Follow Alex Gibson on Her Journey
June 21, 2010 | Women's Golf
July 15, 2010
The 2010 Collegiate All Star Golf Team, of which Gibson is a member, is traveling around Asia and the insider's look is found here.
DAY BY DAY - ASIA ADVENTURE 2010 By Natasha Podmore, University of San Francisco, the team-member who was tasked with creating an online blog.
DAY 24,THURSDAY, JULY 15th:
Today we all made the journey home to LA and then went our separate ways. It was sad to say goodbye but I think we all made friends for life. We have had a great time and it has been an experience of a lifetime. It has been a pleasure writing the blog, I hope you all enjoyed reading. Tune in next year for NCAA ALLSTAR ASIA TRIP 2011! Signing off: Natasha Podmore
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14th:
We were picked up bright and early by some lady members of the Hong Kong Golf Club. They drove us out to the course where we met up with other lady members to play the Eden course. Today we finally got to play with each other. Two All-stars played with two lady members. We played 3 best scores better ball. The Eden course was pretty difficult with a few narrow tricky holes. The ladies informed us that they were preparing the course for the Hong Kong open that was taking place soon. After golf we all had lunch. One lady called Angelie was adamant that we all tried her chinese wraps. I'm glad she did because they were delicious! The result of the competition came in and Lala and Lauren's group won. We were taken back to the city where we had the rest of the afternoon as free time. The majority of the girls decided to take a ferry across to the Kowloon side of the city for dinner. We went on a bus ride looking for somewhere to eat, we ended up at a spaghetti house. We ordered 2 large pizzas between 6 of us but we should have remembered Chinese portion sizes are a lot smaller compared to the US. We had to ration out the pieces. It was a funny moment. After dinner we made our way over to the waters edge to watch the famous light show across on the Hong Kong side. The light show consists of buildings flashing different colored lights in time to music. It must have taken some intense engineering to get each building to flash it's lights in sequence to the music. After the light show we made our way back over to Hong Kong side of the city and out to Lan Quai Fong. We enjoyed dancing and singing together then we all went back to the hotel to pack as tomorrow we will be travelling home.
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THURSDAY, JULY 8th:


Today we played the Deutsche Bank tournament. We left the hotel at 5.20am and were taken off up into the Korean mountains to Rexfield Country Club. The club house was such a cool design apart from some weird statues. One was of a fat naked couple kissing and outside were a number of ghostly looking statues in a group near the putting green.
The course was so beautiful with streams and picturesque scenery of the mountains and valley. The halfway houses were uber modern and looked like silver space ships. The course played really long because it had rained. On one par 5 it took a driver, 3 wood and 5 iron for me to even reach the green. Rebecca seems to be having issues with birds on this trip. Early on in the trip her Oakley sunglasses got stolen by a crow off the golf cart and up into the trees. Today however, she got attacked by a swan on the 8th hole. Alex also was having some troubles of her own with a man duffing a ball and hitting her in the leg. Luckily she was ok but the man's ball landed in a bush. One of her playing partners, Mr. S.R. Kim (the host of the tournament) tried to keep up with the small but mighty Alex's drives because on one tee shot he swung so hard he knocked his own hat off. Alex said he smashed it 320yards! One hole was called the, "no ask, no tell" hole it was easily +30 yards uphill. Alex got shouted at for asking the caddie how far she was. The caddie put her arms up in a cross. We never found out the reason behind no ask, no tell. For dinner after the round we had some Korean stew and it had octopus in it. Lauren said no way was she eating that. She eats nothing that has suction cups on it, I can't say I blame her cause neither do I! After the meal we did our prize raffle and then boarded the bus back to the hotel. Tomorrow we go off to Hong Kong!

FRIDAY, JULY 9th:


Today we were picked up at 6am and taken to Mr. Lee's restaurant for breakfast. It was a Korean bbq, with beef, onions, kimchi, and garlic. Although it was delicious, it was tough to eat at 6am! After breakfask we spent some time in the shop and then departed for the airport. Luckily checking in ran a lot smoother than last time. This partly had to do with shipping some of our stuff home so our bags weighed less. Once through security half of the girls spotted a free korean fan and silk scroll painting station. With only 50mins until we boarded we all began frantically painting. We all had fun doing the crafts but had a mad dash through the airport to catch the plane, we almost missed it! We all made it on the flight and settled into our seats. I luckily got the aisle seat on a row of 3 seats and the seat in front only had 2 seats. So i had great extra leg room for free! We made it to Tokyo and then connected onto our flight to Hong Kong, praying our bags were following us. Once landed we were very happy as all of our bags were waiting for us. We changed some money and then boarded the public bus to our hotel.
