I have been eating too much!!! I better behave myself and self discipline!!!! Our VP is here this week from our HQ office and offered us lunch-in treat. Me being an initiator as usual (call myself being kepo lah) I asked boss if she would like me to help order food. Guess she is more than happy that I offer the help. It was a treat from my VP but boss passed me $40 and requested that I paid the balance. She will then pay be back. So with 4 extra-large Canadian pizza, 20 chicken wings, 50 sushis, I forked out another $100 on my own pocket money and still haven’t got reimburse today….**sob**sob**…I hope she wont’ forget me :( $100 I can buy a lot a lot of meals leh....

With only 10 pax to feed, you would have imagined how much leftover we had. Having 2 large pizza, 2 chic wing and some sushi is really too much for my lunch loh!!! As I was really looking forward for CBD run in the evening, lo and behold…………it started to rain!!! The cloud was dark by 5:45pm…Slight drizzle at Suntec. I sms WC if it’s raining in TP. He replied the cloud was dark!!! I stood in the middle of the road for 5 mins deciding if I should take the risk to head down to TP for CBD run (in case no rain leh) or should I head back up to Suntec gym to work off those pizza from my waistline. As I was contemplating, rain drops gets heavier. That’s a sign…… I head back to Suntec and join the combat class for an hour, punch and kick as hard as I could, followed by a 10 mins run.

Still….I felt that my stomach is a bit bloated till today….Urgh….I hate the feeling of bloating…

BG Run #1

It was my first BG (Botanic Garden) run with the sgrunners gang. Lead up by Sotong, we did a route that is out of BG this time round.

Old-SMU -> Evans Road -> Bukit Timah Road (towards clementi) -> Clementi Road (Turn at King Albert Park) -> Ulu Pandan Road (Turn at the Army Dogs Unit) -> 6th Avenue (slopes!!!)-> Bukit Timah Road (towards SMU -> Old-SMU.

It was approximately 14.5km.

Being the first timer for BG run, I doesn’t want to missed my way, so I set of early, leaving home at 5:50am. NOTE: it’s 5.50am on a SUNDAY!!! I couldn’t believe that I’m doing this!!! Used to think that it’s such a silly thing to do but somehow, I wanna to do it this time. I want to get my butt off and start moving to burn off the excess I have from the previous day. And I believe that it is so much easier to run in a group rather than doing it on your own. So, here I come.

Being the 1st to reach old SMU track, I bump into Tiwazz at the main gate. Shortly after, Charlotte arrived. We set off at 7:10am. Right after turning into Clementi Road towards Ulu Pandan (that’s abt 5.5km), the fun started. It was slopes all over again and again. I think there’s at least 5 slopes in all. Being pretty weak at slopes, I was trying all sort of running position and technique to ‘evaluate’ which one helps me to perform the best. Well….I’m still figuring out. I think I found one but I still need to give a couple of try again :) Took a break at Jelita Cold Storage to get some drinks and off we set to 6th Avenue (10km)….slopes again.

As I was reaching the junction turning back to bukit timah road, my legs are getting heavier, my calves are tight but I insist to do a slow jog and not letting myself to walk. It was pretty draggy though as the sun is shining hot by that time. Finally, a good close to 2 hr run……I saw old-smu entrance. I’m glad I completed the run without any abrasion or discomfort, other than a pair of tired legs.

We headed off to brunch at Botanic Garden food court AND…… after all the sweat and hard work burning off the excess, I pump in a whole lot of carbo and sinful food!!!! (giving excuses to reward myself after the hardwork) I ate 2 prata!!! One of the most sinful, fattening and unhealthy food!!!!! Soon after, Sotong gave me a ride to Aljunied and off home to Zzzzz again….Such a pig!!! But got to replace my beauty sleep in the morning mah…:P

Workout summary for week 26 Feb - 4 Mar

Hmm....This week wasn't as active as I would like to be. The week seems to zooommmm past pretty quickly though...

Mon: Relax day
Tues: CBD run 6km
Wed: No run. Dinner with Darren, JC, WC and Derek
Thurs: Weight training (30mins), Run 5km, cross train 15mins
Fri: Slack
Sat: Church
Sun: Run 8km

CBD Run 27th Feb

When it’s Tuesday, it means CBD run. WC joined me for the 2nd time. I had initially told him that I will follow the rest to do the longer route (the steamboat route). If he’s comfortable, he can tag along, else he can do the normal 6km Jetty route.

