhammad RIJAL/Debby SUSANTO [INA] vs. Toby NG/Grace GAO [CAN]
Full Match

XD R32: Sudket PRAPAKAMOL/Saralee THOUNGTHONGKAM [THA] vs. Derrick NG/Alex BRUCE [CAN]
Full Match

XD R32: Adrian LIU/Joycelyn KO [CAN] vs. LEUNG Chun Yiu/NG Ka Shun [HKG]
Game 1 (Part 1)
Game 1 (Part 2), 2, & 3

WS R16: BAE Youn Joo [KOR] vs. Michelle LI [CAN]
Game 1 & 2
Game 3


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