The Galaxy Are Heading to China

Following yesterday's match in Seoul, the Galaxy enjoyed a relaxing night in Seoul before packing everything up and boarding the buses heading out to Incheon Airport. The team flies to Shanghai in a few hours for the second leg of Asia Tour 2008, so we're just hanging out in the Asiana Air Lounge.

All the players have different ways of unwinding after a game, but last night, most of the boys congregated in an area that we dubbed Club 27. The 27th floor of the Lotte Hotel, that the Galaxy have called home for the past couple of days, had a series of computers with free internet and assorted snacks available to all hotel guests, with a private area set aside for Galaxy players and staff. So rather than pay the $20 a day to get internet service in their room, the guys made their way up to 27, with nearly half the team up their at once at times.

We left them to their own devices, but judging by the volume of the laughter that was created on occasion, the guys were having a good time.

A few of the staff who were not up on 27 encountered some transportation issues upon trying to return to the hotel later in the evening. The group (who will go nameless) jumped in a cab and asked to go to the Lotte Hotel, only to be taken to the Lotte World Hotel which is more than 10 minutes away from the intended destination. Unfortunately, this fact was only discovered after exiting the cab, paying for it and seeing it race off into the night.

A couple other notes from Seoul...

• Because of the cold, the equipment crew of Raul and Jose busted out the stadium coats and winter hats for the first (and hopefully) only time this season. It was so cold at kickoff yesterday afternoon that the players all wore their yellow warm-up tops in the team photo (seen at the top of the last post).


• We have a new face with us in camp on this trip, but it's not a name that most fans would recognize. Dr. David Chang, a colleague of club doctor Dr. Mandelbaum, is with the club here in Asia to lend a hand and assist with any medical issues that may (but hopefully don't) arise.


• Loyal blog readers saw the video of the adidas store appearance in Seoul on Thursday, but what you probably did not see is that as the crowd dispersed outside the store, the players in attendance were given the opportunity to grab some new gear off the racks as an added thank you for stopping by. Not surprisingly most of the guys (and perhaps a blog staffer or two) took the store up on the offer and are now carrying slightly heavier bags.

Here's another look at the adidas in store.

• Lastly, the number of the tour so far is undoubtedly 22. A bunch of the young guys, such as Wicks, McDonald, Franklin, Jordan, Randolph, Tudela, Valentin and a few others have been playing the card game on the bus to and from the stadium every day. The staff is always right at the front of the bus, with the rookies close behind, so we've seen them playing plenty and let us say that Brandon is good (we think) and we still don't understand the rules.

Talk to you all in China.