Nostalgic Memories

Valentine's Cryptography 2014

2014-08-27T12:06:00.001+08:00

This year I received a very special Valentine present from him.

A very sweet bear and vase (can't imagine is a vase) of roses.

And this mind-boggling message card.

Anyone can have a guess?

(Tip: it's an Excel function)

Revive This Blog

2014-08-27T11:55:00.001+08:00

I'm gonna to revive this blog. More to come, stay tuned!

Marina Run 2014

2014-02-24T23:09:00.000+08:00

I just finished my first half marathon in Marina Run 2014!

I enjoyed the run very much as it was in Marina Barrage, the surrounding was so scenic.

My tears actually welled up in my eyes as I was enduring great pain in my left knee for the last 5-6km *sob* However, luckily it was so windy that evening that it blew away my pain and sweat, and tear?.

Though I finished it at 2 hours 54 mins, which is 24 mins slower than my target, I still felt very proud the moment I crossed the finishing line.

I will still take part in 21km this year to improve my personal timing to 2.5 hours!

Standard Chartered Run 2013

2013-12-11T10:08:00.000+08:00

After Great Eastern Run 2013, I planned to give myself the best shot in SC Run 2013. But who knows one week before the run, I was down with fever and coughing. The coughing was so bad that it even trigger my back bone pain.

However, as quite a few friends joined this run, I still insisted to take part, even I knew I could not deliver myself good result. Running could be a very serious addiction. *grin*

SCSM 2013 was really a happening one, there were 40k++ participants! The whole Raffles are was so crowded.

during the run

I enjoyed my run though I finished the run at 80 mins, 14 minutes slower than my GE Run.

With friends happily on SC Run 2013 medal

Alvin also started to get addicted to running, we have signed up for Marina Run 2014 half marathon which falls on Feb 15! Gotta train for it! No target set yet, but I would try my best.

Let's run for a reason~~~

Great Eastern Women's Run 2013

2013-11-17T12:45:00.001+08:00

After two mediocre 10km marathons in 2012 Nov and 2013 Jan, I took part in my company 10km women's run again. Previously both run were done with about 90-95 mins.

But after my company's Live Great program on employee brisk walking every Wednesday few months ago, I was determined to improve my physical strength. I started jogging, elliptical training and climbing staircases.

This time, I made it a quantum leap by finishing the run at 66 mins! I was so thrilled.

Free picture from the running organizer...

Hopefully for the coming Dec 1, 2013 Standard Chartered 10km marathon, I can at least keep up with this performance. Hope for a better one like 60-64 mins?

OCBC Cycle 2013

2013-08-04T23:38:00.004+08:00

I conquered another challenge this year - 42KM cycling from Singapore F1 Building to East Coast Park, to and fro.

It was another event sponsored by the company. I did not have any cycling training beforehand due to the busy workload. However, after knowing that it would be excruciating painful riding on bikes for hours, I decided to get myself a bike short which I did not regret at the end (it was quite expensive).

On April 28, 2013 early in the morning, I really mean early, it was as early as 3am, I took a cab with 2 colleagues to the site. The organizer decided to push forward the check-in procedure due to Boston marathon bombing few days before the event. Excitedly after checking in, we collected our rented bikes and started to get ourselves familiar with the bike function. =.= Yea, moment before the event, we only start to figure out which button is for which function.

It was very crowded as ten thousands of participants took part in that morning. In the beginning, we kind of enjoying ourselves, we were chatting while cycling leisurely. We didn't find ourselves having any problem cycling up Nicoll Highway. Then slowly, we all cycled at our own pace. Throughout the journey, I was challenging myself to the boredom of cycling non-stop and the physical determination. Luckily, along the way, there were many attractions which we normally can pass through by car only and do not have the chance to take picture. However, on and off, I saw some accidents, like participants collided and fell down when having some turns.

Finally after one hour of cycling, there came the first hydration stop. I quickly went in to get myself hydrated. After resting for few minutes, I found my butt reluctant to get on the bike as it was really painful to stick on the seat for an hour. But I was determined to finish the journey, so quickly I resumed cycling. I could not imagine if I did not get myself the bike short.

Soon, after an hour, I was back to Nicoll Highway. But this time, I no longer had the energy to cycle up. Both my legs went jelly the moment I came down to push my bike. @@ Indeed many participants also like me, pushed the bike up. I spent some time there to enjoy the scenery and also took some pictures.

There, gradually I reunited with some colleagues, and so we cycled together to finish the route!

A taste of success with colleagues after 2.5 hours at the finishing line!

