I’m writing this in my 10th hotel room in my 6th hotel that I’ve stayed in during the month that I’ve been in Asia. I’ve packed and unpacked countless times so on Tuesday when I unpacked for the final time I was nearly able to do it in my sleep. My adventure this trip took me to 2 countries I’d never been to before – Taiwan and Singapore – and one that I always enjoy coming back to – Malaysia.

I’m playing in my 4th competition now in Kuala Lumpur, I’m due to play the semis later against the new local sensation Low Wee Wern so we’ll see what the game brings today. Usually 3 tournaments in a row is my limit, after which my head starts to explode (!), but having had the World Games at the start of this trip in Taiwan meant I could stay out here and do 3 WISPA events aswell. So far the results have been mixed – I qualified into the main draw in the KL Open, didn’t qualify in the Singapore Open so that by that flawless logic this tournament should mean good things for me!

I’m returning to Amsterdam tomorrow after a month on the road and while I’m looking forward to it I’ll definitely miss certain things about this part of the world: the crazy frightening thunderstorms you could set your watch by every afternoon that can drench you in 0.02 seconds flat, the bartering with stall owners while I try to convince them I’m a local so they won’t rip me off (but let’s be honest, being Irish and blessed(?!) with pale skin I’m not fooling anyone, am I….?). Will also miss the sun, for sure, I’ve a feeling I’m not going to need the factor 30 when I’m back in Amsterdam next week!

Right, off to practise now…

On arriving in this country, I always have to give myself half a day to get used to the driving and organized chaos of the traffic there. To drive in Egypt I’m convinced you have to be a fully competent driver with a taste for the fun side of life. Immediately on arrival one has to acclimatise to the hustle and bustle everywhere but the longer I’m there the near-death traffic experiences just become part of the daily grind. “Going native”, I’m unfazed as our taxi nearly side swipes a mini-bus on the way to practice!

Alexandria is a quieter place than Cairo, about 3-hours north of Cairo as the crow flies (and Egyptian drivers are pretty much the same!). It has a more bearable temperature than that of Cairo as it’s by the sea. The tournament itself is in its 4th year now and is extremely well run. Ahmed, the organiser, was on hand to help us and provided excellent hospitality with a poolside welcome dinner at Alexandria Sporting Club on Sunday evening.

My first match was against a young Egyptian player who had taken out two WISPA players in the qualifying rounds before drawing myself in the main draw. Obviously you can’t underestimate any of the younger Egyptian players and Nouran was no exception. Talented with the racket, fast around the court and loving any angles I gave her she pushed me to 4 games. Once I took the pace down and began playing more on my terms the game was easier to control. Next up was Omneya Abel Kawy, current world no. 7. We were the first of the quarter final matches on and I hadn’t played Omneya in a number of years so I was looking forward to this match. The first two games were all hers but I changed my game in the 3rd playing with more purpose and attacking a little more but unfortunately couldn’t sustain this in the face of her counter-attack in the 4th game. After I saved a few match balls in the 4th game, Omneya eventually took the final game 11-9.

As an aside, I returned to Amsterdam with a stubbed baby-toe from hitting it against the bed in our hotel room. Howling in pain for 5-minutes, bringing out my inner primadonna, my two roommates neglected to listen to my heartfelt cries–no sympathy there then. Still no sympathy 4-hours later and their care factor had decreased to zero the more air-time I gave the subject (admittedly, I did give progress reports on the hour and updates every half-hour). WISPA should take note–a short course in empathy might be suitable for certain professional players – I’ll mention no names, you know who you are!

Till my next trip….

I’m just back from Texas after competing in the event that’s currently on there. Unfortunately I didn’t have the best result there losing to an English player, Emma Beddoes, but I did enjoy my stay there nonetheless. As Nicol is still playing and can talk you through the squash aspect I thought I’d take some time to blog about my stay there.

Having never been to Texas before I readily believed the stereotypes: 1) everything is big, big, big – food, cars and land and 2) cowboys roam the street in plaid shirts just like in the 80s Dallas TV series. So, touching down in Dallas Fort-Worth I was mildly disappointed that I wasn’t met on arrival by a troupe of Stetson wearing line-dancers with horses in tow. Putting that behind me was made easy when I met our promoter, Sanjeeb, who’s ran everything like clockwork, made sure we all felt at home and assured me there were some cowboys out there somewhere.

Usually, on tour in the States we tend to confine our travel to hotel, club and mall. Plano, Texas was no exception. However, the exception here was the luxury of these three new temporary homes. The Nylo Hotel was the first mod boutique-type hotel I’ve come across on tour, very trendy and cool. Likewise Lifetime Fitness where we played was this fantastic (and yes, huge!) centre which catered to basically everyone, climbing walls, basketball courts, treadmills as far as the eye could see and an extremely helpful staff. As for the mall, well, like most U.S. malls it was vast, complete with all the brand name goods and this one had the added bonus of having a Cheesecake Factory. This eatery is not for the faint-hearted. Thinking I was being healthy I ordered the Cobb Salad. What arrived on my plate ten minutes later could easily have kept a small family fed for a good 2 weeks I reckon….I declined their famous cheesecake, with those portions not even a tough 5 setter could burn off the calories in that!

So, an enjoyable if short stay in Texas but I’m sure I’ll be back. After all, I need to see some proper cowboys, Stetson and all!

Next stop for me is Egypt where I’m playing in Alexandria, a town a couple of hours north of Cairo. Until then I’m back training at my base in Amsterdam which I’m looking forward to having been on the road for a good while.

‘Til next time

Aisling