A lot of ppl have asked.. how much do I actually train a day? I'm into running, cycling, swimming, climbing, trekking, diving, rafting, yada yada yada. So, to repeat the question, how much do I actually train a day? To put it simple, its based on a few factors - weather, fatigue level, boredom and how much I can get myself out of my ever too comfy bed at times - in other words, it's really how I feel on that day at that moment itself. There were a few weeks that I did swimming x1hr, runningx1hr and cycling x1hr, all in a day, 5 days a week. Then, I took a week break to recuperate.. It can get exhaustingly tiring, but I just never show it out :). For those who think I never tire out ... ask some of my best mates who have seen me crash out before.. not a pretty sight, plus I tend to sleep 15 hrs straight during the weekends if I overtrained in the weekdays :) I'm not superwoman, though I do try hard to be Catwoman (she's waaaay hotter in a black cat suit - not the Halle Berry version though).. meow meow...
So this past week has been a resting week, partly I'm preparing my injured left knee for the upcoming ultramarathon on Sat night. I just want to complete it, so not into the timing strictly... It's a 84 km run.. so wish me well...and that I survive the ordeal. YY's my designated emergency contact, so... if anything happens... er...welll......
:) trudge on all, will report more on lala's life later on.... after the race :), after all, i dont expect my fingers to be incapacitated, just my hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, toes.. and my brain ...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Accuracy Of Death
Just went to watch a new show today – Accuracy of Death – starring, the ever cutie heart throb Takeshi Kaneshiro. Interesting show, it depicts Takeshi as the Grim Reaper, who goes around judging soon-to-die ppl for 7 days, before deciding if the person should or should not expire. Even with a grave theme, the show is light-hearted and displays a poignant sentiment, in which, the Grim Reaper, even with immortality, can never understand the meaning of death as he is clueless about the meaning of living. And it is this cluelessness that Takeshi displayed very very well.
The show takes it viewers into the simplicity of Takeshi’s character as the Grim Reaper. He is as though a Junior Reaper, still new to the whole ball game, and has almost no experience in human emotions. Intertwined in the lives of 3 human characters, slowly, but surely he starts to understand what he must do, and the effects of it all can only be seen in the last character he got involved in, where he finally come to a realization of what living means. The first character, a despairing OL, learned to live again, with what little hope there is. The second featured a yakuza as the dying person, but innuendo-ly was about his sidekick, and the third character, the one that links it all together, was about a 70 year old hairdresser, who has seen it all but has one more wish to fulfill before she says goodbye.
Other Reapers were in the show too, to brighten the mood and provide somewhat of a comedic relief, and it really is fun to see them. ☺ Somehow, I really wish they were shown more in the show too.
The theme song “Sunny Day”, has a few deeper meaning to it, and to each character in the show. Only in the end however, do the audience get to hear the whole song.. sort of like to keep the suspense reined in.
Death in this show was not a sad thing, it was accepted smoothly, in which the person has finally fulfilled his purpose in life, and has no regrets in dying. Good and simple show, I would say, that would make a person think back of the things he or she has done in life.. I would give this a “watch if you want something simple” rating…
Trudge on…
The show takes it viewers into the simplicity of Takeshi’s character as the Grim Reaper. He is as though a Junior Reaper, still new to the whole ball game, and has almost no experience in human emotions. Intertwined in the lives of 3 human characters, slowly, but surely he starts to understand what he must do, and the effects of it all can only be seen in the last character he got involved in, where he finally come to a realization of what living means. The first character, a despairing OL, learned to live again, with what little hope there is. The second featured a yakuza as the dying person, but innuendo-ly was about his sidekick, and the third character, the one that links it all together, was about a 70 year old hairdresser, who has seen it all but has one more wish to fulfill before she says goodbye.
Other Reapers were in the show too, to brighten the mood and provide somewhat of a comedic relief, and it really is fun to see them. ☺ Somehow, I really wish they were shown more in the show too.
The theme song “Sunny Day”, has a few deeper meaning to it, and to each character in the show. Only in the end however, do the audience get to hear the whole song.. sort of like to keep the suspense reined in.
Death in this show was not a sad thing, it was accepted smoothly, in which the person has finally fulfilled his purpose in life, and has no regrets in dying. Good and simple show, I would say, that would make a person think back of the things he or she has done in life.. I would give this a “watch if you want something simple” rating…
Trudge on…
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Life...
Life, a question many has pondered to but nil satisfactory answers to it. I'm sure everyone has, at one point or another asked themselves, what is the meaning of life. No one is ever happy with life all the time, and vice versa, but sometimes, I wonder, what keeps us wanting to go on, wanting to move on, and more importantly.. is it in the direction we all want it to move in?
Living in itself, is the biggest adventure of a lifetime. That's one thing I am hundred percent sure of. There's no other greatest sadness in life than to lose a loved one, and no other greatest happiness in life than to see someone you love happy. Or no better sense of achievement than when you succeed in something. And yet, as humans, we are never contented, we always have desires, and either hide it deep down to never surface up, or try to find someway to fulfill them. Weirdest of all, is that when we finally truly have something we want, we tend to find someway to "sabo" it, just to prove that we are not worth it. Ever have that "what if" thoughts, before doing something? Why then do we ever consider both sides of the coins before going ahead with anything in life? Hmm.. so, then, what do we truly want if we keep thinking we're going to fail?