WC asked me to go ahead as soon as we hit the junction towards Marina South. I ran according to my normal speed with a group in front and a couple of them behind me. I took a peek a couple of times at my back to ensure that WC is still within sight and that there’s someone with him. As we reached towards the Jetty which is about 3km, everybody seems to have overtook WC. But he is running pretty comfortably on his own pace – OTOT no stress. Unlike the 1st time he joined me following my pace, he was panting pretty hard and couldn’t last as long as this time round.

I turned around before hitting the U-turn point and directed WC to join me. We ran together for a while. I was still going strong and continue my pace to catch up with Angie who is about 50m in front of me. As much as everyone of us need, I gave Angie a "Jia You" as I approach closer to her. As we reach the junction towards the 9.5km route, I gave a signal to WC if he wants to go for it or the other way back to our starting point. He pointed his finger towards the front direction. That will be the usual 6km route back to TP. With not much ppl left at the back and mostly have make their turn to the 9.5 route, I decided to go back with WC and Tiwazz who had some injuries during last SCSM. So it’s slow and easy for him too.

So, we were the first three to get back to the starting point since the rest are going to the steamboat route. Nevertheless, it’s a recovery run for me after Sunday’s CV route. WC stamina seems to be improved a little, being able to run throughout the 6km at a slow and steady pace.
Kudos!!!

Workout summary for the week of 19 - 25 Feb

Mon: Still in KL, but did a 30min swim
Tues: Slack at home
Wed: Reach S'pore, tried to run but no stamina, no energy with all the goodies. Did only 2km
Thurs: Run 8km (gym)
Fri: Cycle Spin 30mins, Run 1.5km
Sun: Run 15km

Pasir Ris -> Changi Village

While JC is going to have his marathon this coming Sun in HK, this week will be a relaxing week for him. No intense training. We decided to go for a relaxing run (for him, definitely not for me) in the morning. We set off at 7am, after a short warmup and stretches.

Time: 7am
Route: Pasir Ris Blk 511 - Loyang Ave - Changi Village and back
Estimate mileage: approx 15km

Having to run with JC for the first time, he asked me to start off first since he is following my pace (that's obvious). I can die following his 4-5min/km pace. He started to pace with me shortly after I take off. I was panting pretty hard the 1st 5 mins. Dun understand why (Uh..maybe I'm stressed to run with him. haha). After 10-15min, my breathing was back to normal. I just need more time to warm up. Off we went on a 6.5-7km pace.

Our initial plan was to run to Changi Village, take a short break, I will take a bus home while JC will continue to run back. We didn't know the exact mileage from PR to CV so our guess is 10km one way. I can't possibly follow him to do a 20km for 2 way.

Once we hit the junction of Loyang Ave, off we went for the slope going towards the Loyang industrial area. JC is asking if I can take the slope. It was a short one and it was like 20mins after we start. I still have plenty of energy. So chiong ah!!! After chionging the slope, it was pretty comfortable going thru the industrial area and flat terrain, weather is cooling. Until we reach the Air Base or something like that there are a few small slope here and there. I told JC I hate all this long small slope. I would rather have a higher slope and choing all the way. He say, dun worry too much of these slopes . Without you knowing, you already run over it. And true enough..... I was looking down instead of looking ahead. In a short while, JC ask me to look behind, the slope is now behind me...haha....talk about mind game :)

I started to see sign board, towards "Changi Village". Yay!! I'm excited. Slowly and steadily, maybe another 1km upon seeing the signboard, we make a left turn towards CV where the famous nasi lemak is. That is approx 45-50mins. It's definitely less than 10km. Probably about 8km. JC went for toilet break while I did some stretching. We went towards 7-eleven for 5 min water break. JC asked if I'm ok to run back, else he will go on his pace while I wait for the bus. I was still feeling pretty ok at that time, so I decided to run back, with the intention to stop half way and let him chiong his speed back.

