千九百七十一：Korea

time waits for no man (or woman..)

I'm back from the Seoul super short trip! The temperatures were freezing (need 2 thick jackets above my heattech top & normal sweater & gloves) which really tired me out; I spent all my energy fighting the call and was dead tired by early evening.

The flight there was quite short, around 2 hours, but the trip to the hotel took around 2 hours as well. I should have taken the airport express bus to Myeongdong, but did not know of it until when going back, which was a pity, because it was cheaper and faster. I'm glad I got a room at Skypark hotel, because it was like 3 minutes from the subway station was was just plonk in the middle of the shopping area. I finally met up with Marini & Qling at around 4pm and we headed for my first proper meal of the day - bibim cold noodles. It was delicious! but very spicy. & I think I ate it wrongly w/o using the cold soup. hmmm.. We walked a little around, saw a demonstration in progress, escaped the confusion and crowds and met the bride for dinner at a crab place. I didn't know that crabs were famous in Korea. & they were pretty good! Unexpected food of this trip. After dinner, they brought us to Dongdaemun for me to look around a little - it's like MBK in Bangkok with all the small wholesale type clothing shops where there are lots of shops u have to bargain with and they all carry similar clothes after walking around for a bit. Maybe we were there too late, but the area isn't as happening as portrayed by the Japanese travel programs. (>.<)

The next day, we had brunch or actually an early lunch - some sort of hot pot. The luncheon meat was surprisingly good :) Then we went on to Red Mango for some dessert. I think I ordered a different item .. I wanted frozen yoghurt but the person didn't seem to understand me & I ended up with Yoghurt icecream. This is the problem with going to countries where they don't understand me! By the time I realised someone else did order frozen yoghurt, it was too late (because I was too full to eat anymore). We headed for the spa after lunch & it was a very very interesting experience. The old aunties who were the "scrubbers" were also in their undies (which was super weird) but practical & I dunno why we paid to torture ourselves in the oven sauna! At least at the end of it, I was scrubbed super clean & probably that "detox" session burnt some fats as well, because I was very hungry after 2-3 hours of spa activities. We had Ginseng Chicken for dinner, which was only so-so because I didn't like the sticky glutinous rice in the chicken. After dinner, we shopped a bit more & went back to the hotel early (too cold & we had to wake up the next day early for the wedding)

On the wedding day - it actually got colder. Cloudy overcast sky. I swear, I'll never go Korea in winter again. We made it to the wedding venue via shuttle bus, the wedding was quite an interesting affair. The usual ceremony was quite similar to a church wedding except we didn't understand what the officiating guy was chattering about - he made a speech for >15 minutes. The table arrangements were weird too, there was no eating no drinks, so why were there tables in there? They should have put in more chairs as >half of the people had to stand at the back of the hall. The traditional ceremony was funny, and I'm glad I was able to witness it. It was almost exactly as the dramas portrayed it, (with whichever few dramas I watched) the husband had to piggyback the wife around the room! I'm very glad I got the chance to see this, but most of all, happy that a friend who has been like a big sister to me has found her own happiness as well.

After the wedding, we went back to change, (dresses & heels are not for the super cold weather) and we headed for some tea at a store called Tea Therapy. It was a very cozy place, with half herbal teas and half herb teas, at a very reasonable price & we tried the very delicious ice kachang too! After that, we headed to dinner, finally we had bbq pork & chige & that was the last of my trip.

Headed back to JP yesterday morning at 6am for a 9am flight, I'm so glad JP is so warm (at 15 degrees it feels so warm!).

Now I'm just looking forward to Singapore to avoid the cold winter here for 2 months! :)

千九百七十：Kobe Marathon

Kobe Marathon Participation T-shirt

My 2nd last run for the year is over & I'm feeling that alot of weight is off my shoulders! I know that I'm not in to win but there is just pressure on myself (from myself) that I need to do better that I did previously. Now I have only the Standard Chartered half marathon in Singapore left to worry about!

