The Survivor road show hit the trails again last weekend, this time for our inaugural trip to Cambodia; former home of Pol Pot and present home of Happy Herb's Pizza (pun intended). An outstanding setting for a tournament was complimented by great organization from the local club, and unbelievably beautiful accommodations (very un-befitting the Survivors). All in all, it made for what was certainly one of the best Survivor tours in recent memory. Rugby met with ancient history, as the boys took a tour of the temples at Angkor Wat; there were no Tomb Raiders to be found in our midst, though.....Cradle Raiders, on the other hand were certainly in evidence..........a good name for the sequel, perhaps.
After setting ourselves up in what was undoubtedly the nicest hotel the Survivors have ever stayed (or ever will stay) in...?bar, palace-like rooms, pool, bar....we headed out to The Red Piano for dinner....our second home throughout much of the weekend. From there it was on to Angkor What? Where we left our permanent mark for generations to come; a lovely work of art designed by our Survivor Southerner, A-Dub.
Following our first night on the town, the boys got up & headed to the pitch on Saturday for a day of intense heat and rugby. Six teams were there in all; us, the Saigon Geckos, Les Pilliers d'Angkor, Hong Kong DEA, the Shanghai Hairy Crabs, and a team of Frenchmen from Shenzhen, China. Our first game, the opener of the tournament, put us against the eventual champions, Hong Kong. A hard-fought and tough game saw us at the low end of a 19-5 score, although a couple of bounces and breaks could easily have led to a different result. After that, in the final game in our pool, we played the Hairy Crabs; in a sloppy, mistake-filled, and horrendously refereed game we got through with a 12 - 7 victory. That put us in the cup semi-finals, againt the winner from the other pool, the Saigon Geckos. In what was definitely the best game of the entire tournament, we ran out of time at the end (despite a gallant last-minute effort from Subic Survivor) and lost 21-14. It seemed that the Geckos gave it all they had against us, as they had nothing left for the championship game with Hong Kong and fell 42 - 5.
Our 3 / 4 place match against Les Pilliers was switched to a boat race at mid-field, which the Survivors won handily....good to see that the boys can still drink with the best of them! For finishing 3rd out of 6 teams, we were rewarded with full bellies and loud belches.
The post-tournament party was another classic evening, as we watched a troupe of local dancers & musicians performing folk dances while we ate dinner. Very educational evening, indeed; especially in that it was quite evident to see from our guest-list that there is no perceivable drinking age in Cambodia. Alas...after the show, our own, home-grown Survivor troupe took to the stage (Les Chanteurs Qui-oui) for a rousing hour or so of singing and guitar playing; very talented lads on our team - in more ways than one. From there we carried on, our numbers having swelled a bit, with Mr. Peddy & Don Won leading the charge. It was on to Red Piano again, then...well...more drinking and partying and stuff like that. For the rest of the story, however, you'll have to use your imagination, as the tour rules take clear precedent at this point. Let's just say that Cambodia is like all other South East Asian countries in its world-class levels of hospitality.
On Sunday, the boys did the cultural thing & spent the day at the incredible ruins of Angkor Wat. So incredible, in fact, that one would even make the trip there were there not rugby tournaments going on. I don't think that could be said for many other places on the Survivor map. A big thanks to all those who made it, especially to those who came from other countries to be on the Survivor express for the weekend; Chris "Subic Survivor" Edwards, Saj "got on the wrong plane" Saddiq, and the singing sensation from down under....both down unders. All of them are living proof of the team motto; 'once a Survivor, always a Survivor'.
On a final note; our award for tour fool went to Saj for being the only Survivor in living memory to book a flight to the wrong city (at least he got the county right, though) and man-of-the-tourney went to the thong-wearing Kiwi, Nigel; despite his rather tasteless choice of swimwear: Just because you think it looks sexy on South Island sheep, doesn't mean.......well, you know.
That's it for this tour....we'll be rolling again soon, though. Perhaps even sooner than many of you expected. Stay tuned.
Captain Fonzerelli