Run and run and run until I hit 1 hr 20 mins or so, my feet started to feel weak but my breathing is still ok. JC say to let him know when I'm not ok. I asked, how do I know if I'm ok or not. He said, when everything is not right. You want to vomit, you feel giddy...then that is not ok. Being tired IS OK!! it's now all on my mental power. We are back to the industrial area, coming to a final slope before we reach the junction to PR, a slope that everybody claims to be a killer. I decided that I will run back and not to take a bus. Let's see how far I can go. I'm weak, my leg has not much strengh left, what's more having to climb a slope. I did it very very slowly, struggling a little. But I did it! Once I hit the top of the slope, it all downslope now towards PR - Downtown east direction.

By this time, my sole is giving me some discomfort and my thigh is a little stiff. I slow down my pace so much so that I wanted to stop. I think a brisk walker is faster than me at this time. No More Energy! I told JC I want to stop. He said, do it slowly until the traffic light. Slowly and slowly, I see Downtown east infront. I said I will stop there. OK! the time now is 8:40am. We have covered approx 15km by the time we reach Downtown East. Yay!! My PB (personal best).
With about 500m more to go, we did a walk, jog and chiong back to blk 511.

Feeling satisfied with myself, walk back to the void deck, did a cool down, home, shower, off to breakfast, sleep, wakeup, start to blog :)

CNY Break

All I could say is, my trip back to KL for CNY is all about eating and sleeping. Uh... I didn't really eat THAT much but I'm munching on CNY goodies like every hour!! URGH!! Sleep...... is the ultimate one. On average, I think I slept about 13 hours guah..including my afternoon nap..hehehe....

I'm not sure if this is a good sign or not, but the moment I went home, I felt like coming back.. I'm counting down every single days how many more days before I get to come back to Singapore. I dunno why. Probably 1st, I have nothing to do at home. Yeah..everybody tend to say shopping loh. But really, I don't find stuff in KL cheap anymore. Simple thing can easily give you a 3 digit figure. 2nd, maybe I'm just not used to the environment there anymore. 3rd, ppl on my age group in church are all new faces, maybe just a couple left. But distance and time draws away the relationship, don't u agree?

Anyway, it's good to see my family and relative again. When my nephew called me from Australia, he wishes me "Happy New Year", "Gong xi gong xi" (I doubt he understand what's the meaning :) ) and asking me to give him ang pao next year. I could hear from the background voice that my sis is teaching him that :P

Summary for the month of Jan

I was trying hard to recall hard what's happen in the month of Jan. Perhaps, the most significant steps that I've made in Jan is officially joining a running group. Hmm...officially.... sounds very serious woh!! Nah.... since I'm working in Suntec, I'm joining them every Tuesday to do a CBD run around Marina South area, ranging from 6-10km. Weekend run...depends on mood loh..

It was real weird the first them joining them running in a CBD area. We started off at 7pm at Tanjong Pagar MRT -> Maxwell Road -> Marina South - Jetty and back giving me a good start of approx 6km. You could have imagine that there are tonnes of ppl around TP at that time. I felt weird to be dressed up in running gear in that area. But well.... I'm used to it by now. Who cares :P

Time changed

Yesterday evening, I received 2 suprised sms in a row.

1st Message
========
Bizi, I want a barbie toy, not stationary. If too expensive, then nvmd.
This is my hp no........Mei Mei

Within a split of second, I received the next

2nd Message
=========
Bizi, I want bionicle Piraka or Toa Inika. This is my hp no.....Boy

This two messages are from my niece and nephew, age 11 and 12. You got my point?! They both had a hp at this age!!!! I'm like "WHAT??" you got a hp? Mummy (who is my sis) bought for you?

Ah well..they are using their dad's old phone and my sis is getting them a prepaid card. I'm just thinking.... what gadget I had at that age. Hmm....five stones? Monopoly? Mayyybeeeee I had those gigantic cassette tape walkman.... :)

How like that?

I was on a phone conversation with a consultant from Beijing last week. Yes, he is from China and you could have imagine his chinese speaking is "chimology"! I spoke to him in chinese obviously with a mixture of english and requested him to send me some screenshots. This is what I get......



This.....is one of the screenshot from an Exchange server properties. IT illiterate people, Exchange server is an application that host all your corporate emails. This is where you configure it to have your email as xxx@company.com... blah blah blah...

How am I supposed to read this screen leh... Nevermind, all I need to know is which check box is ticked and compare it to mine which is in english...hehehe This is just the beginning, I seriously hope that I do not need to deal with Microsoft product in chinese :(

Home Sweet Home

I'm finally back! Despite the foggy condition at Heathrow, there is no delay at all. When I first arrived at Heathrow 2 weeks ago, I didn't have much time to take a look at the airport surrounding though this is not the first time I've been there.

