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You are here: Home » All Blacks year by year » 2014 » 2014 All Black tour Diary » First day in Nanjing
13 August 2014
You all know probably what a long flight is like. Today's from Wellington-Auckland-Guangzhou-Nanjing was little different to the norm. Tedious boredom, bad movies (surprisingly), not much sleep, food OK and a rush from terminal to terminal not really sure if I was headed in the right direction.
But hey! I'm here in Nanjing and I have traveled well. The only thing is - my baggage has not traveled so well! It ain't here - lost somewhere in the wilds of China? Who knows?
So here I sit in a very nice hotel in Nanjing and I am reminded of that funny story the cricket commentator Bryan Waddle tells from time to time.
One time on a cricket tour of the West Indies Bryan arrived in Kingston, Jamaica and the local airline had lost his baggage. Bryan got in a cab in a bit of a grouch. And only carrying his airline briefcase. Today I understood that feeling.
Apparently Waddle's cab driver was one of those eternally cheerful cabbies, always whistling, laughing and being bright and happy. As Bryan tells the story their first conversation went something like this;
Cabbie; 'Hey man welcome to sunny, beautiful bright Kingston!'
Wads; "You might think that but your airline has just lost my baggage! Probably right now its in some place like - bloody Guatemala!'
Cabbie; 'Guatemala? Hey man you been to Guatemala?'
Wads; 'No I have NOT!
Cabbie; 'Well then! Look on the bright side sir! Guatemala is a lovely place - your baggage is one up on you!'
Wads tells the story much better than me but I was reminded of it today. I doubt mine has gone to the Caribbean but it could have gone to Chongqing, Kunming, Qingdao or even Shenyang. All those places and hundreds more are flying locations here in China!
But I'm confident things will turn up and soon I can get out of these traveling clothes. If you've ever had misplaced baggage you'll know what is like too!
A couple of other things while I wait in my room. The weather here today is shocking! It is hosing down full tilt. I wouldn't be surprised if there is flooding. Still it was 34degrees here yesterday so it only has to stop and the summer will return I guess.
Meantime thanks also must go to all of the volunteers who whisked me around the airport today. Young boys and girls maybe in their late teens and early twenties - all desperate to help a clearly struggling traveler. It even got to the point where a ride to the hotel in a bus was out of the question for me apparently. They must have felt sorry for me because after a time of wonder a black limo slid up at the kerbside and I rode to town through the rain in glorious style.
Only trouble was the driver and me - with language difficulties - said not one word to each other all the way in!
Talk to you here tomorrow!
(First impressions; Nanjing looks a very nice place!)
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A dramatic day & a tough match but a 15-12 South Africa win over the All Blacks. Their captain Francois Pienaar received the World Cup from his President Nelson Mandela.
APIA PARK
Headquarters for the game of rugby in Samoa. Apia Park is a ground with a colourful past. Just as Twickenham in London was once a market garden, and cabbages were grown at Lancaster Park in Christchurch during World War I, Apia Park in the capital city of Samoa was once a horse racing track and a golf course.
Situated close to the city, the ground was originally owned by the occupying German Government. The first horse racing was held on Kaiser Wilhelm II’s birthday in 1910. Later, Chinese, Melanesian and Samoan labourers ploughed the swampy land, aided by oxen-drawn carts. They levelled an inner field and plans for rugby were drawn up. The locals did not worry that a large, shady tree was left intact on what was to be inside the field of play.
Horse racing died out in 1939. The first rugby game on the park was in 1924 when an Apia Selection played a Pago Pago Naval XV. Apia won 33-0. During the same year a Fijian team on its way to play Tonga stopped in Apia. Its two games against the locals were split one win each. It is not recorded how the teams coped with playing around the tree!
These days the rebuilt ground, with its superb backdrop of palm trees and other native flora and fauna, must be one of the prettiest in the world.
Apia Park has always been a highly significant place for sport in Samoa. In 1991 before the advent of a home TV network, crowds used to come to the ground and sit for hours overnight waiting to watch on an imported giant TV screen the matches of (Western) Samoa at the World Cup in Britain.
For years the field was also used as a golf course, but in 1975 the inherent dangers of people walking near such a course led them to shift to a new venue, at the Royal Samoan Golf Club. Only then for the first time could rugby truly claim the grounds.
In 2007, Apia Park was one of the main venues for the 2007 Pacific Games. In 2015 it will play host many events at the Youth Commonwealth Games, the opening and closing ceremonies. It will also host the All Blacks from New Zealand for a much anticipated game against Manu Samoa. The ground has a capacity of 15,000.
If there were a New Zealand rugby NPC State-of-Origin contest, which province would Grant Fox play for?
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