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Location 8 - PAPUA
29 Dec 2008 - 18:07
The final Location for the BBC series of Last Man Standing!
Location 7 - Senegal
26 Dec 2008 - 21:04
The Senegal trip was a heartbreaker for me. I went into it in fine form, looking forward to closing out the series with two fantastic final performances, and i left it with the beginnings of a knee injury that would ulitmately take more than a year to recover from after reconstructive surgery.
Our arrival into the village was something i'd never forget. Partly because I managed to trick all the guys into thinking I'd picked a fresh mango off of a tree whilst driving past it at high speed - when in fact I already had the mango in my hand and i just thrust my arm out the window into some passing branches, then whipped it back in clutching a huge mango shouting, 'hey look what i just picked'. It really was a simple trick but brought me great joy. And the more significant thing about the arrival was how the local women danced for us. It was amazing. They were so full of spirit and so vivacious - even the older women who must have been in their 60's. They would all take it in turns to enter the middle of the dance circle and then suddenly break into the most extravagent 'boodie shakin' I have ever seen. It was so full of energy and enthusiasm and I can't say we received a better welcome in any other tribe.
Initially when I found out that we'd be wrestling I can't say I was excited, but at the same time I knew I'd have a good chance in the event - now that I'd healed from the broken ribs of Mongolia and other injuries. And when we were taken to watch a wrestling tournament (of the type we'd soon be entered into to) I must say that I have never experienced an atmosphere quite like it. It was exhilerating and intense and so entertaining! The drumming that never ceased would respond to what was happening in the arena, sometimes so loud and so fast that it almost gave you chills of excitment and adrenalin. You couldn't help but get sucked into the vibe of the whole thing. As i sat there watching I was in awe of the size and power of the guys we were going to have to go up against...but I was also quite excited to get stuck in!
The other great memory of this trip was hanging around with the other wrestlers in our village. A group of about 8 big strong Senegalese guys, who were so funny and so down-to-earth. and all about our age. Here, for the first time on our trip, we were amongst guys who may not speak our language and may be from much more humble surroundings than we were familiar with - but who were fundamentally no different from any of us. They loved to joke, they loved to train hard and compete, they loved to eat, dance, sing...and they loved to play pranks on each other, which was right up our street. So we soon developed a great cameraderie.
And as for the competition - well I qualified and I beat Jason and both those things were great....but as I felt something tear in my knee in my match against Jason, I knew in that instant that i might never be the same..and my body might not even let me complete the trip. It was a hard thought and probably the lowest moment of the whole trip. In a mixture of massive disappointment and massive frustration with my body, I just broke down and cried. And in that moment one of the young wrestlers (Leopold) came over and put his arm around my shoulders, in an act of care that was really touching. It didn't help my feeling in that moment, and yet it was something I'll always remember too.
Location 6 - Trobriand Islands!
11 May 2008 - 12:23
What can I say about this one...except - trip of a lifetime. After this location I said to myself 'whatever else happens in Last Man Standing, I've just had my trip of the series right here!' Apart from almost cutting off my toes (which even that turned out to be the best thing that could have happened!) everything was so perfect on that trip. Outside of having my most amazing sports moment ever in the cricket match (which really did happen as they showed it) and having the baby named after me, there were so many other unforgettable aspects to it. I learned to play a Trobriand Islands song and sang it with all the neighbours, then i taught them to sing 'Lean on Me' (couldn't think of anything else with good simple lyrics and an easy tune) and all these tribal girls and boys were singing that with me! Absolutely unforgettable. Then I scored a winning goal in the inter-village soccer match and without blowing my own trumpet it was one of the best goals I've ever scored :) Then add to all of that the relationship i built up with my hosts Toma and Tuara, who i chatted to and played guitar with and played sports with... Luckily they could speak English because the missionaries had been there 60years ago and opened schools and since then many of the locals had a basic grasp of English. So we didn;t just have to smile and gesture at each other - we actually talked about many things and even exchanged some jokes. Tom told me one particular local joke that really had me in stitches, and he was consequently so proud of the joke that three times he told it to me from the beginning...three times in a row! And every single time i still found it funny - partly because he found it so funny to tell me.
I remember one day before i injured myself, it was pouring with Rain and didn't stop for about 2days. I got so bored of sitting in the hut that i decided it was time to do some exercise. So i went out into the rain in my shorts and started doing squats. I think i did 500! Then I did push-ups and some kind of pull-ups on a hut. It was fantastic. The rain was so refreshing and cooling. The locals thought I was a bit nuts and i'm sure they'd never seen anyone exercising like that before, but I certainly didn't mind a few laughs and smiles. And it's always a nice feeling to accomplish something when you know everyone else is doing nothing. It's a bit like getting up really early and doing loads of work while everyone is still sleeping! It's that feeling of being 'ahead of the game' in some way and defeating the odds. I like those little accomplishments.
This trip was the one where I got to know Richard a little better. He was the closest in the village to me and every now and again he'd swing by my hut to say hello. I remember one afternoon he and I learned some string games from some local kids, and then we had a competition who could do it the fastest. It was very enteraining for the local kids to see how inept we were compared to them. Funny how we would always find something to compete in against each other! I guess boys will be boys...