First 10 in 2013

2013-01-27T15:41:00.000+08:00

Right after my ever first marathon since high school, I immediately looked for the marathon calender 2013 to participate in some more runs. And here it is. Early in the morning today, we took a cab to Keppel Road (Tg Pajor Old KTM Station) to kick start our run. The marathon event was rather a simple one and there were only 6000 runners from 6 categories. Everything was done in a quieter manner as the nearby residents complained and asked to stop this event before. This time round my friends and I (10 together) were taking part in this inaugural run. We all ran separately and just met at the finishing line. Overall, my performance did not improve nor deteriorate. But again, I had stomach cramp when I crossed over 1.5km. The pain subdued after like 10 minutes and I continued slow running and brisk walking. I am wondering if I am suitable for any marathon in the future.

Here are some of the pictures after the finishing line.

A finisher medal means a lot!

The first three (among 4 of us) to finish the run

Got a nice towel and medal after the run

After the run and shower, we pampered ourselves at Buffet Town.

2012 Resolutions Verdict

2013-01-12T17:30:00.003+08:00

2012 has ended. Let's see how many targets I hit.

1. Read more books. Let's target 10. Without specifying a quantity, I afraid I might slack off.

Verdict: Failed! Only managed to read The Starbucks Experience, Building Wealth Through REITs and finish Eat Pray Love.

2. Pass the two exams remaining. Given the heavy workload currently, I might attempt only one this year.

Verdict: PASSED! I am officially free of actuarial exams! Woohoo, I do not need to purposely avoid vacation near May or Nov anymore! (Though much of the time I just went traveling without thinking much)

3. Reduce weight to 52kg.

Verdict: Failed and passed. I failed to reach 52kg, but my stamina grows stronger after frequenting gym for workout training. Think this is a better and long-run way to maintain a healthy body.

Row machine

4. Grow more in career. I am not sure what are the other ways of having salary increment besides passing exam for an actuarial associate, but I will explore along the way. Perhaps recognition of hard work is not a bad idea too, except always talking about money.

Verdict: Passed. Received positive comments from supervisor and boss though was once screwed hard by boss too. Let's see how much is my annual increment in this coming April.

5. To save an amount of money (God knows it) to renovate the house bought in my hometown. I have the amount quantified, but not going to reveal it here, for God's sake. *grin*

Verdict: Failed. I spent too much money on traveling and fitness. @@

6. To go traveling. I have bought tickets to Phuket and Kota Kinabalu. But I wish to bring my parents to somewhere this year. Let's see where they wish to go.

Verdict: Passed! I brought my mom to Shanghai in March, went to Phuket with friends in May, US West Coast in Nov and HK in Dec with family.

Besides, I made a short trip to Sibu, Sarawak too to attend my friend's wedding as well as sampled all the nice food around the town. Foochow cuisine is mouth-watering. Among all, I like zao cao the most (bottom left)!

7. Conquer Mount Kinabalu!

Verdict: Passed unbelievably! Here is the recap of my Mount KK journey.

8. Make Online Books Recap earning USD2 per day. I am not greedy and ambitious I know!

Verdict: Failed. Gave up half way. No longer interested and determined to do it *cry*

What is beyond expectation in 2012:

1. I finished 10km marathon. It is a women's marathon held by my company in Singapore.
2. Started exploring stock market, more to REIT and dividend stocks.

All in all, I consider 2012 to be a pretty happening year!

Phuket Trip Day 5

2012-12-25T13:36:00.002+08:00

After 2 days of island tour, we almost visited all the famous islands near Phuket. Today, we had a different experience by going for elephant trekking and water rafting!

After the breakfast of fried noodle, we had a 2-hour van ride to Khaolak Safari (aka Island Safari Adventure). Not sure if because of the ride or noodle, few of us suffered from stomach upset.

Our first activity was elephant trekking. It was a new and good experience, but we kinda pity those elephants as they are trained to carry tourists even when they are pregnant.

Could hear Yee Voon and Alicia scream when the
elephant started walking

Friendship forever!

Practically the elephants are trained to wade through the river, walk the tourists one round before going back to the gathering point.

During this trekking, we only realized that elephants are pretty clever. The hat of the our elephant crew dropped in the water accidentally, then elephant quickly used its nose (trunk) to suck it up and pass it to the crew! That really amazed us.

We spent few minutes touching and caring the elephants too.

Feel like skin of snake

After the trekking, we watched elephant show.

The most eye-opening one was this:

"Bird" massage!

Subsequently, it was monkey show.

