So yesterday Malaysia declared another one.

The reason? Because, the SEA* games have just finished, and hosts Malaysia won the most medals (323 altogether, including 145 Gold). Featuring 4646 athletes from 11 nations, competing in 404 events in 38 sports, the Games were a big event.

No sporting occasion, it seems, is complete without a mascot: the Malayan Tiger was everywhere, on t- shirts, badges, in a number of sporting poses… He was chosen because he is graceful and powerful. I think he’s pretty cute as well. As you can see from this photo of the tigercotta (sorry!) army:

It was fun to meet some of the athletes who were taking time for some sightseeing while they were in town – here are our new friends from the Thai volleyball team, visiting the Twin Towers before their final that afternoon.  I’m pleased to report that they beat Indonesia 3-1.

Some of the events were not part of the official games. There were competitions in KLCC park for drumming and martial arts (they were exciting), but probably my favourite as I’m not sure if/when I’ll ever see it again, was competitive skipping. Yes, skipping. We watched some of the youngest competitors, one or two of them fell over  (they did some very complicated routines) but they, and we, had a lot of fun.

Now we’re waiting for the para games. Wonder if we’ll get another holiday at the end? Hope so!

* no, nothing to do with maritime pursuits… stands for South East Asia.