Life, or what's left of it...

What else next...

2011-03-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while cos schedules has been dead hectic.. phew..

Anyways, was running through my flu today, and trying to fig out what next to do.

2004/5: Make-It-Real (mountaineering)

2006: Graduate from Med School

2007: Spelunking, Diving, Kinabalu Climbathon

2008: WWRafting, Marathons

2009: Skydiving, Ironmans

2010: Multistage AR, Single day AR's

2011: Planning AR's all the way... Single day's, Multi-stages, Multi-days

2012: hmm.... MTB races :) ... and prob try to settle down more

I'll also start to volunteer more too... it was fun, but super tiring, and worse than racing itself. But I think it has its merits :)

Move on!!!

2010-12-30T21:54:00.000-08:00

Will update the blog later with stuff,

But before the old year's snuffed,

Here's to the new year that is to come, and..

Here's another to the adventures that will never end!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR y'All!!

Merry Xmas and A Happy New Year!!

2010-12-23T20:28:00.001-08:00

(Thanks LSY for the pic!!!)

And to all, Happy Holidays with a Bright Look Ahead for 2011!!

Trudge on!!!

The BIG race for next year...

2010-12-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

The reason I'm scared.. the reason I'm nervous.. and the planning and preparations begins...

(Taken from the XPD website)

I've only started AR this year, and have never done an expedition length AR. Got one year to prep and there's already so much things to do (not to mention all the training trips and races to get to). I'm super excited... and well... can't wait to get it all started ;)

Time to train!! hehehe...

Train on!!

:)

What I want for Xmas..

2010-12-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

In the midst of equipments hunting for races, I got bored (yup... it can happen)... Got down to Vivo, and decided to donate to this...Sometimes I feel I overindulge in myself. OK... I do over-indulge in myself :) ... oh well.. don't we all ;)

OK, what I want for Xmas is..... a good ride with a good makan after the ride ;)

Trudge on, y'all!!

Moving on... again...

2010-12-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U&feature=related

Sometimes when I think back, my life was like this song... It's hard to get back on track... but after 2+ years... I think it's getting better... :) Time does heal...

Move on... and to a dear friend, it will move on...

One of the stranger rides...

2010-12-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

Trails are strange at night, but even stranger after the rain... at night. This week's night's trail ride had some highlights, and in the words of Kiara Boy - "Sprinting centipedes, worm leech, baby owl, tonnes of frogs, wild boar scent, lights cutting out for no reason. Freak falls. Spoooky night indeed."
AND I swear, my night lights really have something against me.. freeeeaky...

Short notes of the ride:
1) On the way to BoulderCity, the wrap that was holding my light batteries flew off into the trail. My battery was just suspended in mid-air with only the wire attachment connected to it. Hence, I had to navigate about 10 minutes of trail ride with the right hand holding the battery to the handle bar. Short to say, took all the wrong lines (hard to control la, with only half of a handle bar to hold on to) and had an interesting bumpy ride.

2)BF was super slippery. Kiara boy slipped a few parts... I just slipped everywhere!! Had a hard time navigating the roots as my rear just kept giving way all the time. Was happy though, cleared Big Logs number 2 (the rest.. too slippery). I loved this ride though, with the technical parts turned up a notch or 2 cause of the loss of traction everywhere.

3) Kiara Bay noticed a fast centipede- ish insect, and the CUTEST baby owl ever!! Other than that, the frogs were out in 3/4 of their full force, and there were wild boars rustling around. The monkeys were noisy (well, I think they were monkeys.. I'm scaring myself now) and.. yeah.. while washing the bikes, Kiara boy had this

on his bike frame. What in the world is this??!! (Pic courtesy of KB's iPhone - it's never to late to join the dark side)

4) My handle bar bike lights suddenly went off again, while I was going downhill (lucky not technical). So, depended on Kiara Boy's lights behind me to navigate. I swear again, repeatedly, those lights really have something against me. It's like it has a life on its own...

5) I endo-ed at a place I don't normally crash.. hmm.. It was a bumpy downslope, I was getting my weight back, and my feet came off the pedals. My bum almost hit the rear wheel, so I pulled forward and put my weight forward. Right at that moment, my front wheel went down and I think I lost too much control and flipped forward. Did a 180 deg flip upside down and was stopped by the tree on the side and I fell to the ground.. No abrasions, cuts but just had bruises. Hmm.. and I just endo-ed last week too at KR.

After the ride, had ice lemon tea, while recollecting the things that happened. It was just a strange nite indeed. Oh well, good things came out of it though:

1)I learnt the new uses of my soft bristle brush - to brush my bag, gloves, shin guards, pants helmet, and almost everything else, including my sink. I stopped at having a go at the toilet bowl, though. Yeah, so it's still clean for other bikers to use as well.

2) I tend to oversteer alot... so mebbe a shorter handle bar would be perfect for me.

3) Next week :) ... SPD's or CBs? hmm...

Trudge on!!!

Being Just in the Nick of Time...

2010-12-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

Recce Trip No 2 : Bukit Takun
Participants:
EA-san
JS
SM
Vincent
Stan
ST
HM
Me!!!

Joke of the day(s):
Stan: I'm Eurasian, what!!!
EA-San: Since when??
Stan: What do you mean since when? Since I was born la!!
All of the rest: HUH??!!!
Stan: orr... now u racist la...
All of the rest: hahahahahahahhahaha
... and the rest of it was history, as people would put it.

Bukit Takun, a "small" hill somewhere in the outskirts of KL city. Its tucked quite deep in, but is one of the oldest climbing places in Malaysia (according to the Climb Malaysia book). Mainly travelled to for its trad climbing, it has a few bolted routes for sport climbing as well. And, looking for a new place to climb, it was time to recce Bukit Takun.

With 8 climbers, 4 ropes, and a whole bunch of gear, we took of on Friday night (to be more exact, Saturday 12.30am). The van was fairly comfortable, but sleeping in a van sux. hehe.. We arrived at about 6 am in KL, and tried to check-in to the hotel, but the rooms were still occupied. We went to a mamak for breakfast instead, and headed down to Takun after that. Better get started, bright and early. Buuuut... it drizzled..

Breakfast at the Mamak

Getting there, however... was not easy. We had some instructions from the Web, and we reached the starting point in about 30mins or so. Then the trekking in begins. err... as usual, I think not many read the link that EA-san sent.. (me too!!) and wore only flip-flops and sandals, which was NOT advisable.. haha. It was a treacherous uphill trek, with mozzies and leaches all around ( I almost got bitten by one of them). After about 20minutes, we reached the first wall (Stan and Vincent got a leech bite here). We set up most of our stuff on the ground and started to recce the site for bolts and anchors. This being a recce trip, we really did recce a lot. Not many bolts in site and JS then started his first attempt on one route (with no anchors in sight), while the rest of us continued to look around. We found another one towards the left, which was a good climb, and Stan had to kill a tree (he tried burning and sawing) that was blocking the route (Thank you, Stan hehe). We then adjourned to the Right side of the wall, where the trad climbing courses were held. It was another about 15-20minutes trekking through sharp rocks and muddy ground in flip flops and sandals.. sigh.. But anyways, 3 routes were set up here and that's about it. It started to drizzle again about 4+pm, and we decided it was time to head back. This is not a place you wanna be in when its raining, that's for sure. Packed up and headed back down to the road for our van pick-up. And it came in just in time too, before a heavier down pour started to come down on us.. phew..

OK, all of us were tired and hungry (we tapau-ed food , but the treacherous trekking burned it all up) so we headed back to the hotel to clean up. Went to OneUtama for dinner and kai kai .. to round it up :
1) We went to see the MONSTER wall at Camp5 - must be 6C rated climber to climb horr.. inside, we secretly held our hopes that it will rain the next day, so we can go to Camp5 again, much to the dismay of EA-san.. haha...
2) Had Nando's for dinner and yummy A&W for supper (my 2 fave fastfood in KL) - can never get enuff of peri peri and the icecream waffles!!
3) Watched Rapunzel 3D at 11pm (which I think only started at 11.30 or so) - free soloing with(out) gears.. don't miss it!! Great cartoon btw, and my fave this year..

Roomie - ST and me were kaput-ed when I reached the room. Zzz out almost immediately. And that's it for Day One.

The next day: Back to Batu Caves. We went to Damai Wall with little hope of getting to Nyamuk later (which as usual never happens). Here, HM, ST and I did some lead climbing (getting better, I hope) and the Monsoon route - now I understand what everyone was saying about "the slope" haha.. After that I stopped as my arms were too achy too continue.

JS and SM paired up to do one multi-pitch, and so did Vincent and Stan. Was wondering what took them ages (the whole morning to be exact) up there, but later was shown the reason - they were taking pictures of each other up there.. haha ... We were later joined by S and S from the Nomad adventure side. Had a awesome time at BC as usual, and I made a new resolution to do multi pitches in the next BC trip in Jan. :)... oh yarr... we finally had our first lunch at Batu Caves, after sooo many visits here!!

The reason to do a multipitch!

The View from above

The only time when the wall was quiet was when these 2 were up in their pitches :p

JS and SM on their pitch

ST tired liao...

GroupShot!!

Packed and headed back to SG at about 430pm. Had an epic wait for food at the A&W Ayer Keroh, and reached SG at 11.00 ++ pm. Tired, dead and sleepy, I just jumped into bed and zzz... haha..

Think BC saved this trip from being a disaster. Somehow, it always turns a frowning climber into a smiling climber. Takun was.. sort of nice, but I still think it's more for trad climbing :) Well, till the next climb, recce, or watever...

Trudge on!!

Rumblings in the heart... restless in the mind...

2010-12-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

I'm scared. I'm trying to smile, but I really am. I've done so many things before, but I'm scared of this "little" endeavour of mine. I have nothing prepared for this, except that it's something that I really want to do. I think my mum knows me better when I have an idea or something in mind, it stays there till I've had enuff of it or I've completed it. My arms still ache from the climbs in KL over the weekend, my eyes are still red from lack of sleep, but my mind is racing to figure it all out. Hmm... I got my work to do, and my studies to complete too. My mum is gonna complain that I don't go back much.. Hmm.. *dead*

But then again, when I think of it, I'm all excited, and a little grin appears...

Viva La Vida

2010-12-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

Da link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsUAxG6c3Ws

Amazing... one guy, playing all the different layers song separately.. and editing it back into one piece. Reminds me why I took up violin last time. I loved the sound it makes, the emotions it stirrs. The pull of the bows, the light staccatos it makes..

But anyways, about the song. It's time to review the year that just came and go, and wonder how next year will be like. This year has got to be the biggest DRAMA year ever, not as painful as a few years back, but just super DRAMA. And the drama happened not only to me, but to people around me.

I tried a lot of new stuff that stuck to me, like MTB-ing, and made a bunch of new crazy frens along the way. I restarted some stuff that I left cos of time constraints, like kayaking and climbing. I learnt about how much life is reliant on having good frens when I'm staying on my own, like when I had my pneumonia. I learned that being there for a friend and having his/her back is something that is not easy to be done, but is one of the best things to do. I learned that things do not last forever, no matter how perfect it looked from the outside. I know that I can finish everything I put my mind to... if I can put my mind to it. I learned to smile, even when things are getting harder and harder, cos smiling makes it easier to get through it. But the best of all, is I learned more about myself, and how I think people should accept me as who I am. I don't think I can ever leave the outdoors for now, and that's fine with me :). Oh... and that life moves on... one setback only means that - one setback. It does not set me back for life if I don't let it.

A short snippet:

Night MTB!!
Got my 1Star & 2Star kayaking cert...
Roll in a kayak!!
Severe pneumonia & got warded!!
Had a Minor Operation
Climbed at Dairy Farm, Batu Caves and Tambun
DWS and Lead Climbing
Moved to a new place
Visited Hanoi & HaLong Bay
Visited Siem Reap
Mountain Biking and built my first racing bike
Found 2 someones .. & gave it up.. hehe :)
Volunteered at races (bike escort & medic)
Play FFXIII
Three Adventure Races
Shot from a AK-47

I wonder what will happen next year... hmm

Trudge on..

Epic Plentong ride...

2010-11-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

Just a memorable conversation...

On one of the short road parts, one of the guys riding next to me asked me why I was spinning on my Granny's. I told him that sometimes I still have a problem with my gear shifts, and I'd prefer not to shift if possible. He was impressed as he said I was spinning very fast and added that I would have nice legs. With a devilish grin, I told him to just give that thought up too... I have bigger than normal girl calves cos I run a lot too... He just shook his head and we all laughed it out.. haha...

The reason I like MTB :)

Trudge on...

The annual Twelve Months of Lala!!

2010-11-18T21:29:00.001-08:00

Back again, the 2010 edition...

Jan: Got my first MountainBike, and endo-ed on the same day; CNY home, played Futsal with the Ipoh guys

Feb: Siem Reap - to the Wats!! and... Shot from a AK-47, started Flowriding

March: Bdae month... Finally got FF13 (but until now, no time to finish it), Started volunteering in races- OSIM, OCBC

April: Sabah Adventure Challenge!!

May: Moved to a new place; Rafted and started climbing again; Kayaking 1Star

June: Halong Bay for DWS

July: Nomad Adventure Race, PNEUMONIA!!

Aug: Recover from PNEUMONIA!!

Sept: BC, Ace Adventure Challenge, Lasiks done!

Oct: New Bike, Started night MTB, Rolled in a kayak (finally!!), Tambun - Lead Climbing, Batu Caves and Genting

Nov: MTB - Kiara, 2Star kayaking, MTB - Plentong Epic Ride...

Dec: Takun Recce!!

OK... another year of fun is almost coming to an end. I got one more module to grab my Grad Cert... then think think about progressing to Masters. Time really has flown, hasn't it. Let's see what happens in the coming 2011.. things are just getting better and better...

Trudge on...

A good start to the morning :)

2010-11-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

Tried to pay with my Starbucks Card this morning, and when it didn't work, I had to pay in cash. When I got my change back, the barrista handed me a voucher for a free beverage... :)

This is excellant service... and a good reason to go back to Starbucks for good coffee...

Cycling in Kiara 2

2010-11-15T22:09:00.000-08:00

Can't remember which trail this was on though.... help anybody?

Back in the waters..

2010-11-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus, it was time to get down and wet.. in the kayak again. This time, with a clearer vision of whitewater ahead, I've decided to plunge ahead to learn how to roll (finally!!). Messsaged SO, and got my first rolling class rolling. I've tried to roll before but have never got it done, so, this time, with goggles, and a nose piece, I'm super determined to get it done at least once...

Capsizing, at first, is scary. But after capsizing so many times in my first WW kayaking course, it's.. somewhat, quite a normal thing for me already. So, capsize one.. I'm upside down, orientation off, SO tried to get my paddle in the right position, tried to hip flick... kaboosh... fell into the water again. This went on and on for a few more times.. before finally, with SO's help... my first assisted roll!! yay!! OK, now need to do an unassisted roll. Tried a few more times ... and failed... but.. never give up!! and, after a while more... MY FIRST ROLL!! and then another 3 and I'm done for that day!.. This was a few weeks ago...

Rewind to last weekend. EA-san wanted to do 2Star kayaking. I wanted to do 2Star Kayaking. So we went and sign up for the course. There are a few reasons to do 2Star:
1) Can't rent a spray skirt without 2Star
2) Most kayak races (WW) will require a 2Star
3) Kayak expeditions in SG will require at least a 2Star

The 2Star course is 3- day long, and includes a 6km expedition. Other than that, the other useful skills would be the Eskimo Bow Rescue and Scullying Draw (which SO has taught us in 1Star). The first day was used up to polish the 1Star skills, and I realised that I don't even remember much. After a while, everything started to come back to me and well, started to get back in the groove.

The second day was the expedition day, and it was fun. I guess one reason was that we were bonding better with our team and an expedition is always more fun than just a skills course. We packed chicken rice for lunch as we're suppose to kayak somewhere, eat lunch and kayak back. The journey there was fun, except for the avoiding the fishing line part. Also, the instructor was commenting on our strokes, and he gave some useful tips like, keep the other arm at the forehead while drawing, it makes a good pivot point. We reached the Changi Water Venture are about an hour later and had lunch. By the time we finished, the dark clouds started to come in and it drizzled a bit.. brr..cold.. The drizzle soon became a thundering storm, and hmm.. we ran for shelter at the Changi Water Venture. Shivering and cold, we waited till the storm abated (a bit) and headed out to kayak back. There was still lightning in while we were kayaking back, and even the instructor was a bit reluctant. OK, let's do it slowly this time.. (we were all tired anyway).. and soon, we were reaching Pasir Ris.. :) On the way, we did some wave surfings.. hehe.. awesome

The guys in the Tiny Teddies Kayaking team!

Gwen with her Vibrams

The rock wall, so near, yet so far...

Yeah... the tiny teddies kayakers!!

Back at Pasir Ris, with some extra time, we practiced Eskimo Bow Rescue, and I tried the C-to-C roll a few times, before getting it right again. We were all shacked out by then. OK.. 5pm.. time to call it a day. Chop chop, we packed up and showered. A few achievements from this course so far:
1) I can finally kayak straighter
2) I can finally scully to save my life
3) I still remember how to roll, as of yesterday.

Just one more day and I can get my cert. Sorta exciting in the sense that with the cert, I can go do more crazy things. So, wish me luck this coming Saturday, and we'll see what happens...

:)

Kayak on!!

Update 20/11/10: I passed!!!! Now I'm a 2star kayaker!!!

Cycling in Kiara

2010-11-11T01:01:00.000-08:00

A Short Epic Trip

2010-11-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

Epic Jam - 3hours

Epic Kiara MTB Rides - Short one on Fri, Long one on Saturday, Explorer mode on Sun

Epic Chicken Overload - KFC on Fri, Nand0's on Sat (I had Ramly's Special Chicken Cheese Burger on Friday too)

The whole idea for the first of many (to come) epic Kiara weekend started out with our new NiteRider Buddy, Kiara Boy. I've heard so much about Kiara from those who went there, and was raring to go ride at least once there. And so, with the long weekend coming up, why not? So, with bikes in the tow, WL and I was out in KL on the long 3-day weekend to conquer Kiara.

We started out on Friday morning, and got into our first Epic event = the Epic 3 hour jam at the SecondLink. We were moving at about 1km/hr but luckily we had a 2 movies to keep us entertained (Red Bull Rampage and RED). After the customs, things were moving great and we had a short stopover at Ayer Keroh for the A&W there.

Arrived in KL about 2 hours later than initially expected. With the GPS (bike unit), navigate to the hotel, checked in, prepped up and finally met up with Kiara Boy, for our first ride in Kiara. haha... so onz to get on the bike after the long journey down.. and no... we would not wait any longer...

Kiara, was.. just... awesome :). I've not been riding long, but the place is just FUN. OK, a bit of killer upslopes (actually, a lot of killer upslopes), but the course was just technical enough to make the ride every bit exciting. Most of the downslopes were manageable (even for me), but there were some (like triple trenches) which were still out of my league. It was really amazing to see the guys zip down those slopes, though :)

We went through some of the routes, 2k, magic carpet, a bit of lungbuster (in reverse), mission, and some more that I can't remember, before calling it a day when night came about. First intro to Kiara, and I'm smitten. Here's the next awesome thing about Kiara: there's free toilet, shower and bike washing facilities at the carpark. Apparently, the facilities were built using money pulled together by the community. I 'heart' this place.

Kiara Boy had family dinner that night, so it was up to me and WL to look for food ourselves. We ended up at TTDI nearby, and were elated when we saw a Ramly burger stall. But hey, Ramly is for supper right... hehe.. there was KFC opposite Ramly's, and to prove that the Msia KFC is different from the SG one, we had KFC for dinner. After tt, we tapau-ed Ramly and headed back for rest and movie.

The next morning started at 7am. We met up with Kiara Boy and his bunch of regular rider friends in Kiara for the ride. This was going to be the long one. The first stretch itself was a upslope ride on the tarmac into Magic Carpet. After Magic Carpet, we would meet up with another 2 friends of Kiara Boy. My memory here is fuzzy as we zipped from one trail to another. I still couldn't manage all the upslopes and had to push for most of them. The guys were really good and I liked to see the way they ride, and the lines they take. A few crashes here and there, and I endo-ed once on a drop. No biggie injuries though, will live to ride again.

After about 4 hours, we've finished. I was exhausted. My whole body was aching, but the adrenaline was still running high. We cleaned up (bikes and self) and headed over to the mamak for lunch. With our stomachs filled, we made a short stop at the KSH bike shop nearby, and then back to the hotel to rest a bit.

That evening was reserved for climbing at Camp5. After about a week of not hitting the walls, it was good to climb again. We met some Singaporeans there too, who were down for the holidays. Dinner was at Nando's... the home of Peri Peri chicken.. extra hot and spicy is always good. I bought an emergency light (comes with a whistle) from Allsports KL, and after that it was back to the hotel for another movie and rest.

Sunday started later at about 8+. Had a bit to eat in the morning, and off to the trails again for our last ride. This time, we went exploring on our own as the local guys were not riding. We got lost a lot of times, went on reverse only to turn back after a while a few times, but we did managed to find the 'sungai' trail. I can fully understand after riding and pushing through it, why Kiara Boy said that trail was... well.. require balls of steel. Wilson rode most of it ('xcept for the first drop) and as usual.. *clap clap clap* :). We finished about 12, washed up, and headed back to the hotel to clean up and check out.