They are swift and smart as expected.

Then it came the most exciting activity - water rafting!

It was not as scary as I thought, perhaps because we took the novice level.

Then we ended our trip with fruit sampling in a fruit garden. We were served with fresh guava, dragon fruit, papaya, rambutan and mango. Not to forget, we took the chance to taste the delicious tomyam soup, chicken curry and ondeh-ondeh as well.

After back from the trip, we spent some time swimming and splashing water in the swimming pool on the hotel rooftop before we went for massage and dinner! I am grateful I can write all these out because Shane reminded me this and we jotted down the highlights of the trip before we went to sleep.

Early in the morning the next day, we made our way to the airport.

This marks the end of our wonderful trip. It not only gives us fun but also enhances our friendship! Thanks Yee Voon again for organizing the trip!

Phuket Trip Day 4

2012-12-25T12:51:00.001+08:00

Day 4 was another fun day. At least there were no more hard boat bumping and salty water creeping into my eyes and mouth.

Early in the morning, we were picked up when we were having our breakfast at hotel. We gathered at Ao Por Grand Mariana and cruised to Hong Island as our first destination.

This time it was a big cruise, carrying food, canoes, and of course us!

It was a long journey (around one hour plus). So we were served with carbonated drink and biscuits.

While we were busy taking pictures,

Alicia and Yee Voon went for tattoo-ing.

Along the journey, we did not forget to enjoy the picturesque scenery around us as well.

Our first destination was a mangrove swamp. We couldn't reach it but need to paddle canoes into the small cave and then went in. I screamed like hell the moment I walked down to the canoe, as the canoe kept shaking with me kept shaking the canoe hard. =.= After seconds of screaming, then only I calmed down a bit and was assisted by crew to paddle inside the mangrove swamp.

We stopped our canoe at the entrance of a small cave and waded through the water to reach the mangrove swamp.

It has nothing much there except the muddy mangrove swamp! We spent a few minutes there taking photos and made our way back to the canoe and cruise.

This time I was less afraid and could paddle on our own without the crew's assistance.

After Hong Island, we made our way to Panak Island. It is an island full of serene lagoons and magnificent limestones.

And the best limestone is James Bond 2 Island.

Later you can judge if this looks similar to the real James Bond Island
comparing to the pictures below.

Soon it was lunch time! We were served with succulent Thai cuisine onboard!

At the same time, the cruise was propelling us towards James Bond Island.

Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs when we reached James Bond Island. We sheltered ourselves few minutes and decided to take pictures eventually.

The rain then started to subdue, but we had been soaked in rain! For your information, James Bond Island is famous because the movie James Bond was filmed there. Its other names are Khao Phing Kan and Ko Tapa.

After James Bond Island, we headed to our last destination for the island tour that is Phang Nga Bay! We spent a quality time of 40 minutes there canoeing! Some other tourists were swimming. The crew even relaxed themselves playing among themselves in the water too.

Alvin and Me

Shane and Yee Voon

This time we were totally enjoying being on the sea canoeing. We even canoed to a place slightly farther than the crew's sight control, and they yelled us back!

Joyful time ended very soon. We paddled back to the cruise reluctantly.

While on the way back to the quay, the crew performed an eye-opening "Lady Boy" show couple with lip-singing!

Alvin was the most enjoying one!

All the tourists were enjoying a lot and made quite some cheers.

After back to our hotel, we just filled up our stomach with Thai instant noodles and then were lying down to enjoy Thai massage just next to our hotel!

The 2-day island tour was really my ever best island tour in my life so far! Until now, the every moment of joy is still etched in my heart.

Phuket Trip Day 3

2012-11-18T20:41:00.003+08:00

It was a sunny day unlike the day before where it was raining heavily in the afternoon and evening. Early in the morning, we woke up, washed up, and headed down to have our simple breakfast. We were then picked up to gather at a quay to ride a speedboat to Loh Samah Island. We were waiting for a while to wait for all our boat members. And as usual, with Shane being around, he would not allow time pass by without doing something useful during a vacation like photoshooting!

And here are some of his masterpiece.

Soon after everyone was there, the speedboat was set off to Loh Samah Island. It was an hour ride and we were asked if to sit at the deck to experience the exciting bumping. Since we are among the youngest in the boat, we agreed to do. But it was slightly beyond our expectation, the wave was strong to bump us up and down HARD. From this trip, I got to learn that water surface could be as hard as a concrete cement wall if we fall hard on it. In another word, it could cause us to be fatal if we fall from high. Besides, sometimes the wave was high and we were seemingly going to be covered beneath it. It was scary!