It was amazing just how hot it was at 8pm. It was like being in an outdoor sauna. On the bus we got our first glimpse of Hong Kong. It was a truly amazing sight, all lit up with different colored lights. Every building had a different pattern of lights. My favourite building was a black one with white zig-zags all over it. There was also loads of docks and I have never seen so many ship containers and boats. You can tell this country is equipped for serious exporting. The buildings are so densely packed together and the streets feel like one big maze. We made it to the Newton hotel and our rooms were situated on the 20th out of 21 floors! Very high up! But we had such an amazing view of the city and the surrounding water. We were looking forward to some sleep after such a long day travelling.


SATURDAY, JULY 10th:
We left the hotel at 6am and it felt like we had only slept for 5 minutes. Today we travelled to Nansha, China. We took the ferry across from Hong Kong to China. After wobbling around the boat looking for a way to get outside we found out that we weren't allowed to go out on the top deck. We sat in our seats and were then greeted by a man from Julius Baer. He asked if we would like to go upstairs and greet some of the people we were going to be playing with today. Cassie, Rachel, Rebecca and I went up and had a chat to some of the guys. A lot of them were playing cards but we had a funny conversation with a guy named Frank. He couldn't understand why we only had one boyfriend at a time instead of a few. Once we arrived in China we some how made it through immigration with fruit in our backpacks (we forgot it was there). Maybe they weren't watching the scanner as closely as they should. We boarded a bus that took us to Nansha Country Club. After breakfast at the club we all gathered together around the first tee. Rachel was chosen to start the tournament with a ceremonial tee shot using a golden ball. Rachel and Mr Baer hit their golden balls simultaneously off the first tee. Rachel didn't hit her best shot and the ball went into a bush 20 yards in front of the tee. It was pretty funny.
Mr. Baer's ball went all the way up the fairway. This was strange as ribbons exploded out of the balls and they weren't even supposed to fly that far. We had great fun playing golf but it was super hot and humid! I have never sweated like that on a golf course before. After the round dinner and the presentation took place. There was sushi on the buffet and soy sauce. A lot of the girls and I took some sushi and drizzled some soy sauce on the rolls. We didn't realize that the soy sauce contained a ridiculous amount of Wasabi! OH MY GOSH! I felt like a dragon breathing fire down my nostrils. We all drank so much water as the wasabi was so hot! I had to get another plate of food because I had put the soy sauce all over my rice. The results of the golf were Rebecca's team were runners up and Chelsea's team won the tournament. Once the presentation finished we all went to get massages in the nearby town. The massages were amazing and were so cheap! Only $8 USD. The girl who massaged me walked all over my back. Thank goodness she weighed only around 90pounds! After our massages we were all very sleepy and retired back to the country club where we stayed in lodges next to the golf course. Rachel tried to play a trick on Avery by trying to hide a chicken's head from dinner in her suitcase. Fortunately for Avery, Rachel was off her game because she was so tired and we figured she was up to something.
SUNDAY, JULY 11th:


 Today we were playing at Nansha Country Club again. This time we played with Kenneth Fok and some of his friends. It was a more relaxed day and we had great fun playing. At breakfast we were so excited to see peanut butter french toast and Hash browns amongst the dim sum and pot stickers. We all ate so much we fell into a food coma! After the round we tucked into another delicious buffet then waited for the bus to take us to the ferry. We had a relaxing ferry cruise back to Hong Kong and we got to sit in a private lounge on the boat. It was great fun. Larry kept checking his cell phone to see when his service would change from Chinese to Hong Kong so he could announce when we had crossed the border.

MONDAY, JULY 12th:


 We played at Hong Kong Golf Club. We travelled for an hour outside of the city. The people we played with were the Hong Kong chapter of the YPO (Young President's Organization). Hong Kong Golf Club was opened in 1889. It is a very prestigious golf course. It was an extremely hot day again but luckily it cooled down a little in the afternoon. We all returned to the hotel to get some rest after the past 3 days.