We had local fare for lunch at TTDI before heading back to SG. A short stopover at A&W again and we finally reached SG at 7+pm in the evening. Twas the short epic trip had ended, but truly an epic trip it was. Kiara was really enjoyable, and the company I had made it even more memorable. Now... I just can't wait to get out riding again.. getting better and better, so that when I am at Kiara again, I'll walk less, and ride more.

Trudge on...

PS : will upload the vids later, when I've successfully converted it.

Found this!!

2010-11-02T23:00:00.001-07:00

Me in the Health IT Summit this year... :)

http://www.mohh.com.sg/his-2010.html

Kinda miss my old look sometimes.. oh well..

Trudge on..

A weekend that almost went wrong...

2010-10-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was strange (maybe cos it was Halloweens.. hmm). Things that was planned went off and things that was not planned went great. The original scheme of the grand plan was to go to KL on Saturday, climb a bit at Batu Caves and then head up to Genting for the GTB on Sunday. So here’s what happened:

It started to rain at BC.. no climbing
BK ran a fever at Genting… no run
Had a good long needed rest in Awana… been planning to have a chillaxing hotel holiday for months now
Went down early to BC.. managed 3 lead climbs, the 28m was :) :).. Thanks EQ-san
Met new crazy friends… some I’ve only known on Facebook… fantastic!

Trudge on, my friends..

"That" feeling..

2010-10-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

You know, "that" feeling... The feeling that makes your heart go faster, you get a bit more restless, and you keep wondering if what you're feeling is really something more than what you think it is (sorry, this has no reference to any romantic inclination, whatsoever...).

Been doing a bit more of night trail riding nowadays, and there are times when I get that feeling. There are certain parts of the trail that "feels" very strong to me that makes me to only want to go faster and get out of there. Maybe it's just my imagination, and I thought I was the only one who felt this, but when I talked to WJ yesterday about it, I was surprised that he felt the same way at the exact same spots too. For eg, in our recent ride, there was a part when I was leading that I suddenly had the strong urge to make sure that the person behind me was really supposed to be the person behind me, and I shouted to make sure that he really was the person behind me. WJ did the same thing too a few nights before when we were riding together, at the exact same spot, in the exact same direction we were riding.

Well, that doesn't mean the night rides will stop. Will continue to explore new places to ride as night trail riding is fun, and well, more fun than day time riding at times. Maybe I'll just install an airhorn or a bell, to be on the safer side, and bring a GPS system to prevent from getting lost.. and more spare batteries and lamps, so I'll never be in the dark. Hmm.. and maybe a cross, garlic, holy water... etc.. my bag will probably weigh a ton by then..

Well, it's going to be Oct 31st again soon, and .... Happy Halloween, everybody!!Get out, wear a costume, act crazy, go watch a scary movie.. just have a scaaary weekend y'all!

Till the next ride, Scare on...

New Book!

2010-10-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

Lunch time reading...

Read on....!!

Searching for the Lost Climb.. (and bolts.. and anchors.. )

2010-10-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago, I was given a chance to participate in a climbing recce trip by EA-san to Ipoh. A few years back, Mammut and Camp5 were invited to set up a natural climbing area at the back of "The Lost World of Tambun", and ever since then, this area has been visited by many climbers from all around the world. Well, me, missing home and parents and all, decided to follow EA-san on this trip, and well, just to have fun too.

There were 4 of us on this trip, EA-san, AS, YK and me. We took the night bus from GoldenMile Tower (Konsortium) to Ipoh and arrived at Medan Gopeng at about 6am in the morning. I called Dad, who picked us up and brought us all home to freshen up first.

Arrived!!

The guys unpacked some of their stuff and so, we're all set for Ipoh dim sum breakfast and the recce climb.

Sunway City in Tambun is quite a new housing/ business area although its been here the past few years. To get to the walls, one has to pay the entrance fees to the theme park (there is another way, though). We went there early in the morning to recce the area and arrived at the theme park at about 9am. As the park only opens at 11am (bummer..) we tried asking the staff if they can issue us the tickets earlier for us to enter. As usual, they dillied and dallied here and there, "trying" to look like they were busy. Oh well.. wait and wait. Luckily, not too long after that, one of the park's supervisor came out of his office. We asked for his help, and immediately he asked his staff to help us get in. Finally!! We can go CLIMB!

OK, so we all got tagged, coughed out the dough (RM41... PM me for more details ;) ;) ...) and followed the staff to the climbing walls. It was way at the back of the park, and was accessible through a locked gate. Lo and behold, the "Needle" was there. Hmm.. it wasn't as tall as I imagined it to be, buuut.. nevertheless.. it was tall. Alright, time to get prepared and set up the gears, but more importantly, get the mosquito coils burning. This area was infested with them.

Mosquito coils to the rescue~~

AS went to recce the routes with the simple topo maps that we had from the Internet. OK, let's start with something simple, a 5c named "Triathlon". AS lead the way up easily and got the rope set. This become out warm-up route.

The next route was "Nasi Kuning", a 6A route. This one was a bit tricky, as the bolts were a bit loose. AS tightened it on the way up, and well.. Sunway should pay us for maintenance. I went up the "Triathlon" first to warm up, then to try lead climbing, I went up again. First, with a top rope tied in, and finally, the moment of truth came, and I lead up without the top rope. It was super fun and scary at the same time!!! The exhilarating feeling of climbing, yet the scary feeling of falling without a safeguard. I loved it!!! After that, I gave "Nasi Kuning" a top rope try and I was super sweaty by the time I got down.

Up the 'Yellow Rice'

With the sun coming in, we decided to do the "Needle" next. The easiest route 5c (30m), aptly named "Taik Kera" was tucked in between the "Needle" and the wall behind. To get to the route, we had to climb up a rocky and slippery slope. Here comes the confusion, the bolts were hard to see. The first bolt was quite high for this route, and so we were quite doubtful of its grading. Nevertheless, AS and EA-san prepped to tackle this wall.

Using the tree as an anchor

The climb to the first bolt was... scary. The wall was hollow and we were not sure where the route leads to. AS continued up, one bolt at a time, till halfway through. He came down, and so it was ES-san's turn. EA-san was "raring" to go.. hmm.. sorta.. well, anyways, he tied in, got all the runners, and started up. (Btw, my first lead belaying too!!) .. and.. one by one (literally) he got all the runners in and reach the TOP!!! yay!!! We have conquered the "Taik Kera";) ;)!! I lowered EA-san down, and at the bottom, we had an interesting review of the route, esp at the top.

Just getting in the first bolt... so high!

YK up next, and EA-san will belay him. AS went recce-ing around and wanted to check out the other routes. There was a 4b (30m high??!!) called "Roots and Berries" next to the fence. It looked easy enough from below, but looks waaaay high to be a 4b.. hmm, the map says 20m.. was the map wrong. Nevermind, my time to try leading again. I tie in, got enough runners, and start out. The first bolt was high, and I was worried. Slowly, slowly, ok... managed to get the first one in. Here was where everything turned downhill. I managed to put the second one in, but as I was trying to get to the third one, I fell and scraped my shin over the ledge... ouch... skin out... bleeding.. I asked to be lowered. AS went to get the Medikit for me.. and I was still .. OUCH!!. ok ok.. tahan tahan. Lucky my MTB injuries from 2 weeks before (at the exact same spot) healed liao, if not the scrape would have been worse. OK... fixed myself up, but think that there will be no more leading for me this trip. Oh well... EA-san came by, and said that the 4b route was typo-ed on the map. It was switched with the 5c next to it. Damn....

Me on my second lead before the fall..

OK, so YK and EA-san continued to climb at the new routes, and AS and I went to clean up the "Needle" area. I gave "Taik Kera" a try, but wasn't able to go up high. AS went up once more and managed to reach the top. Time to clean up and rejoin the other guys.

AS lead the next climb on "Low Battery" and this one was easy except for one crux. After the guys tried a few more climbs on the last two routes, everyone was tired and beat. Time to call it a day and hit the hot springs. We all packed up, tried not to smell the rope (and me, of the 3 guys), and were all set to go. Before leaving, we recce-ed the area a bit better, found the 9a "Clockwork Orange" and met up with the supervisor again (not on purpose).

Recce-ing the area

AS with the 9a

Group shot with "the Needle" behind us (the supervisor in red)

YK and EA-san went for a dip in the Hot Spring. I didn't want to with my injury, and AS forgot to bring shorts. After that, a nice shower and we're all clean again!!

At the Hot Spring

Bro came and picked us up from Tambun. Mum and Dad were hungry, and well.. when one is new to Ipoh, there can only be one place to eat dinner -Lou Wong Nga Choy Kay and Hor Fun!! (and the guys didn't believe me at first that Taugeh is an entire dish itself!!!) ..

Converted Believers!!

We had a hearty dinner and ended the night with a drive around Ipoh and a stop at Old Town Kopitiam. Was dead by the time we reached home and went to zzz almost immediately.

The trip turned out to be all good fun. I had a chance at Lead Climbing and Belaying and I got to go home. It's time to keep practising and get better at it. My shin wound is almost healed now, and luckily no fracture. Now I miss home again... oh well... till the next trip home..

Climb on!!

Of Leading, Repairing, Rolling and Going down stairs..

2010-10-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

In about last week, I've:

1) tried Lead Climbing in Tambun

2) learned how to do trail repairs

3) rolled in a kayak (x4 times actually)

4) go down flights of stairs on my MTB

Other discoveries:

1) Duoderms are amazing dressing

2) Coban works ok too... but duoderms are better

3) A new MTB helmet... super cool looking

Trudge on...

My new BIKE!!!

2010-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

It's light enuff for me to carry :).. Sabah, here I come!!

Trudge on, y'all!!

Freedom.... finally!!

2010-10-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

Something I've not tasted for a long time, as I've always had to think of and about someone else, and when one leaves, another fills up that spot in a matter of weeks, or sometimes even days. I'm kinda sick of that after a while, and though I do miss it sometimes, I'm just glad that those times are over for a while and I can finally focus on what I've always wanted to do for a loooooong time now.. So watch out for this space for updates .. which I am sure will be more to come!!

Trudge on!!

Warded!!

2010-07-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Alrightey.. my first hospital admission!!

Diagnosis : Severe Bilateral Community Acquired Pneumonia.

Suffered for about a week, but thanks to very supportive friends (esp ST, Pris) and family, and the great bunch of doctors and nurses in SGH... I'm well again!!

Buuuut, I learnt a few things along the way that I hope if I go back to clinicals I'll remem to or not to do:

1) Never order a drip with KCl supplements - it hurts like hell, and i couldn't even sleep a wink

2) Always listen to the patients needs... even if it was a simple cup of water

3) Nasal prongs dries up the nose.. till can get cracks and nosebleeds.. good to moisturise the nasal passage once in awhile.

4) Just generally be nicer to patients... it sucks being sick..

Well, trudge on!!

Mud race.. lotsa mud

2010-07-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the Nomad X-Capade Race weekend, and it ended too soon. This time, I partnered with Shaff for this multidisciplinary race that involved MTB, road biking, abseiling, kayaking, rock climbing, and mud crawling/trekking. Venue: Batu Dam, Selangor. Time: flag-off at 8am. Fun level: Limitless.

Travelling down to KL itself was a big challenge. We cycled down to the pick-up venue early in the morning. Yayy!! Saw some of the SAC folks there as well. :) hehe.. Chad is partnering YK in this race, and well, they make the funniest couple ever!! Back to the bikes. As they did not have enough people to book a proper truck transport, we had to pack our bikes at the bottom carriage of the bus. There were 2 buses, and about close to 60 humans, which meant that the bikes need to be packed nicely into the carriage. To fit it all in, we removed the front wheel of the bikes. Took longer than expected and after all that, we were told that we have to change buses at the Malaysian customs!! NOOOOO!! Then why did we go through all that trouble for. Next, YK realised that he brought his niece's passport, not his!! haha.. so he called his wife to pick his up and bring it down. OK, so that's over, the passports are all checked, the bikes all packed, we finally set off.

Reached the SG customs.. no problem.. reach the Msia customs.. all hell breaks loose. We had to reassemble our bikes and wheel them over. And, it's Saturday morning, so the place was jostled with people trying to get across. Managed to get pass fast with the Msian passport, but the rest (non-Msians) took about an hour to get across. hehe.. twas funny to hear their accounts of how the elder folks would just cut queues to get in front of them. Well, we packed all the bikes onto the Msian bus and after everyone has settled, we set off again!!.. phew..

In the bus... on the way

Stopped for breakfast and lunch.. yummy.. good ole Malaysian food, and finally reached our destination at about 2pm. We were already late. We got all our stuff out, reassembled the bikes and head up to the race area where skills testing were performed.

Assembling the bikes at the start

Registration was ok, equipment check done, and first station was the abseiling station.

Shaff at the registration tent

I have not abseiled in a long long time, but with Shaff's and the testers help, got it done fast and easy. Next, at the kayaking station, I played arn as usual :) hehe. While waiting for the briefing to start, I met up with Raymond and Elaine, the ever energized bunny!! hehe..

Everyone being tested...

Called up Ivy, and managed to convince her to come down and pick us up (with Elaine's help - TQ Elaine!!) and well.. briefing started late, full of corny jokes, ended late, and finally, when Ivy picked us up, it was already quite late. Shaff and I initially planned to camp at Batu Dam for the night, but seeing that we can store our bikes at the race site, and that the place was.. hm.. we decided to bunk at Ivy's. :) (TQ IVY!!)

Ivy and Callie picked us up and brought us to a Peranakan restaurant. The food there was goooood!!!! mmm.. so in love with that fish now.. mmm.. But anyways, after dinner, headed back to Ivy's place, prepped for the next day and off we were to bed.

Proposing to Ivy... hehe

Woke up at 4+am, got ready, and off we were to the race site. We arrived early at about 6am, and the place was quiet. Got out our bikes, registered and got our bandannas.. yes... badannas.. and prepped up. Everyone started to fall in as well. Flag-off time fastly approaching, everyone started to line up at the start, the VIP gave a speech (I think.. I wasn't listening).. and as the clock hits 8... GO!!!

Pre race pics!

The start was a slow start as it was short road biking session before we double back, cycled a bit of an up-slope and hit the trails. At the trails, the racers start to spread out and the stronger ones were already far ahead. The trails were nice singletrack trails, buuuuut... the first part, or about 70% of it was up-slope.. and although some of the slopes were quite rideable, it was short lived with braches, tree trunks, rivers along the way that just stopped all the riders in their tracks. This continued on for a hour or so... till we finally hit the the downhill part!! yay!! the downhill was super fast and furious and FUN!! hahah.. unfortunately, I got a pinch flat at my back wheel.. and we stopped to changed it. First spare - valve broke, change again. Second spare, phew.. worked.. maaan.. talk about bad luck. Anyways, apparently, due to the difficulty of the trails, the organiser cut the full trail from 3 loops (killer, big and small) to only one big loop. That's saying something.. but then again, I do hope to come back here again and go try all the loops.. :) Finished the MTB part, and back we were to Batu Dam, and onwards to the jungle trekking (aka mud trekking after the rain) at Batu Caves.

Crossing a stream

The first part of the trek was to climb all the way up to the caves.. which was easy. Then a short bit of caving.. which was easy. Then jungle trekking all the way to all the chkpoints.. which was SUPPOSE to be EASY.. until it RAINED!! haha.. A heavy downpour came upon us and we were all drenched. The trails turned to mud and had ZERO traction. Most of the time, we were on all fours... trying to not slide of the hill. This makes Genting TB looks super easy. We got lost abit while gg from one CP to another, but recovered fast enough. After a looooong while, we got to CP8, where we split up for the abseiling bit. Shaff did the 100m abseil, and I went on to do the 50m cave abseil.

My big black butt!

All was well, the trek to the 50m abseil was easy and with more traction. The wait to abseil, however was wrought with cold winds. I was shivering itself.. and I really pitied all the abang-abang who was guarding that CP. okla... loooong wait... why? - on 3 ropes, the racers were stuck.. sigh.. so waited about half and hour just to get on the abseil. The abseil however was really nice.. after all, its a cave abseil... into the dark. Bumped my shin against the rocks while going down however... and towards the end, almost had forearm cramps cos twas hard to feed the rope throught the ATC. Finally, one more swoosh and I'm down. phew.. short and sweet.

Now comes the next harrowing part.. need to trek back to the rock climbing area, bypassing two other chkpoints.. sob sob.. more of the mud and slides... mudslides.. the parts I hated the most were the sideways traversing parts where there was no grip, nothing to hold on to, and well.. I just kept slipping downwards.

Reached the rock climbing area, Shaff was not there yet. Started to worry. He shouldn't need to take this long if nothing happened.. ok ok relax abit and went to clean up abit at the nearby shower. OK.. Shaff is not back yet.. hmm.. wait wait.. Talked a bit to Samuel and he said that Shaff got lost and did 3 loops around the same area looking for the 100m abseil CP. Oh maaan... I hope he's ok. Waited a while more, and he started to come down.. he looked tired. Finally, he made it!!.. We got onto the rock climbing part next where Shaff climbed barefooted... woots.. amazing..

After cleaning up abit and refilling the water station, we head on back to Batu Dam and on to the next part of the race, river trekking. When we got there, the organisers said no more river trekking in the river, but river trekking at the banks as the waters were too high after the rain. Alritey, so we slow jogged abit and trekked abit and finally reached the kayaking session in super fast time (trying to hit beat the cut-off time marr). Got into the kayak, and started kayaking. Here's the funny thing: we're suppose to find some passwords on some buoys and tell them to the CP guys at the end of the race to finish the race.. we hunted high and low for the first kayak.. can't find them, then just continued on towards the end... when.. lo and behold, the two buoys were there. If only we knew earlier. Anyways, Shaff did most of the kayaking.. I was already half dead... (TQ Shaff!!).

Reached the shore, got out, and hurray!! Ran towards the finishing line and we were done!!! YAYYY!! WE FINISHED!!! phew...

At the finishing line...

Life was just surreal then.. another race finished. I was just soo happy.. hungry and well tired :). We met up with the faster racers, congratulations flew here and there, and we got a small towel for the effort.. haha.. SMALL blue towel. Went to clean up the bikes, equipments and ourselves and headed down to EAT.. waaa.. haven't eaten the whole day. After the prize giving ceremony, we all got onto the bus, rested, had A&W for dinner, slept on the way back and... reached home with smiles..

The weekend was great.. but it just zipped by so fast.. I'm really starting to fall more in love with adventure races. I hope there are more to comes, but i do need to improve on my MTB skills and get a lighter bike if I wanna race more seriously. Well, see how it goes... and trudge on...

(Pictures courtesy of Shaff's camerea!)

Lost and Insecure...

2010-06-09T19:02:00.001-07:00

Lost and insecure.. this phrase keeps popping in my head.. even till now.. started from a song that I had in my PC (no other things to play, office blocked Youtube), well, and soon after, it started to remind me of how life is. We're all insecure in our ways, some insecure in their jobs, others insecure in looking for that other special elusive ONE, and even when you found that ONE, sometimes, insecurities comes in asking whether he/she is really the ONE.

I like psychology, I like human thinking, and I like sparring verbally about it, but the one thing that always stumped me was human feelings. We describe it with words, but how do you describe feelings to a person. MelM says I'm a feeler, which I totally agree upon, as I do use a lot of my feelings to get through things. People who know me well enough will always know, behind my happy and somewhat brave facade, what I feel, which brings me to the first 3 words of this post.

Lost and insecure... that's what I feel now. I've been secured in my place for far too long.. securedly holding my feelings in place, securedly braving through obstacles in one piece, that no matter how busy or worried I am, I stay strong. But sometimes I can feel a crack coming through. Maybe it's due to the stress the past couple of weeks... finding a place, getting a new housemate, moving, work, exams, papers, presentations, and the usual activity stuff, all in the month of June. I somewhat feel drained.... (phew.. lucky semester break is coming... but only one week.. damn...)

But that said, I rediscovered some parts of me that I forgot, like calling my mum when I'm stressed and staying in company of fantastic friends who only want the best for me, but the one that takes the cake is my confidence in going up heights again. I lost that confidence during my skydiving head knocking incident that left me looking like I just came out of a street brawl, but now, I'm looking forward to the thrill of feeling the wind against my face, the ability to move freely and free from being stuck to the ground, and well, just enjoying a superb scenery that only being in the sky can provide.

Living almost up to 3-0 already, the few things I've learnt is that...

"Things and people may come and go, but the experiences and memories stay on. Learn to live and learn to share and learn to give. Sacrifices are worth making only if what you get in return deserves it. Nothing lasts forever... but there is beauty in limitation... "

ohh, and one more

"always tell and show the people you love that you love them... be it family, friends, and even frenemies... ".

Man.. I feel old..

:)

Trudge on, y'all!!!

Another chapter of life...

2010-05-25T03:48:00.000-07:00

When something ends, another begins...

The past few weeks brought a LOT of changes in my life... that time literally flew past me again at like a speeding bullet.. and now... reflecting back:

1) moving out next mth - new hsemate(s) and new place ... now need to settle agreement and packing

2) changed from a primary runner to a primary cyclist - MTB and roadie (singlespeed)

3) no more PTSD (developed since that hard knock on my head during my solo skydive) from heights ... realised tt when I went climbing tt I wasn't afraid of heights anymore!! YES!!! time to save more money and go back to skyjumping..