Life is full of hesitations, doubts, and yet we all continue living, so do we live in a big lie after all? Sometimes, or most of the time, sadly, I do feel like I'm living a life full of lies, and that it's hard for me to be free, and be myself. I try hard to impress others, but when I ask myself if it really is what I want, I usually come up with a "no". The past few crazy trips and adventures (and other life experiences) have really taught me well enough to finally realise what I want in life.. and am now not afraid to go out and get them. I'm not afraid of changes anymore, cos it is part of living and is actually the biggest part of this adventure called "life". It's hard to handle failures at times, but I'd rather handle it face on than to think about failing before I even do it. So to any of you out there wondering where I actually got all this craaazy ideas to do craaazy things.. it's more because I don't think of the end where I fail, it's more because I dream of what will happen when I succeed, and I guess, that's where I get more energy to do more and more things :) Life in itself sux, big time, .... but you know what ;) , being alive takes the cake of being the most interesting adventure there is....
So to all out there, who needs the extra push to move on in this non-celebratory part of the year (where there is no Xmas, CNY angpows, New Year's party, etc etc etc), trudge on.. and always try new adventure there are in life.. it never stops, and so shouldn't you...
Anyways, anyone up for Rafting this June?
Living in itself, is the biggest adventure of a lifetime. That's one thing I am hundred percent sure of. There's no other greatest sadness in life than to lose a loved one, and no other greatest happiness in life than to see someone you love happy. Or no better sense of achievement than when you succeed in something. And yet, as humans, we are never contented, we always have desires, and either hide it deep down to never surface up, or try to find someway to fulfill them. Weirdest of all, is that when we finally truly have something we want, we tend to find someway to "sabo" it, just to prove that we are not worth it. Ever have that "what if" thoughts, before doing something? Why then do we ever consider both sides of the coins before going ahead with anything in life? Hmm.. so, then, what do we truly want if we keep thinking we're going to fail?
Life is full of hesitations, doubts, and yet we all continue living, so do we live in a big lie after all? Sometimes, or most of the time, sadly, I do feel like I'm living a life full of lies, and that it's hard for me to be free, and be myself. I try hard to impress others, but when I ask myself if it really is what I want, I usually come up with a "no". The past few crazy trips and adventures (and other life experiences) have really taught me well enough to finally realise what I want in life.. and am now not afraid to go out and get them. I'm not afraid of changes anymore, cos it is part of living and is actually the biggest part of this adventure called "life". It's hard to handle failures at times, but I'd rather handle it face on than to think about failing before I even do it. So to any of you out there wondering where I actually got all this craaazy ideas to do craaazy things.. it's more because I don't think of the end where I fail, it's more because I dream of what will happen when I succeed, and I guess, that's where I get more energy to do more and more things :) Life in itself sux, big time, .... but you know what ;) , being alive takes the cake of being the most interesting adventure there is....
So to all out there, who needs the extra push to move on in this non-celebratory part of the year (where there is no Xmas, CNY angpows, New Year's party, etc etc etc), trudge on.. and always try new adventure there are in life.. it never stops, and so shouldn't you...
Anyways, anyone up for Rafting this June?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
New Posting!!!
There are a few dates that are important in the medical health system in Singapore aka... dates to avoid getting sick/dates to go to private docs if you do fall sick. These dates are not very known to the public, but are some dates that all docs (esp mid level seniority docs) dread. These are the changeover dates (other then exam dates, larr). It's basically when there is a changeover of junior docs around the hospital. Last one was on the 2nd of May... where all the new House Officers/ Interns are released into the real world.. with almost no practical knowledge whatsoever, and still dreamy-eyed about how real-life doctors work.
Let me straighten a few things out first. In medical school, we are only taught THEORY stuff and PROPER BUT ALMOST UNPRACTICAL ways of examining patients. We are NOT taught how to take bloods, set IV cannulas, do wound debridements... etc etc etc ... In other words, the first time we do all these are probably on the first day of work, with minimal, if any, supervision from seniors. :) so in other words... we're very much on our own most of the time, when we first start out... yup... so all of you out there can imagine the horror that happens on the first day of work as an intern. :) so....err....not a good time to go to public teaching hospitals, larr...
But anyways, that doesn't concern me now... did that a year ago, and don't ever want to repeat it again. Now I'm in MI - Medical Informatics. It's quite a new field, and it's about managing information systems in Medicine... Can hear all the hah??? coming out now... hehe... ok, in short in means trying to merge in Medicine with IT as most doctors will alw be IT- illiterate and IT ppl have almost no idea what doctors are doing most of the time (and so do most of the doctors themselves, anyways). MI tries to bridge the gap between these two, and in short tries to prevent any breakdowns in communication and workflow processes in the hospital. So for this posting, very minimal, if none at all clinical work for me. But, I'm kinda liking it in a way,where I get to think up scenarios and play them in my head while trying to see where things can go wrong. Though I don't think I can ever beat Murphy's Laws, but at least try to minimise mistakes so that most patients will not die of some sad failure of the system.... :) The only thing I don't like so far are the late evening meetings. They usually end at 8-9pm... sigh... which then makes me too tired to do my trainings for my events. I'm still adjusting to it, so might take a while before I get into late late night exercise routines. Either that, or start waking up at 5am just to go for runs.
