Sultan's Cup - International Riders and Horses arrive

The 2007 Sultans Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge to be held November 9-11 in Terengganu, Malaysia will be hosting several foreign riders and horses from all parts of the world. Most of the horses have arrived by now and are stabled at the quarantine complex of the Terengganu International Endurance Park. Riders or grooms are allowed to view certain parts of the course on horseback, following strict quarantine separation rules.

Heather and Jeremy Reynolds from California, USA, have settled in and Heather has kept a diary of their first days in Terengganu:

----------Friday, October 19:
Hi everyone,
We are waiting to take our final flight to arrive in Terranganu. We left on the 14th and will arrive the 20th! It is very hot here and currently raining which happens at least once a day. We saw Kuala Lumpur, the most beautiful city we have ever seen in our lives. We also saw wild monkeys, very cute. All 4 USA horses are well. Talk soon.
Heather & Jeremy

----------Saturday, October 20:
Hello again,
Our last flight which was supposed to be a 50 min flight turned into an all day mission. We flew to Terengganu (pronounced Train- GA- nu) and as we were to land the pilot decided it was unsafe as there was little visiblity so we turned around and flew back to Kuala Lumpur. They unboarded us, gave us luch vouchers and leisurely collected the passengers again and we waited onboard for about another hour and a half and finally flew again with success. all the while our horses, who were supossed to be on a parallel flight had landed first try and were there with out us.
The quarantine barn is huge. It is all screened in. It has 56 stalls. We have 4 horses:) the weather is very sticky and hot. Today it is 89 degrees with 80% humidity.
The pool at the hotel overlooks the ocean and has a disappearing edge. Beautiful. The dining area is open and the ocean breeze comes through. Wish you were all here. Horses are still good.
Heather & Jeremy

-----------Sunday, October 21:
Hi again,
We had our first ride in Malaysia. It was very hot to say the least. Cal has requested to have fans and ice following him:) I rode for 40 min and all I did was walk jog. His body temp. was 102.2. Very disturbing. I hope that with more time adjusting and water available on trail will help this. I also rode during the day, the race will be at night.
Last night Jeremy and I spent much of our sleeping time trying to find a mouse that was in the headboard of our bed. It sounded like he was on our pillows. no luck in finding him. Jeremy even had his headlamp out to try to see him. The food here is terrific. There are many local fruits that I have never heard of that are great.
While running yesterday Jeremy and I saw a group of monkeys making a lot of noise. They were also jumping thru the tree tops. I also had a group of school girls giggling at my running outfit. The school bus was driving on the dirt trail that the horses go on. The bus was the size of a tour bus! While running we saw many local non endurance horses. Very skinny. There are a lot of cats as well, mostly feral.
We have been told that there are tigers, cobras, vipers, elephants and monkeys. But rest assured we have been told that there will be anti venom on ride day:)
Last night we went for a romantic walk on the beach out in front of the hotel. That was all fine and nice until you walked beyond the hotel and realized that the jungle borders that beach and there aren't any lights. All of the sudden we were too paranoid to enjoy the ocean breeze. We got the heebee jeebees and turned around quickly. There were neon glowing flashes in the ocean which I assume are some tropical fish.
Everyday at least once there is a tremendous downpour of rain. Hasn't come yet today, it will.
Well we are headed off into town, we have been here 3 days and John and Kathy's pallet with there clothes and all horse gear is MIA. We will go shopping with them for basics.
Heather

Updates and photos will be posted on the Endurance.Net Sultans Cup coverage site at http://www.endurance.net/international/malaysia/2007SultansCup and at the official 2008 WEC & 2007 Sultans Cup website at http://www.malaysia-wec.com .

I leave Idaho tomorrow and will travel via Los Angeles, Seoul (Korea), and Kuala Lumpur and will arrive in Terenngganu approximately 40 hours after departure! It's a long way around this globe...

Stay tuned-

Steph Teeter
Endurance.Net