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TUESDAY, JULY 6th:


Today's tournament was hosted by H.Y Kim. We were lucky enough to play with Korean Professionals. Avery played with a Korean female professional who was still in high school. She shot -6 on the front 9. She finished up shooting 64! She said she practices for 11 hours a day when she isn't in school. It was very impressive and showed us just how much we need to improve. Avery's team won the overall prize (not surprising after counting a 64) Out of the Allstars Alex had the best round shooting 70 (-2) Chelsea shot 72(par) and Avery and I shot 73(+1). After the golf we ventured off to a Karaoke bar to do some singing. It was great fun. The Koreans take singing very seriously! They were quite amazing at it and a lot of them even played musical instruments. Toward the end of the night before we were leaving everyone on the team got up to sing the fabulous power ballad, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" We brought the house down, in a good way and bad! I think this is our killer song.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 7th:


Sightseeing was the top of today's list. A tour bus picked us up at 10am and off we went to tour the city of Seoul. Our tour guide was a very nice Korean Lady. She informed us of the cities history and which rivers divide North and South Seoul. It was all very interesting.
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MONDAY, JUNE 28th:
Today was a less busy day. We played in the morning at Zama G.C with a group of Japanese men who had been friends since their college days. The sun came out for the first time on the trip and it was sooo HOT! Everyone's shirts were soaked through. After playing we went back to the hotel to relax and do laundry. Rebecca took charge of the laundry washing process. Unfortunately we had a bit of a disaster with some of our white skorts and pink t-shirts. For some unexplained reason they became dyed with patches of yellow. Even though nothing yellow was put in the wash. We came to the conclusion that it may have been sunscreen reacting with the laundry powder. I don't think our white skorts are going to last the next 17 days without becoming stained eaaak!. We all went out exploring on the Army base but the hangout areas were very deserted as it was a Monday night. After an unsuccessful trip out we all turned in for the night ready to play Atsugi G.C tomorrow.
TUESDAY, JUNE 29th:
This morning we held a golf clinic for the children of the Atsugi Navy Base. Unfortunately only half of the children turned up because it was raining. Chelsea and I were working with 10 year old Skyler and 13 year old Kaven Eubank. There wasn't a lot wrong with their swings as they were pounding the ball such a long way and perfectly straight. It was amazing! After the clinic we set off to play golf with some of the Navy soldiers. The format was texas scramble and a lot of fun! Some of the big guys could hit the ball almost 300 yards. After golf we returned to the hotel to change and then we went to Captain Eric Gardner's house. The Captain and his wife Amy had invited us to a bbq. In the back garden was a fully constructed zip line. Cassie bravely went down the zip line first. It was a bumpy ride and sadly she broke a shoe and dirtied her shorts in the process. Chelsea next, she had a text book flight and perfect dismount. Avery did not jump far enough off the ladder and ended up getting stuck, suspended in mid air. Fortunately there was a guy named Tim who was 6ft9 who could reach up to her to pull her back to the steps. Her second flight was a lot better and she made it all the way to the end. Rachel's flight along the zip line was the most dramatic. She had a bumpy start but picked up speed quickly. She made it right to the end of the line where a nasty whiplash from stopping awaited her. She tried to hold on with all her might but by no fault of her own the rope snapped and she face planted right into the ground. After such a hard fall to the ground we felt she might have hurt herself. Covered in mud, action woman Rachel picked herself up, and was more concerned that she broke the zip-line than her brush with "death". After seeing this event, a few of the girls contemplating going down the line were very much put off. We returned to the house and as the night drew to a close Captain Eric kindly gave all of us one of his Challenge Coins. These coins are given only to high ranking Military officials. If you are in a bar and somebody gets out their challenge coin and you don't have yours then you have to buy them a drink and visa versa. After a fun night of greeting and eating we headed back to the hotel ready for a long day traveling to the mountains.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30th:
Today we set off for the mountains and the Japan Royal Jelly Atami Lodge. We left the base at 9am. We were so fortunate that the hotel receptionist and a Navy soldier gave us a ride to the train station. It was so kind of them to do so, otherwise we would have had to tote our stuff 1.8miles (to be exact!) to the train station. After a quick stop for snacks and drinks we boarded our train 15mins earlier than planned. Larry was happy we were ahead of schedule! We took 4 different trains to get up to the mountains. On one train, as we went along people continually kept getting on and nobody was getting off. It became very very crowded. Somehow Alex managed to drop her camera case and we were so cramped nobody could bend down to pick it up. With 3 of us squished with our golf bags against the door, finally we got to a stop in which the door behind us opened and not the one opposite. As a heard of people wanted to get off the only option for us 3 to do was to fall backward out of the train as the door opened. A torrent of people passed us getting off the train, I have never seen anything like it. As we made a transfer to another train the team had a big workout. We had to race through one side of the train station to the other, navigating through hundreds of people and lifting our golf bags quickly up big flights of stairs. Thankfully as we travelled further out of Tokyo the trains became more empty and the scenery ever more beautiful. We made it to the last station where we would take a bus the rest of the way. This small town was situated at the foot of very beautiful mountains. After our train ride some of the girls needed the toilet.