4) between a need and a want.. what do I really want, and what I really need.. which is more important.. hmm.. can't decide..

I'm still scared and unsure of my future though, but as usual.. things happened along the way to reassure me that life is great by just being alive, and tt I should never take anything for granted cos its all there for a purpose.

I know this is gonna sound so Great Eastern and all, but...

Life is great!!!

Trudge on..

Last weekend...

2010-05-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

The typical Jonie weekend is baaaaaack...

Friday: Shaff drove us up to KL in his convertible.. with the top down. Arrived at Ivy's... chk in and zzz

Saturday: met up with the gang.. and rafted at KKB. Nite - dinner at Pappa Rich and Otai burger

Sunday: Climb at Camp5, 1Utama, lunch at Nando's and then back to SG, with the top down again...

Amazing weekend... and as Monday comes, I realised.. a Jonie weekend is when the weekdays are for recovery from the weekend activities...

Trudge on..

How to recognize an informatician

2010-04-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Wrote this for my homework this week:

"An informatician looks and behaves like any other person, that is, until he starts to talk. Within seconds, informatic jargons like SNOMED, CPOE and CDSS starts spewing out, and, from then on, there is no stopping the verbal diarrhea. To make matters worse, when two or more informatician gather together, it can seem like they are conversing in a weird alien language altogether. Although life can be busy for an informatician because most still hold on to their day job as clinician, nurses, and even IT managers, they always exude passion in their love for the latest gadgets and EMR (Electronic Medical Record) systems. Understanding their nature is not easy, as one will need to delve into the deep realms of “technology”, “healthcare” and “workflow processes”. However, no matter how technical an informatician may be, deep down in his heart is a caring and gentle soul, who’s only aim is to see that all patients receive the best and safest level of care in their medical treatments."

Trudge on....

Volunteerism... hard work

2010-04-11T22:15:00.000-07:00

As racers, we rarely understand what go on in the happenings of the volunteers (not internal supporters), and after volunteering twice.. I am beginning to understand how hard it is. I love the support I get from all the volunteers, but to be one, I realise is so much more harder than to be the participant itself.

1. Volunteers come in early and are usually the last to leave.. so if you think running for 4-5 hours in a marathon is hard, try standing and cheering for 7-9 hours. So don't think the people are happy there as well when you're the last one in and you're not even putting in the effort to finish faster.

2. Relentless energy and support is a must-show.. and its not even to support themselves, but volunteers have to support others... and it's always harder to be happy for others when it is a torture to stay put in one HOT and UNSHADED place for the whole day.

3. It's HOT out there and volunteers in Singapore seems to get very little water/food (except for the water/food stations ) Some were even refused water/food when they asked for it... sux, right.. I know...

4. Most volunteers don't get proper briefing... it is left to the minimal.. so if they don't know the answers to the questions... blame the organisers, not the volunteers.

5. Very minimal training is given to the volunteers.. hence, don't expect basic first aid except from the medical ppl like the paramedics. They won't know how to hand you water or food as well... remember.. minimal training can sometimes mean ZERO training. So cyclists, pls be a bit more understanding when the volunteers dun run with you to hand u your drink.

I had a good time yest.. and the people were great... I think I'll be extra extra nicer to the race volunteers from now on... and I hope all the racers out there do too!!!

Can't talk alot for now!! so trudge on!!!

My first Adventure Race...

2010-04-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

And it's gotta be a multi day one : Sabah Adventure Challenge!! - a 3 day rumble and tumble in the jungles of Borneo!

I've never done an adventure race before but as the usual Jonie, have always wanted to do one. So.. when this thing popped up.. (I read it off facebook.. ) go fig.. I just had to try it, even if it's only once. Well... with no experience at all at mountain biking, why not, right?

Anyways, roped in BK for this race and I got all the race registrations, logistics, accomodation done up (I'm never doing all this accommodation and logistics again... headache-nyer.. I wonder how Aman does everything?.. ). I went and get (through YMCA - Thnks MelM and GracieN for the help) me and BK some MTB lessons as well, and Alex T taught me a bit on orienteering... and got some amazing tips from WilsL and well all set.. I think..
except tt....

1. AirAsia bloody he*l screwed up my flight times and didn't even tell/SMS/email me on the changes. Lucky thing Aman emailed us earlier to rechk the flight times... later when we spoke to him, apparently some teams may not even make it in time as AA informed them too late to change their flights. I mean, I understand the changes in time, budget marr... but must oso tell the passengers right. Cannot be that the airlines "want" to make their passengers miss their flights??!!! Is this another tactic to lighten the plane load and pay less for oil??!! I hope our Datuk Tony Fernandaz can look into this... if not, I don't think anyone should ever take AirAsia again cos of their tardiness in taking care of their customers.

2. Due to the deferment, had to take the afternoon off from work

3. Had to defer all my assignments deadlines to a few days late, which means have double the amount of homework to do when I get home

4. Some family happenings... which I still feel sad about...

5. Bike pedals refuses to be unscrewed, even with a spanar and a Mel, the pedal nut still refused to budge (BK tried later after the race.. oso couldn't unscrew it... in the end, got help from another guy to help loosen it.. yes.. it was THAT tight)

6. Needed to complete the Mel & Jonie for Amazing Race Asia video. Took me about 10 hours to edit a 3 min clip... including searching, downloading, looking at materials...but it was funz!! I should be a video editor

7. The main thing that worried me was that I still had a few injuries that have yet to recover. I had a right thigh strain that caused me to forgo IM Langkawi this year as I could barely run. It recovered by the first week of March, but by then, I had already not trained for 2-3 weeks.. Felt weak and bad.. then also had bilateral PFPS which doesn't seem to be getting better. Keep having sharp pains on gg down the steps. Ok ok.. after this race, will rest for a bit.. promised someone liao and kenot backtrack..

... so, yep.. with about 3 weeks of proper training, and about 2 mths of MTB-ing from zero (minus CNY and all... prob about a mths MTB experience).. and my semester's finals coming up in March... there's so much to do, and very little time... and a race to complete... so before I go on and blog about the race.. Thank you all who have tolerated my bizarre behaviour and have supported me to go on. Couldn't have done it without you guys!!!
so.... on to the blog :).

Mel brought the bike to the airport, and we packed the bike there. Noticed that some of them didn't even pack their bikes to transport over to KK O_O... yes... big eyes!! Didn't know I could do that. Might try that on the way back :) Checked in and off we were to Kota Kinabalu.

Finally at the hotel

Arrived in KK and was picked by Aman. Met lotsa new friends here and fellow competitors... was nerve-wrecked by then... they all looked so super strong and confident... I have no idea how to survive the next few days... anyways, arrived at Mega D'aru Hotel and checked in. Got the bikes up to the rooms and went out for dinner. Came back and assembled the bike. Rested for the night.

The next morning, after breakfast, took the bike out for a short spin.. good... everything was working fine. At 10am, we loaded the bikes onto the truck and got onto the bus to Tambunan. Had a short stop for lunch before reaching TVRC at about 2pm. There, we got our equipments sorted out and hung around till dinner and the race briefing.

Tambunan!!

The race directors went through all the rules and the maps as well as gave a chance to the GPS guys to gave a short talk as well on their tracker. This year will be the first year the competitors will be tracked and will have live updates online. So each of us got a GPS tracker to hold on too. It did come in handy, when the directors had to track the last teams... including us.. hehe..After the briefing.. makan, then back to the homestay. We stayed at MakCik Maria's place.. and she was a fantastic "mother". The house was clean and we even got our own attached bathroom.... Nice... next time must come here and stay again!! Packed our stuff and went to zzz... Race begins ... 3am...First section: Night Orienteering...

Day 1.

Woke up at 1am. Grabbed our stuff and off we were to the starting line. Turned the GPS tracker on. The race area was buzzing with activity and straight we went for the breakfast. I had a quick one while BK took his time to eat (for all 3 days).

Zombified JasB

After eating, we went to get our water fill and lined at the starting line. Was really nervous now as I've never done an adventure race before... It was dark everywhere, and we only had our headlamps as guides. ok... another minute and go!!!.... Everyone started running!! the race was on!!

We made a run around the lake and up on the suspension bridge. After that, up the road and into the trails, and this is where everything got a bit tricky... rivers, a map and a set of instructions. Using all this, we had to navigate our way through to Checkpoints 1 and 2. As we have almost zero knowledge of orienteering, luckily we met another pair who was trekking as well. We crossed the river multiple times, going up and down the river banks, and looked at the compass to make sure we were headed in the right direction (note to self: MUST brush up on Orienteering... esp in the dark) . Sometimes, we crossed barb wires and fences, and although there was a road next to us... damn... not allowed to use cos there will be a 3 hour penalty.

Reached Checkpoint 2 which was just next to a hanging bridge, and then up to checkpoint 3.... which was about a 1-1.5km hike... UPHILL!!! No one ever said this was gonna be easy.The hike was slow with lots of huffs and puffs before going downhill and reaching checkpoint 3.

We did a wrong turn once we were out on the gravel road, but luckily one of the locals were there, so we back tracked up to the right place. Here, we decided to downgrade to the Adventure category as we don't think we can survive the Extreme Category - not enough MTB skills yet. We collected our bikes and started the MTB-ing part. Here there were 2 options, either we take the trails (straight all the way down) or we take the loose gravel road (one big curve with up and downhills). BK didn't want to take the trails, and I don't have enough confidence yet (was super tempted though - you all can guess la... I'm that kinda person to never give up), so we opted to take the gravel road instead (talked to JasB after the race.. he said it was quite a nice but tough trail.. so next year must take trails all the way!!). That said, the gravel roads were quite dangerous as well as it was super super steep and with loose rocks all the way, and there were many times that I just slid when I tried to slow down. Can't believe that holding on to the brakes can actually be quite tiring and painful. There were a few teams that slid and had accidents here as well, so the medic teams were prepared at the bottom of the steep slopes, just in case.

OK, we finally reached checkpoint 4 where we had to go down and do some upstream river tracking. We had to track upstream and look for a trail near the hanging bridge. This part, I like. The sun was up and hot, the trees were shady and refreshing, the water cool an clear. I just love walking in the cold water, though the rocks were quite slippery.

At Checkpoint with JasB and Harsha

Pink 'Gandalf"

After about an hour, we reached the hanging bridge, took us awhile to find the trail, and finally headed up the trail to find a clearing on a ridge. We were suppose to look for checkpoint 5A at a church, but bloody *toot toot*... where is the church??? You'd think it'll be easy to find a building with a cross... but noooo... apparently, we were at the back of the loooong building and the cross was at the front.. haha.. anyways, found the checkpoint, signed in, and off we were back to checkpoint 4 to pick up our bikes to cycle back to the finish line.

The biking back was easy breezy.. stopped to take some pictures of the mountain goat where BK was complaining again.. hehe.. but anyways, found our way back up the normal tar road, headed down to TVRC and to the finishing line!! YAYY!!!!! some of the competitors who finished and were lunching nearby clapped for us... !!!! DONE!!! DAY 1 SAC-- over!! We finished in about 11 hours, at about 2+pm.

baaa... baaa..

Parked our bikes and I went to return the GPS (got so called late penalty if we don't return within 15 minutes) Talked to the GPS guys and apparently they lost our signal halfway through. Think it was due to the GPS tracker dropping to the bottom of my pack when I was rummaging for food. Have to remember to put it nicely the next few days.

Ok, then went to eat lunch, and chat around before checking in the bikes at the water area for the next day's event. Called up our homestay lady - Makcik Maria (who turned out to be an old girl of SM Seri Kepayang - hehe... SM Seri Intan's predecessor). Went back, showered, cleaned up and rested till it was dinner and time for the next day's briefing at 8 pm. Went back to TVRC... everybody was there.. recollecting their stories of the first day. It felt great to be back there and to talk to everyone about all the pain we suffered :).

With YK and WilsL

With YK and Chad!

The second briefing over, and the next day was gonna be a bike start and a tubing part. BK was nervous about both the bike and the tubes but I was more nervous about pushing the bikes up the slightly less than 1km upslope... diezz... we'll see how it goes... went back, packed and zzzz...

Day 2 -

Day 2 started at 8am and we were there early for breakfast, water and to collect our bikes. All ready and set to go, we lined up at the starting line with EWong and RayM as we were the adventure/leisure category. Counting down the minutes again, and ..... START!!!

With Elaine at the start point!

Everybody was on their bikes and started to mash the pedals... go go go!!! We made a round around the lake again and then pushed the bikes over the suspension bridge.With everybody travessing the bridge, it kept swinging and.. I almost lost balance a few times ... felt a bit like mabuk... heheOK, across the bridge and up the small slope. Then down and across the road, and here was where all the adventure began again. Gravel, laterite ... roads and slopes. Got chased by dogs and had to push the bike up countless slopes again. On the way to the checkpoint, we noted a steep uphill slope, preceeded by a ditch at the bottom.. Note to self.. be careful on the way back as we were taking the same way back.

Reached checkpoint 1 and continues on fer awhile before reaching climbing down to the river to continue pushing/ carrying the bikes downstream for about 1-1.3 km to the next checkpoint. This was not easy (Klaus - never will I ever trust u again... :p) and at the last bit before checkpoint 2, we had to carry our bikes across a river that was almost reaching my chest... phew... hard work la... put the bike on the bank and climbed up to the checkpoint, signed in, refilled and took some pics...

Pushing along the river

Next part.. tubing...2 tubes, one big one small, take it or wait for the next one.. bo pian, I took the small one... toss my bag to BK and started the tubing section. The small one was..

Tubing!!

hmm.. small.. haha... and there were parts that I had to walk instead of tube cos my butt kept hitting the rocks. On some on the rapids, I had to straighten my body like a plank to get through.. ouchh.... can imagine all the bruises on my butt now. Fell off the tube once, went on a rapid twice cos it was fun (and was waiting for BK to float by), and we finished the whole tubing part after about 2 hours. I kept thinking that we were lost, but every once in a while, I'd see some of the competitors backtracking (part of the race route, will explain later) .. so we were on the right track, so why are we taking such a long time.. hmm.. I started to paddle, kayaking style with the stick I was holding on to. Later we realised, when we talked to the others, apparently, we needed to paddle as hard as we can to reach then checkpoint fast.. so, for future reference.... for the next time, BK.. PADDLE!!!! There is no such thing as a free ride in this race... hahaha... oh well.Checkpoint 3!!!! Removed the life jacket, rested a while and off we were.

Now we needed to backtrack up to checkpoint 1 or 4 again to continue on. And the route was upstream… just go along the river. So, armed with the map, food, and the compass.. we hiked up. This hike was quite fun actually, especially the river crossing parts as the river current was strong and quite deep, so we used the river crossing method I learned in WW kayaking the last time. Finished this and reached checkpoint 4.

After tracking back to the water point

Collected our bikes, and here was the part I was scared of the most - pushing the bike up the slopes. Now.. I have weak knees and not so strong upper body strength, my bike weighed about 13-14 kg, it rained... and the slopes were muddy, slippery and tougher than ever. Go figure... I almost died. Had to go on all four at times while pushing and lifting the bike. Luckily BK was there to help me up some parts of the slopes. Heard later that some groups had to tow using their tow ropes the bikes up. Think this year was when the Extreme Category had it a bit easier here, as at this part, it was already the biathlon part (1 run, 1 bike) - so they only had one bike to push up.. compared to the adventure one.. 2 bikes!!!... Took ages here (as evident by the GPS tracker as well).. and finally when we reached the checkpoint the people were worried about us as they could not contact us.

The reason to join the race

That over, we drank our fill and rested awhile before restarting again on our bikes up to the starting point. On the slopes, I think there was one slope we pushed partially down, (remember the steep one with the ditch at the start.. yup..that one. (later we heard that a few groups slid off their bikes at that part.. phew... luckily no one was injured badly). It was getting dark as we cycled back and we took the city road this time to go back.. We were lucky here too as later I heard, the short trail back was closed as the villagers had locked the gate to the trail. Thank our lucky stars again...OK.... cycle cycle cycle... and after a while... we're at the finishing line!!! hurrah!!! this day is finally over!! I am sooo GLAD!!! haha... This was one of the toughest days ever... and it's done!! Parked, went to eat, returned the GPS and cleaned our bikes.. it's over... all smiles!!! We finished about 730pm.. another 11 hrs +..

Makan after the gruelling 11hrs 2nd day

The race briefing was at 830pm. Two more teams were still out there... so we were not the last. We stepped into the race hall.. and everyone was seated.. Aman went.. here they are.. and.... clap clap clap clap ... everyone gave us a clapping ovation... hahaha... so there we were.. all dirrrty, muddy in our race bibs... (while everyone else was clean and in their normal clothes) and everyone was clapping for us. It was a strange moment... for one.. I felt a bit embarassed as we were really slow compared to all those who were already sitting there... but also happy and satisfied as we finished the long and hard second day... :) Well, for what it's worth, it was still an amazing moment to walk in and have everybody clap for you. (it was suppose to be for the last team of the day.. but they weren't back yet.. so.. hm... will clap for them the next time I see them).

The next day's briefing went on as I rested at the back. The third day was suppose to be lighter, more navigational and apparently, as long as we finish the trail run, we can sit back and forgo the treasure (plastic bottles ) hunting part and just incur time penalties.. so.. yar.. I'm a slacker, so sue me... finished and off we were to zzz.

Day 3

We started at 8am again with a trail run. I trekked and walked mainly as my knees were already so close to giving way due to the sharp pains. Running downhill would probably just kill it off. The trek was really amazing though. F had a fall, and hit his head.. but he's ok :) with a neck strain. EWong had diarrhea along the way, so her partner had to play "traffic police" for a while. Strange things were happening arn....Finished the first part with another Singaporean team, and headed back to the checkpoint area to get the treasure hunting maps and bikes.

Just hanging

Konking heads

With the Sandakan Heralds

Short stop and so... the hunt begins....The first few "treasures" were easy to find... but... we got lost and only managed to find another 2 after that. At first, wanted to cheat with another team (I am so Amazing Race material)... but damn.. just remembered that they had a GPS tracker on us.. ok ok.. so no cheating. This part took us around the town of Tambunan which is a delightful small town.

Aman checking up on competitors

The locals were very supportive and some gave us clues along the way ;) hehehe.... In the end, we couldn't find all the treasures but decided to head back as the time limit was up. Reached the end and it was finally OVER!! Felt supremely happy that I actually managed to finished a multi-day adventure race.. but even better that I made good new friends along the way. It was just amazing to cycle under the arch at the finishing line.

With a sigh of relief... we ate, bathe at YK's place, rested, and after the prize giving ceremony, and headed back to KK after that.

Wilson & Grace - best mixed team in extreme

Me with the Extend GPS guys!

I felt sad that I had to leave this place already... it was just too soon... :( .Everything about this race was really fantastic - the organisers, homestay, the trip up and down, the race itself, the camaraderie... except the bike packing part and the stupid pedal that refused to budge. ahh well... there's always next year to look forward too.. :) so... where do I sign up?

Eating at KK - Post Race

Trudge on... !!!

Finally....

2010-03-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

After years of waiting...
After a friend giving me a 32" HD LCD TV...
After plunking down a wad of cash for a PS3....

The game has arrived...

Nuff said....

Trudge on

More mountain biking action!!

2010-02-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

Mountain biking is something new that I picked up for the SAC's sake.. but am starting to fall in love with it. It's a healthy but at times painful sport... punctuated with falls, bruises, lacerations, abrasions, cuts.. and sometimes fractures, but is filled with joy, camaraderie, confidence, and the adrenaline rush that makes it a very interesting extreme sport. Ever since I got my bike, haven't used it much in the trails.. well .. I have almost zero trail knowledge after all. So.. time to learn sth for real, and signed up with the YMCA Beginner's MTB course.

Woke up late (it's a Saturday) and cabbed to Changy Jetty. Met up at 8.30 am... and met GN from the previous NUS - MIR ( NUS Student Mountaineering Team; she's my senior). Surprise surprise.. another prev MIR member was also coming.. S.. whoa.. keep the adventure spirit coming guys!!

Our instructor of the day was CDS and he is one super uber fun guy with amazing skills and confidence. So.. once everyone has gathered.. off we went. The Bumboat was SGD2.50 one way, and for the bikes, an extra SGD2.

CDS,,, Dun let his appearance and age fool you

Once we arrived, those without a bike went to rent the bikes. We started with simple technical instructions.. and off we went once everyone was comfy with their bikes. CDS took us at a very comfortable pace.. those who were on to try more intermediate techniques were allowed to while those who wanted to opt out were given a chance to. Nevertheless he was very encouraging.. and well.. practice makes perfect :)

This is how we rest it on the ground :)

We practices a couple of Downhill slopes to get rid of that downhill fear. And it worked.. I'm more confident in going downhill without stopping to push my bike.. tt's said.. I still need more practice :)

We had multiple stops.. and one of the better ones were the stop at the lake for some food and drinks... nice...

Short Break to enjoy the view

View of the lake and branches sticking out

We ended with a short stint at the Pulau Ketam trail... where.... a lot of things happened.... one person flipped and we were joined by another enthusiasts.... something that was long and greena and slithery...

Rock Garden in The Pulau Ketam trail.. I shall conquer it!

The Green Snake the dropped from the trees.. only to be ran over by S

OK.. this time.. I did not fall.. but injury count.. two person crashed.. one person flipped over.. which reminds me.. I need to go get a MediKit ready later...