Well, that's all the updates for now.... still at work, testing out the new system that we're rolling out in at the end of the year. Just hope I'll survive through this posting and come out alive... :)
Well, slightly dead-ish wouldn't be too bad either... hehe
Trudge on....
Let me straighten a few things out first. In medical school, we are only taught THEORY stuff and PROPER BUT ALMOST UNPRACTICAL ways of examining patients. We are NOT taught how to take bloods, set IV cannulas, do wound debridements... etc etc etc ... In other words, the first time we do all these are probably on the first day of work, with minimal, if any, supervision from seniors. :) so in other words... we're very much on our own most of the time, when we first start out... yup... so all of you out there can imagine the horror that happens on the first day of work as an intern. :) so....err....not a good time to go to public teaching hospitals, larr...
But anyways, that doesn't concern me now... did that a year ago, and don't ever want to repeat it again. Now I'm in MI - Medical Informatics. It's quite a new field, and it's about managing information systems in Medicine... Can hear all the hah??? coming out now... hehe... ok, in short in means trying to merge in Medicine with IT as most doctors will alw be IT- illiterate and IT ppl have almost no idea what doctors are doing most of the time (and so do most of the doctors themselves, anyways). MI tries to bridge the gap between these two, and in short tries to prevent any breakdowns in communication and workflow processes in the hospital. So for this posting, very minimal, if none at all clinical work for me. But, I'm kinda liking it in a way,where I get to think up scenarios and play them in my head while trying to see where things can go wrong. Though I don't think I can ever beat Murphy's Laws, but at least try to minimise mistakes so that most patients will not die of some sad failure of the system.... :) The only thing I don't like so far are the late evening meetings. They usually end at 8-9pm... sigh... which then makes me too tired to do my trainings for my events. I'm still adjusting to it, so might take a while before I get into late late night exercise routines. Either that, or start waking up at 5am just to go for runs.
Well, that's all the updates for now.... still at work, testing out the new system that we're rolling out in at the end of the year. Just hope I'll survive through this posting and come out alive... :)
Well, slightly dead-ish wouldn't be too bad either... hehe
Trudge on....
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Phew, the most stressful week so far...
Wow....1st May already... whoa... time really did fly fast.. I could still remember 1st January very well.. and already, we've made past 4 months.. okay, no more on the Mulu Trip, but rather on what happened after that. Well, I made it back safe and sound (but tanned, again...) in Singapore at 4 am 2 Sundays ago.. and..yup... was super dead on that Sunday. Rested a bit, but not too much, as I still had 3 presentations to prepare for. First presentation was on the Code Blue case earlier on, the second on a journal about wrist pain, and the last was an audit of the data I've been laboriously keying into SPSS (some statistical program). Other than that, I was the only Medical Officer around for the week, as my colleague was on leave that week so had to cover if anything and everything unexpected happens.. so.. can imagine the stress I was having... (okay, at least, its over for now)...
Phew, Monday, back to work... time to start seeing patients again. As all the appointments were pushed forward cos of leave, my list was full for the entire week. In between patients, I'll take time to prepare the slides... Mon - audit slides, Tues - Journal club slides, and Wed - Code blue slides. So that was my plan for the earlier part of the week... and finally, the presentations - code blue on thurs after xray rounds, and journal club and audit during lunch hour... whoa... siao... ok..take a deep breath... in...out...in ..out... .need to learn destressing methods from Ivy one day... in ...out...in ...out..
Finally Thursday arrived... after a blunder at the rounds (consultant radiologists who runs the rounds forgot about the round and was about to get breakfast... until I bumped into her on the way there..Big Boss was late, as usu), time for Jonie to shine... err... shine???... AAARGGHH!!!!! the bosses were leaving the room, one by one.... they forgot about the presentation... and had no time to hear me present !!!! sigh sigh sigh... took me 2 days to prepare mentally for this talk.. and this was after their constant reminder before I went on leave to do this... presentation... ARGHH!!!!! oh well.... at least one "down"..
Then Friday came, these 2 presentations went ok, I guess... can't prepare properly for it as it was back 2 back and was about 2 entirely different topics. The audit was interesting though, it became more of a discussion about how we can improve the data analysis and probably present it in a descriptive paper in the future. But... haha...I'm not gonna be the one to write that up.. hahha.....
I really hated to do presentations, especially about topics I don't really like. In this case, it was about the above 3 presentations I had to go through above. Though I learned alot about the stuff I was presenting about, but somehow, that didn't really impressed me and I don't think I'll remember it in the long run. Somehow, I wished I had a chance to do presentations on topics that I liked, sigh, not just thrown some random journal that IS useful, but not interesting to me. Maybe in the next posting then...