Here they had another Japanese toilet experience, this time they got to experience the hole in the floor type of toilet. I think they mastered it quite well and nobody ended up peeing on themselves. After munching on some ice cream the bus finally arrived to take us to meet Yoshi Yamaguchi who would take us onwards to his lodge. Yoshi and his friend Ken met us at the bus station and loaded up our bags on to his pick up truck. From there we drove through, what felt like, a maze of small country roads, escalating up into the mountains. We arrived at a beautiful authentic Japanese lodge. Here we met a few more of Yoshi's friends including the cutest 2-year-old girl called Lily and 5-month-old Kai. Our rooms consisted of beautiful Japanese style futons, Tatami flooring and sliding doors. The bathrooms had communal showers and a huge indoor mineral water bath. Outside was a natural hot spring bath (which you have to go in naked eaak!). After putting our stuff in our rooms and exploring the house we had a fabulous BBQ prepared by Yoshi. The steak was really tasty and the potato and tuna salad ?delicious! After eating and chatting the girls decided to brave getting naked and experience the Japanese hot spring. It was kind of scary at first stripping off so we initiated everybody getting into the bath by saying, "don't look, don't looook!?Once we were in the water it was fine. It was amazing to think the water is naturally that hot out of the ground. It was boiling! After everybody couldn't take the heat anymore we all got out, pink faced, and dried off. Then it was time for Kareoke!! We had so much fun picking songs to sing. It felt kind of embarrassing at first but once you sang a few times you got into the groove (some people a little too into it, mainly me). We think our best song of the night was Celine Dion, Because you Loved me. It was a total power ballad, and we all sung at the top of our lungs. Even though we thought we sounded good, Larry informed us that we should stick to our day jobs, playing golf. As the number of singers decreased and went off to bed, Yoshi and I sang one last power ballad. This time we sang Sweet Child O?Mine by Guns and Roses. We had fun singing and even strummed some air guitar! As we all settled into our Japanese futons we realized our pillows felt like bags of beans. It was a very new experience and we all felt privileged to be experiencing such authenticity.
THURSDAY, JULY 1st:
Today was the day of our "Friendship Match" at the Grandee Golf Club, where the JLPGA recently played their last tournament. After getting much needed sleep, we received a call in Japanese in our rooms at 7am. Only Chelsea, Rebecca, Avery and I realized it was a wake-up call. The other two rooms decided to go back to sleep after answering the call. But not to worry, we all were up an hour later and sitting at the dining room table enjoying our delicious breakfast prepared by Yoshi. He made us scrambled eggs, toast, soup, and tuna salad. After we said our goodbyes to Lilly and Kai and receiving our homemade lunches from Yoshi, we set off for our 11am tee time at Grandee with Yoshi and his friends. We traveled by bus up into the mountains and marveled at the amazing views as we passed by steep cliffs and bridges. After having ample time to warm-up on the range and putting green, we were off to play. This was the first time for most of the girls to play together. Our luxurious trip continued during our round of golf because of the automatic golf carts. All four people and their bags could ride in one cart. Only the push of a button was needed to stop or start the cart. They were controlled by a system built into the sidewalk, so no steering was required. A remote control could be used to move the cart forward even without anyone inside! We were able to enjoy the beautiful views of the course and have conversations amongst our foursomes because of the relaxed pace of the carts. After our round we all changed and boarded our bus (with extra leg room) that Yoshi arranged to take us back to Atsugi. We were also able to stop at a very gourmet rest station (much different than the U.S.) to have dinner consisting of ramen noodle soup and ice cream. Before departing to our rooms for the night, Larry instructed us to be ready to meet at the front gate at 5:15am tomorrow morning in order to travel to the Akishino Tournament.