Group shot after the trails!!

We all finished with smiles on our faces and the determination to go on more trails :) I'm onzz for more MTB-ing already!!! It's really the first step that is scary, but after conquering it.. hmm.. it gets easier. So let's go!!!

Trudge on...

Siem Reap, and the Wats.. Part 2

2010-02-17T03:35:00.000-08:00

From Part 1....

OK.. now hungry.. lunch time!! We went to a restaurant in Angkor itself, a tad bit more expensive but better than going out of Angkor just to save a few bucks. Food was good... but later on we realised that the food was toned down, and not as spicy as we wanted it to be cos the chef usually makes it less spicier for tourists.. ok.. so next time, gotta ask them to spice it up more.

After lunch, we went to Preah Khan, where we did our pre-tomb raider shots (stunt shots with climbing and jumping and.. hmm.. acting silly most of the time). Here, there were some amazing trees and the sky was just perfect to grab some nice shots to accompany the action shots.. hehe..

BK and titties

A major discovery... I think

Ready to fight!!!

Yeah,,, heavy alright...

A short stop at Bayon after Preah Khan for more photo shots.. and....

Finally, to end the day, our first sunset view, and we went to Bakheng Hill, prob the most crowded area to grab sunsets in the whole of Angkor. Yup, it was a hill, so to get up there, either take the elephant or climb the hill.. we did the latter. There were many people at the top.. and sunset was indeed beautiful. The one thing that amazes me about the ruins was that when the sun shines on the buildings, it looked like it was glowing and basking in the glory of the sun.. I think that's what attracted people here, in that this really looked like a the city of gold.. something like the South American counterpart (if it does exists.. ). It's really amazing to see the ruins change colour.

Ok.. let me stress here.. I DON’T EAT EXOTIC FOOD. I can do everything in the world, but ask me to eat even frogs, and my stomach WILL churn. In Siem Reap, the locals have a delicacy which was similar to the Philippine’s half formed duck embryo egg… this one is chicken. We saw it all along the way to Angkor and well, BK and WX were really onz to try it. Short to say, they described that it tasted like egg.. with some extra parts in it.. hmm… and I’m happy to just know tt.. .

OK.. all done… back to the hotel for a short rest and dinner.

That night, we decided to eat something nice.. but it all went down the drain. First, we couldn't find the restaurant we initially wanted to go. Then, when we went to some posh looking place, the food took tooooo long to arrive that the guys got irritated, and we decided to leave. Then was off to KFC for some quickfood, but the guys took too long to order that by the time they got the order in, the last remaining chicken pieces were snapped up by some other tourists.

They finally had their meal at a restaurant at Pub Street that was affliated to our hotel. hmm.. oh well.. WX and me went shopping since we ate our fill at KFC already.. and I bought some nice and cheap clothes :) happy...

OK, the next morning was the sunrise morning. Angkor Wat has this sunrise shot that is somewhat, the shot that every guest here must take. And, as every tourist there ever was in this place, we had to get that shot too. We set out at 4.30am, had a chop chop brekkie and off we went in our groggy state. We arrived at Angkor Wat and there were already many waiting there. Found a good spot, got us some chairs and ordered some drinks. Here, we just waited and waited and waited and kept fiddling with the camera tiil we had like 100+ shots before the sun even rose. The only thing that irritated us here was some ABC that was so persistant on taking the so called best shot ever with his SLR's that he had no more normal human decency and was just plain rude to everyone else. Wished I had the Kalashnikov here to gun him down.. hehe.. OK back to sunrise.

The sunrise was so-so to me.. it was beautiful as every other sunrises are.. and it was nice to see the horizons changed color, but I still prefer my walks along Fort Canning on the way to work.. while enjoying the clean fresh air better :)..

After the sunrise, we toured the Wat and the place is amazing.. it's really big, and there were so much to see.. We had a fun time spotting the sculptures on the walls and identifying them to the characters we read in the book. Over and over again.. we saw the Naga, and the churning of milk and the Hindu deities, and the in some corners, Buddha. It was interesting to see how the Buddhist influence usurped into this predominantly Hindu area during the early years of Angkor. Need to brush on history already. After that, we went up the main temple area.. and yes.. must have no bared shoulders. Had to borrow a shawl to go up. Well.. spent the whole morning in the Wat and took a lot of photos again.

Studying in the ole library

One of the many corridors

Before heading to lunch, where we finally got the spiciness right, we stopped at a small ruin area called thomannon for more pics. Can’t remem much about this place tho.. but CW said we stopped there for a while.. and I think he has a better memory than me.

And after lunch, finally, the real Tomb Raider temple... Ta Phrom. This place has it's fair share of eerieness as it was the only ruin to be left on its own, and it has trees growing on it... really huge trees growing on it with it's roots holding the whole structure up. We really went crazy here..

Other tourists were laughing...

One of the most diffcult shots to take...

The best part is, we had a nice old caretaker to take us tombraidering around the place.. and past the 'No entry' signs :) :) We saw things that otherwise we would've missed like the hidden Buddha, and the still retained intricately crafted aspara.

We took some key shots here as well.. like the one where the tree roots were covering the doorways.. neat!!! I love this place!!

One of the Lonely Planet pic replica

And finally, our last sunset of the visit at Prae Rup.

We hiked all the way up the temple, and got a good spot to chill.

Nope.. not this spot...

Not this spot neither

While waiting for the sunset, we got beers.. and BK and I finished a can each. The rest weren't too keen, as we still needed to climb down later. hehe.. well.. safe to say, I got down alive still. Sunset was amazing...

Back to the hotel, tipped the driver and finally… massage time.. I was so waiting for this..

At night, some new Hungarian friends of RW joined us for dinner, and then clubbing at Angkor What?. We were lucky to get a table there as the whole place was already full. We downed two towers, and started to lighten up more. Everyone went wild here, and had a great time on the dance floor, esp BK.. who once started can-not stop :).. hehe.. A smashing time to a smashing trip..

Angkor What??

I just love this shot!!!

Went back to the hotel when I was gaga already.. haha.. (not enuff sleep can cause easy drunkenness.. and well.. the night before, only had 1-2 hrs of sleep) and zzz immediately in the guys room... haha.. while watching ?? Tropic Thunder.. hehe..I was out already by then.
Woke up fresh in the morning .. prob cos I got more sleep this time.. oh no.. time to go back already.. headed to the girls room.. cleaned up a bit, packed and time to go to the airport. Short, fast, sweet... trip...

The journey back was uneventful, and we had a short transit at Pnom Penh airport.. so sad, a fun holiday was coming to an end. Well... went home... tired... laundry.. work.. and zzz

This trip really reminded me of the time when I wanted to do archeology.. and to explore long lost ruins with wondrous tales of mystery and adventure.. the Lala Crotch style. hmm.. to relive such fantasy was a great experience and can be quite addictive. Here's to a more adventure in the future.. and great company to go along with it!!

Trudge on....

PS : most of the pics here are courtesy of the amazing CW and his GF, the beautiful WX, and the ever courageous RW (who did a lot of rock climbing poses). BK, other than posing, also become the sub photog who took beautiful shots as well.. and well.. this trip was really FUN!!! Thank you all!!

Catching the artificial waves...

2010-02-07T02:55:00.000-08:00

Never been surfing, so what the heck?.. Just go and crash... that was running through my mind as I was prepping for the Sat's adventure in Sentosa. The Wavehouse one of Sentosa's latest attraction, brought in the Flowrider and Flowbarrel, which were huge shallow soft water pools designed to create artificial waves for the surfing enthusiast without a surfing outlet. Flowrider was easier and flat, while the Barrel was.. hmm.. a barrel.. the waves are barrels, hence you can actually go in and out of the wave. Beginners start with the flowrider and move to the Barrel when they are better... usually... Went this time with Ivy's SIF fellows that I met in Bali, CCh, RF and made some new friends as well, NatQ and DC, and came back with a possible new hobby, and memories that will last a lifetime.

Met up with Cynthia before heading to Sentosa from VivoCity... I was amazed that I can use the EZlink card now to get on the Sentosa Express to the island. Took to Siloso Beach, alighted and headed to the Wavehouse. We were early, so we sat on the beach for a while, taking in the quietness of the lagoon.We registered for the first session when the place opened, and in no time at all... all the slots were filled. Hahaha.. being the gungho fella we are.. we signed up for both Flowrider and Flowbarrel from the start. OK.. all hearts set to go on and fall as much as we can.

The first session was at 11am.. and off we were. The instructor gave some safety instructions and explained how things will go. Each rider will take their turns to ride the wave once, and when they fall, they have to queue again. Each side had about 6-7 riders.. and yes.. the queue was long. So.. started out with the body board.. and after 2 tries.. felt quite OK on it. CCh started with the flowboard first and ... hehe.. it looked fun.. so.. the next turn, I decided to go on the board too and my heart was beating fast when the instructor pushed me onto the water.. and.. hmm... kabishh.... I was washed up in an instance and went back into the queue. But it was BLOODY FUN!! OK.. went again and again and again.. and was getting the hang of it. Meanwhile, RF and NatQ arrived and went to register for the next session.

Time was up for me and CCh and we decided to switch our next Barrel to the Rider as we weren't confident of our skills yet. Unfortunately, the 12pm slots were full.. ok, we'll take the 1pm one.. at the same time DC arrived and registered for the 1pm one too! yay!!

RF and NatQ went on, but didn't have many turns as there were many riders now. Hmm.. note to self, come later in the day on weekends. Went again on the 1pm session, and did better this time. Can stand, and move left-right, but still can't correct and balance to perfection yet.. mebbe more practice.

Me standing on the board

After the second session, it was time to call it a day.. am tired after all, but still high with excitement. RF and NatQ went off first, and then the remaining 3 of us after a round of Ben and Jerry's.. yummy... went back to the mainland andmet up with ST after that in Vivo.. and was dead tired.. hehe

The Rider Team

All of us agreed that it was a great ride and was raring to go again.. it really is addictive and fun. CCh said it was harder than real waves, but at least no need to paddle. Now I am so on to try a real wave too soon.. but till then, this artificial one will do..

Hmm.. there's a 2 for 1 on Wednesday nights.. and hmm anybody on?
;)

Trudge on..

Siem Reap, and the Wats.. Part 1

2010-02-01T04:11:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to visit Siem Reap as it was a place of archeological discoveries, a la Tomb Raider Lara Croft Style.. and well.. a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many friends have gone and rave about this place, and now that I got good company to go with, well.. hehe.. why not!!

So on the 29th January (Sat), I packed my bags and headed to the airport. Met up with BK, CW, AO, ET, WX and her BF there (only BK, CW, WS and I were going.. but we had a great sending off group with us). Checked in and decided to eat lunch at BK.. Burger King, as after all, it was BK's namesake food.. ok la, tasted the same as usual. It's a fastfood chain anyway.. :)

Chatted until it was time to go in and off we went. Got some CR2 batteries for my D70... (forgo the pana waterproof cam this time as I'm suppose to be a jap-ish tourist this trip) and BK bought a Choya for our goodnite sleep drink. OK.. boarding time.. went to the boarding area and off we went to Siem Reap.

The flight was short and had some inflight meal.. whoa.. super full already.. standard airfare food. At about 2 hrs + later.. finally arrived at Siem Reap airport and alighted the plane..

Firist impression : HOT and HUMID!! the air was heavy and was sweating in no time. Passed the immigration without a hitch and and collected our bags. We are here!! YES YES YES!! Bought Kahlua as our morning drink as it was quite cheap, and soon met our cab driver outside.

We then went to the Hotel : Golden Temple Villa, which was a moderately cheap and clean hotel, in the middle of the small town itself, within walking distance to the eateries and convinience stores.
The roads in Siem Reap reminded me of Bangkok.. with it's Tuk Tuks flashing by and horns blaring all the time, but not as 'sophisticated' as Bangkok that has the rail line and mega shopping malls everywhere. The area was perpetually dusty, and ppl could be seen driving, riding bikes, bicycles and walking everywhere. The Tuk Tuks were different from Bangkok’s, being only a small little carriage pulled by a motorbike (think horse carriage with a motorbike). And well, as nicely put by the guys, the drivers horn so much that you'd think they can't survive on the road without one.

Well.. checked in, and shared a room with WX.. we got a room with a balcony.. well.. sorta balcony. The only thing separating 'our balcony' from the shared balcony next to ours was a flipdoor that says 'For room 72 only'.. err.. not the best way to keep the 'private' balcony discreet. But anyways, the room was clean and neat with cable TV and a DVD player.

So, checked in, rest a bit and off we were to hunt for food. We wanted to catch a traditional Cambodian dance at the same time, the Aspara dance at the same time, so with recommendations from the lobby ppl, we headed down to Pub Street for Temple Club. The food was... OK... not something to shout out aloud about, the dance was nice, (I somehow like Indochine cultural dances.. like trad Thai dances and all) but the dancers looked bored. At the end of it, took some pics of the dancers.. and headed back to the hotel for rest .... and Choya... and.... Zombieland. We made reservations at the counter to get a driver for the next 2 days to ferry us around, and since there were 5 of us, we hired a van. There were other options too.. like Tuk Tuk, cabs, cars, motorbikes .. and for those feeling more adventurous.. bicycles. yup.. even bumped into a cyclist who was cycling all around South East Asia.. super super cool.

The next day, we all started about ??.. early.. but not for the sunrise. We haven't gotten the ticket to get into Angkor itself, and well.. the sun will always rise tomorrow. Got ourselves a hefty breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel.. and the food was yummy. I opted for the more "angmoh" food as I wanted the fruit platter, and the baguette was just oh.. so good when it's fresh.

Met up with the driver.. same guy from yesterday.. and handed him the plan for today. He said alrite.. and off we went!!
First stop, the ticket counter. Here, we got ourselves 3-days passes that ensures unlimited entries to all the ruins in Angkor.. but we had to keep showing them to the guards who checked them. I don't really want to elaborate much on the archeological structure of each temple, but rather the things that striked me most and the things we did there. Most of the information can be wiki-ed :)... Anyways, after that, our first stop was at Banteay Srei, on the northeastern side of Angkor. Being the first temple of the whole visit.. this place was huge and we took time explaring it.. and snapping photos.. Here, we were introduced to the real Aspara sculptures, and they were beautiful, but not very detailed due to erosion. Nice place though.. and is really worth a visit.

Next, our guide brought us to a hush hush site where we were offered a chance to shoot from real guns.. and of course we said YES! It was an ?army training ground, that the locals turned into a business for the tourist. One glance at the wall.. and whoa.. a lot of guns/rifles/uzis.. we weren't very sure of what to try out, so we asked for the one with the least recoil, and we got hte AK-47 aka The Kalashnikov. The guys and I shot about 7-8 rounds each.. and it was fun! The target was the piece of paper far far away, about ?100m away.. but I doubt I got any points. I went first, and was scared of the recoil.. ok.. finger in the trigger, take aim.. and .... pull!!! The shot went off and .. wham.. smoke in the air.. shell on the ground.. and wow.. little recoil.. it was fun!!. Each of us took turns to fire and well.. it was an experience though I don't think I'll ever shoot a gun in real life.

The target... from far far

The baddie to shoot

(courtesy of RW)

to be continued....

Busy busy as a bee...

2010-01-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

This past week has been a total killer... I've never felt up to my neck in work and training before.. and this week was so dead... but somehow.. I felt happy and glad to do it all.

I'm not perfect, and my time management skills are quite bad (so is my orienteering skills.. haha) but I think i'm getting better at it. One thing I realised is that, no matter how busy I am, I always need time to keep my mind of work and studies and chillax. I don't have any family members and my housemate isn't in all the time, so chillaxing time is not automated to me. So, even relaxing time is a slotted time in my timetable. It's usually before and after training, so I get to relax my mind before refocusing on my runs/bikes.

Another thing I do alot is studying while I'm on my bike trainer. Hey, there's no better time to force myself to read then when I'm riding stationary.. but this gets kinda boring after a while.. and then I switch the TV on.. oh well.. at least I usually manage to read 1-2 chapters of Project Mangement in my textbook while on the bike.

Hmm.. another thing I compromised alot this week was SLEEP. Just to cover all the work, I've only had about 4hours of sleep a day.. and it's tiring. I know, I know.. I need more rest.. and it's really evident when I try to run, but don't feel as relaxed and strong as I should be. But then, with so many things going on... it's hard to force myself to rest. Maybe the trip to Siem Reap in another weeks' time will give me a chance to unwind.

The one thing I missed this whole week and always try to keep up with was talking and chatting to all my friends, whether on the phone or online. I hope those who tried to message me will forgive me when I don't reply cos I'm usually zzz-ing by then on my Mac. It's just been that kind of week for me :) but somehow, I think, this week gives me more perspective of what I want to do and how to do it, then any other weeks so far. :)

So to all, and especially Ivy, .. work is not always easy, but it's all worth it if you learn and do something you like in the end... :)

Trudge on..

My first time MTB-ing on real trails...

2010-01-16T01:29:00.000-08:00

and I crashed...

Collected my new baby.. so pretty.. and headed to the MTB trails at Bkt Timah. As usual la.. no skills, but still gung-ho.. so went downhill la on the bike... on one of the slopes.. front wheel got caught in a hole.. and err...the usu...

Still, the adrenaline pumping is going strong, and can't wait to MTB on the trails again.. so fun!!! somehow.. loving it more than normal road riding.. hehe..

Took it back to the shop (cos we had our post MTB-ing drinks in the coffee shop next to it) for a chk-up and the mechanic was impressed I "ran-in" the brakes on the first day.. hmm..

The damage..

The mechanic chking the bike

Post biking mamak

Till the next adventure...

Trudge on... and stay safe...

Baby number 2!!!

2010-01-14T04:54:00.001-08:00

My new baby... coming on Sat.. or rather, picking him up on Saturday!!

!!!

sighsss... can't wait!!! time to hit the trails!!

trudge on

Skirts + Shorts = Skorts

2010-01-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

I have been dying to run in skorts. It's not that famous in Singapore yet among runners (well, in the world too la) , but the idea of running in skorts have alw been sth I wanna do.. well.. cos i think female tennis players are hot!!.. anyways, NB sale - SGD 20.. and its using dri-fit material.. nice.. so, i got a blue one.. :)

Is it a skirt..... or

shorts?... hmmm

Well.. took it out for a trial run.. and I love it.. good to feel the air around the legs.. like when wearing a real skirt... only prob is that the shorts material tends to ride up when dry.. other than that.. sweeet..!!

Will definitely run again in it.. soon.. hmm.. mebbe tomolo?

Trudge on!!

First post of the New Year!!

2010-01-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

The first post of the year... hurrah!! haha.. but it'll be about last year's Xmas and New Year's celebration.. This year's top it all ..and for so many reasons... :) .. so in no particular order...

1. Had a blast in Australia early in December with Teryn and the rest of the triathletes. Everyday was filled with joy and laughter, and I felt really well taken care of by the Chinawoman and the Bangla.. hehe.. and the rest of the party.. well... let's just say that things can't get any better.

2. Went to 2 Xmas parties.
First: ST's church soiree at 211 restaurant.. good food and nice company
Second: ST's home soiree.. where taking photographs became funny, the food was good, the ppl were mad and well.. the cake was flying everywhere, and smashing/ being smashed into everything.
(been dying to get the Panasonic Lumix GF1 - TimmyL.. u are sooo poisonous)

3. Xmas Prezzies:
Very very nice prezzies!! from everyone .. tq tq

4. Xmas Prezzies to my self.. hehe...
MacBook Pro 13.3" since my older one spoilt aledy.. And I needed a laptop ASAP

5. Visit Home... haven't seen family since October. I miss my family a lot at times.. especially on special occasions.. so was good to just lay back and chill at home (Ipoh)

6. Pooi pooi and Bunny's ROM.. and Ivy found a BF too!!! woof woof!!

7. Outings - on Xmas eve to makan and Clarke Quay with BK, Ryan and CW!!
Where's the photos?? (been dying to get the Panasonic Lumix GF1 - CW.. u are sooo poisonous)

8. MOVIES - AVATAR 3D, and Sherlock.. must watch !! Robert Downey Jr is to die for...

9. Was sick.. flu + flu + conjuntivities... this is sooo memorable .. was knocked out from training for 2-3 weeks...

10. Made lovely lovely new friends all mths long.. even when I least expected it.. hehe.. from tourists to church friends, to new colleagues and reuniting with old acquaintances..

so... in conclusion... all in the month of December, and a bit of January...

Life has been great!!! Trudge on..!!

MERRY XMAS 2009!!!

2009-12-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

I love Xmas,

I don't know why,

Sad carols makes me cry,

Happy smiles fills me with joy,

And the spirit of giving and receiving,

brightens me up,

Maybe that's the reason why,

That no matter what a person may be,

or who, he or she is,

We all share the same little person inside,

And we all wish everyone we see....

A BIG MERRY XMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR AHEAD!!!!

:):):)

The end....

Things I did this year..

2009-12-12T00:44:00.000-08:00

Before the old year ends, and the new one begins anew.. here's the finalised list for 2009.. haha

1. Finished 2 Ironmans (DNF-ed one though) .. My first ever was in IM Langkawi, and the second was IM Western Australia...

2. Skydived - tandem and solo (with multiple injuries during the solos)

http://lalaneedsalife.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-skydiving-vid.html
Wanna go back again in 2010 if I can find the time and resources.

