which included the participation of THE FLYING HOPPERS as well as the MUFASA Ladies Team
Mark Twain, in his bestseller “The Innocents Abroad”, commented on travel as the great unifier: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
Of course, THE FLYING HOPPERS have taken this advice on board a long time ago, i.e. they have traveled all over the world since their first TOUR in 1996 – each and every year at least one tour (with the strange exception in the year 2000). And in respect to participations at WORLD MASTERS GAMES, the following happened in the past:
2002 World Masters Games in MELBOURNE Silver
2009 World Masters Games in SYDNEY Silver
2013 World Masters Games in TORINO Silver
2017 World Masters Games in AUCKLAND Silver
Hence, the idea for this TOUR to TAIPEI was twofold
a) A new destination in ASIA
b) Another try to finally get GOLD at the World Masters Games
And to cut right to the delightful outcome: FINALLY, those no longer so young Flying Hoppers did ACHIEVE GOLD for the first time in TAIWAN - which will for certain remain a great experience for all that did participate !
Moreover, also the South African MUFASA Ladies Team became GOLD MEDAL winners. That team was fully supported by six ladies that did travel and share the Landis Hotel together with the Flying Hoppers, i.e. in alphabetical order:
Britta (Wendel), Judith (Sijbers), Katrin (Gromann), Lene (Joergensen), Nathalie (Aufranc), Silvina (Dullio).
But back to a more logical day by day kind of reporting.
Because I had only a very short flight to make, I was the very last FH participant to arrive in Taipei just the evening before our first game the next day.
However, that evening of May 19th was also already a special event occasion.
From our comfortable Landis Hotel we walked to the nearby MRT Station and took the MRT to our destination at Xiangshan Station, from where a short walk did bring us to the TRADE OFFICE OF SWISS INDUSTRIES.
The reception started around 18.30 and lasted for a very long time. All Swiss participants at the World Masters Games had been invited and for certain most of them must have come to that very nice reception occasion, during which a lot of participants did win nice prices in a lottery. (I did not win anything – but I did fully enjoy the evening!!)
Many good photo opportunities and nice chats all around. Plenty of drinks and food.
Nice speeches by the organizers which did a fantastic job to keep all those participating really happy.
I did happen to talk to a German speaking lady (wife of some Swiss athlete) and noticed a slight accent in her German and asked her politely where she was originally from. She did mention “Czech Republic” and I did connect her with the remark “Totoho” to Irena Arber for a nice chat opportunity between those two…
Moreover, I was more than pleased to approach one of the main organizers of this really beautiful event, i.e. Mr. Stefan HUTTER.
A good friend of mine (now back in Hong Kong with his Taiwanese wife and their son Max) is always my ‘go to’ source when I want to know about anything special in Taiwan that he might know much better.
Hence, I had asked Andres about Stefan Hutter and hereafter I mention what he wrote to me:
“Der Stefan das ist ein ganz feiner Typ. Ich kenne den von verschiedenen Events in Taiwan. Das ist ein ganz aufgestellter sympathischer Kerl und ein fanatischer Velofahrer. Er und seine Frau haben auch einen kleinen Sohn der Max heisst.”
And – not surprisingly - I had a very nice chat with Stefan Hutter, who was pleased of course to get greetings from a good friend in Hong Kong. It is a small world.
After a lot of people winning nice prices, the evening eventually came to an end quite late. Like a few others, I just wanted to quickly head back to the Landis hotel to get some sleep ahead of the first hockey game the following day.
Tuesday, MAY 20th - first hockey game for The Flying Hoppers
Just 3 of us (Pat, Sacha and myself) wanted to check the possibility of going by public transport from the Landis Hotel to the hockey stadium, which in fact is a really long distance away from Taipei, according to my Taiwan friend Jesse at least 60 km…
In general, the public transport system works just fine in Taiwan.
However, our trek needed rescue twice by English speaking young ladies. The really deciding one is at a really short distance from perhaps only 1 km away from the hockey stadium – but with NO public transport for that important last leg.
Hence, the conclusion after that day’s sad experience was: From now on let us always use those UBER transports.
Having mentioned that longish trip to the hockey pitch: Sacha and I did make it well in time to the hockey stadium and Sacha could brief the team in great detail about the different positions of the players.
The opposing team was an average of 20 years younger than our side and therefore – not really surprisingly – the Flying Hoppers got beaten by 5 : 0. The very hot temperature on that day did not help our cause as well.
The much better event on that Tuesday was a dinner organised by Fedor – in fact Fedor did organise great dinner occasions multiple times!
That evening we went to the SHIN YEH Original Restaurant – a restaurant that specializes in Taiwanese cuisine and which was opened in 1977, i.e. having a very long tradition. I believe that all those that participated did like the restaurant as well as the food on offer.
Wednesday, MAY 21st - second hockey game for The Flying Hoppers
Sacha and I early on in the morning did organize to buy enough beers to bring along with one of those many UBER transports that were going from the Landis directly to the hockey venue.
On this day our opposition was another Taiwanese team – but this time they were ‘only’ 10 years younger than us. And once again, it was a very hot temperature day. However, we did play really quite well against them and the end-result was a 4 : 1 WIN for us!