Alright.. that was the details of last week's events... the one week that stressed me out a lot. This week's stuff will be "presented" , maybe next week.. hehehe..
so till then, trudge on, fellow friends...
Phew, Monday, back to work... time to start seeing patients again. As all the appointments were pushed forward cos of leave, my list was full for the entire week. In between patients, I'll take time to prepare the slides... Mon - audit slides, Tues - Journal club slides, and Wed - Code blue slides. So that was my plan for the earlier part of the week... and finally, the presentations - code blue on thurs after xray rounds, and journal club and audit during lunch hour... whoa... siao... ok..take a deep breath... in...out...in ..out... .need to learn destressing methods from Ivy one day... in ...out...in ...out..
Finally Thursday arrived... after a blunder at the rounds (consultant radiologists who runs the rounds forgot about the round and was about to get breakfast... until I bumped into her on the way there..Big Boss was late, as usu), time for Jonie to shine... err... shine???... AAARGGHH!!!!! the bosses were leaving the room, one by one.... they forgot about the presentation... and had no time to hear me present !!!! sigh sigh sigh... took me 2 days to prepare mentally for this talk.. and this was after their constant reminder before I went on leave to do this... presentation... ARGHH!!!!! oh well.... at least one "down"..
Then Friday came, these 2 presentations went ok, I guess... can't prepare properly for it as it was back 2 back and was about 2 entirely different topics. The audit was interesting though, it became more of a discussion about how we can improve the data analysis and probably present it in a descriptive paper in the future. But... haha...I'm not gonna be the one to write that up.. hahha.....
I really hated to do presentations, especially about topics I don't really like. In this case, it was about the above 3 presentations I had to go through above. Though I learned alot about the stuff I was presenting about, but somehow, that didn't really impressed me and I don't think I'll remember it in the long run. Somehow, I wished I had a chance to do presentations on topics that I liked, sigh, not just thrown some random journal that IS useful, but not interesting to me. Maybe in the next posting then...
Alright.. that was the details of last week's events... the one week that stressed me out a lot. This week's stuff will be "presented" , maybe next week.. hehehe..
so till then, trudge on, fellow friends...
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Mulu Part 2...
Okay last Mulu posts...
14/4/08 1815
The morning started..hm.. at 8am. Was actually awake before that time, around 7.30am and realising that it quite rained the night before, we might head for the pinnacles today. So, I emptied my Rocket Bag and started to pack for the pinnacles. After that, I went to order breakfast with the guys. At 9am, I headed to the Park HQ and met Jason there. In we went and ....can we do the connection today, I asked Bian?... and YES!!!! we can do the connection today!!.. YAYY!!!.. I was super super ecstatic that I was literally jumping for joy. I ran back to the cafe, and dorm, informed the guys and and changed into my caving baju. I was really sooo happy!!!
Less than 30minutes later, we were on the boat heading towards the Wind Cave. We met our Guide Michael who gave us each a helmat and a headlamp (better than the one we used in Racer). At the cave, there was a guy who trekked all the way there and wanted to go into the Wind Cave (show cave style) but was stopped by the Guide.. apparently, he was there the day before and was adamant to visit the cave without a guide... the guide was said no still.. and the guy in the end just gave in and trekked back to the HQ. Anyways, ...the guys and Michael and I started our journey.. into the CAVES!!
Our guide had an assistant, Raymond who was a security guard at the park. Apparently, he wanted to join the group as he was still under training to be in the park's cave rescue group, so he was there to familiarise himself with the cave system as well. First, we walked through the showcave area which was on plank and cemented walkways. At the starting area, Micheal gave us a short briefing about caving etiquettes... useful, but we were more raring to go by then that we weren't really concentrating. 15 mins later, we walked down the ladder and started our journey.
The initial part was filled with boulders and sharp rocks. This part required lots of rock climbing and descending, but the best of it all, was the adrenaline rush. Pushing myself up the boulders and pulling myself up using ropes was torture, but exciting. There were not as many ropework here as compared to Racer, but most parts will require basic rock climbing skills. Almost each step was a full hip and knee flexion for me... too short ma... We were really enjoying being inside the caves, the quietness of it all, and the tranquility that was in there was really relaxing.. Imagine being in a huge huge empty room..with no one around, except the darkness surrounding you. Less than 20 mins later, we came to a clearing where we rested a while before proceeding on to the squeeze... yes squeeze!!.. its literally where you squeeze through small areas of the cave eg between opposing walls, or btw big boulders. The first squeeze was easy, sort of like a prelude to the looooong and tight 2nd one. Easy enough, requiring a bit of ropework (in lowering) at the end of it… while still squeezing ourselves through… then another 20 or so minutes trek up and down again… then another resting point before the 2nd squeeze. This time the rest was about 30mins.. and all of us shut our headlamps for a good 10minutes in between… amazing..really really amazing…it was like darkness…real darkness.. Imagine if you’re in the dark, your eyes adjusts after a while…this was like no adjustment even.. not a single ray/photon/wave of light at all. Can’t see a bloody thing… Scary at first, cos the thought of the creatures from the movie “the descent” started to play in my head, but after a few minutes…calmed down..and just peaceful.. really peaceful. I loved it there… okies, time up, time to continue on
The second squeeze was the killer one..took us about altogether ?20-30mins to get through..its just one tight squeeze after another. Even Ian, the tall one, about 180-185cm had difficulty locating footsteps during the descent. This was the connection between the Wind cave and Clearwater cave. Hehehe..that over.. another squeeze at about 20minutes later…and finally…time to get…
WET!!!! We reached the river at last… the clearWATER cave had a river that runs through it. The current was strong from all the rain we’ve been having the past few days.. and it was brrr…cold.. we had to wade through the river a few times.. while going along the banks which was actually made of slippery and sharp rocks.. but finally, about 1hr later, we reached the end or more like the opening of the cave.. finally, the caving is over…
Phew…it was really really tiring.. but fun.. had a short dip at in the river at the end, and took the boat back to camp…we were really thankful for the boat… hehe
The caving trip was magnificent, but really taxed me to the max.. had superb muscles aches… din know I was using that many muscles.. .but it was all well worth it. Oh well, tomorrow is gonna be a rest day before the pinnacles so, better rest tonight.
