My first 10km Std Chartered Marathon

Today is saturday and i have been working from 2 pm till 9 pm. After the stupid paper work were all done , i decided to spend some time to update the blog. While i am typing this, the pig is having fun on the mahjong table. He has probably forgotten his lover is working late and feeling stressful, altho not too long ago he just called and said that he is worried about my gastric problem.

In between work , i managed to check my first marathon result from internet. As expected it is 1 hour 27 minutes. I think it is not a good result as i had a few trainings before that, well not too many, may be just 6 or 7 times in the 3 months after I have registered for the run. I am not happy with the result but i can only blame myself for I did not go down to HK earlier the day before the run. The run was on 17 Feb, to and fro btwn North Point and Causeway Bay. My colleague and i reached the HK apartment on 16 Feb at 7.30 pm. I went to bed at 11 pm after dinner but only slept at 1 am due to my gastric problem ( i ate curry beef rice from Fairwood) . I have been having stomach upset recently due to poor digestive system and it was the same for that night. In the end, i slept for 2 hrs before i woke up at 3 am to wash up and took a bus to go to Causeway Bay, the 10Km run starting point.

At 6.10 am , the run started, and we were all like sardine fish in a tin can, running slowly towards the starting point. Not having enough sleep the night before caused me to have back ache as usual. Despite the awful feeling for the first 2 km , i managed to run non stop for the first 4 km. The view along the way was good as we were running on an expressway by the sea side and the cold winter air was soothing. By the time i reached the U turn point, i was both hungry and thirsty as i did not eat and drink much since i woke up at 3 am. Luckily, the organisers began to supply water in paper cups and I managed to drag myself further for a few more kms. When I reached the 6 km mark, i had lost my stamina and started to walk. The funniest thing is i can see handicapped/visually impaired/fat/old runners all ahead of me, so paiseh. I started to run on and off along the remaining distance. When i finally reached the last km, many ppl cheered for the runners. I imagined i am Liu Xiang ( China's #1 sprinter ) and pushed myself to run non stop for this last km and that was it.

After the event, my colleague and I went back to the apartment to catch up the sleep , we went to bed at 11 am and woke up at 3 pm, without bathing. hehe...

Despite the fatigue and aches after the run, the 10km run was quite an easy and comfortable distance to cover, and i will do it again whether i am in HK or Singapore next year. For the next 2 days, i was walking like a crippled man. Everyone who saw me asks : " Eh, what happened to your legs?" :-)


Darby

Valentine's Day

I returned to Shenzhen last night, and today is Valentine's Day. How much agony do i have to bear with when i say good bye to piggy and family? i now know I will get a mood swing everytime i have to leave piggy and I don't like that feeling.

I started the day by finding that I have lost some important bank documents as I was unpacking my luggage. Then during lunch, the waitress just cleared my food without asking me if she can do so. Following that, I was not able to find the USB cable to download photos from my camera to my laptop. Then my company's laptop could not access Internet suddenly. It is a bad start for me after the chinese new year holidays but luckily I listened to piggy by staying at home and not going for work today. The pig has earlier read a forecast on which days are bad and good days to start work for me. The pig is a bomoh in disguise. And here i want to say to the pig, Happy Valentine, Baby.

My body is aching due to the cold again. The warming effect of the hot tropical sun is gone a few hours after i reached Shenzhen and I am beginning to freeze again. Well, i hope it would not be long before i return to my homeland for good. One of my colleagues from KL told me so too.

And a small advice for my best friend, Alien, on his dilemma : Do not live your life based on other's expectations. It is your life ultimately so ask yourself what you really want. You have the chance to fall in love so count yourself a lucky man. Whether it works or not, just leave it to God after you have done your part. If you are left on the shelves after trying , we will open an old folks home for all of us and you can be the chairman :-)

Home trip for CNY

I guess i am the only Malaysian left in the hostel now, as all the Sporeans /Msians i know have flown back for Chinese New Year holiday today. This year, we have the coldest winter in a decade according to the locals. I can see hot mist coming out from my nostril when I am outdoors. My hands are frozen even if i am now indoor typing this blog before my flight tonight.