FRIDAY, JULY 2nd:
Today we played at Friendship Golf Club. We left the hotel at 5am and pulled our golf bags to the Base gate. Alex and I managed to spare a few minutes to take pictures in front of the Navy fighter jets. We boarded the bus and the journey to the golf course began. We were all very tired and in a matter of minutes we were all sleeping. Even Rachel, who is known to have unlimited amounts of energy was knocked out. We were unsure how long the trip took as the next thing we knew we had arrived at Friendship Golf Club. All the signs in the clubhouse were in Japanese and I almost walked into the men's changing room. Luckily a woman came shouting at me and pointed me in the right direction. We all had breakfast in a large room upstairs. Strangely it consisted of one cold boiled egg, two extremely thick slices of bread and a cup of onion soup. It went down pretty well, as we were all hungry. The format of the day was to have fun and there wasn't any structured competition. We used the electric (go on their own) golf carts again but this time we were accompanied by a female caddie. Quite a few people weren't the best of players so shouts of "FAAAAAAR"(Four) were echoing around the golf course from the female caddies. Their shout of four is a lot different than the usual heard in America. They prolong it for at least 5 seconds and it is quite funny to listen to. Each All-star played with one group in the morning 9 holes and then switched to a new group in the afternoon 9 holes. In some groups were young women golfers, similar ages to us. It was cool to see them playing although it was difficult to communicate with them as they only speak little English.
The golf course was beautiful and in great condition. Alex was fortunate enough to have a fellow Peruvian lady caddying for her. She spent a lot of time talking to caddy in Spanish as the people in her group spoke hardly any English. The Japanese were very excited to play with us and made us feel like celebrities. At the lunch break I saw Cecelia eating her lunch that her playing partners had kindly picked out for her. She was struggling to grip the food with her chopsticks. Later on I found out that the food they picked out for her was Eel. After the last 9 holes we all came in for some light snacks and a massive raffle. Some of the prizes were interesting such as a battery-powered dog. Everyone loved our school logo t-shirts. After we said our goodbyes and boarded the bus thunder and lightning cracked overhead. We were lucky to have such perfect weather all day. Tonight 8 of the girls have gone out for some fun in Roppongi before we leave Japan and head off to South Korea tomorrow.
SATURDAY, JULY 3rd:
Today we left Japan and started our very eventful journey to South Korea. Before we left, Cassie, Rebecca, Lauren, and I went to the Naval Base Commissary to stock up on some American food supplies. Ron and Sal kindly helped us with our luggage to the bus stop. Our flight wasn't until 5pm but the only bus we could catch to the airport was 10am.On the ride to the airport most of the girls caught up on sleep. Once at the airport we went to check-in with Korean Air and a huge ordeal awaited us. Rebecca checked in first and her bags went smoothly on their way. Then all of a sudden we were told we were only allowed 20KGs for both suitcase and golf bags combined. We were totally confused for a while as Larry informed us that he has travelled with Korean Air for 27 years and never had this problem before. After arguing our case we were unsuccessful and faced an $11 fee per excess KG. Most of our bags ranged from 35KG - 45KG. Total, our group would have had to pay $2000 in excess baggage charges!!!!
The Air Korean clerks showed some compassion and got on the phone to some "big cheeses" back at Air Korea headquaters. They struck up a deal with us saying what ever excess charge we had they could give us a discount on it. At $2000 the discount didn't really make a satisfactory dent in the cost. Larry, the creative genious came up with a number of solutions. One idea was for us to leave one bag at the airport but that would have cost $30 each. Thinking this was our only option we started to empty our golf travel bags and pack the bare essentials. Our golf bags were already weighing in at around 20KGs each so i can gurantee we would have looked like tramps all week. Struggling with our bags the sweat poured off us and stress levels increased. The Air Korea clerks showed even more compassion and decided to allow us 8 carry on boxes and 29KGs of baggage allowance. This slight flexibility gave us hope and we frantically began emptying all of the heavy items out of our bags. We stuffed every inch of our backpacks with stuff. Avery even wore two belts. Shoes and caps were tied to our backpacks. I was prepared to tie my jeans around my waist. We weighed our bags countless times trying to get the weight just right. Some peoples bags weighed less than others so we all ended up with parts of our belongings in other peoples cases. Rebecca's suitcase took a while to come back after it went down the baggage chute. She got her case back just as we were taping up the last two boxes. 4 of us had a frenzy helping her empty her bag of the weight.