But on the day when I came back, I soon realized that Changi Airport is the best! Heathrow, being known as one of the busiest airport in the world, wasn't as organized as Changi I would say. Maybe it's the busiest time for Heathrow on my return cuz everybody is rushing home for Christmas. And due to the fog and flight cancellation the day before that, the condition is quite chaotic. It is crowded, messy and long queue everywhere. I am glad to be back :)

Having said that, I am having a mild jetlag. I couldn't went to bed till 4am tis morning. By the time I knock off, the alarm started to ring. Time to get out of bed and go to work, while everybody else seems to be taking leave this week to go holiday...urghhhhhhh :(

Temperature -2 Severe Fog

I just came back from a short walk at the shopping area nearby my hotel. It wasn't a pleasant one but at the same time I felt so restless staying in the hotel room playing with the remote control. I decided to go for a walk but it wasn't a long one. It was soooo cold my ear almost wanted to fall off. In addition to the severe fog that causes hundreds of domestic flight cancelled in Heathrow, it is really not a good time to do shopping out there.

So, I'm back to the hotel again playing with the remote control :)

Visibility < 100m

Temperature : -2 to 1C Foggy

It looks scary. The visibility is only within 100m. All you see is fog. Left right front back, you are surrounded by fog. The weather has been like this in the UK for the past 2 days. It's much colder than last week when I first landed. As I was watching the news minutes ago, I was stumped to find out that a lot of flights are cancelled due to the bad weather. And this is most likely to last till Friday. I'm going back on Saturday and I'm praying hard that the weather will turn out fine :)

The flag is up, the Queen is in

This is Windsor Castle. Can you spot the flag? When it is up, the Queen is in. Yeah..this was yesterday when I paid 13.50 pound = S$40 for a visit to the castle. IT IS expensive but it's an eye opening experience. How frequent will you get to visit the castle, maybe just once in a lifetime. The interior architecture is just superb. Unfortunately, phtography is forbidden.

Anyway, I am came back to the hotel tonight, full of satisfaction. Because why? Because.......finally after 8 days, I get to eat a bowl of rice!! And it is fried rice with eggs!!! Yummy!!! I have been surviving on sandwich everyday for almost all of my lunch, cereal on breakfast and after 2 bad experience I had with room service, I stopped ordering it for dinner. And I missed rice. I stopped taking dinner for a couple of days only to realized that there was indeed quite a couple of nice restaurant nearby. I decided to give a try to this Thai restaurant upon checking out their menu at the entrance and making sure that the price is reasonable, although there is no limit of my food allowance.

I ordered fried rice with eggs and a plate of stir fried mix veggies. Hmmm...that was delicious. It makes me feel at home. Very chinese like cooking style. I came back to the comfort of my room, happily updating this blog and catching up with the "killer" news again :)

Day 7 - London

Temperature -> 6C sunny

After a night of recovery from the headache I had last night, I'm off to London in the morning with Andrey, a colleague from Russia. While waiting for the rest to arrive later, we head off to Harrods. The famous luxurious shopping center where Princess Diana used to do her shopping. The rest of the day are on sight seeing.
Seen at the top is the London Eye in the far left. Far right is the Big Ben. London Eye was initially built by British Airways as part of their promotional activities and it was meant to be temporary. But because of popular demand, it has now become a permanent landmark in London.

Tower of London of which many mistaken it as London Bridge.


River Thames from Windsor leading to London

Day 6 - Deaf and dumb

Event of the day -> Department Christmas dinner at Guananbara, London

It was a Brazilian...whatsoever restaurant with live music. Sounds good? Brazillian food is not common in Singapore, so you must be wondering what sort of food will it be. So am I.
It was a "Oh My Goodness" kind of place the moment I step in. My eyes almost pop up and my jaws are dropping. I can't believe I'm ending up at such places.