I need to wrap myself from head to toe before i get to the air port, listen : 2 long sleeved shirts, 1 pullover, 1 winter coat, a pair of glooves , long johns underneath my jeans. Everyone on the street looks like an Eskimo now, but may still be trembling due to the cold. But as soon as i reach Singapore tonight, i will have to strip to t shirt and jeans and let my skin breathe. For 3 consecutive weeks , southern china has been badly affected by heavy snow weather (even Shanghai is snowing now ). Many were killed, and millions are not able to go home as the public transportation is not able to reach those places covered by snow. I am luckier as the flight is going towards south, no snow! And i will get to eat my fav local food soon.

Happy new year to all the fans.

darby

Shanghai Photos (3) - Huai Hai road / XinTianDi

Back from Hangzhou, we went to Xin Tiandi/Huai Hai Road/Duo Lun Road (had a good massage). Below is XTD's Liu Li Gong Fang ( Glass workshop)

Huai Hai Road Area old houses, we spotted a rich tai tai with Poodle hair style staring at others.

Tong Tai Antique street nearby , where piggy glued its pig trotters on the ground watching the local playing mahjong games.

The little girl at Duo Lun Road ( Residential area for famous authors in 30's )

We saw this Railway Station sign everyday near our hotel before we enter MRT station, kind of miss it.

Finale for the Shanghai Trip.

It was quite a wonderful trip , we had a good time. Our understanding of Shanghai might be superficial , but it is good that we keep it that way.

Shanghai Photos (2) - Hangzhou

One of the most beautiful places i have ever been to, Hangzhou - West Lake. Almost 50% of the pictures were taken here.

Ready to set off on boat to the island

Photos taken from a small island at the center of West Lake
Crouching Fat Cat Hidden Piggy - Bamboo Forest Kiss Scene


Ling Yin Temple

Zen



Opera Center Stage at Huang Long Dong, where God of Fate Yue Lao asked me to make do with Piggy

Shanghai Photos (1) - The bund and Nanjing Road

For the benefit of our faithful fans, here are some treats for your eyes. ( Do not think about obscenity)

The Bund

River View on a cold night
Lu Jia Zui, We were there
The Pearl Tower
View from Zhengda after buffet
Nanjing Road
Financial Area
Big Coca Cola Bottle
Salty Tauhuay
Old Chen Huang Temple

New hostel room and a job offer from Shanghai

Last Thursday night , I moved into my new hostel room that is similar to a Hongkong 3 star hotel room. It is an upgrading for me, because the old hostel room i have been living in for the last 2 years is really in a bad condition. In this new room , i have my own tv , shower room with hot water supply , bright lighting and clean tiles. Best of all , i have a super single bed that is really comfortable , and i do not have to wake up with an aching body anymore. You must be wondering why on earth i am selling myself to suffer in China , but looking back i am still much better than the locals ( they have to share their rooms with at least 1 to 7 persons ), although not as good as other expats. Well, i can afford to pay for my own accomodation in Shenzhen city if i want to, but in that way i will not save as much. And now my agony has come to an end -my hostel room is now better than my own room in Msia. In Shenzhen , residential houses do not come with heaters (I mean the air heater), unlike Shanghai, Beijing and other northern cities and it is challenging my tolerance towards coldness. I have a friend from icy cold Hei Long Jiang ( Black Dragon River ) and she told me that she found the winter in Shenzhen is more unbearable as there is no heater indoors. It is now winter again and although I slept with my small air heater on, I still find it cold as it is below 10 degree c at night. Luckily, my new room has a built in bathroom this time and I do not have to walk a long distance to reach for my heater after my shower, usually only with a towel on.

I tend to have dry and itchy skin in winter. Piggy bought me a moisturising cream named Body Drench this year and I found it to be very good. I have no itchy skin during winter this year as this cream is more water based, easy to apply and absorb by the skin. I have less itchy skin problem this year when compared to last year.

And early this week, I received a call from my ex colleague in JE to recommend me a job based in Shanghai. I do not know why but this is the second time a job offer came from a place that both piggy and i just visited together. My previous job offer came from my exisiting Hongkong company just shortly after Piggy and i visited Hongkong . Maybe i should ask piggy to go to New York with me next time, so that i can land a job there.



Darby