The run expo was a rainy affair, and there was only a small hall with with not many exhibitors. It was quite a sad event compared to the Osaka Marathon Expo and I don't know if it was due to poor planning or just plain stinginess on the organisers' part, there was no wet weather plan.

It was lucky that the marathon day itself was sunny but with very strong winds. It was a horrible run mainly because I had the urge to pee which got very very bad towards the 7-8km mark & I was really running for the loo rather than for any other reason in the end. The race course was too crowded - again poor planning, I don't know why they start everyone off at the same time cos in the end the 10km runners are stuck behind the slow full marathon runners who are definitely not going to be running at the same pace as us (or the people who actually need to use the loo) with many sharp curves in the route where runners were slowed to a crawl when running (now i understand the pain of the F1 racers in Singapore).

I managed to finish the run in an hour+, seek immediate relief in the loo of the end point before going on to support the full marathon runners.

Hiroki did really well! I'm actually surprised that I managed to catch all the people that I know was running, & that cheering them on helped to boost their morale (at least that's what they said). It was fun chasing them with the trains to 2 different points in the race - something that is probably not doable in Singapore. (How to go to Orchard then ECP then suntec within a few hours with all the walking & road closures in between?!) But the sunny weather was such a boost to runners' morales & you can really see the difference in the videos. Most people tried to finish with a run here but in the heavy rains during the Osaka Marathon, everyone looked depressed even at the finishing line. At least I experienced the worse one with hopes that if I ever join any marathon again, it should have better weather?!

I'm glad I've done all I wanted to achieve this year (train up, improve my 10km, do a good half marathon & try a full marathon). Heading to Seoul tomorrow for a colleague's wedding, it seems to be super cold in Korea! I hate the cold, it makes me feel all sleepy and want to just hibernate like a bear. I'm so looking forward to escaping 2 months of the cold in SG in a week!!

千九百六十九：Kyoto

The escape artist at the Philosopher's Walk in Kyoto

Last week was quite relaxing in the sense that the projects got signed off finally! & the team went on some event on Friday so it was a very coincidentally good timing that Shuping & Susan came to Kyoto over the same days.

Thursday night was 焼肉、 finally settled my beef cravings. I can't even remember the last time I had bbq beef, was it with Ryo's team?

Friday was sightseeing at Kyoto with the girls, it was a very very gloomy & chilly day with rain & lots of bus rides. We got to chat a lot on the bus rides at least, & I realised that Kyoto is too big a city to cover even in a week!  (maybe because of the jams.. & the fact that we were taking buses.. the subway network is not comprehensive enough, we had to walk alot of places)  I feel sorry for the people who live in Kyoto; there are so many tourists on the public transportation system, & the buses are so tiny with so little seats, are they paying taxes to maintain these systems? Around evening time, the horrible buses are packed to the door, and locals are not able to get on the buses (because the buses are so small) & I  actually feel thankful for the SG buses being so spacious and user friendly in their designs (even for standing people!) We managed to head to the Philosopher's walk (stumbled upon the cat above), then 平安神宮 & 金閣寺. When the sun set, we headed towards Gion, & then the shopping district. Luckily, we were all laidback travellers (not the kind who must cheong 10 places a day) & this suited us very well + our legs were all super tired from the walking around & the standing in the bus for >40 minutes per ride.

