Last Sunday, I completed the 15km passion run organized by the PA. Gosh, it wasn't that easy after all.

I'll talk about how forgetful I can get first. My friend reminded me the day before to remember to bring my number tag. But I didn't put it in my bag. Therefore when I was travelling on the mrt, I spotted someone with the tag on his shoes. Damn it. I had to rush back home by cab, get it, fetch my friend, and take a cab to ECP.

Wow. I guessed around 10k people joined the run. When we reached the place, waves of red were already jogging down the tracks. We got ready for the 2nd wave and I was pretty confident I could finish it with a good timing.

Well.. when we started, we couldn't really run the normal pace as all the 15km runners clustered themselves like ants returning to their hives. Not really interested in the pong pong girls, I started to deviate from my friend who seemed engrossed chatting with his colleagues. For the first 8km, it was smooth riding. Managed to take over a lot of people with ease. But I was still trailing behind loads of reds. As I haven't trained to run 15km before, I knew it would be a problem in the later part of the run.

When I reached the 10km mark, I started to feel cold. It's like someone plugged out my power plug or something. Yes, I do have some reserve batteries with me, but as I ran, I felt my body reaching my limit as I could feel the tension within my joints. I tried not to think about it and pushed myself forward. The morning sun didn't help as it continued wearing me down. People started to overtake me and I realized I was trying to minimize the exertion of my muscles. Whenever there was a drink station, it became an excuse for me to stop and have a drink.

During my last 2km, I knew I was out of fuel. My mind had to take over to intercept my body's message. "Go on, the finishing line is near" was defeated by "Seriously, you should stop to take a rest" a few times. The finishing line seemed forever.

When I saw the finishing line, people were overtaking me as they knew they wanted the best timing for themselves. But I was reserving my energy in case I faint before I could get my goodie bag. Sad to see someone tripped himself before the finishing point. Alas, mission completed. It took the hell out of me seriously. And to think I was so optimistic to join the marathon run end of the year. Crap. I need more training. This isn't good enough.

Libraries now allow you to extend your book loan for 3 more weeks. Logon to www.pl.sg to do it. (some clever friend of mine actually went down physically to extend)

I went to return my book today. And realized I must pay up for my overdue loan fees before I can borrow! What the @#%^. Maybe too many ppl just don't bother to pay up.

Haha. Haha. Ha... Aw.. I need a revamp in my life. Fast.

Travelling is fun. You get to meet lots of new friends, see lots of sceneries, read lots of maps, and get lost lots of times. But it is worthwhile. I wouldn't say my trip is totally hardcore backpack like those ang mohs, but it really helps in preparing for my future trips to other countries.

My first stop was Bangkok, a vibrant city full of hardworking people. The lives they led are pretty good as I don't see many beggars lying around. My friend Cuthbert brought me around shopping during the first day, and there's so much to see and buy. But we wouldn't want to bring loads of stuff to Cambodia later, so we simply bought some toys for our friends. Travelling around such a busy city was made easy by Cuthbert, who had been here for a few months and picked up quite important phrases in Thai. And we started to think that we got blended into the city when people came talking to us in Thai language. Well, Singaporeans don't have a unique look and are only distinguishable when they speak Singlish.

On the 2nd day, it happened to be Buddha Day. A stranger just came to us, gave us a note of the itinery for the day, and we coincidentally hopped onto a tuk tuk who drove us around to those places with just a small fare of 20 baht ($0.80sgd). The temples had many buddha statues and donation boxes around them, and it was quite a sight. Then before we headed to the Thai jewellery export, a lady coincidentally told us how we could buy the jewelleries and sell them back in Singapore (she still specified Peninsula Plaza as the hot market). Personally, I really felt a bit drama how we were led to places and people who spoke volumes of 'scam' when we didn't even intend to go to those places at first. But we just acted like dummies and didn't buy anything, so we only spent a bit of money for the transport.

There was a place where we were faked into paying for some corn to feed pigeons. Crap. The locals simple threw corn into our hands and pigeons flocked around like we were vultured. The next thing, we were ordered to pay 150 baht for the feeding. Sucks. Well let's move on. We reached the grand palace pretty late and so we didnt pay for the entrance fees in. And certain buses were free that day, and we managed to save some of our transport fees. Singaporeans, the usual style.

The final day in Bangkok, we brought some friends to a praying hall, and it was nice spending some time with thai people. I asked one of them about the place to buy a toy, and guess what, they really drove me there. It just explained how hospitable they can get. And yes, they brought us to a lovely retro place for dinner, where Cuthbert obliged with a 甜蜜蜜 song.

Next, the much awaited border crossing to Cambodia. Early morning the next day, we went to Bangkok train station to take a 5 hour long train to Aranyaprathet. Quite a nice ride with lots of sceneries of Thailand, be it rain or shine, countryside or city. We saw locals which were given tough treatment by the officers and they left to stand by the end of the trains because they were on good seats. And the officers knowing we were tourists really took care of us.

Touching down on the land, we were taken to a Cambodian comsummate where we were assisted in writing the arrival form to Cambodia. And given that we were Singaporeans, we did not have to pay for any visa. But the sucky part is when the guy wanted us to give some tips for them. I just hate remembering the extortion look. And given that I had already read up on this, I was rather disappointed that we still fell into the trap. But that's life. Experience it.

The customs in Cambodia really wasn't a professional one. The officer took more than 5 minutes flipping through my passport trying to find my extension stamp. And when he found it, he reported that I needed 6 months availability for my passport. Any kid would know that the difference from now until November is 7 months. I rebuked back and they got their calculations right.