3. Visited 2 new continents (North America and Down Under Australia)

DisneyLand in Florida, USA

Bell Tower in Perth

4. Did my first Duathlon - RAW duathlon.. yes, I did a tri before a duo.. so it's a new experience to me

5. White water Raft-ed in Singor (grade 5 river) and Whitewater Kayak-ed in Tanjong Malim

6. Did 2 trail runs - TNF 100 duo and GTB back to back

After finishing TNF100... tiredzz

At the end of Genting Trailblazer

7. Went up to Genting THRICE... but only gambled once

First time was for the wind tunnel with unker for about 45 minutes, altogether, then went back. Had nice Nasi Lemak though..

Second time was with the gurls in KL... the only time I gambled.. So far in my life, only gambled twice in Genting Highlands

Posing in front of the Ferrari...

And the third time was during the trailblazer iwth BK... cold...

8. Gg back to school and paying for it myself... Currently doing a Grad Cert in Medical Informatics.. plan to extend to Masters later on

9. Started doing crazy things before, during and after races - the "crawl" and the "teh tarik" finishing at KL marathon

BK doing the Gollum... on a hill

BK doing the VISA dance at km ... 35 la... abuden..

10. Gg to Kuching a few times to visit couz and wifey.. and eating all the food there.. haha.. really a food capital of Malaysia

I had an amazing year and well.. an amazing time. There were many accomplishments, as there were failures. This was a year I really tested my limits on many occasions, and have learnt a lot from. The best accomplishment was making lotsa new and amazing friends, and some even more than just friends. Life is just amazing, ain't it? There are times of laughter and joy, sadness and anger, nervousness and uncertainties, and yet, when I look back, I dun regret going through it all. The greatest adventure is life and being alive, and the greatest of them all has yet to come.

A Merry Xmas and a Great and Amazing New Year to all out there, to those I know, and to those I have yet to know better :). May God blessed you all with the amazing ups and downs of life, as He has blessed me with his grace.

Trudge on, dun give up in watever u do as getting up again is actually 2/3's of the fun :)..

I Love my live, don't u? I'd like to hear more from whomever out there what they plan to do next year :).. and pray that you all accomplish it.. hehe..

PS. will upload the OZ entries later when I got time.

Time flies fast when you're not looking...

2009-11-26T06:19:00.000-08:00

Man.. it's been one heck of a month.. all the drama, the change in environment, the finals for my modules, and finally, the IMWA. I am severely undertrained, mentally drained, emotionally unstable... and yet.. I still find time and peace to watch "Project Runway".. haha.. I think I just need the mental shutdown for awhile...

So.. tt's all fer now.. I just need to mentally block myself from thinking and reading.. and just rest abit... might run later.. see how.. I just feel tired.. :) but that has never stopped me before...

Trudge on.. all... no matter what life throws at you, or what you throw into your lives...

PS. I feel like eating cake now. .hmm.. weird cravings...

Races I plan to do in 2010....

2009-11-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

Been planning the races I wanna do next year (2010). I kinda like trail running after TNF100 and Genting Trailblazers, and hope to do more next year. I also wanna do more adventure-ish kinda races to get back into the technical and wild bit of racing other than the road races and triathlons

Feb - Ironman Langkawi - Paid already.. so no backing out now

Apr - Sabah Adventure Challenge - wild.. wild.. wild
From their website:

"....teams of two mountain biking, orienteering, paddling, tubing and trekking from check point to check point along the highlands of Sabah with rolling hills, glorious views of Mount Kinabalu, and exploring through the native villages and rivers of North Borneo....."
".....bunked in at local villages.......challenged with the difficult terrain and challenging river crossings"
"...oldest multi-day adventure race."

http://www.sabahadventurechallenge.com/

I'm just hoping to settle logistic issues for now.. ie the MTB's.. cos I dun have one, and haven't even trained on one before.. But then again, it's not the first time I'm doing stuff like this... (for eg, I only learned how to use an aerobar for the first time in IML 2009 itself, after lap 1)

June - KL marathon - veteran there.. nuff said...
Doing this race has sort of schedule that me and BK follow.... Sat afternoon - arrive KL. Chk in hotel room. Go out kai kai until 11+pm, come back and hang around. Sleep at 1+ am. Get up at 4+ am and go and race...
After race... zzzzz until 12.30pm when need to chk out.. then hang somewhere until evening to take coach. Total knock out until arrive Singapore... :)
http://www.kl-marathon.com/news/default.asp?aid=65&sec=6&ssec=16

Aug - Desaru LTU -Aids station manager.. really.. this time I wanna look see look see onny
Desaru LTU is a race that heavily relies on the aids station put up by volunteers.. so may be a good time to be on the other side instead.

Oct - Perhentian Island Challenge and Kinabalu Climbathon; Maybe TNF again.. just mebbe

Nov - Genting Trailblazer, Phuket Laguna Triathlon.. swim in the fresh/saltwater, run on the raod/trails... hmm.. not too sure bout the biking .. trails.. hehe

Dec - REST and POM POM ppl!!!

Tt's all for now.. and the year... I hope... but then again...

Nevermind...

Trudge on..

A day in the "new" life of Lala...

2009-11-14T02:28:00.000-08:00

0400: Wake up for no reason.. (really, I don't know why).. do a bit of reading
0500: Sleep for another 2 hrs
0700 Wake up for real now. Get ready for work
0730: Head to work
0830: Work

WORK
WORK
WORK

1730: Finish work for the day. Run Home
1830: Arrive home. Train either swim, bike or run
2130: Finish training. Shower
2200: Study, read, chat online
0000: Sleep
0400: Wake up for no apparent reason... again

hahaha... my life for the past 2 weeks... roughly...

Trudge on..

My 3rd near death accident in about one year's timespan

2009-11-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

As above.. I almost got knocked down.. today.. while running...

My FB status... I can't type much for now...
"Some truck carrying Bangladeshi workers was speeding at about 30km/h. lucky only kena the right side of my hand, cheek and thigh.. then spun around and fell."

"now got big bruise over my right hand.. feels like no fracture.. and my glasses lens got chipped.. sobs.."

"managed to complete 18km run though :)"

Might go get an xray tml.. will see how.. and resume training tml morning if I can wake up in time.. still in aftershock mode, cos no time during the knock to have myself to get scared..

This is really not a good year for me.. 4th major accident, 3rd near death one.. think I got my life flashing thing memorised already..

ugh.. gonna have a hard time sleeping tonight..

trudge on!!

My past... and the future..

2009-11-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

Hmm.. a lot of people have asked me numerous times.. why am I still single? And I used to get the perpetual nagging from my mum about finding "The One" everytime I called home.. till i threatened never to call or go home again if that is the only thing she will ever talked to me about, and it worked.. hehe.. but anyways....

My close friends who knows my past will know my whole story and how far I've come. It was a mistake from the start, somehow, I knew it, but yet... I played along, ignoring every single sign warning me. I also ignored my intuition, that I trusted all the while and that I "believed" that everthing was going to be fine.

I put everything I was into it, and lost myself. It took me a week to stop crying when I wake up, when I was alone in the my clinic room, at night before I sleep, two weeks before I was able to sleep without drinking myself till I was pissed, a month to start smiling again and a year to rediscover who I was.. but only a few months ago to say that it was finally over.

Yes.. it took me that long, but it was because I am who I am.. and that I am passionate in whatever I do, and I believe that to do anything in life, I must give all I have. And that is who I'll always be... I am serious when I am with others cos I dun like to hurt their feelings... I am like my mum, strong for others on the outside, but soft in the inside. Hurting others hurts me more...

For now, work and studies and training supercedes everything else.. and those are now my priorities, right below family and close friends. Which is the main reason actually that I wanna take a break from racing next year.. so I can focus on other things in life... :) .. I'm sure my mum will be happy to hear tt.. till I tell her that I wanna spend more time on diving (scuba and sky) next year too.... hehe

Hmm.. many wonders await me next year.. I can just feel it in my bones... and I am all looking forward to it :)

Trudge on...

Trailblazing... second time round..

2009-11-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, BK and I went again for this year's Genting Trailblazer, and it was yeah... FUNZ!! For those who don't know, GTB is a 14 km trail run around Awana Genting, and it is one of the tougher trail runs I've ever been to as the tracks are not as straightforward as it seems. This year, we were in the competition category, hoping to win some moolah.. hehe.. and so, with tt in mind.. off we went.

We had a lot of change in plans, so we air-asia-ed to KL LCCT, bus to KL Sentral, Cab to Awana. Chked in and registered.....
And off we were to our room.

After a short break, it was off to Rajawali for makan. The food was only so so this time, and the dessert platter not as nice as last year's. Lotsa ppl were there to eat their fill.. and I'm sure the restaurant was fully prepared for us.. hehe

BK happy and finally full

After that, up to Genting for a stroll. Walked around First World and tried to shop for shoes.. As usual, failed miserably... conclusion: I am so not a women's shoe/sandals shopper.. hehe

BK enjoying a Candy floss

Me and my gorilla

The next morning, it was super misty... had a Power Bar and prepped for the race. Walked to the starting point.. and there were sooo many ppl. Found Ah Tey taking photos of everyone.. hehe.. good ole Tey...

Lotsa ppl at the starting point

The before pic

The race started with about a 3km run through the roads along the golf course. Mind you, not a flat road, but one long one filled with slopes, and with the surrounding mist, it was hard to gauge when the next upslope was (plus, it kinda felt like some Silent Hill scenery too). After about 20mins or so.. we hit the trails.. and whoa.. it was damn muddy and slippery. My shoe had no traction most of the time, and I fell a few times even on the flat trail ground (ok, ego bruised here) leaving with me 2 deep cuts on my right palm.The first part was similar to the previous TB route and was up and down and up and down over and over again. Some parts required us to slide, some parts had ropes to pull ourselves up.

After about the 3 river crossings (where I consistently cleaned my hands) we reached the hardest part of the race... the almost never ending UP UP UP hill. This itself took about 20 to 30 mins to complete and I had to stop and take a breather about 3-4x before completing the hill climb...

Small river crossing

ok.. starting to see steps.. gg to reach liao... about 10 more mins..
and yes!!! I am on the road... yay!!! the last water point and toilet break before head on to the finish point.

The last part last year was a road run to the obstacle course.. and it was mainly downhill.. and I thought it was the same this year.. I WAS DEAD WRONG.!!!... we turned off into another sandy trail area and it was upslope... AGAIN... before heading down to the obstacle area.
Now, HERE is where the fun begins. There were a few water pits and a tall mound on the site. We had to go through the water pits.. and I didn't know of it was deep or shallow. There were a few photogs on the mound to the side.. and well.. we asked.. they said just go ahead... I took one step.. and.. whoopps.... I went into the water. I stood up and the water was at my shoulder level.. haha.. oh well.. ok.. cursed at the photog for abit.. hahha.. next were walls limbs, more water pits, bamboo bridge walk, well.. let the pics tell the story.

Wading under the bamboo poles

Big wall to climb, then jump into the muddy water

Bamboo pole bridge

Climb up and jump in to the water

Anyway, we ended the race at 1:55 hrs and it was fun!! We were mixed number 7.. damn ... missed the podium by 2 positions again.. oh well..

Some new frens at the event : Tweet & Ribbit

Ah Tey at his job!!

Back to the room, showered, ate food, took more pics, before heading back to the room to clean up and pack. Had a nice HOT bath .. mm.. I love hot baths.. and chked out. BK bought some Brooks shoes and off we were to the First World again to get bus tickets to head back to SG.

The medal and shoe bag

As usual, had lotsa fun times this race, although it was tough. To me, this year's race was better than last year's, maybe cos a little but fitter and that the route changed a bit. The obstacle course was different as well, with new varieties of obstacles to go through. This was much more interesting and was soooo much better than just climbing last yr's walls. Hope they make it better and better as tiem goes by.. so...

Might join again next year, so watcha waiting fer !!

Trudge on...

My Skydiving Vid

2009-10-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

I owe some ppl this video....

TQ Unker!!

Stories from the past... 2007 Kinabalu Climbathon

2009-10-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

My old personal blog entry of Kinabalu Climbathon 2007. The 2009 edition just passed us by, and somehow, reading entries from it reminded me of this unforgettable race. I remembered it as the second race I in my life.. as well as the most important event that has ever happened to me.... (those who know me better knows why)... Haven't had the chance to join it again since.. but hmm.. who knows.. hehe..

Here goes..

"KINABALU CLIMBATHON 2007

It’s over, really really over…..I actually summitted. Yep, all the way up the mountain. The race was amazing, I really enjoyed it. It was fun, torturous, refreshing from all the other runs I’ve done before. In short, I plan to do it again next year.

Training…(lest I forget) was 3 and a ½ months of pure torture.. 1-2hrs of strength and cardio training (stairmasters and Personal Training) and 10-20km runs in the evening. Will need to do more trails next year and maybe do a preview run up before the real race itself in August. May join up with the NTUC team next year for their training, but they usually start 6mths before hand. Lazy….

24th August 2007
Flew in from JB Senai airport to KKIA. Flight took 2hrs 30mins and was uneventful. Was sleeping all the way and arrived refreshed. At KKIA, Bobby from Exotic-adventures picked me up in a shuttle van. Nice local guy. We picked Francis ( an event organizer) from his hotel and proceeded on to Kinabalu Park itself. It seems that most of the other contestants were already there at the Park. On the way, we stopped at Tamparuli for their famous Tamparuli noodles which was amazing. Francis kindly paid for the meal…hehe

Arrived at Liwagu resort at Kinabalu Park and proceeded on to register for the race – RM60. Yay!!! Got the race pack which contained:
1. Official Buff SkyRunner headgear
2. Race booklet
3. T-shirt (which I’m wearing now)
4. Other Sabah tourism booklets
5. BIB no. 219 and hairpins
Ok..off to the hotel to chk-in

The Hotel Perkasa was about 10 mins from the Park by van. Bobby shuttled me there. It was on a hill on the mountain. The room was nice, simple, with a good view of the mountains and the peaks. Unfortunately, it was misty when I arrived. Can’t get a good shot today. Rested a while before heading down to the shuttle that brought me to the Kinabalu Park Hall for briefing. Ate some of the chocolate bars and half a can of Pringles during the rest….yummy…. CARBO LOADING TIME!!! The part of the race I really enjoyed…

Hotel Perkasa’s room…nice double bed..haven’t slept in one in ages

Mist surrounding the mountain top…

The briefing started at 6pm. Given by Mr Bhalwant Singh – Race Director – started with a video made for the Climbathon. It showed the women’s winner – Anna Pitchorva – amazing how she runs – gg up and down the mountain. The top 3 runners (heed the word runners, not walkers) were really competitive. To them, timing is everything. This was followed by race rules and Q&A. That’s it, on to the hotels for a good night’s rest.

25th August 2007
Race day
Had a wake up call at 4am in the morning but already had a bad night’s rest. The kids in the room next to mine were shouting till 12am. Put my running clothes on – orange tee with the sleeveless blue dri-fit on top. I looked ridiculous.. Wore an extra T to keep me warm before the race. Haha..better. Had the black shorts and the buff head scarf on.

Bib number in place, shoes tightened and locked. Time to head out.

Breakfast was light and simple at the hotel’s cafeteria, usual bfast, toast, eggs, fried noodles. Skipped the cereal this time round. Saw some other runners there as well before the race. All eating up. The shuttle picked us up at 5am.

Arrived at Liwagu resort around 5.30am as we picked some other runners on the way. Some of them I met the night before on the way back to the hotels. A group of elderly ppl were there too. Seems that they are regulars for the race. They were surprised to hear that I had come alone and fished out as much advise as they can to me about the race. Most important advice: TRY TO REACH THE SUMMIT. It seems that the organizers will turn racers away if they can’t reach certain chkpoints in time, thereby hampering the already tortured spirits from summititng. The cut off for the summit today will be 3hrs30mins, so to reach the summit, must try to arrive at Laban Rata at least in 2 to 2 and a half hrs.

Arriving at Liwagu resort, I decided to at least reach Laban Rata, which is at KM 6. Sayat-sayat hut was at KM6.5 and the summit (Low’s Peak) at KM8.72. Cold, dark but the whole place was filled with eager runners, ready to start the race.The wind was howling as though to give us an early warning of how bad the race will be. Starting point was about 4km in from Liwagu resort. So another shuttle brought us there.

The sun was not out yet at 6.00am when we reached the starting point. Again, strong winds, but otherwise the sky was clear- good, hopefully no rain in the morning. Only had my running clothes on and was shivering cold. Darn, forgot a jacket. Checked in my extra tshirt and bag at the luggage counter. 30 minutes before starting, bib numbers started to be called out to register in the racers. There were a few DNS’s, it seems.

The starting point buzzing with anxious people..

Soon the sun came out and the sky brightened up. The trail became more obvious. Still cold, I went for a short jog into the starting area to warm myself up . Worked up a bit of a sweat that evaporated almost immediately. Man, the wind blows again….. Feeling cold again. My heart races faster as the clock ticks down.
Bhalwat Singh gave a short speech…who cares!!…boring…. 3…..2……1......
The starting flag came down…. OFF WE GO!!!

Initial part of the trek started with a tarped road towards the timpohon gate. Only managed to run slowly up to 2/3 of the way to the first checkpoint at 0.5km. The top runners just sped on, running without looking back. Racers around me also started to walk, evidence of how being at a high altitude really kills the energy to run. Started to walk then and there itself.

The trek was, luckily not too wet. Started out mainly steps cut into the trail with some stairs interlaced in between. The steps are high, and the stairs narrow… phew, can really fall down on this treacherous trek if not careful… HOW IN THE WORLD DO THE TOP RUNNERS RUN????

Anyways… working my way up the trek one step at a time were easy until… I started to run out of breath. The scenery was amazing when you could look out into the mountains, otherwise, the fresh cool mountain air invigorates me with life. I miss all this, being in an urban jungle for far too long already. Right then and there, I decided that I’ll do the race over and over again, if only to feel alive again in the wild outdoors. I stopped at times, but with all the there runners moving, I knew I could not stop long. On the way up, we helped each other with words of encouragement to continue, not to give up till we reach the top. Wen Siong’s words kept playing in my head, come on Jonie, just another one more. Gotta thank him for this when I see him next. Soon, after 2 hrs of torture, Laban Rata was in sight…YES!!!.... Approaching Laban Rata itself was fun, the people who were staying there all came out to cheer the runners… some were even standing on the roofs of the other small huts in the vicinity. Man, I need to climb this mountain again soon…

OK, The summit next!!. The next part of the trek will be highly dangerous, if my memory does not fail. This is where all the rope works begin. My hands were starting to feel really cold as the ropes were cold and wet. Note for next year’s race… bring gloves. Some areas were too steep to just walk upright, and some were like walking sideways while splaying your body on the mountain wall. The top runners were now in sight, running DOWN… RUNNNING DOWN!!!... Amazing, seeing them fly over the rocks, racing against time and one another to reach the end of the race. Nevermind them…. Just continue on. Will make it….

Towards the end, I can feel the air getting thinner and thinner…breathing becomes more and more deeper, and my steps becoming slower. One peak looms ahead, nope..not Low’s Peak. Nevermind, continue to walk

Come on Jonie, another one…. Wen Siong in my head again.

Finally, there it is…Low’s Peak. Ropes were outlining the trek, showing the best way to go up the mountain. There was a huge yellow umbrella marking the last chkpoint of the race… Another 10 mins?...5mins….I look at my watch.. 4098m above sea level. OK.. last push now to the top!!

Low’s Peak.. way at the end there…

I’m THERE!!!!!!
I’M AT THE END…
I look at my watch….10:48
SUMMITTED IN 3:48 !!!!
I DID IT!!!

Whoa.. the feeling of achievement was amazing…
The Summit officials held out their hands to congratulate me… Nina ( Phillipino runner) and Lee (from Tawau) did the same… heheh I could only congratulate them back and hand them a huge smile…

At the summit!!!!

Nina, Lee (race official- not racer Lee) and Me on the summit…

I took a breather up there….

Amazing… the air up there was cold but fresh. Can I just stay up here?... Brr… getting colder tho….

After 5 mins at the top.. time to go down… darn.. the hard part begins. Up climb was easy as you only depended on sheer endurance to propel you. Downclimb, is, well downright scary. Especially when it started to rain!!!..No….even the slightest drizzle can make the trek 10x harder…slippery…

Slowly now, one step at a time. Luckily my shoes were able to grip quite well to the rocks so far, if not I would be falling with each step I take. I remembered the last time I went up with tennis shoes… since then, I learned to wear proper footwear to sport events.

Phew, tiring. Going down requires more vigilance, can’t shut the mind off just like that. The slightest miscalculations, and down,…..all the way down you go … once again…
HOW IN THE WORLD DO THE TOP RUNNERS RUN???? DOWN!!!!

The initial downclimb, was hmm… slow… not used to rocks already since my last climb in 2004 at Nepal. Can’t make it for Finisher already, so might as well make it down ALIVE. After about an hour, I made it back to Laban Rata, but with my knees already killing me. Old sport injuries really picks the best time to present itself again. Aargh. will need to be more careful when I restart training next when I get down. Don’t wanna lose my knees so soon.

