Challenging Adventure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I had this unexpected adventure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from August 8 to 11, 2019.  My twin brother who was in Oriental Mindoro asked me to book a ticket since I will be playing in the Astro Merdeka Rapid Open Team Championship 2019 with other team members from the Philippines.  Chess enthusiast that I am, without a blink, I scheduled my flight the same days that my brother told me using my BDO Credit Card.

Sadly, upon reaching the venue,  I have no teammates to rely on as my brother had a misunderstanding with a certain chess official from the Philippines.  Good things that happened were I found several multi-talented athletes from my country who are GMs, WGM, IMs, FMs and other masters who have been so supportive of our plight and that I learned much about the neighboring places in Kuala Lumpur.

Just minutes away from the start of the game, this lady from Malaysia got our names to join their team provided we pay a certain amount which we obliged.  That was a big break from my twin and me as we were itching to fight big time in Malaysia.

Our team PAMA 2 suffered misfortunes not in the hands of our opponents but on our team members from other countries.  They didn't score even a single victory during the whole 8 games that we played.  As a consolation, my brother got a bronze medal in board 2 position scoring 6.5 out of 8 games.  Congratulations bro.

Lessons learned:
1)  Form a team ahead of time.
2)  Bring additional funds for other expenses.
3)  Scan the venue through the internet for some vital information.

P.S.
A word of gratitude to GM Nelson Mariano (who is now a resident of Singapore) for extending us help, to all the UE players who were there, and to all the Filipino players for making our lives easy and fun.