Time out…. Sleep…
14/4/08 1815
The morning started..hm.. at 8am. Was actually awake before that time, around 7.30am and realising that it quite rained the night before, we might head for the pinnacles today. So, I emptied my Rocket Bag and started to pack for the pinnacles. After that, I went to order breakfast with the guys. At 9am, I headed to the Park HQ and met Jason there. In we went and ....can we do the connection today, I asked Bian?... and YES!!!! we can do the connection today!!.. YAYY!!!.. I was super super ecstatic that I was literally jumping for joy. I ran back to the cafe, and dorm, informed the guys and and changed into my caving baju. I was really sooo happy!!!
Less than 30minutes later, we were on the boat heading towards the Wind Cave. We met our Guide Michael who gave us each a helmat and a headlamp (better than the one we used in Racer). At the cave, there was a guy who trekked all the way there and wanted to go into the Wind Cave (show cave style) but was stopped by the Guide.. apparently, he was there the day before and was adamant to visit the cave without a guide... the guide was said no still.. and the guy in the end just gave in and trekked back to the HQ. Anyways, ...the guys and Michael and I started our journey.. into the CAVES!!
Our guide had an assistant, Raymond who was a security guard at the park. Apparently, he wanted to join the group as he was still under training to be in the park's cave rescue group, so he was there to familiarise himself with the cave system as well. First, we walked through the showcave area which was on plank and cemented walkways. At the starting area, Micheal gave us a short briefing about caving etiquettes... useful, but we were more raring to go by then that we weren't really concentrating. 15 mins later, we walked down the ladder and started our journey.
The initial part was filled with boulders and sharp rocks. This part required lots of rock climbing and descending, but the best of it all, was the adrenaline rush. Pushing myself up the boulders and pulling myself up using ropes was torture, but exciting. There were not as many ropework here as compared to Racer, but most parts will require basic rock climbing skills. Almost each step was a full hip and knee flexion for me... too short ma... We were really enjoying being inside the caves, the quietness of it all, and the tranquility that was in there was really relaxing.. Imagine being in a huge huge empty room..with no one around, except the darkness surrounding you. Less than 20 mins later, we came to a clearing where we rested a while before proceeding on to the squeeze... yes squeeze!!.. its literally where you squeeze through small areas of the cave eg between opposing walls, or btw big boulders. The first squeeze was easy, sort of like a prelude to the looooong and tight 2nd one. Easy enough, requiring a bit of ropework (in lowering) at the end of it… while still squeezing ourselves through… then another 20 or so minutes trek up and down again… then another resting point before the 2nd squeeze. This time the rest was about 30mins.. and all of us shut our headlamps for a good 10minutes in between… amazing..really really amazing…it was like darkness…real darkness.. Imagine if you’re in the dark, your eyes adjusts after a while…this was like no adjustment even.. not a single ray/photon/wave of light at all. Can’t see a bloody thing… Scary at first, cos the thought of the creatures from the movie “the descent” started to play in my head, but after a few minutes…calmed down..and just peaceful.. really peaceful. I loved it there… okies, time up, time to continue on
The second squeeze was the killer one..took us about altogether ?20-30mins to get through..its just one tight squeeze after another. Even Ian, the tall one, about 180-185cm had difficulty locating footsteps during the descent. This was the connection between the Wind cave and Clearwater cave. Hehehe..that over.. another squeeze at about 20minutes later…and finally…time to get…
WET!!!! We reached the river at last… the clearWATER cave had a river that runs through it. The current was strong from all the rain we’ve been having the past few days.. and it was brrr…cold.. we had to wade through the river a few times.. while going along the banks which was actually made of slippery and sharp rocks.. but finally, about 1hr later, we reached the end or more like the opening of the cave.. finally, the caving is over…
Phew…it was really really tiring.. but fun.. had a short dip at in the river at the end, and took the boat back to camp…we were really thankful for the boat… hehe
The caving trip was magnificent, but really taxed me to the max.. had superb muscles aches… din know I was using that many muscles.. .but it was all well worth it. Oh well, tomorrow is gonna be a rest day before the pinnacles so, better rest tonight.