Saturday was a trip to 嵐山 Arashiyama (the most scenic place in Kyoto in my opinion). I should have set off earlier, but I was in serious sleep debt after 2 nights of sleeping late & waking up early the next day, and the seats were all taken up by energetic old ladies who were ready to go sightseeing at 9+am. (T.T) I had to stand for the whole of the 1.5 hours train ride there. Although there was only about 20% of the trees having turned yellow for autumn, having not been in Arashiyama for 2 years++ , the view still pretty much took my breath away. Seeing the bridge against the mountainous backdrop with patches of red & yellow, & a river with super clear waters, it was very scenic, if you try to ignore all the human traffic trying to squeeze pass you when you try to stop to take a pic (>.<) Anyway, loads of fun that day with the girls. We headed to the 竹林, managed to see workmen cutting down bamboo trees, old men doing watercolour paintings by the roadside, duck udon for lunch, an orgel museum (only headed into the shop hehe)

Kyoto is famous for it's 漬物　(pickled vegetables?) so we had alot of fun trying out pickles at the stores (of course we bought some!) I think the best part was that we were all sorta on the same frequency, especially with the "take alot of pics of everything" & "take alot of candid pics of the other girls'" mentality since we all had our own quite good cameras. I haven't travelled with friends in a while, it's usually Ryo & he doesn't take pics much (unless he wants to post something on fb) or he will be kinda involved in playing his games on the phone (which is pretty irritating) and be waiting for me while i browse or take pics instead of taking pics himself so this time was 10x more fun.

Dinner on Saturday night was with my cousin who also happened to come to Osaka at the same weekend, (the girls went back to Tokyo..) & his baby is already 1 year old! I haven't met his wife/baby directly before, and I must say the baby is a really really cute & sweet little girl! She was just smiling all the time (almost) & charmed the socks off 3 grown men at the next table which was quite funny cos they actually looked very macho & scary to me, until they started making faces at the baby. wahahaha!

Sunday morning was runclub activities and had to wake up at 7am sobzz (T.T) But was quite happy that I went; I hadn't realised that the last time I went was in July! Everyone seemed genuinely happy to meet up with me, & I feel very guilty that the next one I can only join is in February after I return from Singapore. sighz. I had a good time catching up with everyone during lunch (brought them to eat chicken rice for lunch!) and made  some new friends as well.

I'm very glad to be not going any where this week (for now though) because my legs are so so so tired! There is the quarter marathon this Sunday, & Korea next weekend. Glad to have events to look forward to!

千九百六十八：Happy Birthday!

Mont Blanc Chocolat Birthday Dessert

My hubby turned 40 last Friday. It sounds old! (><) But I tried to make it a good birthday, since almost every year I am not in Japan for his birthday, actually, trying to recall, I don't even think I've celebrated his birthday at all since 2005. Since we were in Tokyo, we went out for his favourite お好み焼 for dinner, & I surprised him  by producing the above when he came back to the room. I went up first because I had to pee (really!) while he went to 7-eleven, & that gave me the chance to prepare the dessert/cake and the candles. I went to buy the cake on the way back to the hotel after working at starbucks in the afternoon, luckily we were staying within walking distance from the department stores. (Odakyu has a very poor choice of confectionery compared to Hankyu, I realised.) Anyway, he was surprised & quite touched (I didn't wish him happy birthday in the morning because I had forgotten haha), so yay! Still sore he didn't do anything for me for my birthday, but too bad for me ...

Back at home since Monday, Ryo has gone to New York for work this morning. I have resolved to clean up the mess at home while he is away so that I can surprise him again when he is back. (& I really should clean up the study room which is overflowing with books.) I've managed to throw away tons of receipts, even from 2009. & have finally called the garbage center to remove the broken suitcase which Ryo was supposed to have done. Cannot depend on him to help with anything!! I have also decided to read a book a day (or a book every 2 days)  which is very hard when you are at home and there is so much other things you want to do. So far so good, I've read 7 (?) books since last week, on the train rides in Tokyo & back home. Ryo being away should give me the chance to read in bed before I sleep anyway.

It was a good trip, as 1day was a public holiday & we had the weekend + Friday dinner together. Usually when i'm in tokyo, I would be having dinner myself almost every day. Met up with some ex colleagues for lunch, leisurely worked in the afternoon (only 1 work day anyway) & met up with 2 NY girls for dinner on Sunday. It was so fun to girl talk while the JP husbands 诉苦 to each other. (^^)v Shopped a little, ate alot, on the whole it was quite a relaxing trip. It was the first time I took an afternoon flight home as well and I managed to catch a glimpse of Osaka Castle & Umeda Sky building from the air. It was amazing!