After Laban Rata, the trek returned to the normal soft muddy mountain trails. At first rocky, gradually, changed to the soft mud tracks I’m more used to. Navigating through the rocks, I think I fell twice on my buttocks.. luckily got fat pad to cushion the fall..hahah. On the way down, many whom I passed on the way up started to cut in front of me… evidently they were better than me at down climb..hehe ☺. Yup need more practice for next yr’s event. Ok…..slowly now…

Hmm… around KM 5 on the way down, I met Lee (from Tawau).. amazingly, he was jes recce-ing the race for today as his event is actually tomorrow. Hahah… no wonder he was wearing a runner’s tag and not a numbered bib. Tall and lanky, he was a policeman from Penang who was posted in Tawau. We started talking and thankfully for him, he became my partner during the downclimb, and that helped me a lot. That said, I still fell down again…twice …on my bum. Haha…

The drizzle continued, but as there were trees around, I couldn’t really feel the full effect of the rain. The trek was still wet though and at some areas, small streams of water were gushing down the steps. The narrow stairs at this point became even narrower, and soggy from the rain. Slowly, KM 4.5…..3.0….2.0….1.0….Timpohon Gate!!!

Lee bought me a 100 plus then, as he was equally parched. The officials there congratulated up for reaching the summit and waved us through the gate. We continued on. My knees then were already on the verge of giving way, but my spirit was growing with each second that the torture was going to end soon. Hahah

Hmm… we reached the starting point in less then 10mins, and we saw 2 guys walking back in the rain as well. They were drenched. Only then did I realized that the rain was actually heavier than I initially thought. Fairus and Diony, they were out taking photos of Carson’s fall and got caught in the rain. With nothing better to do, all four of us started to head back.

The Finishing Line

We had a lively chat on the way back and managed to hitch a ride with one of the transport (which luckily had 4 empty seats left) bringing the racers back to the ending point. The rain started to lighten up.. and as we reached the end point, a sense of relief and achievement filled me again. I made it to the top… and that felt just great….

Me and Diony at the guy's event the next day

TILL NEXT YEAR!!!!

Hey, I still go the Finisher's Medal after all"

Try onz again next yearr!!

Sth I wrote looong ago...

2009-10-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

The light grows dimmer, the glow slowly disappears. My breaths gets weaker and weaker. Who knew, it would end like this.. least of all me, as I lay on the floor, tears rolling down my face in a never ending chase to reach the ground... Like a circle coming to an end, only that the end is nigh, and there is no starting point again...

My feeling were now empty, like a cup that was full minutes ago, only to have its contents poured away. Nothing mirrored how I felt, except that of a shattered glass, falling to the ground. No one can ever fix it... no one can ever mend it.... I could not, and will never be able to pick up the pieces to put it back together, and as I let it get swept away.. I just let it go...

They say happiness comes when you least expected it... so I let it come.. but it never did. Or did it just past me by while I wallow in self pity and in its deprivation, missed the gust of many other fleeting moments? Time heals everything, another old saying... give it time.. but has Father Time forgotten about me? Will I forever be stuck in the entropy of this dark black hole and let Mother Nature runs its course and wear me down till the end?...

Facing the real world is tough, living a lie is tough, being strong for others is tough..Pray tell, when will it ever be easy then..

As my vision disappears.. as my thoughts disarray themselves.. as my lungs take its in its final breath of fresh air.. I finally understood the secret to it all... the agony and pain, the neverending sorrow.. and I let it all go...

THE END...

My first time hosting... STEAMBOAT!!

2009-10-25T19:23:00.001-07:00

The last weekend was great.. fun.. and phew.. BOOMZ!! First was the TNF100 on Saturday.. and yesterday.. well.. I hosted my first Steamboat in my place!!! haha.. proud achievement cos I rarely host ppl in my place and I had fun doing it. Here's the lowdown :

Date: 25.10.09
Venue: jonie's Home in HV, SG
VIP: Callie Liew
Guests: Priscilla, Nick, Timmy, Diana, Gucci aka ST

Food: Chicken, Mince pork, Meatballs, Fishballs, Veggies, Mushroom, Prawns, Corn, Yong tau fu
Soup base: Ikan bilis, Corn, Chinese Cabbage

Pris came early to help prepare the stuff. Did the groceries, marination and stuffed them all in the fridge.

Adjourned after that for a short afternoon nap (it's Sunday, after all) while I continued on with "Long Way Round".

Finally, the time has come... First, the guys, Nick and Timmy came, followed by Diana and Gucci. Too hungry already, we went ahead and started the cooking and eating.. then, finally, the VIP arrives.. Hooray!! and so we can start "officially" steamboat dinner (though half the food was gone already by then...)

After food, we had dessert, pears and chocs that Timmy brought over and gathered around to watch some viral Youtube vids (ie, Ris Low, PCK as Ris Low, Kumar.. etc)

.. before heading over to Coffee Club for more desserts.. hehe.. we ordered in total 6 servings.. one of them being the ever delicious Muddy Mud Pie.. yummers...

Finishing up da foodzzz...

Dispersed close to 11 pm, still got to work tomorrow mah... and met YZ on the way back.

Someone trying to do "biz" here

Had a good discussion with YZ about the upcoming residency thingy in Singapore.. and after sending him off.. went to upload pics and zzz ...

Hahaha... had a terrific weekend indeed. Thanks goes out to all who made it happen, and to those who ate all the food, and to Timmy who paid for Coffee Club.. hehe.... ;)

Trudge on....

PS: I just realised we forgot to take out the prawns.. and I'm ALLERGIC to prawns.. so now I have close to 1kg of inedible (to me) prawns in my freezers... 0_O...

Trail Running, the Endurance style.. (where TNF100 becomes Trek NF100)

2009-10-24T20:51:00.001-07:00

Alritey!! Finished "The North Face 100" with BK yesterday.. phew.. was worried that I wouldn't be able to pull through.. for those who don't know anything about, here's an earlier post about the race pack collection about 2 weeks ago - http://lalaneedsalife.blogspot.com/2009/10/next-up-tnf100.html

The race for the 100km Duo started at 7am, with registration and hydration pack weighing at the starting point. And as usual, I saw Mohan there!! hehe... finally, with my camera, I managed to take a good pic with him after him taking so many pics of me.. I salute him, he just got back from Beijing marathon the weekend before.

Weighing the hydration pack

MOHAN, my man!!!

Yee Hua was racing too

Nothing much to shout about for this race start.. just.. countdown.. 3..2..1... go!! Tt's all.. haha... think I've been through too many of this to get overtly excited about race starts. OK!! Time to go..

The start was ok, not too bad, with the usual slopes and light trails easy enough to run through. Finally, we reached Bukit Timah, and here is where all the quad and hams torture starts. Ugh.. starting from the base, we tracked the road trek up, just missing the steps up to the summit where we turned off and reentered the trails after a bit. Then it was rockky downhill all the way till we hit ZhengHua.

At the first run off to the second part of the trails..

Met some cute MTB'ers on the way.. wanted to hitch a ride...

From ZhengHua to Mandai, the trek was ok, not too bad... and we did a quick run here. We didn't go through Gangsa Trek on the way to Hill 265, so was spared of the trails there for now.

Finally, at Mandai Rd, and crossed a traffic light to .... Lorong Asrama up to Hill 265. There was a water point and chk point here.. and it is this 9km round this hill that totally shattered a lot of runners (inc me).. The upslopes were for some literal upslopes and well.. turn after turns, it only felt like we were fighting a never ending battle... tahan tahan.. I thought the end was near when we started moving downslopes, but oh no.... one left turn... *shingzzz*... a huge red laterite wall appeared in front of me.. and the arrow says.. UP!! bloody f***!!! ok.. nvm.. start trekking again..

Yes... Hill 265 was this bad..

Roadkill at Hill 265

Continued on, and finally, saw the turnoff point where lorong asrama started, and the water point again... hooray!!! Finished this torturous part.. !!! OK, fill up with 100plus, back to Mandai and another 20km more to go...

Now we go through Gangsa trek towards Bukit Timah, and yes, BK's fave part.. the undulating, shadeless slopes.. the killer slopes after all the trail running. Just want to say that here.. I should have just rolled down the hill..

Turned out at Bukit Timah, water point, and turned in to the trails to MacRitchie again to hit the 40km mark.. I was happy, my spirit brightened up again, and with newly found energy, run/trekked all the way back to MacRitchie.. (BK helped me with my bag the last 5km.. tq tq tq.. )

So happy at the 40k mark, BK did the VISA dance!!

YES YES YES!!! Saw the end is nigh.. and started to plan another dramatic ending.. the CRAWL.. part 2.. hahahah.. this time.. caught it nice on video :) :)

OK.. time 8+ hrs, happy, got the medals, went to get Subway sandwiches and more food and drinks. Sat on the grass, ate the food, talked a bit more.. and basked in the glory of finishing another race. ahh... now, just got another few thousands to go... haha.. jes kidding.. :)

Trudge on... and trail onz!!!

Progress so far.. and time to move on....

2009-10-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

Things are moving fast for me nowadays, and its starting to remind me of the days of yesteryears in Houseman year where Murphy's Law prevails and any rests at all were precious (I remember feeling ultimately helpless at many points in that year yet it's something we all go through as part of our training).. those were the good ole days...

Also, studies started already, and even with only 2 modules, I spent hours on them, pouring over all the notes to read, lectures to listen to, assignments to finish; it seems like it never ends. Then, I got to wrap up work before the Nov change of posting.. which is not that much considering that the CGH is quite quiet right now, since CPOE has been implemented already. Travel and sports still take priority though, with all my remaining few races to finish up with... and well, I've always made it a point to have a life. But still, my feelings remain unsettled of what the future holds..

I know for sure, I will miss my current colleagues at CGH and Singhealth and Serangoon North; after all, I've been there for a year and a half already. I feel that it's now a good time for me to move on and explore the other aspects of my job, and see where that takes me. I'm scared, yet excited and the aspect of going to a new place, meeting fresh new faces , rejoining other old colleagues sounds like another interesting phase in my life. A phase which I know will be hard,

but which I also know I can tackle it and come out alive...

Sometimes I wonder how it felt like when my friends changed jobs... and now I get the front row seat of it all..

As a final note.. to all my soon to be ex-colleagues... I love y'all.. TQ for making my time in MI SHS a miserable Hell.. haha.. jes jk.. actually....

---->TQ for all the memories :)

Yours truly,

Jonie

PS Keng Hwang arr... I really wanna see u order ur special drink.. hahahah

Checking the months...

2009-10-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

Realised I haven't done my monthly uptodates properly... so here goes...

January - Callie came, and went back; Wakeboarding; Banana Relay Race, Whitewater kayaking in Tjg Malim

February - CNY- IPOH!!; Whitewater rafting in Singoh, Skydiving in Udon Thani; IM Langkawi

March - *Jason Mraz's concert!!! - corrected by May!! ; AVIVA HIM Singapore; KL for bdae!!

April - Skydiving in UT (bombed), IM China (DNF.. hehe), RAW duathlon;

May - *KL + Genting with the girls!!... corrected by Callie.. ;Kuching- went trekking in Bako; Florida, USA!!

June - Skydive in UT (bombed); MR25 marathon; Nite safari Singapore; Snowboarding; KL marathon

July - Kuching to makan and beach!!, someone visited...; Shape Run; started Bikram Yoga

August - Desaru LTU; Bali; Army Half Marathon

Sept - Rafting in Ulu Slim; Mum and bro and Aunty Julie visited; Kiteboarding in Kuantan; started Grad studies...

Oct - FeeYen's wedding - IPOH!!; TNF100, Midterms....

Phew.. tired liao.. I love my life :)

Desaru Long Distance Triathlon 2009

2009-10-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Desaru - Pengerang Long Distance and Sprint Triathlon has long been a favourite among both Malaysian and Singaporean triathletes for a long time now. Every year, hordes of athletes, their families and bikes make the annual pilgramage to Desaru to take part just to be a part of this event... and so did I this year. The event was held on the first Sat of August this year, and as usual, I went up with a new bunch of friends. Thanks goes to Teryn who organised everything sui sui for me.. hehe...

Went up on Friday by ferry, and met Tommy and his bunch of personal trainers who were going up to race as well. It's kinda interesting, cos this is the first time I went up to Desaru with my bike from Changi Village Ferry Terminal. The ferry ride was about 45mins long and from there, we took the organiser's bus/truck (humans on bus/ bikes on trucks) to the race hotel. Arrived, collected the bikes and collected the race pack at the hotel. Couldn't figure out which room I was sharing with Teryn, so sticked to Tommy's group while waiting for her to arrive... (actually, they went for test swim, bike, run, I just watch TV in the room.. talk about slacking)

In the evening, Teryn arrived, with Chris... and I got to settle into my room. Parked my bike, and slacked summore... Teryn couldn't believe how slack I was when I said I just wanted to lie down... haha.. but as my ole adage goes... "why run when u can walk, why walk when u can stand, why stand when u can sit, and why sit when u can lie down." Anyways, Teryn brought her wheelchair down to Desaru too.. and well.. at least we have a spare chair :). That night, malay food dinner at Renggit and Chris spent time sourcing out ice, and drinks for the race the next day.... and that night too, I found out what was so special about the race (at least, why its so special to me)

The race is really simple, the fees really cheap compared to other similar distance races. That means, very few aid stations along the way. For the biking length, only one refilling station, and its a do urself station. For the run, more aid stations but mainly water. And this race is known to be a HOT race. So, to help aid the participants, each big group comes and sets up their own aid stations... really... HUGE groups come and set up aid stations... with 100plus, water, sem bueh (Chris swears by it... so I'm gonna test it out in IMWA), etc etc etc.. hehe.. this is the first time I've been in a race ran by the supporters.. hehe.. and it was fun planning it out.. since then, I've decided to be a aid station manager one day.. and practice the zen of aid station management..

OK.. so all set out... in bed, and slept sui sui all throughout the nite (got some noise when Chong arrived.. but I was so zzzz)

Woke up in the morning, got some breakfast (found out tt Chris already went to buy ice and set up the station) and got number-ed with the markers Teryn had(this girl really thinks of everything). Hung the bike at my spot, said Gd Luck to everyone, smiled abit, arrange Transitions stuff, and head on to the beach for the swim. Wah...really washing machine waves oooo. Had a short fun time trying to jump the waves.. haha ... Uncle Chan gave a small speech again while I was hanging with Toh Chen... and made a pact to swim SLOWLY together.. hehe...countdown as usu.. and off we go!!!

As usu, open water swim.. got kicked a few times, and one quite serious one which almost dislocated my jaw.. I couldn't open my mouth.. sighs.. stopped a while to hit it back.. The swim was short, apparently, it was shortened.. good good.. I'm not a good swimmer.

Came out, showered, (should have brought a shampoo or sth) and went to T1. Took my time as usual, and started the biking leg. Had to clip in and pedal as hard as I can up the short steep slope coming outta T1.. omos fell down. Biking was ok, except that my chain popped out 3x during shifting gears.. need to service liao.

I look cool here (courtesy of Bernard Soh.. :) TQ)

T2 was fast for me, cos I wanted to finish the race as fast as I can and go to zzz. Was running when I found a toilet at the golf course's shed.. lucky.. But anyways, the run was fast and the heat was furious... the aids station was superbly helpful here. Right before the end, stopped at Teryn's station and asked for room key.. She called me siao and asked me to fin the race first... hey.. I just wanted a shower.. ok

...so ran to the finishing and finished the race. yayy!!!

(courtesy of Ben Swee)

Got my medal, my wet towel, my Tshirt, some congratulations.. and I was done.. Rehydrated, showered and slacked in the room after that.. haha.... OK, Dinner was at the town, Chinese food.. yummers... mmm...

The next day was the sprint event, and I was there to cheer for everyone.. Apparently, some of the prev day's athlete's were in for the sprint as well.... oooo... POWER!!!

POWER!! Ben did both long and sprint distance.. again.. POWER (well.. it's his own photo.. :))

The lady who had the wheelchair...

The Desaru triathlon was finally over... Stayed till the prize giving lunch before heading back to the jetty by the organiser's bus/truck again...Time to leave this magnificent place.. :( but this was one of the best races I've ever been to.. The organisers were great, the race was just right and best of all, the company was just more than I could've ever bargain for... so.. next year onz??... hehe.. I might just be the person handing out the drinks.. hehe...

Trudge on... (Chris behind me, BTWs)

My Chinese name...

2009-10-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

One thing I always get asked about.. wat's my chinese name....

It's... so for those who can read my name..

蔡柔妮 !!!!

I know.. it doesn't sound like me... but it's a nice name.... Kudos to dad for giving me such a nice and beautiful name. I'm half Hainanese (where the "Sua" comes from) and half foochow.. and only recently I learnt that another close friend of mine is also foochow.. small world.. small world... hehe

Trudge on...

Rafting @ Ulu Slim...

2009-10-10T02:20:00.001-07:00

Okays... finally, after a long hiatus from rafting, I finally went back to it last last weekend (about the first weekend of Sept) with Ivy, Fipink, Kenny and Kevin. We rafted at Ulu Slim this time, as KKB dam was closed during the drought and the water level there was pretty low. But after a week of planning, emails and FB-ing.. the plan was finally set and hopefully casted in stone.

I was down in KL on Friday, the day before, and had a scrumptious pan mee (with some soybean soup) meal with the ppeps, after which we went to watch UP.. non-3D la. It was cute and fun... and we found out that Kevin, was a girl after all. I liked that movie... and the dogs... hahaha.. ok.. after tt, went back to zzz and prep our mind and body for the next day.

Saturday finally came and we were off to Tanjung Malim exit meeting point to meet up with Bai and Surin, then to the the rafting storehouse where all the equipments were kept. We met another group of rafters ( 7 of them) who would be joining us... most of them were first timers as well but they weren't exactly the friendliest bunch i've been with. OK.. each of us collected out life vest and on we were to the truck.

The 'before' shot

The ride to the start point was on a logging track, and somehow reminded me of the track to Singor (in January 2009). There was one point where we had to squeeze in with a HUGE logging truck gg in the opposite direction... The truck driver was real gooood... RESPECT RESPECT!!

Well.. anyways.. arrived at the starting point safe and sound. Bai gave the ever loooooong lecture on rafting while I chatted with the guides.. missed them lots and well, updated myself with the gossips flying arn ... hehe...

Cikgu Yap... fokus sikit!!

And I helped to pump a bit....

Next, we split into 3 groups and I joined the other group while the Ivy, Fipink, Kenny and Kevin formed a group on their own. Got into the raft.. and hey, the journey starts.

Ulu Slim has mainly grade 2-3 rapids with one Grade 3 rapid. It was fun again to be in the waters, paddling my heart out.. but this time.. sitting in the front, I tried to understand the water flow. Same as every other rivers I've been into, the trick is to keep the raft/kayak with the front pointing forward as much as possible.. Also played photographer and videographer this time with my Olympus SW1030 which so far hasn't disappoint me ...yet.

The Grade 3 rapid

Rafting lasted about an hour and at the end of it, was playing time.. we all jumped into the river.. and went water boarding... including making a water boarding train.. hehe...tore my shorts there, dunno how tho.

Everybody wanted to pee...

Picked up by the same truck and returned to the storehouse.. had a quick shower and lunch there. Everyone was happy in the end and all agreed that rafting was fun. Even, the girls were keen on gg for more in soon, and am aiming for KKB already when it opens.. hehe.. Will try to arrange again in the future.. and ?? Singor again in January.. hmm.. oh well, till then.. later peeps.. :)

The 'after' shot...

Trudge on... and Raft on...

Kuantan.. the slack holiday..

2009-10-10T01:17:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I went to Kuantan.. mainly to learn kiteboarding... but I learned to slack like a beach bum instead.. and damn, it's too darn addictive. I haven't been to Kuantan in years as I only have not too fond memories of that place.. (my childhood was spent DIY-ing -painting, repairing, building walls, cementing floors- and in Kuantan, my dad had a house to DIY all the time) ...

I was mainly at Pantai Balok, the place all kiteboarders go, and it was great. Very little wind, but learned a bit on controlling the kite (although it looked more like a mini-parachute). Most days were spent looking at the beach with a beer in hand. Sometimes, there'd be other stuff like wakeboarding to fill the time... or just hanging around Kuantan including Telok Cempedak... I'll definitely return to kiteboard during the monsoon again.. which will prob be in January 2010.. Hope I can catch some wind then...

Till then, just enjoy the photos ..

Firefly flight SIN-Kuantan.. hope it stays.. but it's bloody ex

Yup.. the only budget with food so far.

The Beach.. and a kite

Bear bear looking at the beach..

Wolfgang holding bear bear

Me waiting to kite

Nearby island of rocks... I wakeboard all the way here

On the boardwalk at Telok Cempedak

MTB tracks at Telok Cempedak

What we did at night....

Trudge on....

Next up.... TNF100

2009-10-10T00:55:00.000-07:00

Realised I haven't updated my blog with activities lately... so here's the next race up for me..

THE NORTH FACE 100!!.. bwahhaha...

TNF100 (fer short) is the ultimate trail race in Singapore so far consisting of the duo and solo categories. I don't qualify for the solo category, so I'm doing 50km of trails with BK (my ever trusted running partner) in hopefully 8 hrs.. haha..

It'll be my second trail race after the MR25 MacRitchie's marathon in which I pancit-ed due to lack of training. And this one is in another 2 weeks time.. and as usual... haven't really been training due to

1. Lazy

2. Busy with work and studies

3. Lazy

But, as always... I keep reminding myself, nutting gained if I dun even wanna try.. went to collect the race pack today.. and whoa.. very simple race pack...