Time out…. Sleep…
Mulu Final Part
I'll finish up on the cave connections later... but here's the lowdown on the pinnacles:
17/4/08
Up and down the pinnacles – DONE!!
The trek to the pinnacles started the day before with a 8km trek from Kuala Litut to Camp 5. We started at 10am from the Mulu HQ and had a aboat ride from there. It took about 45 minutes from there. The ride was cooling (from the cool breeze) but super hot under the bright sun. About 2 thirds through, we had to get out and help to push the boat abit as the water level was too low. We didn’t stop at Clearwater Cave though, as we just went through the cave connection 2 days ago. So head on the Kuala Litut aka KL straight.
The trek to Kuala Litut was a simple 8km trek, without much dangers, but slippery nonetheless, especially on the planks. We crossed a small suspension bridge about halfway through, and the guys being as naughty as ever, shook the bridge when I was halfway through…eeeks…scarrie… I alw had this though of falling off the bridge…dunno why tho.
About 2 hrs later, we reached Camp 5, and just in the nick of time, cos right then and there, the rain started pouring. The Camp site was actually a simple dorm area, with superbly clean bathroom and toilets (even cleaner than the one in the dorm) and kitchen. However, the sleeping area was just a simple rubber mat, and that’s it, but to me, it felt nicer than the dorm. There was a river, right next to the camp, and the guys just went and jump in once we arrived. The water was cold and refreshing and the current was strong from the rain. Ok…important thing to di next - Leech check… the suspense built in me…eeks.. I hate leeches… chk chk chk… YES!!! No leeches.. bwahaha
At around 6.30pm, time for dinner. Had biscuits the whole afternoon, so was quite full already. Decided not to have dinner in the end. Helped Jason and Tom cook dinner and Tom gave me a bit of his. It was steamed rice with Beef Rendang (from the can).. tasted good with more salt though. Yummy. We had a short briefing at 7pm from the guide. We’re to start at 7am the next morning, so better grab a light breakfast and early sleep for the trek tomorrow. Packed my army bag, with a bottle of water and camera and 2 powerbars. A little more of Frankenstein (borrowed from Jason) and off to slumberland.
I must’ve woken up 3-4 times before finally forcing myself up at about 6am. Still not used to sleeping for more than 6 hrs a day. Had 2x kaya sandwich – yummy and a cup of water. Simple, but I think I’m getting fatter in this trip, eating more than what I’m using up nowadays. Hm.. might slow me down in the upcoming Ultramarathon though. Oh well, will burn soon enough though, going for the pinnacles trek in a few more minutes, and the 2-3hrs of triathlon training per day back in Singapore. Everyone slowly slumped in, and the guys had noodles for breakfast (they seemed more Chinese than me now). And around 715 am, we started the trek.
There was another group that went we us that they, 2 Scot guys who arrived at Camp 5 the same day as us. Another guide was taking another group of ?Swiss ppl up as well and started about 30mins before us, but that group had a few older people that might slow down the trek. Anyways, the trek up was a 2.4km (distance up) up sharp and rocky and partially muddy areas. We tooka break at 900m (about 15 mins) where I munch on my first powerbar. Up to here, we took about an hr. We moved on to the next 900m and had another 15 mins break before disembarking for the final 600m. We were moving at good fast speed, overtaking the ??Swiss group at the first 900m. I had more water here. The last 600m would be quite treacherous, it seemed. At about the 2km mark, the ladders started. The final push to the top was done in a very simple via ferrata way, using ladders and iron grating to fill up the gaps between the rocks and holes. This can get quite tricky, especially the parts without the ladders, and still have holes. Slippery too as the whole area was just rocks. Ooo…a lot of balancing was required as well… hmm need to do ankle rehab now.. haha
Finally, we reached the top of Gunung Api, and the pinnacles loomed before us. We arrived about 10am (the guide said we were really fast) and the weather was good. No rain so far eventhough it looked cloudy. Hmm… the Pinnacles, what can I say. It looked better from the Twin Otter plane we took 10 years ago. Sigh..mebbe cos I was smaller then. I think it wasn’t as “Wow” as I wanted it to be.. haha..was actually more mesmerized by the tiny little mountain squirrel up there. Really.. hahha…maybe cos I’m too used to all this trekking that it doesn’t impressed me as much already…hehe.. oh well… anyways, took some amazing shots, and had some biscuits from the guys. Had a relaxing 45mins break up there (supposedly usually 20mins, but we arrived there early). Had a lively chat about their travels so far (they’ve been traveling for months) and learned quite a bit about backpacking around south east asia. Was impressed by their stories of Laos and Phillipines…must make a trip down there myself one day then.
Soon, we started on our trip down the mountain. I hate going down!!! Seriously… I hate going down!!.. It was super slippery and the steps were huge for me that I was on all 4 on most of the occasion. It was the same route… but…sigh.. fell down 6 times this time, but no serious injuries as of yet. Okay, now I have a hole in my Salomon pants…and another hole which I discovered later on my Mammut pants. Darn, there goes 2 of my most faveourite pants. It took about 2 and a half hours to get down, and I made another big hole in my North Face shoes. So there goes my shoe as well.. note to self.. heck care, just buy the kasut paya next time.