After tonnes of horrifying bumping, we finally reached Loh Samah Island.

Serene Loh Samah Island

Alvin being hydrophilic was the first one to jump off the boat with a very poised posing to swim.

Then each of us slowly made our way with different poses into the crystal clear water.

Alicia

Shane

I tried hard to convince myself it was not high, but
I was still scared and just slipped off with hand still gripping hard @@

Yee Voon

It was a remarkable activity to kick start our day. Our hydro-activity mode was switch on!

We were served a variety of carbonated beverage when we went onboard. Soon after, the boat was speeding to Monkey Beach. In between, we passed by Viking Cave where bird nest is being picked.

Viking Cave

We did nothing much on the Monkey Beach except feeding monkeys. =.=

Good friends forever!!!

The speedboat then propelled us to Phi Phi Don (where Ton Sai Town is located) for lunch. During 2004 Tsunami, Ton Sai Town was hit severely, many were dead and the villagers spent quite some time to make the town to come alive once again.

After lunch, YeeVoon, Alicia and Alvin were resting under the trees, while Shane and I were exploring the town, traversing in the small and merry streets selling different kinds of souvenirs.

We then made our way to our last destination, that is Khai Nai Island! I shall let the pictures below to describe how mesmerizing the island is.

We spent a quality time of few hours there relaxing, splashing water, being pushed by water wave at the seashore, and of course taking plentiful pictures.

I really thanked Shane for all the pictures as we just enjoyed ourselves but had tonnes of nice picture back after the trip.

After Khai Nai Island, we were back to our hotel. We chose KFC as our dinner as we were too hungry to wait for seafood to be cooked etc.

After the dinner, we strolled along the happening Bangla Road which is famous for its night life.

We saw people performing magic on the street, bars staff competing against each other for tourist to visit their bars, and all sorts of souvenir shops.

Out of curiosity, we entered a bar to watch Thai Girl show. I shall not make any comment on the show, but it was indeed an eye-opening experience.

Tiger = "Thai-Girl"

We were soon worn out and could not walk back to our hotel, but flagged down a tut-tut to send us back :)

That's Day 3, an extremely pleasant day to make us feel that we were in Phuket.

Blood Donation at Dhoby Ghaut

2012-11-18T15:00:00.000+08:00

I never give up ~~pestering~~ persuading friends around me to donate blood. I feel that giving out blood is a noble responsibility. It saves lives at no cost!

I skipped donating blood once after June and felt obliged to donate blood right after my exam. (You can see that exam took away lots of my freedom =.=) On the 4th of November, I dragged Alvin hard along to donate blood at the Blood Bank, Dhoby Ghaut. Alvin had blood-donating phobia after his one and only one donation in campus time. He felt dizzy after the donation and since then he never donated blood but just sat at a side supporting me. @@ After my never ceasing compelling effort, he finally gave in to my pestering and agreed to donate blood.

This time we had sufficient sleep and made sure we did not have too heavy nor light meal before the donation. We passed through all the requirement like hemoglobin test, blood pressure etc and proceeded to the room to start donating. Alvin asked the staff a series of questions when she was ~~poking~~ inserting the big needle into his vein to get blood. I bet he was very nervous but he denied it. By the time my blood oozed out for 450ml, Alvin was also done with his. (His vein is wider). We then happily left with a pack of milo.

After three times donating blood here, I am finally granted a permanent donation card. :) *happy for no reason*

For your information, it is very convenient to donate blood in Singapore as the blood banks are located near to MRT stations. They even have a professional website updating us what is needed critically at the moment. So those who are fit and are domiciled in Singapore, please donate blood regularly :)

Great Eastern Women's Run 2012

2012-11-18T11:42:00.001+08:00

I could not recall how many years I did not run for more than 5km. But it had been around 6-7 years I did not take part in any marathon. The last one was during my Form 4 or Form 5, and it was just a 4km marathon.

This year, as usual, my company holds the yearly inaugural women marathon in Singapore. It was on 11/11/2012. As a staff, I am given to run for free! And out of greediness, (I want the running singlet and see how does adult marathon look like), I took part in the 10km marathon.

Soon after I joined, that was also after my Mount KK hiking, I found that I need a serious training to improve my stamina. So I signed up a gym membership in True Fitness for 2 years. At a start, I really trained hard of 5km treadmill 3 times a week. But after a month, I saw no improvement in my muscle mass and deterioration in my fat mass. A friend of mine who is quite into body building told me that I instead just need to sprint for 1km then go for weight training on all sorts of body parts to improve tremendously. So I followed. Yes, I did see the results, I lost 2kg of fat mass and increased 1kg of muscle mass in one month. But of course, my short sprint will not help anything in my 10km marathon!