The race T shirt.. I prefer cotton T's to sleep in

I like this Race rubber band with my name on it

The Racing Stuff.. and a nice bottle

OK.. so more training and very little tapering for me for the race.. It's on the 24th of Oct... so wish me luck... Gonna be one hell of a fun torturous time...

YEAH... TRUDGE ON RACERS!!!

Nervous-nyer...

2009-09-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'm nervous... I am... there's so many new things that's going to happen that fazes me. A new job (posting actually), new studies, new commitments, new plans... all this happening at once.. and yes.. I am, sort of scared at times. Till now, I always ask myself, why do I always load myself with so much things to do and so many goals to accomplish in very little little time.. hmm..

I'm not the kind to sit still and just relax. I alw like to attempt new things and see each challenge as a puzzle I'd like to solve. There's no such thing as impossible in my dictionary, just whether I'm game enuff to do it or not.. I'm glad to be back to my adventurous self like when I was in Kindy, and throw away all reservations of how and what I should be that I've learnt along the way to adulthood. I'm happy to be the strange and simple me again after all this years of trying to please others. After all, I only live once, why should I live it to please others :).. well.. unless I want to -lah..

Amidst all the hustle and bustle of work, training and preparing for studies, a trip to Kuantan gave me a chance to just sit back, a beer in hand and relax. I slacked for the whole trip there (no wind, no kite, but waked instead) and it gave me a chance to clear my mind and regain my energy for whatever's up next. Sometimes I forget to feed the inner me that requires some R&R time as well. And this trip reminded me to do so every now and then :).. so more beaches to come from now on.

Also, I wanna sightsee more, and go to the places I read of when I was young, like the vast grasslands of Mongolia, the sandy dunes of Egypt, the magnificent structures of Machu Picchu, the forever snowy and cold Siberia... that always filled my fantasies of how amazingly beautiful the world is. I got a whole lifetime to do it and as long as I have the drive to do sth, I know I'll finish whatever I set out to do.

I wanna let sports take a step back for a while, after my Ironmans, I'll prob do less races to save money to do other things. I'll never stop exercising though, as I'm a running addict.. but I want to be free of training schedules, training goals, training this, training that... and also cos I plan to travel at my own pace and not be caught up with the "damn.. i shoulda done a 3 hrs biking" thought. I wanna start small and gain experiences.. so maybe I'll try biking up to Malaysia first.. then Thailand.. and the Indochine, and so on... let's see where that takes me. I found a few good mentors who have done it before and a friend who wanna do it with me... but we'll see how it goes.. one thing I learned is that always expect changes in planning, which actually makes it more interesting, no?

I once said that change was what makes life interesting and scary at the same time. The one thing that I'm forever thankful for are my friends and family. They are always there for me... and they never turned me away.. tho it does take some knocking (literally) to get some advice into my head, and I do get angry at times.. but I know that they only want the best for me.

To end it all, one life lesson I've learned is that there's no use to be sad and frustrated all the time... or scared and nervous when sth changes, it only makes things worse... if you're not sure about what you're doing... take a step back and think of what you've done.... there's no right or wrong in this world, but is it something you want others to do to you as well? Is it what you really want for the long term, or sth that you want to be happy for a while?... there's so many questions in life already.. and these to me are the most impt ones :)

Have fun guys!!!

Trudge on.....

What I did in September...

2009-09-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

Getting lazier.. so short updates for now...

1. Went rafting at Ulu Slim with Ivy, Fipink, Kenny and Kevin... funners.. then came back to Singapore and run 26km trails with BK :)

2. Mummy and Bro came down to SG to see Aunty Julie from Canada... yayys!!! had a great dinner with Pris!! must come down to Ipoh horr..

3. Went to Kuantan to learn Kiteboarding.. but no wind.. sobs.. so only learn how to fly kite (literally).. but had a superb relaxing time at the beach, went wakeboarding, snorkelling.. and rode a bike :)

somewhat a quieter mth for me :) not much rushing around this time :)

trudge on...

When I was young...

2009-09-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I let my mind wander,
Of the times when I was younger,
What was it that I wanted to do when I was older

I wanted to travel,
And let the world unravel,
Before and in front of me,
Cos there was so much to do and see

I started with the mountain hikes,
From snowy tops to dry, barren peaks
The treks were tough and sometimes took weeks
But the company I had, made everything look easy and meek

Then afterwards, I went to dive,
First in the sea and then the sky,
It was amazing, it was great, it was totally out of this world
And each time, each dive, I've never felt so much more alive

Then I had a dream,
To run, and swim, and cycle,
The journey was tough, it was long, it seemed
But now (after a year) that I've done it,
I can't get enough of it.

Now I want to move on to the next thing on my list,
First to wakeboard, then to kiteboard,
To ski in the snow and and also to snowboard,
And if I ever get a chance, to sandboard as well.

And finally to travel around the world
On my *bike to trod the unbeaten, forgotten roads
From Asia to Europe to Africa to America
And who knows, maybe the forever snowy Arctic and Antartica.

There never seems to be an ending
to all the things that I wanna do
and thinking about it makes me smile
though I know it's gonna take me awhile
I know I have all the time to make it come true...

*in my case - bicycle- I dont have a motorbike licence :)

yep... you guessed it.. bored at work :p

Why do I run?...

2009-08-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder about that too.. especially when I'm down, tired and all I wanna do is just sleep, rest, slack, watch TV, read a book, finish some leftover work.. etc etc etc and all other excuses I can think of for myself. Well.. here's the whole story of my relationship with running...

I did not have a very sporty childhood... adventurous maybe, but definitely not sporty. Growing up in Malaysia, I was very much focused on the quest for knowledge (physics, and sociology mainly) and was always kept in the house cos my mum would worry alot if I were to go out alone (till now, if I go back to Ipoh, my brother HAS to accompany me wherever I go). So that quells my interest in sports already.

When I came to Singapore, things change. I had independance, I had freedom, and I had to choose. Although I love studying (and till now I still do, but NOT medicine), I wanted to be healthy and look good. Yes.. I was actually vain and wanted to look good - fit that is.. not girly vain with makeup and nice clothes... but fit. I learned from med sch that no one else is responsible for my health and it is up to me alone to make sure I am healthy. So, in M1 itself, I took a step back from the books and started to exercise. I started out with running.. easy ma.. just wear shoes and voila... all set to run.

The first few weeks were horrendous. I keep asking myself.. why am I torturing myself when all the other medical students were busy mugging their texts.. trying to outdo each other in class. But then, I reminded myself that what I am doing is for myself and that.. well.. I dun need to be kiasu to pass med school.. haha.. so I persevered. And soon, it become easy, it became part of my life, .. and now it's part of me.

There were times when I stopped - vacays, Ipoh times (still now allowed out ma) exams, HO-ship .. but I always returned to running. I did gym work for a bit, but I stuck to running. Longest ever I stopped running was about one week .. during vacations. I don't care how slow I am when I restart after all that stops, as so long I restarted, I can always get back to where I left of. And I think that's the main reason why I can never see my self as a professional/ elite runner.. I run for the fun of it and I don't want to be stressed out over missing training, or lazy to wake up in the morning excuse, or that I want running to a part of my life, where the other parts include other stuff I like too... and have time for.. like triathlons, travelling, etc etc

And now, I am at peace with running, it gives me my "alone" time, my "running friends" time, my "encourage others to run" time, but most of all, it makes me happy and glad that I can alw catch my bus without huffing and puffing after. Hehe...

I guess, this is running what is to me.. Indeed, I still look in the mirror and comment about my body still here and there.. but I dun take it seriously about how I look, rather how much better that I look now that I am finally fit-looking :) .

So to all my new running friends.. continue running and make it part of your life.. It's really great and fun.. But if u think running is not for you, dun stop looking for what sport makes u happy.. just get a move on and live a healthy life :)

And trudge on...

And I should continue with my studying...

Reading the fine prints....

2009-08-04T17:05:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, 3 sad deaths happened in 3 different races in both Malaysia and Singapore. One was not really related to the participants in the race, so I shall not comment of that here. For the other two... there can be lessons to be learnt...

Case 1:

The first death was a newbie triathlete who was doing the swim part of the OD in a relay team. He was fairly fit, according to the newspaper, with a few weeks of pool training prior to the event. With no Open Water Swim beforehand, he jumped into the ever ravenous nd dirty waters of ECP.... and this was a BIG mistake. He was later found disorientated by the rescuers and was brought to shore. CPR was administered, but he failed to revive.

Lesson here : Pool swim does not = to Open water swim. Open water swim is not for the faint-hearted. In open water swim, you'd have maybe a few hundred ppl swimming around you, above you, next to you, and who knows, even under you when u lap someone. No one knows whats happening and who's beside them unless they stop and look around, and no.. not many ppl will do that.

------ > Hence in an open water swim, do expect to get knee-d, elbow-ed, kicked, ur head slammed in the water and have bruises everywhere... In my last race, someone kicked my jaw until it was stuck... had to stop and pushed it back as I couldn't open my mouth. And no, the person did not stop to say sorry, and I did not expect him to.

SO..... THERE IS NO POLITENESS IN OPEN WATER SWIM and DON"T EXPECT ANY OF IT...

To mitigate the scariness of it, pls do ur homework and do a few swims in open water. Join the swimming clinics to get the feel of the water and situation if u're new. And if u really feel like u dun want/can't continue, do stop. A race is a race, and there will always be another one. After all, we're doing this race to have fun, don't endanger urself over it.

Case 2:
This I'm not too sure the COD, but early news could be due to dehydration. But nvm.. here's the lowdown.. After a 10k run in KL, a runner was missing and later found dead in the rubbish dumps. He finished the race, but no one knew what happened to him after that. This was his first ever race So far, the authorities queried dehydration.. so let's talk about that.

Nutrition and hydration is a vital in all races. Easiest and most basic rule : If u sweat alot, drink more. Don't wait till u're dry in the mouth to drink. My own personal rule: I'd drink whenever I dun feel any more fluid in my tummy... in other words, when I dun feel any sluish sensation anymore. This makes sure that I remain hydrated but not bloated in a race. It works for me, but may not work for u, so test it out on the long runs to see what u can and cannot take.

On that note, do remember that sweat consists of both salt and water, so salt replacement is equally important as water. Drink too much without proper replacement, and you'd get hyponatremia and die. However, a little extra salt won't kill you, so I usually take more salt than needed (ever since having both thigh cramps in Langkawi during the bike leg). You'd know u're salt deprived when ur sweat is not salty... so by then... stop and by all means, take a salt replacement.... at that stage, ur body is saving all the salt for itself, lose anymore, and you could be at danger zone.

These are 2 impt lessons to be learnt for both amateur, and veteran atheletes who sometimes still get it wrong (even me). Racing is fun, its exciting, but it doesn't mean its danger-free. That said, keep on exercising and racing as it reaps benefits to you and you alone that no one else can help you achieve. Just BE CAREFUL when u're out there and always listen to your body and keep having fun racing!!

Trudge on...

Hunger... alw hungry..

2009-07-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

The one thing I hate about training is the hunger that comes with it. Sometimes after training for 3-4 hours a day, the hunger pangs can get really bad.. coming every 2-3 hours.. ugh.. I hate.. not cos I get to eat as much as I want while losing weight.. but food is EXPENSIVE!!! Really...

So, a new resolution.. I'm gonna start cooking... more often. Made Kailan with soy sauce today with rice... so now I got extra rice.. will try to make my own Yong Tou Fu tomorrow for lunch or dinner.. :)

Well.. the good things is that I'm getting better at cooking...

Trudge on..

I can see my toes....ooo

2009-07-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation and reading.. I have finally succumbed to the much debated barefoot running... and bought my first pair of the Vibram FiveFingers. Only one shop in Singapore sells them, so the craze has not hit Croc-like widespread yet in this tiny island, which is quite funny, considering how kiasu the inhabitants can be with running (I've seen some runners wear the 2XU compression pants for a 10k race). Well, i'm hoping barefoot running can help with my Left knee as it still hurts at certain twisted angle. So with much enthusiasm, off I went to Novena and plonked SGD170.10 for a pair of the Black KSO's.

Boy, was it weird. I put it on from Sq 2 Novena itself, and walked around ION Orchard (looking for pau's) and back home again. It felt.. very very comfortable to walk in them.. no joke albeit, looking a whole lot weird. My gait was automatically adjusted with very little effort and soon it felt as though I was walking in the mall barefooted. Plentiful of stares followed me, but hey.. I was actually enjoy suntanning in the limelight :) .. ok.. so for walking, the Vibrams get a BIG :) from me.

Next, the real test.. OK Desare LTU is like.. in another 4 days.. but as always, curiosity gets the better of me. I geared up for a 10k run in the Vibrams. Mentally, I've stoked myself to get calves soreness and feet pain.. so oh well.. time to go..

I sped down on the tarmac fast.. fully on my forefoot... not even touching my heels.. for the first KM.. so exhilaratingly fun.. I love speeding through as the cooling wind hits my face....hmm ok.. no facial description.. back to feet.. Well, the sole of the vibrams is just a piece of rubber.. so, though it sticks well to the ground, every little bumps, and cracks and drain covers is very much feel-able. Well, at least I won't get abrasions and cuts easily as compared to real barefoot running.

Up to about 5 km, the sore starts... ouch ouch ouch.. it really felt torturous but great.. (another S+M moment). Tried to slow down and land more on the midfoot to heel, but it feels worse to do that.. wow... our feet is really meant to run forefoot all the way. The last 1 km was bad so I tried to run faster to finish the run. Counting down the bustops... 3...2...1... end!!! My trial run has ended. Let out a silent hooray.. and YES!!! I've done it..

Barefoot running till now is still tough for me, but it really feels good. Will continue to try out the Vibrams for every other thing I can think of.. and see how it goes.

So, till the next review... trudge on...

Update 19.08.09 - stepped on a stone.. ouch..

Weekend in.... rare occasion.. and Yoga..

2009-07-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

I travel out a lot, and I have fun out alot.. but now, time for a change, time for a relaxing post...

YOGA...to be more precise, Bikram YOGA.. and I love it so far..

It all started with a trip to the Vivo True Fitness Gym where I wanted to sign up for a gym membership. Went in look see look see and was directed to the manager Siva who then suggested that I try Hot Yoga, or Bikram Yoga at Pacific Plaza. Hmm... have always wanted to take up yoga as part of my supplementary training to triathlons, especially since it had some good reviews on rehab and muscular power training, so hey, might as well just give it a go. Now.. Siva suggested Bikram Yoga, not the other forms of Yoga as he said that I would like the challenging part of it - after all.. it's not Hot unless it's done in a 42 degCelsius room with a humidity of 40-50%.. just thinking of that scares me enough.. so never one to step down from any challenges.... I agreed :).. and my first class - Thursday...

Arrived there 30mins before class and was eager to start. Met Sue who helped me about the classes they had in Pacific Plaza. Eager to start, clad only in Bra top and running shorts as I have been warned of how hot it can get, I grabbed my bottle of water and a towel in my hands and
went into the studio, and boy, was it HOT HOT HOT and HUMID HUMID HUMID.. its so hot and humid that I had difficulty breathing in the first few minutes. phew... after regulating my heart beat (which went up too).. i took a deep breath and settled myself down somewhere in the middle.

Bikram yoga only practices 26 poses which are repeated twice in each class. Sounds easy, huh?.. but NOPE.. it is all hard work. Each pose works almost every muscle, every joint in the body. It focuses on concentration, mental commitment and balance to keep the pose intact. With it comes muscular endurance and power as well as flexibility that helps to maintain the pose. For me, even after the first pose... I was ouch ouch ouch already...

The instructor only verbalises the instructions, and visual clues comes from everyone else. No fret though, if u can't get it right, he/she will come by to help you.. (I got a few personal tips along the way). Water can only be drank after 2 sets of each pose is done... but the instructor suggest not to drink too much, cos you'd still need an empty stomach to continue.

Well, after 26 poses and 1 and a half hour later, I came out... sweaty... hot... tired...dead-ish.. but after the shower.. I was rejuvenated. Woke up the next day with no sores, jsut stronger and have a will to continue on. In short.. I LOVE it. Bikram yoga to me is great.. I love the strength it gave me even after one class and am eager to go back.... hehe. .signed up for a year... and went for my second class this morning... and again was tortured :) hehe

Well, that's my review of Bikram Yoga.. and how I became a convert. To all those out there.. got try if you dare... it's not as easy as it looks

Trudge on...

Who says running isn't fun...

2009-07-13T02:52:00.001-07:00

It was time again for the KL Marathon, the yrly event in which I do a pilgramage to KL, meet up with friends, gossip all night long with the girls, buy lotsa PowerGels (they need to sponsor me by now), sleep only 2-3 hours before the marathon.... and run. This year's marathon was hosted by StanChart Bank as one of their new races in the Greatest Race on Earth league (Singapore another one of the races). So no more Ambank, welcome StanChart..

OK, background on training first... haven't done much traning for this marathon as currently having a bad Left ITB problem. So, mileage down... and took the last few months off training to relax and do other stuff in life.. In short.. this was gonna be an exciting race. so with no PB in mind.. Here goes.....

Friday:
Went down to KL. Met up with Alan and Ivy. Passed them some Rotiboy. Ran at some Bukit Jalil Park for 30mins. Went back to Puchong and had teh tarik, durian (lotsa durians) and instant noodles for dinner. Met up with Fipink. Had tau foo fa for supper. Slept late at 1-2 am

Saturday:
Woke up around 9-10 am. Slacked around Ivy's place. Breakfast at 10+am at nearby mamak.. Went back to Ivy's place. Registered for IMWA.. sob sob.. money fly away again. Went to REPC at 1pm on train.Makan-ed lunch with Ivy. Ivy left. Headed to KL Sentral. Waited for BK while having Starbucks Mint Tea (my new fave). Met up with BK at 5.30pm. Had dinner with BK at Secret Recipe. Checked in AnCasa Hotel (the one at the opposite end of PuduRaya) nice....

The goodies...

Realised Newtons too dead to run in.. Went out to MidValley to hunt for shoes. Bought Nike shoes : Zoom Start and Free 5.0. Went second dinner (BK, not me) at DOME. Krispy Kreme.
BK had air mata kucing. Back to hotel. Surfed the net for one hour. Slept at 12+

KKreme from MDVL

Sunday:Race day. Woke up at 3.45am... groggy. Curse myself for not sleeping more a few times. Contemplated to skip the race to go back to sleep. Looked at BK.. ok.. no.. will go for race. Wore InJinJi's and new Nike Zoom Starts shoes (for convenience sake, I usu wear what I'm racing in to sleep... so tat I dun need to pack too many clothes).
My new shoes

Ate half a donut. All ready.. ran slowly to Dataran (race start).

Took about 10 minutes to arrive. Slight drizzle. Looked around, can't find anyone I know. nevermind. Head to start point. No balloon Pacers (FM lied) Bang. Race start. Slow jog. Met Mohan taking pics (he flashed me and I flashed back).We laughed, chatted. He left.

At the race start

All throughout the race, BK and I chatted omos nonstop (except when he went to Portaloos and when we collected water) When the sky was bright enough, started to take pics of Landmark esp the Standard Charted Building - hint hint for sponsorship :p.

Standard Chartered building at the back

Ran ran ran.. met Unker from Taiping who sang MJ songs. Chatted with him as well. Halfway through met Kenyan who got lost (half marathoner who ended up in the full marathon route). Continued to run run run...

In front of Mahathir's Bakery

BK doing the VISA dance

Left knee started to hurt .. uh oh. Walked bit and stretched. Last 2km, knee bad.. walked to the end. Saw spiderman. Five hundred metres more, BK bought Teh Tarik ice from some mamak shop.

Met Ben who asked me to hurry up.. but I was lazy. Saw Callie cheering me on. Plotted the grand finale about 5 metres from the finishing line for about .... 30 seconds. Photogs wondering what we were doing. Saw Kian Yaw. Dropped to floor. Crawled to finishing line.. hehehe.. Jumped over fence. Got camera from BK. BK ran across finishing drinking teh tarik.. yay!!! We finished the marathon!!!

After race.. took pics here and there. Almost forgot to collect medal and finisher's tshirt when about to leave for hotel.

Finisher medal and oversized T'

Reached hotel. Me showered. Called to request for chkout extension. Chked email. Msg-ed Kenny for lunch. Slept. Someone called and woke me up. Smiled. Went back to sleep...zzzzz....

Called again for chkout extension. zzzz again.

Woke up. Packed. Chked out. Cabbed to KLCC. Makan-ed. Walked around. Starbucks for drinks and seats. BK left for KLIA. Called someone to wish him Good Luck!!!. :) Almost dozed off there. Waited waited waited for bus. Took bus. On the bus now...

Well, short and simple. This has got to be the fun-nest marathon ever. Though came in late about 5 hours, we took our time to have fun during the race.

At the restaurant

After all, some races are meant to be enjoyed while keeping in mind that when it comes to the key races, performance should be of priority :). It helps to keep running as an enjoyable and light hearted sport as it should be. To end it all - To Callie, Ivy and Kenny, congrats on your 10K. I hope you enjoyed the race as much as I did. And to BK, my running partner for so long.. TQVM!!!! It's been fun, and I hope to do more fun races with you in the future!!! Liiiike.... The Trailblazers in Nov...

Trudge on... and Don't Ever Stop Enjoying Life (and Running too...)

Nite Safari with the girls...