At last, when I reached down…immediately took of my shirt and shoes, and into the water I went… ahhh…soooo refreshing and cooling…. Nice , just nice…. Soaking in the water really relaxed my muscles… ahh…nice nice nice.. the current was still strong but managed to sit on a rock and rested there for about 30mins before finally getting up to do a bit of washing up. Ackss..a minor abrasion over my shin … darn… so after washing up, the guide gave me some iodine to apply over the abrasion.. tqtqtq.. anyways, I gave him my small military bag/caving bag after that, since I wont be needing it anymore. Nice..this is the life. Spent the rest of the afternoon lazing about Camp 5 and writing this up. ☺. Anyways, the other group got back about 5.40pm, and their guide looked tired. Must have zapped the life outta her. One of the scots guy did a juggling show to pass the time, and he was really really good. Dinner was the same… nice, and simple. Haha… Ian had Indomie goring (which I recommended) and he liked it. Went to sleep after that as I was already so so tired from the trek today. Checked the photos I took…impressive… the camera still works. Hehe..
Anyways, that’s all for now, signing off from Camp 5 in Mulu for now.. wanna sleep already.. ☺
PS, just realized that I’ve been seeing Pink everywhere – pink tinted glasses. Hehe..silly me..
18/4/08
Final accouts….
Resting on my bed now in the dorm. Waiting for dinner time. Arrived from Camp 5 this morning after a 2hr trek/race to Kuala Litut. Leech chk – no leech bite this time. Had 3 in my shoe (funnily in my non-hole left shoe) but managed to catch them in time.
Hmm..all in all, the Mulu trip was really exciting and I relearned a bit of myself in this trip… Most importantly, I relearned that I loved caving and am raring to go for more. Climbing up, wading through the rivers, climbing down, squeezing up and down, ahh… I loved it all. Sometimes I wonder if I should just quit my day job and be a mountain/cave guide..that all will be in the future, I guess. Well, flying off tomorrow. It’s been an exciting journey, but it hasn’t ended yet.. hehe.. gonna come back one day to finish up the chambers and finally trek up Gunug Mulu itself… ☺. Gonna miss my new friends here as well, the guides, and the 3 amazingly good guys I became close to. But each beginning has an end, anyways, got their emails, so can keep in contact later on.
So till the next I come back, here’s to Mulu and the exciting trip so far, may more adventures light up my life in the future as well. Cheers’ all
Jonie from Mulu
One more part to link the 3 posts together
17/4/08
Up and down the pinnacles – DONE!!
The trek to the pinnacles started the day before with a 8km trek from Kuala Litut to Camp 5. We started at 10am from the Mulu HQ and had a aboat ride from there. It took about 45 minutes from there. The ride was cooling (from the cool breeze) but super hot under the bright sun. About 2 thirds through, we had to get out and help to push the boat abit as the water level was too low. We didn’t stop at Clearwater Cave though, as we just went through the cave connection 2 days ago. So head on the Kuala Litut aka KL straight.
The trek to Kuala Litut was a simple 8km trek, without much dangers, but slippery nonetheless, especially on the planks. We crossed a small suspension bridge about halfway through, and the guys being as naughty as ever, shook the bridge when I was halfway through…eeeks…scarrie… I alw had this though of falling off the bridge…dunno why tho.
About 2 hrs later, we reached Camp 5, and just in the nick of time, cos right then and there, the rain started pouring. The Camp site was actually a simple dorm area, with superbly clean bathroom and toilets (even cleaner than the one in the dorm) and kitchen. However, the sleeping area was just a simple rubber mat, and that’s it, but to me, it felt nicer than the dorm. There was a river, right next to the camp, and the guys just went and jump in once we arrived. The water was cold and refreshing and the current was strong from the rain. Ok…important thing to di next - Leech check… the suspense built in me…eeks.. I hate leeches… chk chk chk… YES!!! No leeches.. bwahaha
At around 6.30pm, time for dinner. Had biscuits the whole afternoon, so was quite full already. Decided not to have dinner in the end. Helped Jason and Tom cook dinner and Tom gave me a bit of his. It was steamed rice with Beef Rendang (from the can).. tasted good with more salt though. Yummy. We had a short briefing at 7pm from the guide. We’re to start at 7am the next morning, so better grab a light breakfast and early sleep for the trek tomorrow. Packed my army bag, with a bottle of water and camera and 2 powerbars. A little more of Frankenstein (borrowed from Jason) and off to slumberland.
I must’ve woken up 3-4 times before finally forcing myself up at about 6am. Still not used to sleeping for more than 6 hrs a day. Had 2x kaya sandwich – yummy and a cup of water. Simple, but I think I’m getting fatter in this trip, eating more than what I’m using up nowadays. Hm.. might slow me down in the upcoming Ultramarathon though. Oh well, will burn soon enough though, going for the pinnacles trek in a few more minutes, and the 2-3hrs of triathlon training per day back in Singapore. Everyone slowly slumped in, and the guys had noodles for breakfast (they seemed more Chinese than me now). And around 715 am, we started the trek.