Two weeks before the marathon, I stopped all the exercises due to my examination. When I resumed one day before the marathon, I had stomach cramp as I was suffering from PMS. I was like damn, tomorrow gonna be TOUGH! Still I decided to give myself a try.

The next morning, as early as 5am, I woke up with my marathon buddy (also roommate Angie) and got ourselves prepared to the runners village. It was still pitch dark as we departed to Marina Float on a bus. But when we reached, it was crowded with runners and their families. The 21km (half marathon) was even kicked off already.

We deposited our bag and made our way to the beginning line. As we got there quite early for the run to start, we were at the very few first rows and practically were just with those elite runners. I saw them well prepared with little bottle at their waist, mp3/smart phone wrapped at their arm. (I wanted to run with music blasting in my ears, but I just forgot to buy the band @@) I was a bit nervous, not because I was with the elite runners but afraid of my stomach cramp.

Soon the cheerleading and warm-up session were over, GE chairman flagged off and there we started to run. Running on road is very different from running on treadmill. Each step of running on road requires equal effort paid; but each step of running on treadmill requires like half from running on road. I was uneasy as it was quite warm (when I run on treadmill, I would switch on the little fan in front of me @@).

When I was nearing the very first km, my stomach muscle started to get tighter. And as expected when I saw the 1km sign, I suffered from stomach cramp, I could not continue but to squad down at the road side to have a rest. While I was resting I was thinking to give up repetitively as I thought I practically lost nothing for this run except the insufficient sleep for the previous night. But after 10 minutes, I continued.

This time I did not run much, but walked with fast pace coupled with little run in between. I timed myself 10 minutes for 1km. I know it was very slow, but I know with this, I would be able to get the finisher medal with the cut off time of 2 hours. Gradually, I passed by 2km, 3km, 4km... 9km, and yeah, I was still in the budgeted time. And finally I saw the finishing line! I slowly ran towards it and clocked myself at 1 hour 34 minutes. I was 6 minutes better than expectation :P Though Angie did better than me for 6 minutes without going to gym like me @@

Though I was not able to finish within 1 hour 15 minutes (my goal before the run), I was still happy as I did not hate marathon anymore. I hated all sorts of long-haul running during my school times.

We then made our way to the massage tent to have a 15-minute foot massage before we called it a day. :)

Overall it is a very good experience, and we are now calling friends to have a marathon which falls on January 27, 2013. Stay tuned for my 2013 marathon logs :)

Mount KK

2012-11-17T13:58:00.001+08:00

A journey which requires much courage to sign up. A journey which requires much mental determination to continue. A journey which requires much physical determination to conquer.

On 9th of August in conjunction with Singapore National Day (i.e holiday =.=), nine friends together with me started the journey of conquering ~~South East Asia highest peak~~ Malaysia's highest peak Mount Kota Kinabalu. Before the hiking, I had been practicing 10-floor staircase climbing everyday for three months, but as expected, it turned out to be very insufficient. We took a shorter and easier journey which started from Timpohan gate considering our team's insufficient preparation.

In the beginning, we enjoyed the hiking very much, took a lot of pictures, chatting with other hikers, enjoying the marvelous nature creation from God etc.

But as time passed, we grew fatigue, and our legs grew heavier, and we slowed down our pace significantly.

The path is getting steeper and tougher

Until the final 1km to midpoint, the dark cloud started to cover up the sky, then only we speeded up a bit. The 6-km took us freaking 6 hours to reach the midpoint which is Laban Rata. By the time we reached, it was already 4pm.

Raban Rata, the dorm we stayed overnight

When Alvin and I reached, all our friends had already reached and started taking pictures like these:

We were then served with scrumptious dinner (we were too hungry, almost all food would be delicious). We wolved down a lot and chatted a while.

Then we headed to sleep without bathing because the heater was not working! It was only 530pm when we fell asleep. In between, we (Shane, Ziyu, Alvin and I) were constantly being disturbed by other hikers as our room was just next to the male toilet! *Pity us*

We woke up at 1am the next morning to have light supper and prepared for the next part of the journey, which was also the toughest. Everyone of us experienced little mountain sickness and we were advised to take painkillers before we kicked off.

