Backpack Packing Contest - Banqiao Sun 15 Feb 2004

Recreation Fun & Games
#1

[color=violet]Backpack Packing Contest[/color]

There will be a backpack packing contest near Banqiao (Panchiao or Banciao) Railway Station in Taibei County at 11 a.m. this coming Sunday, 15 February. Go to Banqiao Railway Station or Xinpu MRT Station and make your way to the lantern sculpture of Sun Wukong (the monkey king) (see map below.) Backpacks will be on hand - You have to bring your own stuff to pack into them. Your packing skills will be judged according to: 1. speed, 2., neatness and 3. efficiency (e.g. weight balance and practical selection of items for traveling.) Prizes include a new backpack, plane ticket to somewhere in Taiwan and various other things. More importantly, you will have some fun and maybe get on telly. Bring some friends - the more the merrier!

If you want to join in, please phone Rocky on 02 2381 2550 or 02 2331 7272 or 0938 881999 as soon as possible. He is the president of the Youth Hostels Association. You could also send me a message to set my mind at rest. Rocky and I will be the comperes!


Go to the monkey lantern at the red spot on the map!

(p.s. I posted this on Fleashit and the morons deleted it!)

#2

Here are some tips about how to pack your backpack:

www.traildog.com/to_pack.htm
www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/5355/p … tions.html
www.backpacksafe.com/safety.htm
www.bettercamper.com/packing.html
www.worldclassgear.com/backpacking_packing_list.asp

#3

Actually this is probably going to be a major fuck-up as usual. I’ll buy you lunch if you turn up and help me bluff it.

#4

Shucks, wish I had seen your post earlier. How did it turn out? Hopefully not as your last post had surmised :open_mouth:

Next time though, what you do is get companies to donate the items that will be stuffed into the backpacks. Free advertisement for them, plus their people will be in attendance. Then you tell potential contestants that they get to keep whatever they can pack into the backpacks or at least some of the items = even more incentive for increased participation, especially for those who are concerned that they won’t have any chance of winning a big prize. (I tend to root for the underdog, and really, every contestant deserves to be a winner.) For some uncanny reason, folks respond more to incentives than for reasons of mere community support. What world is it that we live in? Go figure?!

#5

The contest was a shambles as I expected. Thankfully the expected media did not turn up, except for one journalist from Minsheng Daily who is a long-standing friend of the YHA. Luckily the contestants, (five Taiwanese, four Koreans and one New Zealander) enjoyed it and yes, there were prizes for everybody who took part.