BY REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – The Asian Games Media Village is no ordinary one.
Perhaps the perfect word to describe the Asian Games Village called MEV by very accommodating personnel here is magnificent.
While it is massive, it is also stylist.
Strategically located north of the Qianjiang Century City, it covers a total area of 195,000 squares meters and a construction floor area of 660,000 square meters above the ground.
It’s home to 18 newly-built residential buildings with 2,551 rooms for accredited media.
However, only three 31-storey buildings are allocated for the media.
So while the PH media delegation was delayed for more than an hour to access and enter their designed “home away from home” for almost three weeks no one raised a howl of protest.
Good thing there was this middle-aged lady official who happened to have visited the country and who knows well how delicious is the “sinigang ng hipon,” took care of our small problem with a ready smile.
She was very patient.
NO POOL, NO GYM
While there’s no gym yet or even a swimming pool for the health buffs, the environment looks safe and comfortable for the working media.
For one, it is accessible to almost everything because there is a ready shuttle services from and to the railway station, main media center and games venues.
IMPRESSIVE DINING HALL
The dining hall is likewise massive and squeaky clean.
Manned by young volunteers, it is located in the ground floor of another building – just a stone’s throw away from the residential buildings of the media men.
The first dinner was great — there were so many choices — of course, there’s an area for the Chinese cuisine, there are also several stalls for Asian delicacies and even European.
And we paid only 20 Chines yuan – roughly P156 — for that.
Overall, the dining hall is perhaps bigger than the food court of the very popular mall in Manila.
EVER READY CONDOM
But here’s the funny side going up to our 3-bedroom unit in the 31-storey building where we are billeted.
Though, we’re fully aware that “monkey business” is a no-no here, we were caught by surprise to see boxes of condom placed just near the elevator.
For curiosity, one reporter took two boxes and laughingly said: “For remembrance.”
