Amazing Taiwan

Hi All, 
This is my first attempt as a blogger, Let me tell you,  i am not really fond of writing  as much as  reading. But  my father encouraged me to write.. so did  my Chess guide and my  inspiration IM Sagar shah, and my  beloved class teacher Miss Anu Madhok. ( Sagar sir can inspire anyone with his beautiful writing!!) So here I am with my little attempt.
I want to share the experience of my trip to Taiwan for a chess tournament. It was Asian school chess championship 2014 which was held in Taichung Taipei.
It wasn't easy for me to practice for such a big tournament alone as my beloved coaches were away playing in Spain.(Sagar shah and Amruta Mokal)

My  Amruta Ma'am and me !! Champion with "to be Champion"!!

Nevertheless,  I  tried to  put  my best effort with  the help of my other beloved Sir , IM Prathamesh Mokal, and my Mom, my all time coach , mentor , my everything!!
I was excited , nervous, curious and determined as the day arrived.. we took a flight to Hong Kong, spent a day there and flew to Taipei day before the tournament .Everything was great and pleasant including the people, hotel, my roommates and of course, the venue, The Washington high school Taichung which is some 200 Km from Taipei.The students of the school were very polite and cheerful and very happy to host us.. There were more than 15 countries that participated in the Tournament.We Indians were one large family  with Mr Praful Zaveri as our Captain.

Indian team with our Team Captain Mr Praful Zaveri

The Inauguration  ceremony was brilliant with traditional Dragon dance and Drum beats. 
  

Traditional Drum beats kept the spirit high!!

Well, the real fun started as soon the round  began.. I lost the first round but later consoled myself that my opponent from China  Shi Jin Nun, won the tournament .So not a great loss though!!. Later rounds were interesting  but I lost some of the rounds very badly though it was a great playing experience.










The organizers were so nice that they took us around Taichung.. They  took us to The famous Sun Moon lake. It was breathtaking  and looked almost like our own Powai lake. We enjoyed the scenery by watching it from different angles .We also went on for a boat ride viewed it from the top of a mountain.

The famous Sun moon lake as seen from top of a mountain

It was a wonderful day as we Indians were put in one bus and led by our tour guide Kevin my best friend of the day !!

Our Tour guide and my best friend..little funny..Mr.Kevin

 The Tournament  was not  successful  as much as  I expected but  we Indians did a great job by winning the highest number of medals altogether ( precisely ,9 medals)What a proud moment for we Indians!!

Winners all!!

The Gala  dinner  after PD was also very good as Koreans sang and danced for Oppa Gangnam Style song.They literally made all of us deaf!!




 Taiwan is a small beautiful island with very hardworking people.This small country was always been troubled by nature"s  furies , but sustained all of these with their hard work and determination.Food was a little problem for me as a I  am vegetarian , but there was a vegetarian restaurant where they served some good Asian dishes .That saved my life. But fruit juices ,milk and yoghurt were very easy to find and were  deleiciuos as well.The roads were clean and broad, people were kind and always wanted to help though language was quite a problem, but we managed with latest Apps.Most of the areas are WIFI enabled.

The perfect balance between nature  and development!!

 I  loved this trip  as much as I loved playing there. I made friends, exchanged souveniers and had a great time together as one chess family.I was missing my country ,my dad, my school and my friends  , My chess mentors and my Rice and sambar! We were all emotional when we were aying bye to them one last time. 

The team Washington school who made our trip memorable!!

I was sad that I could not make big impact  in this tournament but  certainly will do better next time.This reminds me  one of my favourite songs  Roar  by Katty Parry which goes like this...…


You held me down, but I got up
Already brushing of the dust…..
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
Cause I am a champion and you’re  gonna hear me ROAR…..

 Please check the below link for the full song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CevxZvSJLk8

Wish to play and visit such beautiful countries in the future.Thank you CHESS  for making this possible.

Stay tuned for more,and till then CHEERS!!

Avathanshu Bhat.
"With great power, there comes great responsibility."