4 hours before the flight's departure, the band of Imps gathered at Changi Airport with our "beloved" caretakers(Nicholas, Kelvin, Check and the other members of SCOGA). We received our wonderful team shirt from Nicholas, courtesy of LENOVO for sponsering us with the shirt.
We spent some lovely time chatting with the guys but alas, its time for us to depart to Shanghai with the PMS girls.
Right away, we were dragged to a corner of the airport and got interviewed by the best aussie shoutcaster, Tobi, at Pudong International Airport.
About an hour or so later, we arrive at the hotel and proceed to check-in. Turns out we're the first out of the 3 teams to arrive there. Apparently, we've 4-5 hours of leisure time before having to meet back at our rendevous point!
So.... what do you do with 4-5 hours of leisure time on your hands?
The Imps along with Tobi proceeded to the central shopping district in Shanghai to sightsee and pick up some souvenirs there for our friends back in Singapore.
Cabbing in Shanghai was relatively cheap compared to Singapore. What actually surprises us was that the cabs had a "driver protection system" installed - which involves a barrier erected in between the driver and the passengers.
After freshening back at the hotel, we gathered with the other teams at the lounge, with Scott giving us a warm welcome speech and the events to come.
Less than an hour later, we found ourselves back out in the "wilderness" again. This time though, we're heading to one of Shanghai's place of interest, Cheng Huang Temple. We were actually expecting it to be like a real temple, where people pray, do offerings and such. Turns out that it was a long chain of shops fused with the traditional temple layout.
After wandering around the vincinity, we were prompted to cosplay or dress up as either Mafias or the Imperial Family. We ended up being Mafias, and it turned out better than we expected!
Ahh... after that dinner. We were being brought to a renowned restaurant that supposedly has been established for more than a 100 years. We tasted the many different types of Shanghainese cuisine; don't think we have been stuffed with that much endless variations of delicacies before!
Back at the hotel, we were yearning for our long awaited rest, and we mean a proper one! We had so much fun on the first day that we can't wait for the next few days to come!
Day 2 have arrived, we woke up to a sunny day in Shanghai. It was a packed day, we had breakfast in the hotel and rushed to the Shanghai World Expo.
Wow... we have never seen so many people in a place before. The Shanghai World Expo was like a city upon itself. It was so large we thought that we could spend a month in it and still not explore the whole Expo.
We trekked our way to the Sweden Pavilion to have our exhibition match between the 3 teams there( China, Singapore , Sweden). However, before that, we were treated to a tour of the Sweden pavilion, courtesy of the sweden community.
The Sweden Pavilion was interesting, they adopted this concept of the "old" Sweden and the "new" Sweden. Interesting.. most of them being about recycling.
Tour done, games on.
Sweden played against China first and we watched the games from the sideline, it was a very exciting game and we can't wait to play against them. China did really well and came back from their disadvantage.
Finally, its our turn to play and we played against Sweden. It was a very entertaining match and we learnt alot from the game. Although we won the friendly match. It doesn't really mean anything and we are hoping to have more good matches at dreamhack.
Finishing up the day, we had dinner and went to the KTV lounge to had an awesome time with all the people. We heard the CPL "company song", Huo Yuan Jia by Frank and one of the camera man and boy i tell u, it was truly entertaining. Wish we had a clip of them singing.
Hanging around the departure area while waiting to board our flight
The team shirt
PMS getting ready for their flight
Excited people
Sinful supper
Goodbye Singapore
The flight was uneventful as we were still total strangers with the PMS girls, and after 5 hours of short naps here and there, we touched down in Shanghai safely.
Upon leaving the arrival area, we were greeted by 2 camcorders in our faces and their associates (Tom, Frank, Scott, Tobi and tour guide Sissi). It felt kinda awkward at first as we didn't even think we were superstars at all. And having a camcorder following what you do at every moment is sure weird but kinda fun.
Right away, we were dragged to a corner of the airport and got interviewed by the best aussie shoutcaster, Tobi, at Pudong International Airport.
The interview
The first step out of the airport proved to be abyssmal; it is summer in Shanghai and apparently the weather is at it's peak. A 41 degree temperature proved fatal enough to warrant a bus ride all the way to our hotel; and boy are we glad!
Just glad to get out of the heat
About an hour or so later, we arrive at the hotel and proceed to check-in. Turns out we're the first out of the 3 teams to arrive there. Apparently, we've 4-5 hours of leisure time before having to meet back at our rendevous point!
So.... what do you do with 4-5 hours of leisure time on your hands?
The Imps along with Tobi proceeded to the central shopping district in Shanghai to sightsee and pick up some souvenirs there for our friends back in Singapore.
