Believe you can, and you will..

Completed my first 42KM marathon this morning and I'm truly happy. The weather was good, my pace & morale all the way till about 38km was great. I was on track for my 5h target with no cramp at all. I was also jogging throughout, nil walking except for walking through all the water point as recommended by experienced runners.
Most painful stretch was at the F1 pitstop which seems never ending and the sun was blazing. Jennifer & Gerald were there to share my glorious moment at the finishing line. =)
Finisher T-shirt & souvenir medal, in exchange for the sweat, blisters & lactic acid.
Feeling fresh after changing into dry clothes.

F1 (28 Sep 2008) - First night race

Super belated posting on my first F1 experience...

Despite the fact that I never had the patience to watch through a complete race where the cars just went round & round until I lost count, I emptied my pocket to get 3 three day passes to bring my dear Daddy who was soooo excited that the F1 is finally coming to SG.

Started getting into the F1 craze with a close encounter with Lewis Hamilton & Heikki Kovalainen when they came to my office on Wed & Thurs prior to the race. Lewis is cute & more approachable in person. I'm proud he eventually won the F1 title. =)
Cool Daddy with the Ferrari flag.
Dear dear who also enjoyed the action.Our seats were at the grandstand facing the floating platform. Nice & cooling.
Everyone was so shock when there's a crash at the Bayfront just below where we were sitted.
Our tickets also allow us to walk-around various areas along the circuit so we explored various "elevated platforms" near turns & along straight stretches. Rather worth it as there were also many live telecast screens so we would stay connected while "experiencing" all the action. Despite being an "F1 idiot", I actually enjoyed the 3 days of action. =)

http://i-love-travelling.blogspot.com

Finally updated my travel blog. 1 full day to complete the part on Greece so guess I'll need much more time before I complete Italy & Switzerland. Enjoyed the vacation & loved the Greek Islands! =)

Working in Tokyo..

It's my first time travelling alone. Luckily, so far so good. =) Flight was comfortable and I was in Tokyo after a short nap & Haagen Dazs ice-cream.

It's extremely easy to navigate in Tokyo because they're so systematic and there's lots of signages & colour-coding. Enjoying the cool weather while waiting for the Limo bus to transfer to the hotel. Impossible to take a cab as it'll cost SGD $350... ooh!

Here's my office building, Roppongi First Building.

Hotel is about 5 minutes away from office. Nearest train station is Tameiko-sanno Metro Station (Exit 13). About 5 stations away from Shibuya via Metro. Nice and cosy so I enjoyed the stay. =)

There's an open area is just beside my hotel. Always enjoy passing by this area on my way to work. Weather is sooo nice. Sunrise is very early at about 4.30am and sunset is similar to S'pore s the day feels very long.
Stalls are setup every Wednesday morning at the open area, selling fruits & veggie. Good place to buy fruits. Fruits can be sooo expensive here. Saw grapes & cherries that cost SGD $100++! Even bananas sold at 7-11 cost me $1.50 each.
Went to Shibuya for shopping & dinner right after check-in to hotel. As usual, the crossing was so full of buzz. Yoshinoya is very unpopular here in Tokyo. Heard from my colleague that no one will eat there and the shop looks very cheapo too.

After work on weekdays is usually dinner or shopping followed by dinner. Went to Shunjuku 2 consecutive nights and Roppongi on Friday.

Was looking forward to the weekend... no need to work. =) Woke up early than the weekdays so to head to Tsukiji for sashimi breakfast. Some of the shops had sooo long queue.. about 30-40 people waiting in the line.Very delicious and it's so fresh! Premium chirashi @ SGD $45. It comes with 2 slices of Torro (Tuna belly) which is soo expensive in S'pore.
Very interesting to walk around Tsukiji. The different grades of Tuna & Salmon.
The debone the fishes so it makes grilled fish so easy.
This is the transport used by the locals working in the Tsukiji market.
This is edamame.

My favourite, Wasabi! They grind this and mix with water to form the green wasabi paste.

Sea Urchin

Didn't know that Bonito (the flakely thing that is served with fried tofu) is actually fish flakes. The locals buy them in big paper bags.

The different variety of Tamago.

Their desserts looks sooo pretty. Can't resist to buy them. Unfortunately they've to be eaten fresh so can't huy them back.

This is taken in a shrine near to Tsukiji market.

We walked from Tsukiji to Ginza. Lotsa shopping. =)

Met up with Renhao who's studying music here in Tokyo. He bought us to Asakusa after Ueno. My second visit to this shrine and I still like this place. Highly recommended for first timers to Tokyo.

They're making the rice crackers on the spot.. using CHARCOAL.


My colleague and I had Kobe beef sukiyi & grilled beef on Sat night @ Roppongi. It started raining on Sat so it was comforting to have something soupy. My most expensive meal in Tokyo so far... Cost us SGD $180 / person. It's worth every cent though we gotta start eating bread next week liao...



Sun was rainy the whole day so we went shopping. Didn't take any pictures because hands were already very full. =)

Sporty events..


Safra Runway Cycling - 25 May 2008

15Km cycling on the Paya Lebar airport runway on a nice cooling sunday morning.. very nice! Particularly nice because Gerald accompanied me and he actually enjoyed himself as well. =)



Sundown Marathon - 31 May 2008

Obviously I didn't do the ultra-marathon (84KM). It's way beyond my league and I truely admire their courage. Since it's the first night marathon in Singapore, I round up 3 colleague to sign-up under the team category. So inspiring to see the ultra-marathoners in action...

Passion Run - 8 June 2008

The cheapest & most worthwhile running event so far. I only paid $18 for 15Km. It's quite well organised, there's distance signage every 1km and water point every 2km with lots of 100 plus. Best timing so far @ 98mins.

May Day Long Weekend


Have an excellent long weekend, starting with the chance to drive home a Cabriolet CLK 280 from office. Simply loved the car! It was sleek and easy to drive. Not to mention it was truly a head-turner especially when topless. How I wished I could keep the car.. hehe

On Thur, Gerald & I visited Labrador Park for the first time. It was nice and sunny, a great way to enjoy the public holiday! Had lunch @ Olive Ristorante and I would highly recommend the place for it's serenity and yummy menu. Can't to go back to try the warm chocolate cake *hint hint*


Thur was quite a fun-filled day.
Had another cycling expedition in the late afternoon. Tried some parts of the Eastern Coastal PCN and the section leading up to Bedok reservoir was very siong with plenty of tough slopes. Went down memory lane when we visited our old house & the neighbourhood where we grew up. It's been about 20 years and everything looks sooo different now...

After about 4 hours of cycling, went home to shower before heading to dempsey for late night drinks with a friend from german class as well as 2 colleagues. Finally had the chance to try out Quarubar by Pool Junction (next to Harry's bar). Nice jazzy live music though their sandwich is nothing fantastic (i think I can make something better =P). Nice chill out place and great company plus the fact the I took leave on Friday was certainly reasons to stay out till late.

Played badminton on Friday morning, followed by massage at Spa Elements @ Cathay before meeting some friends for dinner at Shoduko. Thereafter we went Crew Room for drinks and I was already high by 12 midnight. Went Indochine @ Clark Quay where Robin is spinning to dance and more merry-making. Tired but its was truly a satisfying weekend! )