Limping Marathon Runner

Gathering with ex-colleagues to have a simple dinner tonight. Anyway, it was difficult to decide a dinner place. Beng did not want Mache, RLEK did not want KennyRogers, etc. We went over to Fish and Co. for our dinner instead. Surprisingly, the food and drinks were quite good.

Beng and I had New York Fish and Chips. Hmm. .. Tasty good to me (maybe with the cheese). RLEK had just norm Fish and Chips. Gang4 and Cecilia had a Seafood Platter each, while PolarBear and gal shared one. We chatted and laughed. As usual, we were the noisiest lot. I'm sure everyone enjoyed every minute of it.

Great to be able to pop by for the run today. Tiwazz, ShutTheHelUp, Paul, Philip, Charmane3, Bee, Evelyn, Charlotte, Meteor, SportVenturer, Ronnie and Roentgen were there. Nemo and Tekko did a guest appearance. Tekko brought along some protein loading Balut. But, none of us touched it. We started the run with a loop into the Marina and did a short stop at the pier. Apparently, no one seem to know where Bee went. I did recall seeing her at the "pit stop". Charlotte, Meteor and Evelyn went to check the washroom. Nope, Bee was not there. We waited for a while before calling Nemo to get Ronnie's number since he was running in the front. We started running back. There was a spiltting point for a longer or shorter loop. Just to cover all possible tracks, ShutTheHelUp, SportVenturer, Roentgen and I went for the longer loop. The rest took the shorter loop. When it was near reaching the end point, they called to say the Bee was back. *Phew* She actually took the longer loop. Probably we waited the "pit stop" for a while and hence did not bump into her along our way. Needless to say, we saw an apologetic Bee when we were back.

Tomorrow's dinner is a small gathering of two groups mixed together. Small dinner affair with Beng, RLEK, Gang4, PolarBear and probably Cecilia.

I dropped by my office to settle some stuff and to charge my spare batteries. I don't think one set of battery can go through 7Gig of photos. By 11am plus, it was pouring outside. It was just drizzling while meeting some of the guys for some pictures sharing. Heading over to Coffee Bean, I had a "Chocolate of A Thousand Leaves" cake. Wonderful. I topped it up with a Mocha IceBlended. Eunice shared with us some of her Turkey and Athens photographs while Meteor bought more cakes. Too bad, my 2 set of batteries could not last for the 7Gig worth of pictures. I guess I will have to upload the pictures and share them out.

Got to run! I was late. Suppose to meet EndlessTrail, Saya, Jeffrey and Andy (Saya's friend) for a crab feast. I arrived last after a close 20 minutes walk to the coffee shop from the MRT. Jeffrey said, "Just walk further". Haaha! 20 minutes worth of walk. Creamy butter crab, creamy crab soup in claypot, curry crab in claypot, steamed prawns, sweet potato leaves and man-tou (bread). I think the creamy butter crab is a new taste that I have not tried before. Nice! I prefer chilli crab to curry crab. Too much crabs in one night. It will be a while before I want to have any seafood like this again.

For the past few days, feeling kinda funny. No good or bad time for this. It comes especially when I have a cup of tea in hand, relaxing off under the influence of slow music.

叶子
歌手∶ 阿桑

叶子，是不会飞翔的翅膀。翅膀，是落在天上的叶子。
天堂，原来应该不是妄想。只是我早已经遗忘，
当初怎么开始飞翔。
孤单，是一个人的狂欢。狂欢，是一群人的孤单。
爱情，原来的开始是陪伴。但我也渐渐地遗忘，
当时是怎样有人陪伴。
我一个人吃饭、旅行、到处走走停停。
也一个人看书、写信、自己对话谈心。
只是心又飘到了哪里，就连自己看也看不清。
我想我不仅仅是失去你。

Credits

I have always thought that the MTV was really sad, to lose someone you love that way. Having known that actually happened to a friend of mine, that saddens me more. If you ever find someone you love, never let him/her go. Tell your partner how much you love him/her and mean it.
Okay, too much crap crab.

Tibet Holiday: Day 1 Pictures up.
Tibet Holiday: Day 2 Pictures up.
Tibet Holiday: Day 3 Pictures up.

Trying to find time to edit my template for this webspace with a Tibetan look, or at least related. To remind me that I should look forward to a holiday again!

Thursday was a busy day for me. A meeting and followed by seminar support. My lunch? Cheese cake and chocolate cake.

Not the most filling lunch, it will have to do. I even had a small discussion during free time of the seminar. But, I think the morning meeting was really fruitful.

Taking over a training (stand in) session for today. Not an easy day too. Clearing piled up work. A dinner and movie after work with ex-colleagues and ex-colleague-to-be. X-men - The Last Stand. Just got back home. I think it was still okay. I am not really a Marvel fan. But, I just enjoy the movie. Hm.. shall I watch Over the Hedge tomorrow? Meeting Jeffrey, Saya and EndlessTrail for crab dinner on Sunday night. We kept talking about it during our Tibet trip. Mouth-watering.