Feeling very fulfilled after the big cleanup today, shall go read & cook dinner (not at the same time) now. Ciao!

千九百六十七： Air Acrobatics

Blue Impulse - the Japanese air acrobatics pilots in their air display

I'm in Tokyo again, blogging from the Starbucks at 三井ビル in Shinjuku.  Had lunch with Maya & Mikey-san, & am now doing work here at least until the housekeeping is done in the hotel room (& also to give myself some fresh air).

Just got most of my work done, & am looking forward to the SG holiday on Monday (because I can OTOTw/o having to worry about my travelling time from Tokyo - Osaka.

We had quite a good time at 入間 (Iruma) airbase yesterday; they had an open house & there was an air display by the Japanese air acrobatics team Blue Impulse. They were pretty good! Although they weren't flying fighter jets like the Italian team Frecce Tricolori or the Singapore Black Knights, the stunts were similar & as usual, very breathtaking. The last display I had watched live was during the Singapore airshow in 1998, & it was so exciting! The difference this time is I have a DSLR (with only 200mm zoom but good enough for most of my shots) & the pictures are so much better :)

I'm back in the hotel now; the problem with working outdoors is that you always worry that you have not enough battery power to last. If you have to bring all the power cables, it kinda defeats the purpose of mobile work right? & my bag will then be very heavy.

Enjoying tokyo air so far, but wished I had brought jeans now.. is abit cold.. Looking fw to checking out the latest sg restaurant I discovered online tomorrow, & hopefully thai food tomorrow for dinner also! (^^)v

千九百六十六： Osaka Marathon 2011

At the starting line on 30 Oct 2011.

Finally the day that I was dreading is finally over!! Been waiting (dreading) for this day for the past 4 months ever since I got the spot for the race. With lots of grand plans for training myself to avoid the horrible pains of Sundown, I was actually quite looking forward to it at first until I injured my foot during the fireworks at Yodogawa, stopped training for almost the whole of August, travelled to Taipei, then Italy then basically suddenly it was October already & I haven't trained at all. (>.<) & it became a very dreaded event... argh...

At any rate I was hoping to finish within 5 hours, but it was not to be ... & I was filled respect for people who did managed to finish within 6 hours after the race haha.

my timing for Osaka Marathon 2011

Moving time displayed. Total time was actually 6:11:58 if you click in to see , I rested for almost 1 hour. What a waste!


It was a super gloomy day on Sunday, cloudy, drizzling, cold winds.. I was filling so cold at the start line cos of the winds, was wondering if my decision to just wear shorts & tshirt was right after all. (weather forecast had forecast that rain was to come around 3pm) so I had just ziplocked my phone & earphones & some money in a pouch & hoped the weather held up. It felt like everyone around me seemed very well prepared ... & I was just feeling kinda scared.

When it finally started at 9am, my group was around 500m away from the start line, so I walked slowly there (15 min? ) while everyone around me like kinda cheonged towards the start.. I mean, not like they are going to count the time we take to get to the start & 500 m is not a short distance.. i want to conserve my energy! The first 2 km was really almost shoulder to shoulder, had no space in front to even try to overtake people. Which in a way was good, cos I was forced to go quite slowly & 2+km went by w/o even feeling much effort/

Luckily I did.. as usual, the long waiting time for the start of the race made me want to pee. Not urgently but added with the intensity of the race but every toilet I passed had a long queue. I finally decided to take a quick break at 9.9km & just queued for the loo & take a breather.