We started out the journey with much excitement, but were dragged down to our exhaustion pretty quickly at the very first 500m! We still had 2km to reach the peak! We painted and rested. Until at one point we had to grip the rope along us to continue advancing. It took us much courage if were to continue, as we fall, we would be vanished into the valley! And to make the things worse, it was pitched dark! And that was before we reached our very 1km! I was very lucky as I was helped greatly by our mountain guide. Alvin was the poor one as guys are normally not being assisted as usual. The mountain guide was busy attending to me, Ziyu and Hooi Ching. With the help, I reached checkpoint of 7.5km. I waited for Alvin for 30 minutes but still did not see him coming! I was scared and quickly informed the mountain guides there. They promised me they would look for him, but still I did not see Alvin coming. The mountain guides told me I must continue the journey and others would take care of Alvin (Alvin must be resting somewhere or some other mountain guides had been helping him to go down). I was hesitant for a while before I decided to continue the conquer. But after 5 minutes, I told the mountain guide next to me that I would like to give up as I was still very worried about Alvin's whereabout and being. The mountain guide encouraged me not to give up but to continue. After much hesitation, then only I continued.

The journey was never a breeze. The wind was strong and I was lack of hydration. The water bottle was with Alvin! I had to survive, so I took some water from a mountain guide and some from my friends. Every inch of stretching the legs to advance was never easy and was very torturing. Every step was like asking me to give up. But I still continued with the help of the mountain guide, Bill and the encouragement from Hooi Ching. We finally passed by the beautiful Low Peak (peak behind Malayisa One dollar note). We did not take any picture but just to continue as it was quite late (past 6am) already.

And finally finally finally, we reached the top, Low's Peak! Shane was waving and shouting at my name, but I simply had no energy to respond at all.

We rested and took quite some pictures up there.

Low Peak is the highest peak in Mount KK

Shane, Hooi Ching and I

The helpful mountain guide, Bill

As we walked down, we did not forget to take pictures with the famous South Peak.

When I reached the checkpoint once again, I was very delighted as I saw Alvin! He was there resting and taking pictures =.=. He said he was afraid the whole journey up there would be the part like before, gripping rope on the steep path and so he gave up. We then told him actually up there was not so steep and relatively easy. He was like "oh damn" @@

We then slowly made our way back to Laban Rata to have our breakfast and check out the dorm. The horrifying journey did not end here, the descending was even more torturing. I am not sure if I do not have the skill, every step of descending caused me a toll. Alvin and Shane helped me a lot. We three were the very first few descending the mountain but the last three to come out from Timpohon Gate! By the time we reached the exit, we could not feel our legs at all. We quickly had our dinner pack and were sent to our hotel to have a rest.

This is considered as a successful trip as 6/10 of us made it to the pinnacle.

That's all from the hiking trip. To word, I would say the only thing to make me conquer the mountain was purely my determination. But like Shane, it did not cost him much to reach the peak as he is physically strong. So I would encourage those who are going to be better prepared. The agent told us we must run 6km 3 times a week for 2 months before the hiking!

All in all, this is a very precious experience but I would not go back again for sure. *grin*

Buffets and Gym

2012-09-09T23:12:00.001+08:00

When I was about to update my blog on my recent being, then only I recalled I have tonnes of pending posts like Shanghai trip, Phuket trip and Mount KK hiking...

Let this post to be simple, recently I have just signed up 2-year gym membership together with 12 weeks personal training. Hopefully I can see some results soon... (To be in the healthy range, I need to lose 10kg fat mass and increase 6kg muscle mass :( need to seriously work hard!!...)

But at the same time, I have been indulging in ceaseless buffets.. I recently love sushi sooooooo much!

This is my second sushi buffets in one month..

Don't drool~

Phuket Trip Day 1 and Day 2

2012-08-04T17:43:00.000+08:00

Foreword: The first half of 2012 was an eventful one. I travelled to Shanghai and the cities nearby as well as Phuket. And the most rewarding one is I passed one of the two exams left; I am officially left with one!

At this juncture, I am typing with MacBook Air. Yea! You don't hear me wrong. I didn't know I have been wanting to experience Apple products so much until Alvin told me so. I think I had been subduing my subconscious mind.. *laugh*

Okay.. This post is about the interesting Phuket trip! I think after I was back from Phuket, I saw many friends posting their Phuket trips on Facebook as well, I guess this is credited to AirAsia. It seems there is a trend in traveling to a particular destination, all I could think of is AirAsia again~

Without further ado, let's me start with Day 1.

We (Alvin, Shane and I) reached the airport at seaside (duh~) at around 4pm and was welcomed by the agency staff to send us to Alfesco Hotel in Patong.