Back in Taipei in the afternoon, a few of us did meet-up in a very nice coffee shop quite near the hotel and we had a good chat with the ladies that play with Mufasa. Especially Nathi was in great form and explained how the 3 of them did a most interesting travel from Zurich to Taipei - this will form an attachment at the end of my ‘impressions’ – an impressive description by Nathi for certain!
In the evening quite a lot of us did get ready for yet another great dinner.
This time Fedor guided us to yet another Taiwanese restaurant he had selected – but one offering a distinctly different experience from ShinYeh. The “Mountain and Sea House” Taiwanese restaurant is open since 2014 and is housed within a mansion.
The leaflet I did pick-up in that restaurant mentions the following:
“Taiwan is a relatively small island surrounded by the ocean, yet it also features sweeping plains, undulating hills and towering mountains. A plethora of delicacies from the mountains and the sea are readily available within a few hours’ drive. Our culinary bloodline is comprised of the indigenous tribes of Taiwan, the Hokkien, Cantonese, and other provinces of China, as well as Japanese and Dutch influences. The diversity is reflected in the ingredients, seasoning and cooking methods. Our cuisine is a rich tapestry of vibrant colors and tantalizing flavors.
We sincerely hope you will enjoy the delicacies we serve at the Mountain and Sea House Restaurant.”
Well, Fedor did – in my opinion – an outstanding job by ordering the different dishes for all of us. 19 persons were sitting around a huge table (meant for a max. of 20 persons). And I assume that most of us did enjoy that meal at lot – at least I know I did! And in my case even without having any of those many beers that seemed to go down very well…
Thursday, MAY 22nd - game by the Mufasa Team
Very spontaneously, Stefan and I decided (after breakfast at the Landis) to go to the hockey field to watch our ladies in the MUFASA team play. We arrived not at the very beginning of that game but not too long into it.
It turned out to be a very close game but eventually Mufasa did lose that game by a narrow 1 : 2.
When we got back into town, a relaxing time in that very nice coffee shop.
In the evening my good friend Jesse Chao (a friend since the time when I worked in Taipei during the 1982 to 1985 period) met-up with me in the Landis hotel.
And he invited me to an excellent dinner at the Michelin Star restaurant right downstairs in the Landis hotel. Unfortunately, he ordered too much of the delicious food – but he had the right idea to take along the ‘too much’ ordered food for later consumption.
Friday, MAY 23rd - games by The Flying Hoppers and the Mufasa Team
A very early transfer to the hockey venue became necessary, as the FH game was to start at 09.00. And this was an important game, as it was against Taiwanese players in the same age category.
Right from the start we did control the game quite solidly. Eventually, we scored 9 goals without conceding a single one.
Drinking lots of beers thereafter (except for me) and waiting quite a long time to watch the Mufasa ladies game at 13.00.
Some tried to find a supply of food – but were not successful. Instead yet another supply of a lot of beers happened…
Eventually the Mufasa ladies game started and the team did very well. Especially Silvina had a great game and made that well deserved victory possible.
From the sideline from where I watched, three organization ladies (organizing all those different World Masters Games and all 3 of them based in Lausanne) did show up. This gave the opportunity to Stefan to express a strong “thank you” to one of them for helping the Flying Hoppers to still register Wolfgang Then against all the odds!
Another focus among some of our players was another lady among those three, i.e. one originally from Argentina but – besides speaking French, of course – she was basically a speaker of Dutch! Hence – in alphabetical order – Coen, Jaap and Sacha all got somewhat excited to hear her speak that language and eventually Coen had a quite lengthy conversation with her.
Back in Taipei in the late afternoon, I was getting prepared for Jesse picking me up to attend a group dinner with old acquaintances from those long ago Anping/Tait days.
It was an enjoyable evening for me but obviously of no interest to anybody else – hence no further details on that.
Saturday, MAY 24th - a day off
After having a late breakfast occasion with Sacha, we two went around the neighborhood to look for some special tape – but with no luck. Eventually, we got back to the Landis and Sacha did get going for some sightseeing.
In my case, I did make my way back to the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park area and the respective ‘Accreditation Center’ - as I wanted to undergo the 3-fold SMART HEALTH EXPERIENCE - AI- assisted (including individual cardiac age prediction).
However, the outcome was not really inspiring to me, as my “heart age” showed up as being 84.6 years old.
From there I went for a walk and a late lunch snack and eventually – after some more walks - back to the hotel.
In the evening, Fedor did yet again come up with a SUPER choice for dinner – for those that wanted to come along. What was especially great was the fact that we did occupy that whole JAPANESE restaurant. Moreover, the Japanese food was truly excellent!
Toni took the opportunity to express (on behalf of all the Flying Hoppers) the SINCERE THANKS to Stefan for being the motor and driving force to make all those great TOURS since 1996 and to all over the world.
Most certainly, everyone agrees that Stefan has been (and is still doing) a fantastic work to keep the FLYING HOPPERS TOURING going - may it last many, many years into the future is my personal wish!!