Quite a day for me today. Things at work, I tried to settle. KimChi ChiGe for lunch and dinner. Yum! Dinner was fantastic with EndlessTrail and BlurLing. BlurLing was trying to finish off her main course and dessert. I called her, "Strugg-Ling". Yeah, she was struggling with her LongGan and Almond Jelly dessert. She has proved worthy of her title again by asking, "Where did I put the tickets?". What!?!! We were about to proceed to the cinema for Davinci Code!!

Cool! I got the 2 DVDs from EndlessTrail, 7Gig worth our Tibet trip pictures. More uploading of pictures soon. A lot more on food photography.

I think I need a new pair of shoes for work. Either this pair of shoes go or my feet will. Shopping later today?

Damn... I dropped my journal in the toilet bowl on the 4th day. The updates are in another makeshift journal. Silly freak accident. It was even video-ed down, courtesy of EndlessTrail.

2 pictures to share (on our way up to EBC).

It is great to join this running family again. After my long absence due to work and followed by a holiday, I did a good 9km with Tiwazz, ShutTheHelUp, Paul, Philip, Charmane3, Bee, Puay Hien, Morgan, SportVenturer, Ronnie and Roentgen. Kops21 and sweetheart did a surprise drop-by. Sxuanjing wasn't feeling well and had to see a doc after saying hello. Meteor joined us for dinner.

I went for Mission Impossible III Movie today. Since it has been showing for quite a while, I thought we did not need to get tickets in advance. We were wrong. 4pm show was already sold out when we got there. We had to opt for the 5pm show elsewhere.

Before meeting EndlessTrail for the movie, I stopped over at the library and borrowed a travel book on Bhutan. EndlessTrail was already asking, "When?".

I love food photography.
I miss those noodles already. At least, I know how to cook the noodle soup that we had at Yang Pa Chin Village (羊八井).
Okay. Enough slacking for a day in the weekend. Some things waiting for me to do tomorrow and to watch MI3 with EndlessTrail too.

Aims

• Northern lights: Aurora Borealis
  
• Grand Canyon
  
• Pyramids
  
• The Alps
  
• Acropolis
  
• Colosseum
  
• Taj Mahal
  
• Angkor Wat

Done

• Mount Everest: Base Camp
  
• Great Wall of China

I should have gotten myself a DSLR all along.

I went for a 4km run, something that I have not been doing for close to 2 weeks. Felt great. What could be worse? I miss Tibet and traveling already.

I want to go back and grab some tea pots, many more pictures and some yummy noodles.

Back in business.... time to kick some old school butt.

Meanwhile, work is piling up too.

It has been a really eventful day. Moments of highs and lows (and I mean really low). Let us start with Potala Palace. Reaching there early, the way up that we took was interesting. Vast land (and mountains) as view on our way up and it is just awesome. Potala Palace is said to be a must visit attraction. Reconstruction work is spotted around the paths. Once we are ready to enter to the Red/White Palace, no picture taking is allowed. We walked around to various chambers used for prayers or tombs for Dalai Lamas. The inscriptions around and transcripts of teachings in pigeon holes were simply facinating. Seeing all the Buddhist statues around, I was overwhelmed with emotions. Yet, in my head, I felt blank. The feeling is beyond explanation. Probably, I felt empty, hollow and insignificant in such a majestic architecture. Some parts of the Palace seem to be built or carved out of rock or part of a mountain, where the rest of it seems to be built from straw or wood and topped patched up with cement on the surface. This grand structure (red and white Palace) is simply spectacular. Too bad, pictures are not allow. There are CCTVs, guards and motion sensors all around. Religion can be sensitive. We have to respect that.

We finished our walk in Potala Palace around 1pm or so, where Saya wanted to head back to the hotel. I think she needs a rest. Kenny and I hopped onto a trishaw and went over to Jokhang temple to meet up with Jeffrey. The three of us stopped at New Mandala Restaurant which happens to have a roof top seating overlooking the Jokhang Temple. I ordered a vegetable noodle soup and honey lemon tea. Nice! This restaurant has a roof top toilet too! Pee with a mountain view, anyone? Awesome.