A new and neat hotel after 2008 Tsunami

(After Tsunami, a lot of budget hotels were constructed nearby Patong beach. Those hotels' room rate are really affordable and the service is good too)

The first day was a free-and-easy one. After showering, we met up with our another two friends (Alicia and Yee Voon) who reached earlier to start our dinner exploration. We took the Tuk Tuk service provided by the hotel to Patong beach, and had our first seafood dinner there (while we were still loaded with Thai baht). The dinner was sumptuous!

Not only seafood, we sampled the famous Thai cuisine of Phat Thai, green curry, Tom Yam Kung and pineapple fried rice. After the dinner, we strolled along the street and tried the crispy chocolate pancake by the roadside.

Yummy~ I miss it...

It is nice but might be a ban for those people on diet.

We started our Day 2 with breakfast in the hotel and then a cam-whoring session at the swimming pool on top of the hotel.

Yee Voon at the back and Alicia at the front

Delightful Shane on the left

After that we went for a city tour with the friendly tour guide. I think she is up-to-date as she always offered us to snap our jumping post.

Just in case if you don't know what is jumping pose

Patong beach is the most famous beach in Phuket, definitely not for her scenery, but for her nightlife and convenience of accommodation etc. So we bypassed Patong.

We went to Karon Beach and thought it is the ever best beach we visited not knowing the best are saved for the last (coming Day 3 and Day 4). We then proceeded to View Point where we can have a spectacle view of 3 bays - Karon, Kata and Kata Noi.

Five of us at View Point

We then went to Chalong Temple where there were a lot of ~~devotees~~ visitors praying and getting some hints for their future undertaking by shaking out a stick indicating good, medium and bad luck.

After that, we made our way to the Big Buddha.

Before lunch, we were brought to do something which stimulates Thai economy, that is shopping at a souvenir shop and junk food shop. We then loaded our stomach with Thai cuisine before stimulating the economy again at a T-shirt factory.

Getting ready to wolf down the nice food

We ended our city tour with a sight-seeing in Phuket Old Town.

After a short while of rejuvenating in hotel (dancing and bathing), we went to the fairy-tale theme park, Fantasea!

Fantase Theme Park, unique~

The ladies

The gentlemen

We granted our stomach with lots of chicken in the buffet dinner at Golden Kinnare before visiting all the spots in Fantasea.

Last but not least, we watched the interesting traditional show too in the magnificent building below.

Stay tuned for Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5.

In Good Fit

2012-06-03T00:26:00.001+08:00

Finally after months of unfit in 2012, I am in good fit to donate blood again :)

Stress ball from Health Science Authority (HSA)

I am happy because the blood can save lives and at the same times, it means I am healthy :) No more fainting and unconsciousness. :) I actually begged the doctor to let me donate as he afraid I would faint again, convincing him I had a good sleep and nice meal before this. Feeeeeeel really greeaaat now...

One more interesting to share, we can actually donate platelet and plasma every month, read more details from HSA.

Standard Chartered Bank Treat

2012-04-11T06:47:00.000+08:00

I think almost every Singaporean/whoever working in Singapore has 2 SC credit cards now... Why? Because they give away SGD80 in each card!

I was quite suspicious about this great deal, and didn't apply during the promotion period last year while every of my colleagues were applying. Then last month when we were on the way back to office, there are some staff promoting SC credit card, so without dilly-dallying I applied. The staff was really helpful and he told me I was his first customer of that day (almost since morning until 2pm). I chuckled and said of course, almost everyone in Singapore has SC credit cards already, unless they are willing to give more!

So last week, after I got my credit card, I rewarded myself with a sumptuous meal of one of my favorite food - dim sum!

Here goes my SGD 80 :( in Jade Fullerton

I tried dim sum before in Yan Palace Restaurant and Yum Cha Restaurant, I still prefer the one in Jade Fullerton Restaurant, I think it is close to my expectation :) Try it out guys if you want.. The a la carte buffet during weekend is only SGD36 per pax before tax :)

The recent me, just in case you have not seen me for a long time :)

2012 is really not my year!!

2012-03-12T21:04:00.002+08:00

I swear! 2012 is really not my year!!!

This morning, like usual, I took MRT to go working. When it was one station away from my office, I started feeling very dizzy and my sight was getting dimmer and dimmer... I tried to hold tight the pole beside me, but the next moment, I was lying on the floor!!