The moment I opened the door, all I see is darkness, smoke, smells of alcohol. That is not all ok. It was sooooooooo crowded I got to squeeze myself in to find where my other colleagues is AND the music is sooooooooooo damn loud!!! Sorry.....I got to use the d*** word cuz it's really d*** loud I can hardly hear myself even after shouting my lungs out. I felt as if I'm in a red light district. You can imagine how the ang moh is...drinking, dancing, couple mushi mushi here and there, bar girls going around selling turqilla. I juz can't believe it that we're having a department dinner in this place. I'm having problem hearing and talking throughout and became a passive smoker for 1 whole hour!! Oh my goodness. All I care off is to eat fast and leave fast. My head is getting heavier, my throat is aching, my ear hurts and I'm loosing voice. Imagine we have to use our mobile to key in messages to talk to one another. Having said all this, there's always something to be thankful. That there are ppl on the same channel as me. They hate the place as much as I do. So we ate as fast as we could and leave the place after an hour.

Here's some pics that I took though you couldn't tell that the place is that bad from the pics. But believe me....IT IS BAD!!!



Brazillian food? It's just another set of western food to me.

Me and Marina below -> can't wait to leave the place.

Day 4-5

Temperature 9-13C, Cloudy

The long awaited Thursday finally came but ended up in a little disappointment. Why long awaited, because there is late night shopping on Thursday in Windsor during Christmas season. Why disappointed, because it doesn't really make much difference. The street probably have a couple more people than usual, shops are open but yet is as quiet as if it's closed.

Good thing though that I went with 2 of my colleagues today and found out from them that there's actually burger king, mcdonald and CHINESE FOOD nearby!! YAY!! I dun need to struggle on room service anymore! muahahahaha :)

After a few days watching the TV during the night, something funny I noticed abt the TV media here. If you have been following the news lately, even Asia1.com reported it, there's a serial killer in British island killing prostitutes. So far 5 is dead naked within 10 days. Everyday when you switch on the TV, this is what is being reported and when the news session ends, it takes a break, news again to report on the same thing. Every day and night without fail. The thing that puzzled me is that, it seems that other than weather forecast, this is the one and only news that they have been reporting and nothing else!! I am serious ok......British is such a big country and I'm totally not convinced that they have nothing else to report other than the killing. I dun understand loh. So boring...other TV channel sucks as well. Just when I'm typing this in my hotel room, I'm still hearing the same stories.........

Day 3

Temperature 9C, Sunny :)

At last, after 2 gloomy days, I see sunlight with blue sky and cooling air. Love it!! Managed to do a quick snap before the weather turn bad again. As I was walking along the main road outside the hotel while waiting for my 'driver' to pick me up to work, I soon realized that Windsor is indeed a beautiful town. It was dark, drizzling and gloomy last two days, so didn't even bother to step out of the hotel. But I haven't got a chance to take good pictures on it and are yet to explore the castle and shopping area. Hopefully.....weather will be good over the weekend.

Just an overview.............................

My hotel. Doesn't really give a "wow" feeling but it's decent, clean and cozy



Cathedral? It's just diagonally opp the hotel.


Talking about that fish & chips, not to mention that it cost a bomb but it taste -> sucks :( I am so NOT HAPPY with it loh even though I dun need to pay for it. I regretted....regretted of not bringing any 3 in 1 milo, regretted of not bringing cup noodle....muahhhhhhh...I missed it! Maybe....I'll go grab some over the weekend when I'm at London Chinatown hehehe....

For the next 13 days

This is my bed.....



This is the dining place for breakfast......


This is my toilet .........

Day 2

Temperature : 7C - Chilly

I totally knocked out b4 7pm yesterday night thinking that I can possibly sleep for 12 hours (as what I can usually do in Sin) but guess what, I woke up at 3am feeling energetic and couldn't get back to sleep till 5am. Luckily I managed to snooze another 2 hours before I got a wake up call at 7am.

Windsor, a small little town that I'm staying right now, is a nice town afterall. My hotel is located right opposite Windsor Castle. Yeah...nice castle but...sad to say....I have no time to explore. Imagine, I'm off to work at 8, leave office at 5.30. By the time I reached the hotel, it's already 6pm. To make thing worst.....it's already dark at 4pm, shops are closed at 5.30. So you see lah....how to explore like that!!! Dun talk about shopping. Want to take pictures also cannot!!!!!!Day time gloomy, at night lagi cannot say.

And there's no where that I can get dinner other than ordering room service. Look at this. Guess how much this meal cost me? If not because I can claim it back from office, cut my throat...I will starve till the morning breakfast!



Make a guess. How much do you think this meal cost me?