Ryo was nice enuff to move around every 5/10km to catch me. Actually it was a big help he was around. I had something to look forward to, every 5km or 10km,  knowing he was somewhere along the side & it kinda kept me going. When I neared the points he was supposed to be at, I would be kinda scanning the pavements for him which helped me ignore the pains in my feet or the urge to stop & just sit down. Everytime I saw him, it kinda gave me energy at least for the next 1-2 km to run abit before I had to walk again.

It was a super huge struggle after 25km. I could feel the pains in my leg very clearly now, but thank God it wasn't the horrible horrible pain behind the knee as per Sundown. This was still walkable, I really had to stop & stretch every 2km, but i was kinda not really running much after 30km (depressing in the rain & gave up on having a time limit, just wanted to get this over with)

Rain got heavy, & Ryo would only be at the end point. All I could think about was omg, no more full marathons for me again!! & just tried to walk faster because I was in danger of missing the next cut off time. (38 km at 1514)  I had passed 34km at 1415, which meant I had an hour to clear 4km. A slow walk for a normal person is around 3km an hour. which means I had to walk faster than that. Feeling quite scared, I tried to stretch out abit, spray alot of Salonpas on my leg　& tried to run at least for the next km. Managed to do it in 8 min, realised if I walked w/o thinking about anything except just counting until 100 it might be easier, I did that for the next 4km... & finally managed to get to 38km.

Rain got heavier & heavier. There were drinks & food station  every 2.5km, at that point it was kinda like a stroll at the pasar malam where yay free food & drinks & I was actually starting to feel quite full. no need to eat/drink also just take, something to take my mind off the pain & the last few km. There was an upslope at 39km? & I saw like soooo many people ahead of me, & actually I didn't know then, but there was actually still around 6000 people behind me. It was pouring cats & dogs, when I finally hit the last km marker. at 42km, I  still couldn't see the finishing line. Which was damn weird. & very demoralising. Finally decided to just end the pain (200m is actually still quite a distance, when I could finally see the finishing point, made a final effort to dash towards it. (which led to the commentator commenting, oh, this person still has energy to run more!) *rolls eyes*

The struggle wasn't over. After the finishing point, had to walk at least another 1km (through the expo hall) to get our medals & everything that came with the finisher pack, then another 1km to the next expo hall to get our baggage, then wait in line another 30minutes to exit the place. omg..... & then guess what, the train station was too crowded so we had to walk to the next one in the super heavy rain, probably another 1km away. (T.T) & at the train station had to queue for at least 15 min just to get into the station due to the crowds. I almost died post race if not during the race.

Ryo had to leave for his work trip after reaching home, so I kinda just spent sunday night with lots of the Salonpas patches on my legs. Knees were aching like mad (never ached before),  waist area too, back of thighs & butt as well. All I can say is luckily I work from home! Fell asleep from exhaustion at 10pm, but kept waking up at night when i moved my legs due to the pain. Monday was just shuffling in pain from 1 place to another in the house, but amazingly I can actually descend the stairs w/o pain today anymore. In fact most of my bodyaches are gone! Just the side of my right knee still hurting a little & I got tired super fast when I went out to run some errands.

Work kept me busy for the past 2 days; thank goodness it doesn't hurt to sit down.

Phew! I'm glad I don't have any full marathons upcoming, & am quite looking forward to the quarter marathon on 20th Nov. (Yay!! only Quarter!! 11km should be chicken feed!) & the half marathon in SG in december. I guess my short term goal is just to better the shorter distances' timings. & something else I learnt, that there is no such thing as having fun in the marathons. If you decide on timing, there is no time to stop & take pics. (unless you ran very fast) If you just want to hv fun & take alot of pics, just throw your timing out the window. Half of it was the indecision of what I wanted out of this marathon that got me feeling very tired mentally. At least for the shorter distances, there isn't such a dilemma!

If you actually managed to read until here - you can view the photos from the marathon here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexxis/sets/72157628032055232

Will be in Tokyo for the weekend (from tomorrow's evening actually)!!