One funny moment was when Lala emptied a box of tampons into a Coach purse. We all laughed at the spectacle of an extremely expensive tampon holder. After the last box was taped up we all cheered and clapped at the bizarre situation that just happend. After we had just faced a $2000 charge for excess baggage ironically we had somehow got everything onto the plane for free even though our items were spread out in a total of 35 different luggage pieces. After that 2 hours escapade weAfter that escapade we were all glad to see a Starbucks and a bagel shop. My Vanilla frappacino never tasted so good! Now we only had 1hr30mins until our flight and the girls decided to do some last minute souvenir buying. These included some very nice sake cups and keyrings. After boarding the flight we felt very relieved to be on our way. The aeroplane was really cool and each seat had its own television screen. We all got to watch a movie. The food on the plane consisted of salmon and vegatables. It tasted better than it smelt and the fruit jello went down a treat. After the 2 hour flight we arrived in Seoul, South Korea. We were welcomed by a very nice man called Arnold who showed us to our bus and then the hotel. After unpacking our carry-on boxes and sorting out where all our belongings were, we all settled in for the night after a very tiring and eventful day. Tomorrow is our day off from golf and we will be sightseeing and shopping in Seoul.
SUNDAY, JULY 4th:
HAPPY 4th JULY!! Today was an off day from golf and we took the opportunity to do some intense shopping. We met for breakfast at 9 and used our coupons for an "American" breakfast. The Koreans had sterotyped what they thought was an American breakfast. This included french fries haha! At 9.45 we all got together to shop. Larry took us up to the main street and we had a great time looking around. In one store they had eel skin purses and wallets. They were really cool! The girls bought a lot of purses and wallets. Personalized bag tags were also a popular buy. After a few hours on the main street we went down to the subway to travel to a swap-meet market. After figuring out all of the transfers on the different lines, Larry told us to remember the way back because we will probably get split up at the market. Unfortunately, when we got to the stadium where the swap meet takes place, the stadium had been demolished. Luckily. we were right next to a shopping mall. We had a look around but it was quite expensive. Lala and Alex got some rice cakes in sauce. The sauce was so spicy it made your mouth burn. Rachel and Avery had a massive piece of watermelon. We didn't know you weren't allowed to stand near the stalls and eat so the store workers kept pushing us away. On the subway back to the hotel we were all boarding the train and for some reason just as Avery was stepping on, the doors began to shut so quickly. It was a scary moment because Avery was half way through the door and it squashed her. Rachels Pocari Sweat soft drink spilt all over Avery. We managed to pull her through but Rachel was stuck on the platform. Alex was looking through the window shouting, "Rachel noooooo!!!" Like they were never going to see each other again. It was quite funny but worrying at the same time. Like a miracle the doors suddenly opened and we pulled Rachel on quickly. We made it back safely from that point on. Once back we showered and changed and met Mr. Henry Oh and his friends. He took us to this really cool Korean hotel for dinner. We had a Korean BBQ. We sat on the floor and the beef was cooked infront of us on hot coals. Surrounding the hot coals were a lot of tiny dishes with all different kinds of vegatables and some seafood. We were provided with huge bibs to put around our necks so we didnt spill on our clothes. it was a very fun dinner and Henry Oh was very entertaining. After eating a tremendous amount of food we retired back to the hotel on the orders of not to have breakfast tomorrow.
MONDAY, JULY 5th:
Today a bus arrived to pick us up and take us to the impressive Marriot Hotel. We were welcomed by and all you can eat buffet. It was INCREDIBLE! It was such high quality food and we all over indulged. I think we all went back more than twice and sampled every desert available. We were so full afterwards we were scared we weren't going to be able to swing. After 30mins of stuffing our faces we were then back on the bus off to play Namchon Country Club. This course is only a mere $1,000,000+ a year membership fee. Very exclusive, we were treated like royalty. Todays format was straight up strokeplay. It was my lucky day today as the putts rolled in. I shot 69 (-3) and won the tournament. We were treated afterwards to dinner and a man performed some traditional Korean music on a wooden flute type of instrument. It was really interesting to see. A man in Avery's team won the champion prize and gave it to Avery. It turns out the box was full of fresh fish. She still isn't sure what to do with it. We had a very enjoyable day at our first golf course in Korea.
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Thursday, JUNE 24:
Today we started our epic voyage to Japan. Rebecca, Avery and I loaded up Larry's car. Trying to pack 10 golf bags and 11 suitcases was quite a squeeze! Luckily, we had back up in the form of two ultra cool limousines! We were all very excited to be riding in limousines, we felt like celebrities. As we arrived at the airport the girls in the second limousine must have looked a little bit suspicious. The airport Police stopped them and the car was searched. The girls in the first car found this hilarious and decided to take lots of pictures. Finally, they were given the all clear and we were on our way once more. After checking in, and escaping any excess baggage expenses (by bribing the check in clerk with one of our lovely USA t-shirts) we had time for some last minute phone calls, book buying and burrito eating (so long Mexican food). Once we had boarded the plane we settled down for our 10 hour 50 minute flight to Narita, Tokyo! On the plane we watched a couple of great movies, Alice in Wonderland and How to Train your Dragon.