There was another group that went we us that they, 2 Scot guys who arrived at Camp 5 the same day as us. Another guide was taking another group of ?Swiss ppl up as well and started about 30mins before us, but that group had a few older people that might slow down the trek. Anyways, the trek up was a 2.4km (distance up) up sharp and rocky and partially muddy areas. We tooka break at 900m (about 15 mins) where I munch on my first powerbar. Up to here, we took about an hr. We moved on to the next 900m and had another 15 mins break before disembarking for the final 600m. We were moving at good fast speed, overtaking the ??Swiss group at the first 900m. I had more water here. The last 600m would be quite treacherous, it seemed. At about the 2km mark, the ladders started. The final push to the top was done in a very simple via ferrata way, using ladders and iron grating to fill up the gaps between the rocks and holes. This can get quite tricky, especially the parts without the ladders, and still have holes. Slippery too as the whole area was just rocks. Ooo…a lot of balancing was required as well… hmm need to do ankle rehab now.. haha
Finally, we reached the top of Gunung Api, and the pinnacles loomed before us. We arrived about 10am (the guide said we were really fast) and the weather was good. No rain so far eventhough it looked cloudy. Hmm… the Pinnacles, what can I say. It looked better from the Twin Otter plane we took 10 years ago. Sigh..mebbe cos I was smaller then. I think it wasn’t as “Wow” as I wanted it to be.. haha..was actually more mesmerized by the tiny little mountain squirrel up there. Really.. hahha…maybe cos I’m too used to all this trekking that it doesn’t impressed me as much already…hehe.. oh well… anyways, took some amazing shots, and had some biscuits from the guys. Had a relaxing 45mins break up there (supposedly usually 20mins, but we arrived there early). Had a lively chat about their travels so far (they’ve been traveling for months) and learned quite a bit about backpacking around south east asia. Was impressed by their stories of Laos and Phillipines…must make a trip down there myself one day then.
Soon, we started on our trip down the mountain. I hate going down!!! Seriously… I hate going down!!.. It was super slippery and the steps were huge for me that I was on all 4 on most of the occasion. It was the same route… but…sigh.. fell down 6 times this time, but no serious injuries as of yet. Okay, now I have a hole in my Salomon pants…and another hole which I discovered later on my Mammut pants. Darn, there goes 2 of my most faveourite pants. It took about 2 and a half hours to get down, and I made another big hole in my North Face shoes. So there goes my shoe as well.. note to self.. heck care, just buy the kasut paya next time.
At last, when I reached down…immediately took of my shirt and shoes, and into the water I went… ahhh…soooo refreshing and cooling…. Nice , just nice…. Soaking in the water really relaxed my muscles… ahh…nice nice nice.. the current was still strong but managed to sit on a rock and rested there for about 30mins before finally getting up to do a bit of washing up. Ackss..a minor abrasion over my shin … darn… so after washing up, the guide gave me some iodine to apply over the abrasion.. tqtqtq.. anyways, I gave him my small military bag/caving bag after that, since I wont be needing it anymore. Nice..this is the life. Spent the rest of the afternoon lazing about Camp 5 and writing this up. ☺. Anyways, the other group got back about 5.40pm, and their guide looked tired. Must have zapped the life outta her. One of the scots guy did a juggling show to pass the time, and he was really really good. Dinner was the same… nice, and simple. Haha… Ian had Indomie goring (which I recommended) and he liked it. Went to sleep after that as I was already so so tired from the trek today. Checked the photos I took…impressive… the camera still works. Hehe..
Anyways, that’s all for now, signing off from Camp 5 in Mulu for now.. wanna sleep already.. ☺
PS, just realized that I’ve been seeing Pink everywhere – pink tinted glasses. Hehe..silly me..
18/4/08
Final accouts….
Resting on my bed now in the dorm. Waiting for dinner time. Arrived from Camp 5 this morning after a 2hr trek/race to Kuala Litut. Leech chk – no leech bite this time. Had 3 in my shoe (funnily in my non-hole left shoe) but managed to catch them in time.
Hmm..all in all, the Mulu trip was really exciting and I relearned a bit of myself in this trip… Most importantly, I relearned that I loved caving and am raring to go for more. Climbing up, wading through the rivers, climbing down, squeezing up and down, ahh… I loved it all. Sometimes I wonder if I should just quit my day job and be a mountain/cave guide..that all will be in the future, I guess. Well, flying off tomorrow. It’s been an exciting journey, but it hasn’t ended yet.. hehe.. gonna come back one day to finish up the chambers and finally trek up Gunug Mulu itself… ☺. Gonna miss my new friends here as well, the guides, and the 3 amazingly good guys I became close to. But each beginning has an end, anyways, got their emails, so can keep in contact later on.
So till the next I come back, here’s to Mulu and the exciting trip so far, may more adventures light up my life in the future as well. Cheers’ all
Jonie from Mulu
One more part to link the 3 posts together
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