After a leisurely lunch 10 of us found our way to the Impiana Hotel in Ipoh, our base for the rest of the tour.
After a very full and fluid hour in the Club Lounge of the hotel which took the staff by surprise, our expectations of ‘CLUB FACILITIES’ being somewhat different to theirs, we taxied our way for Dinner at the Royal Ipoh Club, courtesy of Andrew Robinson’s RSC membership, where much more imbibing and some rather strange food was downed amidst much humour and general banter. There were 5 or 6 chicken dishes on the menu and most of them were ordered but when they arrived at the table they were all the same; a piece of chicken tied around an 8 inch long, rather insipid German sausage. No offence to our German members; insipid being a reference to the sausage, not the Germans. But never mind, the atmosphere by then was very jovial and everyone was having a good time. The resident band (the same band that was there on the last 2 visits) entertained us and David did a couple on numbers. Thanks David.
Overnight the heavens opened again and dumped more rain over Ipoh and so when we teed off at 10:30 at Meru Valley the fairways were a quagmire in many areas but the greens were superb and any shortcoming due to the rain was more than made up by the beautiful setting of Meru Valley and the staff of the club who are always both efficient and friendly. With quick and efficient check-in, brand new buggies and the best greens we will play on this year this is a proper golf club.
This was a 2 day aggregate Stableford tournament played to our USGA handicaps with a trophy for the winner and many more prizes. At the top of the leader board after the first round was Bernhard with 39 points followed by Tony 37, Erol 36 and myself 34. Over an excellent Chinese dinner and many more drinks that evening attempts were made by some to “fix Bernard up” and he rose to the bait like a plump trout.. Wagers were tabled amidst much more general drinking and entertainment from a very loud band with cameo performances from our touring song thrush David.
Thursday morning dawned under leaden skies with more heavy overnight rain but by the time we got started at 8:30 the skies had cleared and the sun soon appeared.  A bit of drama preceded the game when yours truly lost his contact lens and was forced to play with one eye. Not easy!!! The lens by the way was in the eye folde under the lid and retrieved only after I got back to KL.
As anticipated, Bernhard soon started to fall away under the pressure and Tony & Erol surged into contention racking up 14 points each after 5 holes to Bernhard’s 7. With Tony continuing to play well the eventual winner looked a racing certainty. But a dark horse was lurking in the second flight. Only after the results had been declared and the prised trophy had been given to the dark horse did it come to the organisers attention that coaching had been given to the dark horse during the round which, had it come to light earlier, may have led to a stewards enquiry. I gest!
And so after a 2 days of golf at the beautiful Meru Valley the reults were:-
NTP 1st nine Erol
NTP 2nd nine Hans
LD 1st day Bernhard
NTP 3rd nine John
NTP 4th nine Erol
LD 2nd day Bernhard
Lowest 2 day gross 169 John
10th Place 62 points Andrew
9th Place 64 points Mike
8th Place 67 points Hans
7th Place 68 points John
6th Place 69 points Bernhard
5th Place 69 points David
4th Place 73 points Raymond
3rd Place 74 points Erol
2nd Place 77 points Tony (who carded 0 points on the last hole!!!)
Winner with 79 points was the dark horse Tom Holmes.( with 46 points on the 2nd day)

Everyone had a great time. Raymond will hopefully publish some pictures in the next day or so. These tours are really something special and over lunch the next tour was discussed with Melaka, JB and possibly another attempt at a foray to Batam in September. This will of course be our Southern Tour. Watch this space for details.
Lastly I want to thank those who took part and made this the success it was and Andrew Robinson for his assistance with the hotel and Ipoh Club arrangements. I’d also like to thank John for generously passing on his prize for lowest gross to the “one eyed captain”. Thanks John. We’ll have to arrange a G&T party.

Note from ‘fizzychickensoup’:
Photos from the Ipoh Club, and the Team Competition follow. Please be aware that whilst this Blog is suitable for family viewing, some of the attached photos may not be. You have been warned;-)

First night at the Royal Ipoh Club

This is the Ipoh “Gentleman’s Club”

So what the Hell is this rabble doing there?

Would you eat that?

There is always one!!!

There was a lot of it about!! (large German Sausage – that is)!!

Just like the wallpaper – the entertainment never changes!

Pretty Woman (by the late great Roy Orbison)!!

Blue Boy Warbles!!

Grey Boy Warbles!!

Red Boy Warbles!!

Orange Boy Warbles!!

Green Boy Warbles!!

Purple Boy Warbles!!

Let battle commence. (Erol is looking rather ‘horny’)!

Gateway to paradise (or lost balls!)

Enthusiasm abounds!! Second night of ‘The Tour’ at the local ‘Chinese’

This has seen better days!

Did someone fart or tell a religious, political or sexist joke?

This lot look happier.

And so do they! Day 2 of the Comp

You can take the man out of the Army, but you cannot take the Army out of the man!

There are lots more photos out there, but I don’t have them. Hope you enjoy.

Please feel free to add comments below, and keep your ‘Blog’ alive. ‘fcs’