Medan Revisited...Learning how to play "Chaccarat"

When I was in Scotland Pak Roslan (Staroba Golf Captain) messaged me the invitation to join a group of seven other golfers for a weekend in Medan. Apparently, Pak Ali Ariffin, was not very happy with his performance during the Yogya Golf Tour and wanted to have some practice rounds to make sure that he will make the cut for the next Staroba Pan-Asia Golf Tour.

Pak Ali was a few years my junior in STAR. I remember him as a very athletic person and he excelled in rugby. However he later defected to the Royal Military College.

I understand that like me he too has also retired and has taken up golf seriously. Both Pak Ali and I have not been to Medan recently. The last time we went there must be some five or six years ago. So we were quite excited about revisiting Medan.

However it turned out to be a very 'wet' Medan. The dark clouds and sheets of rain made me feel like I was still in Scotland. We had an early brunch at 'Nasi Padang Simpang Tiga' which was near the airport.This was partly caused by the fact that Pak Roslan's MH flight was delayed by two hours? ( I must say that Nasi Padang Simpang Tiga is highly recommended....much better that what I came across in Yogya)

We teed-off at the Royal Sumatra Golf Club and our flight of four was made up of Pak Roslan, Pak Sheikh, Pak Ali and your goodself. We have heard other golfers playing the 'baccarat' and 'chaccarat' systems and none of us except Pak Roslan understood the rules. We decided that the only way to learn is to practice it...and voila we did. At the end of the day I was down by a few hundred thousand rupiahs and so did Pak Sheikh.

Pak Ali tried very hard at damage control....we had to contend with a very polished Pak Captain. In his enthusiasm Pak Ali sliced his Katana wood 3 into a branch and surprise, surprise...the Katana club broke into two. ( Katana,in Japanese, by the way is a samurai sword...and I had expected the tree to be sliced!)

It was a very expensive lesson on "chaccarat" for the three of us.

Pak Ali Ariffin, with his Katana blade