First Game in the Books

Boom here. This is my first blog of the trip, and TK is soon to follow. We got in to Paro Intl Airport safely this morning. The landing is the craziest...literally splitting the Himalaya Mountains like an old school Atari game. Supposedly it is the world's third toughest landing. Really fun actually. The pictures we got from the air of the world's third highest peak are awesome, and it got better from the ground...Bhutan is beautiful. Very much in awe of this hidden gem of a country.

We capped our 35 hour trip from LA to Thimpu with a 70 minute car ride through the winding mountains. Brittney, you would have gotten über sick! We got to Thimpu at noon, which would be 11 pm California time. Very long and tiring, but we tried to tough it out. After eating lunch at our hotel,we stopped by a huge outdoor market,similar to the OC Fair (but with a little more "flavor" to it)! After the market, it was straight to our first game...against the BT national team made up of mostly 18-25 year olds.

With little or no sleep for essentially 40 hours, we played as hard as we could. However, we ended up several men down, because of Noel's back, Seek's knee, and then Billy got sick and Josh rolled his ankle. Levi and Bill will be back probably tomorrow, but Josh needs your thoughts with him, so he can return to the court with us. Even more important is his ability to walk without pain, because he is a primary reason we were able to get here and is a big part of our team. Pynch, Kirk, Cam, Nolan, TK, and I battled with the emotional help of our fellas, and we won by about 15. Didn't play great, had to adjust to FIBA rules and a super slippery ball and court.

The best thing about the day was meeting with Tokey, who is the boss man over here, and hanging with the fellas from the BT national squad. They are really funny, and we are honored to spend time with them in this country. Tomorrow we have a couple camps and maybe another game, but we are definitely ready to get some rest first!

Lastly, I want to thank all of you who helped us get here. It's a great feeling that we have a lot of people thinking about us back home. We love you all. Shout out to the wifey and my Momma Shaq on this Mothers Day. I love you guys.