We finished lunch by 3pm and made our way towards Jokhang Temple. Though a little disappointed that Jokhang Temple's main doors were closed, we still see devotees praying towards it. I took a few shots around the area. Okay. We walked around part of the Kora route where there are stores selling decorative stuff and handicrafts all around. It was at one stretch, I pointed out that there seems to be some prayer wheels around. There is a row of smaller prayer wheels surrounding a small building, housing a huge prayer wheel. There were pilgrims spinning the huge prayer wheel. We walked around the building and then down the lane. We saw some people walking into the next building which seemed like some living quarters. But, it turned out to be a small temple of some sort. We followed the locals and found a two storey high Buddha statue in the building. At level one, we were at the statue's feet and had to peep up to see the Buddha's facial features. Walking up to the second level, we came face to face with the Buddha. After a while, we got out of the temple and carried on along the lane. Stopping just outside a door, a beggar asked for some money. We stepped through a door that seems to lead to some attached corridor where there were plenty of locals moving around. We followed through, passing a row of prayer wheels with a chapel on our right before reaching a cooking stove area where some people were boiling water. Just at the left bend, we saw something that blew my mind off. In a small assembly area (a square of some sort), there were 100-150 pilgrims sitting around, chanting. The pilgrims were really friendly and invited us to walk around by motioning to us. We signaled not to take pictures in the compound. There are two long Tibetan horns in the temple and we walked to level two and three. Each level had pilgrims sitting all around and chanting. At level three, there is a small room, filled with religious items. We paused for a while before taking the flight of stairs back to level one, facing the two Tibetan horns. We wanted to walk out to the front. But, we did not know if it was rude to do so. When someone walked in, we followed them to move out to the square and made our way out to the main road. It was not too long that we reached Jokhang Temple after walking along the main road. Passing by the side door of Jokhang Temple only made us we realised that it was not closed for the day at all (as opposed to what we thought). Jeffrey did not want to go into the Temple and went off to walk on this own. EndlessTrail and I proceeded to visit chapels in Jokhang Temple and taking pictures on the roof top. There is a long row of prayer wheels surround the chapels compound and I did not count them as I spun them while walking.

Light sleeper, I am one. Saya was snoring and EndlessTrail talked in his sleep last night. Saya and Jeffrey seemed better this morning. But, they skipped breakfast. So, EndlessTrail and I got ready for breakfast. Suddenly, I had nose bleed. Must be the dry air. I hope this release some pressure in me. Nose bleed = Internal pressure equalised? The roof top cafe breakfast was good where the cafe is at the top floor of our hotel, over looking the city streets. We could see Potala Palace from here too. I had some food and a couple of hot Lipton teas. We took several pictures on the roof top before going back to our room. I had to pop 2 Panadol tablets to curb that throbbing headache. EndlessTrail and Saya went to settle our road trip (landrover) package. Too bad, I could not join them. I felt slightly better when they were back. My headache was gone.

We thought of going over to Potala Palace. But, an U.S. couple told us that we need to get the tickets in advance. We can only queue up and book for tomorrow's tickets. While walking in the front, I took some pictures of the majestic Palace. There were many vendors selling ornaments and jewellery. Beggars are a common sight, I guess. Reaching the visitor entrance of Potala Palace, the in-charge person told us that we need to queue for tomorrow's tickets inside. We started queuing at 2pm plus. EndlessTrail was in the queue. A little Tibetan girl was playing some games with him while waiting for the ticket sale counter to be opened. I took some shots of her playing with EndlessTrail and other kids too. Ridiculous as is sounds, the ticket counter started only at 5pm. We waited 2 hrs plus. Jeffrey headed back early as he wasn't feeling well again. The three of us walked to the Eastern side of the Palace looking for some Tibetan rock carvings. We found a row of prayer wheels before reaching a small market. We bought some bananas just before getting Jeffrey out of the hotel bed for dinner. I feel better. I hope that I can eat something. Oh yeah, we skipped lunch while queuing for Potala Palace tickets. Jeffrey was feeling okay and we thought of arranging his flight since he wanted to head back to ChengDu on 5th. He would still be with us while we would be heading to EBC (road trip), setting off on 6th.


We took a cab to Lucky Horse restaurant (recommended by the U.S. couple) for our dinner. I had noodle soup with eggs and all of us shared a pot of soup and some local bread. Right after a good dinner, we walked to the nearby Jokhang Temple. It was getting dark. We should visit this temple tomorrow. As we walked back to the hotel, we sighted more beggars since the night is getting darker. Life as seen here, is tough.

4am. Time to wake up and catch an early morning flight. Based on the guesthouse's information, I think JiuZhaiGou is possible, even doing it alone. While loading our packs into the cars, I looked up the sky for stars and still there were none. Traffic seems a little messy here where we saw 3 cars driving against the flow of traffic on the freeway!! So Daytona!!! Amazing! After checking-in, I walked around and was surprised to find a fruit stall smacked in the middle of the airport departure hall. Something new. The boarding area was kind of messy because we had to be transported out to the plane, on a airport bus. Saya suggest we turn around and wave like AirForceOne's Mr. President. Silly lass. On our flight to Lhasa, just 20 minutes of airborne, the Himalayas looking snow peaks were on our left of the plane. Everyone as snapping with their cameras. We enjoyed our breakfast of porridge, salted eggs and vegetables with the scenic mountains below.