Sunday, MAY 25th – Last game day and celebration time
Sacha (incl. his baggage as he would leave from the hockey stadium directly to the Airport) and I and the others in our UBER made our way to the hockey field relatively early in order to be able to watch the last Musafa game and cheer them on.
Musafa were holding their own for a long time – but nevertheless got beaten. But on the positive side: they already had qualified for GOLD !
After that early game (now in much cooler weather than at the beginning of the tournament) we supporters went for a lunch occasion to a really nice restaurant and not too far away. The lady in charge there reserved a big table for us. Her English was very good and she helped us a lot with our ordering. Moreover, she treated us to some extra desserts free of charge – very nice of her indeed.
Then we did hurry back to the hockey field – on the way buying some beers in a CVS. We got back just in time to get ready for our final game against that 20 years younger side that had beaten us 5 : 0 earlier in the tournament.
And what an exciting game it became! Our players all gave their best but from my perspective Sacha as well as especially our goalie REINHARD made outstanding performances. The whole team managed to finish the game with a fantastic 0 : 0 result!
Of course, we celebrated this like a VICTORY - for our team naturally the man of the match was REINHARD !
This was followed in due course by the Medals ceremonies – with BOTH the MUFASA ladies and The FLYING HOPPERS winning GOLD MEDALS.
Many, many photos were taken…
Eventually, some of those early departing Hoppers left straight from there to the Airport and the rest of us made our way back to the Landis hotel.
We assembled in the lobby at 19.30 and Fedor once again had found and reserved another excellent restaurant “GOBAMI SOCIAL” for about 20 persons for 20.00. That short time-span meant that we needed to move there rapidly with multiple UBER’s….
And – yet again – an excellent dinner was experienced over a long period of time.
Thereafter, we decided to walk to an MRT station and after changing subways we finally arrived back at the Landis hotel very close to midnight.
Another GREAT day had come to an end and we were tired but happy.
Monday, MAY 26th – departure day (in my case)
I woke up and first and foremost made my packing arrangement.
Thereafter, I went down and by chance just at the same time Willy arrived in the lobby and together we went over for breakfast. He mentioned that Irena was not in a good physical condition – but she did show up a bit later to join us for breakfast. Also, Fedor came and we had a chat about what was happening after quite a few did not go straight back to he hotel the night before – but some went for ‘night caps’ in some interesting areas.
Back in my room I made my final packing and went down to do my checking out and was on my way (early on) to the AIRPORT (using the MRT).
My conclusion (correctly or wrongly!): A GREAT TIME was had by all the participants on this TAIWAN TOUR.
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Lieber Walter
Die Freude ist ganz meinerseits 😊.
Sehr gerne schildere ich dir, wie es dazu kam und wie wir, Lene, Katrin und ich, nach Taipei gereist sind:
Da ich unter Flugangst leide und es jedes Jahr schlimmer wird, wollte ich in der Businessclass reisen. Es ist dort wesentlich angenehmer als in der Holzklasse. Ich muss dazu sagen, dass ich ein «Swissair-Kind» bin (mein Vater arbeitete bei Swissair) und früher ganz viel in Flugzeugen unterwegs war.
Mein Mann ist aus geschäftlichen Gründen Vielflieger und er weiss, wie man zu «günstigen» Flügen kommt. Von Zürich aus sind viele Destinationen sehr teuer. Er fand dann den Flug mit Startflughafen Mailand Malpensa. Uns kostete die Reise von Mailand nach Taipei und zurück pro Person in der Businessclass CHF 3'000.00. Von Zürich aus hätte uns der Flug pro Person ca. CHF 4'500.00 gekostet.
Lene, Katrin und ich fuhren mit dem Zug (Intercity) vom Zürich HB nach Lugano, dann weiter mit der S-Bahn von Lugano zum Flughafen Mailand Malpensa. Die S-Bahn hält direkt am Flughafen. Von Mailand aus zurück nach Zürich mit Swiss (da auch schon in der Businessclass). Von Zürich weiter mit Swiss nach Hong Kong. Wir liessen in Mailand unser Gepäck bis nach Taipei durchchecken, was natürlich perfekt war. Da EVA-Air auch zur Star Alliance Group gehört wie Swiss, war das überhaupt kein Problem. Von Hong Kong dann weiter mit EVA-Air nach Taipei. Den Rückflug dann wieder mit EVA-Air von Taipei nach Hong Kong. Und von Hong Kong wieder mit Swiss nach Zürich. Den letzten Teil der Reise, d.h. bis zum «Startflughafen Mailand», traten wir dann nicht mehr an. Wir mussten in Taipei beim Einchecken lediglich sagen, dass wir in Zürich aussteigen und das Gepäck benötigen.
Ich hoffe, meine Ausführungen sind einigermassen verständlich. Sonst melde dich ungeniert wieder bei mir. Lene und Katrin wollen unbedingt in zwei Jahren nach Kansai an die WMG. Das möchte ich ebenfalls nicht missen und werde wohl auch wieder mit von der Partie sein. Du wirst auch dabei sein, oder?
Liebe Grüsse aus dem etwas wechselhaften Zürich. Man könnte meinen, es sei April und nicht Juni, hihihi…
Nathi