Friday, JUNE 25th:
After arriving at Narita airport we had a long wait to get through immigration. Rachel left the line to go to the bathroom. When she came back to join the line a Japanese airport official started to shout at her in Japanese (maybe saying not to cut in the line) Rachel unsure what to say back, pointed to the USA on the front of her t-shirt and came back to join us. Once through we picked up our luggage (thankfully nobody lost a bag). Our bus driver took us to Tokyo city and the luxurious Hyatt hotel. After arriving at the hotel Larry announced that we had 10 minutes to shower and change because we were late for our Barclays Capital welcome party. I think we all scrubbed up pretty well for a 10minute change. A Barclays Capital representative escorted us to a high quality steak house opposite the hotel for our welcome party. We met a lot of businessmen who we will play golf with tomorrow. After our long day traveling we were all very exhausted and looked forward to some much needed rest.
Saturday, JUNE 26th:
This morning was a bright and early start. We left the hotel at 6.20am to travel to Eagle Point Golf course. We were provided with a very unusual breakfast on the bus. It consisted of one pizza type of sandwich, tuna sandwiches, salmon sandwiches, salad, and a mega chocolate brownie. Unusual for 6.20am but very tasty! It was fun to finally see Tokyo in daylight. We noticed that everybody dresses really nicely and fashionable over here, the majority of women wear only skirts and dresses. Downtown Tokyo is very clean with lots of modern buildings surrounded by rivers and waterways. Japan is a lot greener than we expected with lots of farmers fields and dense forest. Although the sun wasn't out it was very warm and humid. Upon entering the golf course we could see a giant Buddha in the distance, we were told it is 390 feet tall. Each group had a female caddie who loaded all 4 golf bags onto her giant electric pushcart. Playing golf with Japanese people is a lot of fun. They get super excited when anybody hits a good shot by shouting really loudly, "NICE SHOT, and NICE ONE!"
It was great to see how happy they are to be playing golf and they never get very angry if they have a bad shot or hole, they just move on to the next. Changing for the banquet was a cultural experience for Rachel. She had no problem stripping naked and sampling all the delights of a Japanese spring water bath. She even swam 20 laps across the large 2ft deep bath and then had a sit down shower. After eating a lot of unidentifiable meats, and a lot of sushi/sashimi the prize giving took place.
Each player seemed to win a sleeve of balls but the main prizes were won by the following team's. . .
1st Rachel Blum's team 290.6
2nd Cassie Boles' team 291.0
3rd Avery Sills' team 292.0
4th Natasha Podmore's team 293.0
5th Rebecca Watson's team 297.0
6th Lala B's team 298.2
7th CC's Orevik's team 301.2
8th Lauren Archer's team 302.6
9th Chelsea S's team 302.8
10th Alex Gibson's team 303.2
We are now currently at the US Naval Air Facility, Atsugi Japan. A funny moment occurred after checking in. There is no elevator in the building so Avery decided to drag both 50lb suitcase and 50lb golf clubs up the stairs at the same time. It took her a good 5 minutes to get up two flights of stairs. We should have helped her but it was just too funny the way she was dragging them up the stairs. We are settling into our air base rooms, as they will be home for the week to come.
