Friday 27th October

We had entertained some idea of tourism today as the festivities were not to begin until the evening, but it seemed easier to relax in the morning before heading over to the main hotel to register our stragglers and meet up with other friends flying in from assorted points in the US. Here we discovered that one of the venues bidding for the next World Interhash was putting on a beer and snacks event in the afternoon right at the hotel so Tim went back to pick up Tracy (taking the relaxing to the max after all the crutching).

We all enjoyed the party hosted by Malaysia. It is big business having 6000 people heading your way and a lot of money is put into winning, but this group (sponsored by a big resort) really pulled out the stops. In the end the next event will be in Perth Australia, however, so we'll likely make it en route from New Zealand.

Once the snacks and beer were winding down Tracy and I boarded a bus for the stadium hosting the first night proper, where they had space for a huge swathe of beer carts, food stands and tables and chairs. Things stayed fairly well organized once you got past the food queues nearer the entrance and we finally spent the eveing chatting with a selection of New Zealanders, Auusies and Canadians.