I fainted! I lost conscious once again! When I fainted, some passengers made an emergency call to the ground staff. So when the train reached Raffles Place, I heard someone asking if I was alighting at that station. I nodded while I was lying on the floor.. Then some passengers carried me up and passed me my handbag, they told me to walk to the control station, there would be staff coming to my assistance.. At that time, I was very weak, I was thinking how could I walk. Because it was like the immediate moment when I regained my consciousness, I was being dragged out of the train. Luckily an auntie approached me and walked me to the nearest bench.. I think I was being dragged to the bench, as I was extremely dizzy.

The auntie is a very kind person. She hugged me as she said I was sweating cold, and even asked me to lean on her shoulder. I was leaning on her shoulder, while she was stroking my palms and hands to keep me warm. I was very touched to meet such a kind person!

Then the MRT staff pushed the wheelchair to my direction and sent me to the staff office to rest and had a cup of water. Argh.. How I wish to take the auntie's contact number to really thank her.. She is really my Samaritan! Not to forget to thank the MRT staff too, who assured the auntie she would take care of me and make sure I am safe before I left for my office.

Why am I so weak nowadays?! I was actually suffering from fever during the weekend. Sigh.. I almost fall sick every alternate week! I could not imagine the next time I lose my consciousness and could never wake up anymore.. Live is so fragile.. *sob sob*

2012!!

2012-02-26T14:06:00.003+08:00

What a year to start with!

I ended year 2011 with a flu and started year 2012 with the flu. Two weeks later (the week of CNY) I was suffering from flu again. So yea, half of my January was spent with flu!

Beginning of February, I had eye infection (stye) which lasted for a week. I thought everything should be fine, and God knows, last Friday, I was stumbled down by stomach flu. The whole Thursday night I was suffering from stomachache, I was half-awake, half-asleep for the whole night... At wee hours, I started to have diarrhea and throw up. At around 8:30, I finally dragged my weak body to see doctor. After seeing doctor, I only realized my shirt had the stain of my vomit *yucks*. I felt so embarrassed, thinking what would the doctor think @@ The whole Friday and Saturday I spent time on bed sleeping as every medicine given by the doctor has the warning of drowsiness. =.=

Now I am getting better. And I wish to add in one more resolution: a healthy 2012!

How to Accomplish the Impossible

2012-02-05T17:10:00.001+08:00

A great article I read this morning: How to Accomplish the Impossible| Genius sometimes just means not realizing something is impossible.

Beijing Roasted Duck (Video)

2012-02-05T16:53:00.000+08:00

I am planning a trip to Shanghai and was looking some pictures taken in Beijing.

This is the way roasted duck is cut into slices in Beijing.

It is nicer than the one in Jalan Pasar :)

Of Being Flawed

2012-02-05T09:52:00.000+08:00

This CNY I asked my cousin, "why do you always take the trouble of snapping pics with your lomo camera? which require you to refill film and send to photo studio to process them? plus you cannot edit until after you process and scan them into your pc..."

She answered, "I like things with some flaws"

I was totally stunned and after a while I was really amazed by her statement. In life we tend to be too perfect until we become too fake. Every picture we see on the advertisement has undergone a painstaking Photoshop, almost every Korean artist has gone through plastic surgeries.

Sometimes in life, we really just have to be what we are. *grin* Life can be a bliss if we are contended with the flaws we have.

Fitness Myth

2012-01-26T15:32:00.001+08:00

I recently read an interesting article from Forbes magazine about some common fitness myths.

To cut the article short, here is the summary:

Thinking that an hour workout can make up for the day long unhealthy eating is too presumptuous. A strict healthy diet speaks more in reducing weight.

It may sound reasonable that we could burn more fat with empty stomach in the morning jogging; but this not only causes us sub-optimal performance but also burns our muscle instead of fat.

Shake might be thought to be healthy and ideal for a diet plan. But its side effect is we will never get full and satisfied, subsequently crave for more food intake. Whole food intake on the other hand can increase our metabolism rate while make us feel satisfied.

Egg is thought to be a banned item from a diet plan. But a recent study says egg yolk is efficient in reducing our bad cholesterol, LDL.

Stretching before intensive training is an conventional wisdom to reduce injury. But in fact, it not only weaken our muscle but also increases the risk of injury.

Thinking that we need to hit certain heart beat to reduce fat is a common misguidance from the cardio equipment. The way our body burn fat is simply too complicated for an equipment to comprehend.

My Fitness Corner

2012-01-25T22:51:00.001+08:00

I am delighted that almost everyone who sees me says I am thinner.

This motivates me a lot on my coming workouts!

So I will keep a diary of the future ~~sweatout~~ workout in My Fitness Corner.