Arriving at Lhasa's airport, temperature outside was already 8Deg Celsius. I think my butt will freeze. Saya introduced Anthony and Emily (an Aussie couple sitting beside her during the flight) to us once we got out of the airport. They do not have any plans yet in Tibet. Probably, they can join us in the road trip to Everest Base Camp! All of us took the same transport bus to Lhasa city where it is RMB$25 per pax. During the journey, we went through a mountain (it was a tunnel through a mountain). When I turned around, I noticed that they had some very nicely done paintings on the wall of the mountain. What?! The bus came to a complete halt with the driver sprinting off for a pee break. *slaps forehead* We passed rows of trees by the side of the road and it was simply beautiful. Soon, Anthony pointed out that Potala Place was visible. True enough, we passed the grand structure 5 minutes later. Our bus stopped at a hotel next to Potala Palace called the Airway Hotel. We grabbed our packs, walking out of the cab and trishaw infested spot. Everyone wants to carry your packs. Each pax had to pay RMB$5 that would bring us to Yak Hotel, which we later found that we only need to pay RMB$5 per ride. Air was noticeably thinner already. Once we got our room at Yak Hotel, we had to carry our packs up to level 3. That was when I felt like an old man, with legs trembling, heart pounding for extra work and my lungs screaming for air. Sure. They had staff to carry our bags for us. But, let's do it the painful way called D-I-Y. Our room is definitely clean and better than I thought. Anyway, I am not too choosy about accomodations. It costs us RMB$50 per pax, per night with no attached bathroom. Our hotel is among commoners' living quarters and wet markets. It bring you closer to their daily activities. We went to look for lunch since we are dropping by Kirey Hotel (another recommended budget hotel). There is a restaurant and we ordered some local food. I had mixed vegetable bobbi (tortillas) and EndlessTrail had some chow mein. Saya had Yak meat with rice and we all shared a plate of vegetable momo. Jeffrey seemed to be getting AMS (Acute Mountain Syndrome) and had a cup of hot teas instead. Both EndlessTrail and I tried their local butter tea. We found out that Kirey Hotel offers RMB$25 per pax for rooms. By then, Jeffrey felt worse and I walked him back to the hotel, while EndlessTrail and Saya went to get some fruits.


We let Jeffrey rest while the three of us looked around a little after a short nap. We wandered into local's quarters and their markets, doing quite a big loop around the area. We ended up at a restaurant across our hotel and I think I felt worse after the walk (probably fatigue). I had slight throbbing headache with a little nauseous. Lucky thing, the hot honey lemon tea did some wonders for me, while EndlessTrail and Saya ate. Walking up back to our rooms was still a chore. I felt that my thighs were aching as I climbed. Must be due to insufficient oxygen going to various areas. Come to think of it, hypoxic training does help. I slept for the night, hoping for a better day tomorrow. I meant my physical fitness.

*Ring* My alarm woke me up this morning. I cannot afford to be late. It's a public holiday and I am going to Tibet. Since EndlessTrail and Saya's passports are with me, I checked my bags a few times before taking a train to the airport. EndlessTrail was already there. Once everyone arrived, we took our breakfast at BurgerKing. Saya mentioned that she is having slight fever and flu. She was still able to bicker with EndlessTrail at the check-in counter. Who said anything about fever just now?

While surfing at the Internet kiosk, our names have been announced over P.A. system. First time that my name has been called. Damn! Not surprising to find that we were actually the noisy four when the rest are all sleeping once the plane took off. Hmm... they served ice cream after our meals. Interesting. Upon arriving at Chengdu's airport, we were received by the accomodation's staff with a really small car. Ha! We did not inform them that there were actually four of us. Along the way to our accomodation, I took a couple of pictures of the city.

The guesthouse seems to be an old mansion where rooms are divided. Signs of renovation work to make more rooms out of the space around the compound. We dropped our stuff and went out for dinner since it was 3pm that we touched down at airport. Good thing that we found a nice restaurant (not pricey) serving Sichuan spicy hot pot. Since EndlessTrail don't usually take spicy stuff, we ordered a non-spicy, herbal chicken mushroom hot pot with loads of vegetables. Yum!!! It was strange that the staff told us that there were no rice and we ordered noodle soup instead. Each bowl costs only SGD$0.40!! Great! For this meal (6 person quantity), each of us paid only $4. Saya is still having problems with Chinese characters and some understanding of Mandarin. Tsk tsk tsk! After a satisfying meal, we headed back to our guesthouse to settle details of our flight to Lhasa for the next morning. We sorted out timing to wake up and breakfast too.

No choice. I got to sleep early. Tomorrow's ride to airport leaves at 5am (to wake up at 4am). Accomodation is pretty decent, regardless of what is beyond the compound. No stars tonight because the sky seems pretty hazy.