The isolation of the hotel kind of gave the whole event a summer camp atmostphere. Incompletion of the city meant that the streets were desertedb by early evening, so boredom quickly set in, as the pristine yet empty buildings were no company for those practising an art synonymous with busy urban surroundings. During the day, all the crews attended events at the venue, at night everyone mingled at the local haunts: judges, bboys, organiseres alike, backing bottles of Korean soju either at Chicken and Beer, or at some random Korean barbeque joint a few minutes further up the road. As one member of a team rambled in his inebriated state, there were 'no people, no dogs, no cats, no rubbish...this place is so empty!'

First up on the battle list was the crew performance battle. The crews had been practising the night before in the conference rooms arranged by the organisers back at the hotel, which had sort of turned into a bboy conference centre due to all those participating in the whole event staying there. The picture above is of Top 9 from Russia, who had impressive choreography that really stood out from the rest. They were my firm favourites, though All Area from Japan took the crown in the end by a slim margin.

The crew battle was equally exciting, though my view was a bit obstructed being on the side of the stage the whole time. Once again, it was down to Top 9 and All Areas in the finals, though the US Renegades crew battled fiercely in the semi finals against Top 9. Both finalist were equally strong, it was a very tough decision for the judges but All Areas once again took the battle crown.

Scenes from the stage after the the battles...

Word spread of an 'afterparty' in the evening in the park after the event, which was really just 3 vinyl floors set up in the park opposite the hotel, with the music provided by one of the bboys and his compact speakers. So after celebrations, everybody headed there to cypher. It was very interesting to see these guys in their skewered state, trying to do the same moves after maybe 2 bottles of soju or 5 bottles of beer, most of all the 'no arms' cypher, where they tried to cypher with their arms tucked into their shirts. Definitely entertaining.

I only just discovered how to edit pictures on Photobucket, so I give you this with some Nineties flavour...

Last day of the event was the popping two on two battle, concluded by a special concert with Rakaa from Dilated Peoples...

 ...DMC champion P-Trix...

... Korean hip hop act Drunken Tiger, who had the most screams from the crowd.