Sight-seeing
Crazy Barbie store
Cabbing in Shanghai was relatively cheap compared to Singapore. What actually surprises us was that the cabs had a "driver protection system" installed - which involves a barrier erected in between the driver and the passengers.
Such a rare sight
After freshening back at the hotel, we gathered with the other teams at the lounge, with Scott giving us a warm welcome speech and the events to come.
Less than an hour later, we found ourselves back out in the "wilderness" again. This time though, we're heading to one of Shanghai's place of interest, Cheng Huang Temple. We were actually expecting it to be like a real temple, where people pray, do offerings and such. Turns out that it was a long chain of shops fused with the traditional temple layout.
The temple
Crazy crowd
After wandering around the vincinity, we were prompted to cosplay or dress up as either Mafias or the Imperial Family. We ended up being Mafias, and it turned out better than we expected!
PMS doing their shot (Y)
Us preparing
The Swedens
Ahh... after that dinner. We were being brought to a renowned restaurant that supposedly has been established for more than a 100 years. We tasted the many different types of Shanghainese cuisine; don't think we have been stuffed with that much endless variations of delicacies before!
Back at the hotel, we were yearning for our long awaited rest, and we mean a proper one! We had so much fun on the first day that we can't wait for the next few days to come!
End of day 1
Day 2 have arrived, we woke up to a sunny day in Shanghai. It was a packed day, we had breakfast in the hotel and rushed to the Shanghai World Expo.
Wow... we have never seen so many people in a place before. The Shanghai World Expo was like a city upon itself. It was so large we thought that we could spend a month in it and still not explore the whole Expo.
The queue to enter the expo
On the way to Sweden Pavilion
The Sweden Pavilion was interesting, they adopted this concept of the "old" Sweden and the "new" Sweden. Interesting.. most of them being about recycling.
"Before"
"After"
<3
Tour done, games on.
Play area
Sweden played against China first and we watched the games from the sideline, it was a very exciting game and we can't wait to play against them. China did really well and came back from their disadvantage.
Finally, its our turn to play and we played against Sweden. It was a very entertaining match and we learnt alot from the game. Although we won the friendly match. It doesn't really mean anything and we are hoping to have more good matches at dreamhack.
Singapore Expo was next in the list to visit. The Pavilion itself was great, the only downside was they didn't have air-condition installed in the Pavilion except for the threatre room. We're glad to have a Singaporean guide for the pavilion and we enjoyed the short clip by MM Lee Kuan Yew. It was enriching and it shows how much Singapore had changed till now. Couldn't take any pictures here as they didn't allow picture taking during the video playing.
Finishing up the day, we had dinner and went to the KTV lounge to had an awesome time with all the people. We heard the CPL "company song", Huo Yuan Jia by Frank and one of the camera man and boy i tell u, it was truly entertaining. Wish we had a clip of them singing.
Fabulous day 2
Alas, Day 3. We awoke early and visited the Italy and Korea pavilion. The Italians showcased mostly about the arts while Koreans showcased their superiority in technology. The show that they put up was a really interesting insight towards the future. Pictures weren't allowed during the show again. What a pity.
Random
In the evening we had a farewell dinner with everyone. As always the food was great. Too bad Frank and Scott had to leave halfway through the dinner as they had some meeting and a plane to catch.
After dinner we had some free time to roam around and so lead by 2 guys from the China team, (we suspect they have a crush on one of the PMS girls) PMS girls and us headed out to do some night shopping and supper while the others went to their room to have games of poker.
Team China taking us for a walk
Supper
Bye Korea :( Day 3
Day 4, the last day. :( We checked out of the hotel early in the morning and boarded the bus.
We were taken to 7F Games Studio to check out the new and upcoming game which was kinda like HON and DOTA but in the form of the dynasty warriors.
Everyone checking out the game
After that we took the MAGLEV train which went up to like 300km/h. The best part was when it leaned towards the road. Kinda makes you have the "crashing" feel.
Waiting for the MAGLEV train
At 3pm we bid farewell to everyone. Took last minute pictures and boarded the plane with the PMS girls. It was the "back to reality" feeling. And it sucked. Big time !
The two camera men that followed our every movement
Farewell photos (horror on kimchi's face)
She lacks jubeat.
Bon-voyage !
We can say that this is one of the best cultural exchange trip we had. And we would really like to say a BIG THANKS to all the Digital Youth Awards Organizers for organizing this trip. Please don't stop ! Also a BIG THANKS to LENOVO for the shirt and all the SCOGA people who came to send andpick us up out of their own will when we departed and dropped off at the airport.
More information about the Digital Youth Awards can be found here: http://www.digitalyouthaward.net/
More information about SCOGA can be found here:
