Singapore Cup Diary Thursday October 4

I hate flying. Well long flights that is. Maybe if I had a much bigger seat I'd be fine. That's a problem when you're tall and need all the leg room you can get. So if I don't normally get an exit seat, then I get one along the aisle. Or if I am able to book ahead, the seats up front. An evening or redeye flight makes it worse. Travel sickness. It's like driving. I have to hop out every 30 minutes or so for me to stretch the legs that ache. 

Left Manila not exactly the happiest. Part of me wanted to go and follow Loyola's semifinals adventure in the 2012 Singapore Cup and a part of me wanted to stay home and do other things -- work, the UFL, NBTC, and a few others. And there's the matter of missing Game One of the UAAP Men's Basketball Finals. How did that happen now? If this crossed over into Game Two then I would have most certainly stayed behind. A five-peat doesn't happen every day, you know. But I am glad to be here. I started this and I have to see it to its end. 

Took the 830pm flight with Loyola defenders Alex Elnar and PJ Fadrigalan. Both have work and they cannot file as many leaves as they can because of this. Both are excited to be back and be a part of this historic participation by a Philippine/UFL club in a foreign tournament. 

By the same token, there is excitement here in Singapore that local club Lions XII made it to the semifinals of the Malaysia Cup with a 2-0 win over (Malaysian side) Pahang at the Jalan Besar Stadium two nights ago. Lions XII overcame a 1-2 first leg deficit in Malaysia to advance. Sharil Ishak scored both goals. Incidentally, Jalan Besar is the home field of Lions. That match drew 7,429 paying patrons to the match. So I wonder if we're going to get the same kind of attendance and reaction when the Singapore Cup semis kicks off Thursday night.

We arrive at our hotel around 1245am. The hotel looks nice and it's a plus to be in Bugis because I love this area -- nice eats, malls around and easy to get around with a MRT stop nearby. We dump our gear in the room and head out to eat. I spotted a late night chain of restaurants before our cab entered these maze of side streets. But I've got an excellent sense of direction and we manage to wolf down a late late nite meal of chicken briyani before we call it a night. The internet is darn expensive and I guess I won't use it much. So I watch some late night WWE Smackdown while trying to figure out what to write. Later will have a little bit on Tampines.