2009-06-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Attraction : Singapore's Night Safari.. Date : 15.06.09... Participants: 1 directionally challenged GPS, and 3 nutty girls ................... All this, = a great girl nite out!!

Real crocodile

The plan to go to the Night Safari in Singapore came about 2 days before. Was kinda bored, and well figured that since I haven't been to this world acclaimed Singapore attraction, might as well give it a go. Asked Shu-Ting, set a date, then asked Diana.. and wel, there was where it all started.

First: I was late... the girls met up at 5pm... but I was on the bike on the trained, so missed the message till about 5pm.. oops.. quickly showered and head to SGH.

Second: the GPS was weird... to get to Mandai (where the safari was) we had to go all the way to the Causeway!!!.. and made a turn back.. lucky got policeman to reassure us the directions.. was sooooo scared.. din bring passport ma.. but no know already, always bring passport to go to the zoo/night safari.

Third: the Night Safari got 2 shows on. One involves Men in very little clothing firebreathing, the other involves super cute animals, and their comparable part-time trainer :)

Fourth: Well.. the tram ticket only gets you a ride.. A RIDE!! haha... well...our first train ride was horrendous. The guide spoke too fast in a weird accent.. (imagine a person who cant speak proper English imitating an American acccent). Couldn't understand a word she was saying. So.... we went and asked for another ride on the tram.. hehe.. and got it (the backdoor way). The second guide was much better.. finally could understand what we were seeing along the way.

Fifth: Always chk the pictures you're getting from the ppl there before going away. OK, this was illegal, but we went and asked the nice picture taking counter ppl (who were part timers) to print extra copies of the pics they took for us. They were printing it out when their boss came.. so we all played along like lost tourists asking for directions while waiting for the pic to come. Well.. we got 2 right, and 1 more.. was a pic of 3 chinese and 2 indians guys eating on the tram.. hmm... I have no idea what to do with that pic.. girls, any suggestions?... hmm..

The pic that started it all

So, the trip to the Night Safari ended up to be exciting after all... managed to take a pic of the clouded leopard up close (it was soo beautiful) and made lotsa noise on the tram that we ghot shush-ed....but the most exciting part wasnt the animals, but rather the 2 great and silly company I had along... so girls, when's the next trip?..

I think the leopard wants me to stop now.... oops...

Trudge on...

Races Hall of Fame

2009-06-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

Races done so far... as you can see... admittedly, I have not gotten over my jet lag..

2006
Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore

2007
Mt Kinabalu Climbathon - managed to go up in 3:30, but died on the way down
Shape Run
GE 10k Run
Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore

2008
Pacesetters 30km KL
Ambank KL Marathon
Shape Run
Adidas 84k Ultramarathon – stopped at 54km
OSIM OD triathlon
AVIVA Half IM Singapore
Genting Trailblazers
Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore

2009
SGRunners Banana Relay Run
IM Langkawi
AVIVA Half IM Singapore
IM China – DNF!!!
RAW duathlon – with a bad bad flu

To come later this year:
MR 25 MacRitchie Marathon (finished half!!)
KL Marathon (finished with the Crawl - 5:08)
Desaru Long Distance Triathlon (6:10 with 1 mth of training)

Shape Run (finished 55mins after a 10km run to the start)

SBR&AHM (used Joseph's bib - fin 2:09 with a 10k run to the start)

TNF 100 (with BK) - (fin in 8 hrs+)

GE 10k Run - not doing as same day as Trailblazers
Genting Trailblazer

Mt Kinabalu Climbathon - no doing, decided to do TNF100 with BK

Powerman Malaysia

Penang Bridge – Half Marathon

IMWA!!!

Trudge on...

My Running Shoes Hall Of Fame..

2009-06-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

I think I made the fellows at Queensway Shopping Plaza very very rich..

1. Asics Kayano x 3 (I think... )
2. Asics Cumulus
3. Asics Nimbus x 2
4. Nike Vomero 2+ x 2 (wore one pair for SCM 2008)
5. Zoots Ultra
6. *Newton trainers x 1
7. Newton racers x 1
8. *Nike Free Everyday
9. *K Swiss Kona (got from IMChina 2009)
10 Saucony sth
11. Brooks sth
12. North Face Arnuva Boa (wore this for Kinabalu Climbathon 2007 and Mulu 2008)
13. *Adidas Response Trail
14. *Nike Luna racers (wore for the cycling and running portion of IMLangkawi 2009)

15. Nike Zoom Starts

16. Nike Frees 5.0

17. Nike LunarGlides

18. Vibram 5fingers

Altogether : 18 pairs in total.. hmm..

*current shoes

Florida - Day Two to Return

2009-06-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Day TWO - Actual Work day

Today was tutorial day at the World Swan Hotel at Disney Downtown. Grabbed a cab and headed there at 8am. Found the room, had brekkie.. and chatted with some other students there as well. I was a bit nervous at first, cos all of them were really experienced physicians, researchers, business consultants who had years behind them, but when we started talking, I realised that we all faced the same problems. It was a good sharing session, presented my project to the table on “Single Sign-Ons” and the whole session ended with Prof Hersch giving a lecture on the updates of medical informatics in America.

Was a bit worried at one point when I didnt get my cert, but after clearing with the Prof, he decided to give it to me since I came from far far away land.. hehe.. think there was a glitch in the system that my project din get submitted... but anyways, will email it to him later when I land.

After the tutorial, still had some more daylight, so decided to do some shopping. Cabbed to Premium Outlet Store.. and went walking and walking and walking.. Funnily, I couldn't find anything to buy with all the big brands like Burberry, Coach, BCBG, Guess, even Levis' , except a pair of trail running shoes.. which was cheaper here. After making like the 5th round (literally.. rounds) to make my cab money's worth.. I deduced that I'm not a shopper.. so ok.. time to go back. :) and chill.. love my shoes tho.. hehe

Day THREE - Disney World

Today, I go Disney – The Magic Kingdom park to be exact. This is the main park in Disney World, its the one with the Cinderella Castle (which was designed after Neuschwenstein in Europe by the mad King Ludwig II). I was at first IM-ing to everyone that it was gonna be boring, that gg there would be really siannerz all alone, but somehow... things alw end up differently from how you'd expect it to be.

I took the 11 am shuttle, since I can't wake up at 7.35 am, to Epcot. The plan was to go to the Magic Kingdom by monorail from there. Was sitting all alone, when 3 lovely ladies sat next to me. We started talking, and in flash, Susan asked me to join them for the day.. :) :)... I was all smiles.. So, I tagged along Susan, Casey and Pam in their magical trip to Disney, and they made my day awesome as well. :)

Disney is Disney, and at Disney, no matter how old you are, you're still a kid (unless you happen to have kids with you.. then.. just beware) We started out at one corner of MainSt, and Cinderella's castle was at the other end on the street. While Susan went to the restroom, there was a barbershop quartet, nearby, entertaining us while we wait. Ooo.... This place was so colorful, lively, pretty... everyone held big bright cheery smiles, it's impossible to look sad here. The Mouse sign was everywhere.. and yup, omos everyone was wearing some Mickey Mouse hat or ears... I can go on and on... but iIll make it short... the pics should say it all..

Cindy's castle.. beautiful

The Magic Kingdom was divided into multiple themes like Universal's Island of Adventure. First was Adventureland, where we paid a visit to the Swiss Family Treehouse, and rode on the Magic Carpet of Aladdin. We board the boat on the Jungle Cruise which used animatronics, but the big attraction pull here was the guide who was hilarious guide with all his corny jokes. Then we went on the Pirates of Caribbean ride which is so fun..a must-do to anyone planning a trip to Florida. The farny GuideReal anot?.. it actually moves

At the Pirates Ride

Alright, on to the next part, the more cow-boy-ish Frontierland. Susan and I went to explore Tom Sawyer's Island and the Walt Disney World Railroad that took us around the Magic Kingdon while waiting for the others to finish their ride. By the time we met up, the parade was about to begin and the crowds were lining up to watch it. We brekked for lunch after that as we were starving at the nearby Columbia Harbour House.

Next, we visited the dark and funny Haunted Mansion at Liberty Square before heading to the colorful and cheery “it's a small world” ride at Fantasyland. This was one of my fave rides.. everything was just so cute and really really nice.. haha.. watch the clip below... reminds me of when I was small, and race/religion was something unknown to me :) After that was the indoor Peter Pan's Flight and Snow White's Scary Adventures. Another of my fave ride was the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which told the story of Pooh and his friends.. aww... sooo cute.. poor Pooh's house got flooded... aww... hehe..

Skipped Toontown where Mickey and Minnie stayed (no rides though) as it was getting a bit late already, and headed straight to Tomorrowland. Took a ride on the Astro Orbiter and laughed out loud at the interactive Monster, Inc Laugh Floor. By the time we finished all these, it was about 6-7pm already, and we were dead tired. Ate at the bakery in MainSt..mmm... can still imagine the yummy cinnamon roll... so totally worth it.. and shopped at the souvenirs shop. The whole place was so Mickey Mouse and friends, there were even aprons, baking stuff made up of Mickey's famous logos... wow... he really is super marketable... After shopping, was hoping to catch the fireworks.. but sob sob... it was raining and the show was cancelled.. oh well.. better luck next time then. :)

Ended up taking a ferry to cross the lake to get to the shuttle bus back. Man, was I super super sleep y and tired, but was well worth it. Said goodbyes to my new friends (pls come to Singapore one day ) and snoozed once I hit my bed at the hotel....hmmm.... miss it now.... Twas an unforgettable journey, with wondrous company in an amazing land...

Day FOUR – Shopping and Rest Day (Blogging From Narita)

As above.. was thinking of gg around some more, but with each entry to the parks up to almost USD100, decided to do other stuff today. Spent some time IM-ing frens in Singapore who were gg to the Sundown Marathon tt night (Just got their msg-es : Congrats BK – amazing feat.. dun think I can ever beat you now .. KL .. KL.... one month's time..; and Terence (diff Terence from the aforementioned Terence) hehe... Good Job, bro.. get a good rest now, hope the experience wasn't to harrowing to stop you from future marathon-ing ;) )

OK.. back to Flo-rida. There were numerous other attractions, but din feel like gg there as well. Was waiting at the lobby.. and the shuttle driver to another retail outlet mall came by.. hehe.. grabbed my stuff and off I went.This one was a smaller one – Lake Buena Vista Outlet Mall. Bought a shirt and a pair of Khakis for trekking and a pair of Nike Free shoes. After lunch, spent a few hours browsing the Border's outlet there. Somehow bookstores still excite me most whenever I go shopping.

Returned in the afternoon and slacked in the room. Started packing for home curled up with Dante in my hands. Had MacD for lunch... tried the Club Sandwich tho I still prefer the Msian food back home haha.. I am growing fatter by the days here.... not good.. :p

Day FIVE – The Return to Singapore (Blogging from Narita)

Didn't sleep the whole night as my sleep cycle is horrendously weird now. I sleep from 7-12 pm, then wake around 12.30am for the whole morning.. mebbe tt's how it's meant to be.. to actually sleep at night, and wake up in the morning.. hehe.. My plane to Washington leaves at 9.28am, but as usual, forgot to make prior arrangements the day before (bad habit, btw, but so far no mishaps) went to the front desk at 5am, and the lady there helped me a lot.. phew.. packed and managed to catch the 6.05 am shuttle to the airport and realised that was lucky the second time round. The driver didn't know I was boarding, but he had 2 other passengers to pick up at the same hotel. I shudder to think if he hadn't those two.. he would've skipped my hotel.. and I would've missed the shuttle.. whoa... hehe.. thank God (really, I'm happy to have His blessings.. no matter how small they are). So then and there, goodbye America, 'O land of the Free.. and home of the Brave.

The flights from Florida – Washington and Washington - Narita was OK... not much problem there, but on landing at Narita, 2 health officials came onboard to screen the passengers. Don't know how useful this is.. cos even if I were sick, I wouldn't declare it now, would I?

Alright... got my SK-II stuff.. (they have body lotion here, hope my skin won't react to this one. So far it has rejected all lotions and moisturisers I've tried). Awaiting for the flight home now.. adieu to all for now.. till the next entry..

Trudge on and explore the world.....for it hold many wonders still to impress and much beauty left for the eye to see and the heart to feel.

Good Deed of the Morning..

2009-05-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

Helped two missionary workers who are travelling from Japan to Malaysia to attend a conference. Well, the deed was repaid in full by making two new friends.. :)

Florida - Prelude and Arrival..

2009-05-31T14:46:00.000-07:00

Time flies, and it flies fast. As I am writing this (this part of the blog), I'm on the way back from a chillaxing conference/ end-of-course tutorial/ holiday from Flo-rida.. yup yup.. the sunny and currently rainy Florida of USA. This was a sponsored trip to the AMIA Spring Congress, in which I attended the 10x10 end of course tutorial session by OHSU. Met up with the course coordinator and lecturer – Bill Hersch- and had a good discussion about furthering my studies... hehe.. could this be a start to more visits to US of A.. hehe...

OK, lets start from the beginning. .. or the prelude itself. My flight was at 7.30am from Changi, Singapore.. which is faaaar fro my Holland Village. So, stayed a night at Sok Theng's place at Paya Lebar. She picked me up and we had dinner at Carl's Jr ECP (nice grill sandwich.. mmm ) before heading back to her place and attempted to wash and wax the car... Haven't had this much fun in washing a car, and the skills learnt back when I was young came in handy. After a shower, Sok Theng and I just chilled and chatted the whole night and morning thru till it was time to go. She dropped me off at the airport, at around 5am.. and so, the Flo-rida journey begins.

Check-in was fast.. and as usu, since this is the first time I'm chking in luggage since a looong time.. I totally forgot about a luggage tag. Oh well.. think about sth on the way back later. Zombified and half dead (note that I did not sleep that morning to help adjust to USA time), headed to the departures lounge and .. lounged.. omos fell asleep a coupla times on the bench so tried as much as possible to roam the small duty free shop and 7-11 to stay awake (extra note to self later.. need to top up on SK-II)..

Don't remember much about this flight to Narita, cos I was sleeping the whole way through. Only woke up for drinks and pretzels and food. The flight was not full so I had 2 seats to myself.. hehe.. extra leg space.. nice. Landed in Narita with only 1 hour to transit and pass the slow security chk.. everybody was transiting too.. so it took ages, but got on to the next plane.. the plane proper to USA!! - Washington.. to be exact.. yay!!!

This flight from here on was interesting... firstly..an unexpected little surprise to me.. was walking the aisle all the was back to the Economy class seats.. when suddenly.. I looked up and saw that I was passing seat number 30 already.. hmm.. my seat number was 21. hmm... took a few steps backwards and lo and behold.. I was UPGRADED to Economy Plus. Twas a small upgrade, but the extra leg space was good for this 15 hours journey... love that chking-in lady in Changi. I brought Ivy's Crime and Punishment with me. Its a classic. so.. a bit boring la.. snoozed so many times on it (no worries, gurl, did NOT drool on it). Nvm that.. talked to a coupla passengers who gave very good tips on what to do in Flo-rida, and one guy who works for an environmental evaluation consulting company... who evaluates pesticides usage in farms.. hehe ….(wink wink to Ivy).. he gave me a lowdown on all the rides in Disney World.. and tt came in useful later on. Somewhere at the end of the flight, got a few new contacts who said to call them if I need any help.. including one very interesting one from the US Dept of Defense Technology.. wow..

After 15 hours on the plane, finally landed in the Dulles Airport in Washington. Collected my bag and went through security, barefooted. Seems that the shoes get extra special treatment of getting x-rayed as well.. no frisking tho.. damn.. I wanted to be frisk at least once in USA.. like on TV.. thought that would be cool... haha.. made it to the departure lounge safe and sound.
Browsed through Borders and found the book I wanted – Dante's Inferno from the Divine Comedy- yes, Terence, managed to get the book, but not in Singapore. Great read, but really scary as he goes deeper. Also bought Bram Stoker's Drac.. good time to reread it since I cant remember much about it anymore.. hehe.. so my FIRST purchase in USA were BOOKS!!! haha.. I am such a nerd.. but a wholesome loveable one. Anyways.. settled down floor at the pillar nearby (the seats were full) and set the books on the floor to take pics of them (I was actually proud of 'em) and.. out of the blue, a voice asked “Hey, are you a college student?” from the other side.. I was stunned for a sec.. but the owner of the voice (a real cute prof) come round the pillar to reveal himself. “Hi.. and nope.. not in college anymore” I replied.. We had a good chat right up to boarding time and apparently he was on his way back from roughing it out in Turkey for three and a half weeks, where he was researching the religious tolerance there.. and he was paid to do that by the University he works at.. damn.. how come I dun get that kinda oppurtunities.. but hey.. he asked me to come over and further my studies one day.. hehe.. well.. it'll be like my dream job.. to study sociology, anthropology, history.. I'm still so dreamy....but for now, I gotta get myself settled before mum gives me one of those lectures again (which by the way has restarted since my 2 yrs of fun and games are already up) To those who know my family better (esp my cousins).. pls pls pls help me out.. you guys know my mum.. and I really dun wanna worry her cos I love her a lot :).. my first ever personal plea of desperation.. well, sorta

Ok... boarded the plane to Flo-rida... finally, gonna reach the place I set out for. Another 2 hours.. just another 2 hours.. tired liao.. but the flight was smooth.. and ta-da!!! In sunny (by then was already dark la) Flo-rida.. Grabbed my bags, and cabbed to my hotel. Here, the cabbie missed a turn while chatting, but he gave me the flat rate anyways... so no worries there.. just that.. cabs in America is EXPENSIVE!! The ride was looong, about an hour.. but managed to catch a glimpse of the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom. Chked in and zzz...

Updating = heavy work

2009-05-31T14:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I blogged.. partly cos I was busy and was held up with a lot of things, but mainly cos I'm lazy .hehe.. but it's time I restart noting down my stuff again before I forget about them. I started the blog to keep track of what I did and plan what I want to do next.. which to some is sorta bragging about myself, but hey.. its my blog. But honestly, I do hope that the blog do help to dispel some fears and doubts that you guys have (yes, you, the readers) about living life out loud and enjoying urself. ;)

So in the last 2 months I've done:

Skydiving - long and funny story.. to be blogged later
Ironman China - failed.. badly.. sad sad
RAW duathlon with flu (bad bad flu) - managed to fin but bad bad timing
KL + Genting Trip with the girls - to be blogged later if got time
Kuching and Bako with cousin - to be blogged later
Ice skating
Florida trip - gonna be done by this week.. I hope

Trudge on...

To travel or not to travel...

2009-05-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

Countries I've Been To:
1) Malaysia
2) Singapore
3) Thailand
4) Indonesia
5) China
6) USA
7) UK
8) France
9) Germany
10) Austria
11) Switzerland
12) Lieschstenstein
13) Spain
14) Holland
15) Italy
16) Vatican City
17) Nepal
18) New Zealand

19) Monaco

20) Australia

21) Cambodia - 2010

Need 2 more to hit 20 by the yr's end.. soon soon...

My Birthday Month...

2009-03-28T20:29:00.001-07:00

Okies.. the interesting/funny/weird things I've done/happened to me this month:

1. Went to Jason Mraz's concert
2. Signed up for Ironman China
3. Completed Aviva Half-IM Singapore
4. Kissed Crowie!!! ... cuuuuute!!!
5. Made A Chinese Visa for the first time... still haven't done the US one...
6. Made egg tarts for the first time.. hehehe.. turned out ok.. but need to learn how to make a proper dough
7. Booked 5 plane tickets in one day from 3 different airlines... and still haven't signed up for Krisflyer.. lazee....
8. Tried on a wetsuit... for the triathlon... hot hot hot... (me and me in the wetsuit ;)
9. Bumped into Abey (which I've not seen for a loooooong time) on the bus to KL.. wow!!
10. Celeb Bdae in KL this yr... thanks gurls for all the makan and prezzies...

alritey... on to the next!!! ;) ;)

Trudge on

Crowie!!!!

2009-03-21T01:21:00.000-07:00

'Nuff said!!!

Things I do when I'm free...

2009-03-07T19:41:00.001-08:00

Very rarely I get to just stay in Singapore... So here are a few things that I do when I'm in...

1. Take funny pics of things arn me.

2. Iron my clothes

3. Read/Arrange books on my shelves (Not advisable to be seen in public)

4. Make food

5. Eat food (no need picture la)

6. Sleep

7. Watch anime (Naruto currently...)

8. Blog

Mr Curiosity...

2009-03-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

Went for a Jason Mraz concert last night, and it was great (thanks for everything, SM).. but one song that really touched my heart was Mr Curiosity (well other than the fact that he was an EXCELLANT singer)... Everytime I hear that song, tears starts to well in my eyes. The music is hauntingly beautiful, the lyrics reminds me so much of what I feel most of the time.. and that love is a mystery..

"I'm looking for love this time...
sounding hopeful
but it's still making me cry...
Trying not to ask why..,
cause love is a mystery....

Mr curiosity, be Mr Please... do come and find me..
love is blinding when the timing never's right
who am I to beg for difference...
finding love in just an instant
but i don't mind..
at least i've tried...
I've tried..."

:)

trudge on....

MARCH!!!

2009-03-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

It's March, my fave mth of the year!! My birthday month... (and really, I have no idea why I love it sooo much)

Interesting fact about my birthday:

27 (date) x 3 (month) = 81 (year)

I knoe... Lala needs a life after all...

hahah

Trudge on..