SUNDAY, JUNE 27th:
Today we played at Zama Golf Course on the US Army base. We were fortunate enough to meet Lil Jordan who is a future star in Golf and the music industry. He performed one of his raps for us, which was super cool! We had an enjoyable round of golf even though it rained on us at times. Alex played with one really nice lady who gave her a Kimono as a gift (she still hasn't tried it on, but we will get her to wear it by the end of the trip!) After our round of golf we ditched the clubs and decided to go exploring in Tokyo city. We travelled by train to Tokyo and Lauren informed us it was her first time on a train. A few girls decided to sample the delights from a vending machine. After figuring out the value of the coin with the hole in the middle, Alex and Rachel tasted their first milk tea. We arrived in downtown Tokyo and entered a Japanese market. Lala showed us this little store that made these amazingly tasting, fish shaped, chocolate filled, waffle like goodness. We then had a wander around the stores and then moved on to the Japanese temple. Rebecca and I got to grips with some Japanese fortune telling sticks. Rebecca got the best good fortune and I got the worst. Luckily I could tie my bad fortune paper to a wire rack in order to rid myself of it. Cassie decided to boost her good luck by joining the Japanese people wafting themselves with the lucky smoke from burning incense sticks. Alex was instructed by an old Japanese man to wash her hands in the lucky water fountain and then drink the water out of her hands. Once we all had our boost of luck we went to look inside the beautiful temple. Rachel, Alex, Cassie, Rebecca and I decided to sample a mango flavored snow cone. It was very refreshing in the hot weather. We met back up with the rest of the group where we found Larry and Cecilia talking to an elderly Japanese couple. Funnily the old couple thought Cecilia was Larry's wife!! Very funny! After leaving the market we went into the food section of a high-class department store. They had a lot of tasty samples for people to eat. Chelsea spotted a bottle of wine out for sampling, as she and the group began to try some, the man who worked at the stall came running over, freaking out because we drinking it all. He took the wine away and we all walked away giggling. After a lot of walking it was time to get some dinner. 4 girls decided to go to this delicious Italian restaurant, while the other 6 girls went to a Japanese place.
Lala, Rachel and I chose the sesame beef bowl. It was really interesting because it came with a raw egg on top. You mix the egg into the dish and the bowl it is served in is so hot it cooks the egg. There was a big group of Japanese men and women sitting behind us in the restaurant. The waitress came over to us with a small painting of Avery. One of the men sitting behind us had just painted it. It was so cool! Avery went over to say thank you and as she was talking to the people the guy drew and painted another picture of her. We found out that they were watercolor artists. After a fun meal and a long day we all came back to base for some much needed sleep.
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TUESDAY, JUNE 22nd
We all arrived at LAX airport where we met Larry and his wife Lorna. They took us on the "scenic route" back to their house. We saw Santa Monica Pier and the beautiful white sandy beach. Once we all made it to the house we spent the afternoon by the pool chatting and getting to know each other. Before dinner, we had a team meeting where we were assigned our jobs for the trip and received our really cute Ralph Lauren uniforms. Larry and Lorna cooked us a very tasty meal which sent the group into a food "coma". After dinner we settled down to watch a movie, "The Time Travelers Wife". After the movie we all went to bed feeling excited for the weeks to come!
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23rd
Today we got to play the beautiful Palos Verdes Golf Club. The format was 4-man teams, 2 best ball scramble. Everyone hit a tee shot, the best tee shot was chosen, then everyone played their ball in from there. Each Allstar had a lot of fun with the people in their group and had a very enjoyable day. After the golf we sat down to eat a scrumptious buffet and awaited the awards ceremony. Avery's team won the team gross prize, Ceceilia's team won the net team prize. As they were receiving their awards one guy shouted out, "How many mulligans did you buy?!!" Everybody laughed.
Once back at Larry's house we were told what time we would be leaving in the morning. Most of the girls went off to do some last minute packing. Alex and I updated the blog, Facebook and Twitter. Chelsea came down to join us on the Internet in the kitchen. It became rather warm in the kitchen with 4 laptops turned on. Chelsea decided to open the window. WOOP WOOP! WOOP! OOOPS! She set off the security alarm. After freaking out and panicking, Larry thankfully came down to switch it off. Sorry Larry! After a fun day we all retired to our beds to get a good nights sleep so we would be ready for our epic voyage to Japan.
From Alex:
Today (June 23) we played in a kind of private competition at Palos Verdes GC here in LA. It was a nice course but the greens had just been arified and sanded so I blame my putting on that! I played with Lalita from UCLA and a member at the course. We played well, but not well enough to place! Tomorrow we fly out to Japan at 1:25 and get to Narita at 4:30 on the 25th. We had to pit stop after our round and most of us bought those travel/neck pillows in anticipation of our long flight. We figured they would come in handy!
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When golfer Alex Gibson hits the links this summer, she'll be in a different time zone. In fact, she'll be in a different hemisphere. As one of a 10-member all-star women's golf team made up of players throughout the nation, she'll be seeing the world and playing a variety of courses and tournaments in June and July.
Traveling through Asia beginning this week and competing along the way, the young lady from Henderson, Nevada, will be sharing her photos and thoughts with us. Much of the time her communication will be via her cell phone, so images and thoughts may be brief, but fun. She'll be relaying information to us and we'll post stories, thoughts and images here. Bookmark us and check back with us to learn about her adventures so that we can all enjoy a summer of intriguing travel. And, for some of us, the fact that we didn't have to apply for a passport may be a bonus!