We avoided the touting of kids and youngsters for trips to Siem Reap and joined a Hong Kong and Canadian traveller in a taxi to our destination. The Canadian named Neo Armstrong was already away from home since January and will be travelling around until July before he goes back to find a job. Compared to us, ang mohs really do not hold back when they do things. Kudos.

We parted with Neo and settled in a simple guestroom with Jason, our new found Hong Kong friend.
He too took the train from Thailand, would settle in Siem Reap for a few days before going to Phnom Penh and back to Thailand for the Songkran 'Water' festival. Cuthbert, Jason and Neo made me look old because they were all around 6-7 years younger.

I have been wanting to visit Ang Kor Wat for quite some time. And I really suggest reading up a bit on the place before you go. There are really lots of majestic temples having a one-day visit ticket is just not enough. We rented bicycles and roamed around the whole day visiting temples. Gosh, I realized I'm really old cause I couldn't catch up with them youngsters. During every station, kids would flood us with souvenirs to buy and their '3 for 1 dollar' ranting really had a hypnotic effect. And it's pretty sad to think that kids have been forced to make money when they should study and play hard.

The next day, we took a tuk tuk, followed by a motorbike and then a boat to see the village life. Wow. Eye opener it was. Kids roamed around naked, cows were working hard in the farms, it really brought us back to the simple life we were deprived of in Singapore. Kids still surrounded us with notebooks and pencils, hoping that we would buy from them. And it was really sad when we came back from our boat trip, they were still waiting at the bank. I didn't buy in the end because I will never get to use it. But I loved the smile of a young girl who told me how happy she was studying in her school and playing in the village with her friends. I always feel that contentment is a blessing. My friend did tell me that it's because they haven't seen the world. So their craving for more isn't triggered by their senses yet. Quite true. But I shall find the answer for that someday.

I'm back. And I realize that my future holidays shouldn't be simply be going to resorts to enjoy myself in gluttony. Experiencing their lifestyles seem more fruitful. Well, will plan out my next trip soon.. but not so soon.

Kenichi Matsuyama again! But this time he is not acting a psychotic detective trying to decipher who is holding on to the death note. He is playing a nerdy role of a graduate student who wants to fulfill his dream as a pop star singing sweet love songs, but ends up with unimaginable occupation of being a heavy metal lead singer.
Japanese just love to dream, so they manage to come up with this manga/anime movie. The inspiring part about this show is that it brings a dilemma to the singer when he cannot sing the songs he likes to, but yet inspires others with the songs he himself disapproves. Yeah, subconscious talent or whatever you call it.
So in the end, does it matter if he plays the music he likes and doesn't get recognized? Or is it better to stay with something he can be good at and inspire others at the expense of his own dream?
Sometimes, fighting for your dream versus sacrificing your dream to make dreams for others.. it's really difficult to make a call.

Sorry guys for the late update. I will be linking all my blogs to a new website soon. Still pondering whether to continue this 3 year plus blogspot site...

Anyway, I'm emphatic. Some friends of mine decided to gather and start a business. I have never imagined myself to be in this kind of situation, because I have never dreamt of doing a business. And during this drastic period, I guess having ideas and fail is still a success compared to not trying at all.

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."-Anais Nin

Next week, I will be going to Thailand and Cambodia with my friend for some sightseeing. Hopefully all will be fine as this will be the first time I fly alone. Well who cares. I have faith in AirAsia. Booked the flight from SG to BKK and from Siem Reap back to SG. From BKK to Cambodia, guess we have to take some long routes by land which may pose the most challenging. The flight is simply too expensive, considering the short distance between these two locations.

Ang Kor Wat. Here I come.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." - Marcel Pronst.

It's true that when you are doing something, you must be happy about it. Or else, don't do it. If you simply just do it to make people happy and you yourself are not, it's crap. Because people who are happy need you to be happy doing it too.

Now, what makes a person happy? To put it simply, anything that the person enjoys doing will make himself happy in the process of doing it. So in the end, it's your mindset. If you dislike drinking coffee without milk, you will put on a mask and hide the ugliest expression you can give even if your most beloved person ask you to drink it. But if you realize that coffee gives a great bitter-sweet aftertaste naturally, and you start to enjoy the greatness of it, you will be contented with it.

But what makes you unhappy about something in the first place? Usually, it's your past habit or experience that you have accumulated all this while that stops you from being satisfied doing something in a way you are not accustomed to. Or some people will deem it as "being forced to". And the fact that you have been in your comfort zone for so long without doing it, you will feel weird if it comes to you as a responsibility now.

Some people say life is about being happy. Well, people do things the way they want and they feel happy, but at the expense of others. Imagine a child wanting to give a try at an arts course, but parents want him to be a lawyer. For this instance, the child is trying to find his own happiness at the expense of his parents' comfortability in their vision of how their child should grow up to be.

Sometimes it's about being responsible. For you yourself, your family, your friends, for the environment you live in, and many more. Circumstances will make you unable to realize your dream as responsibility has stepped in faster than you have expected. But before that, a little bit more understanding of your own situation helps. So you can "enjoy" and absorb the responsibility.

Whether you are trying to achieve the goal set by you or by others, you must take full responsiblity for it. Whichever path ahead, responsibility is heavy. But without taking full responsibility for yourself, there will never be a day you can fend off all challenges in life and soar to the boundary that you have dreamed of.

I'm planning for a holiday trip. Why this time?

1) Oil price is cheap. You will never get cheaper flights than now.
2) Companies are forcing pay cuts and unpaid leaves. This should be the time to go on holidays with no impact to the business (in fact, they might be happier that you help them cut cost for the month).
3) Dollar exchange rate for certain countries should be quite worthwhile.
4) The increasing stress level escalated by the lousy economy should be channelled somewhere else.
5) Different environments and lifestyle might spur your creative ideas for your own business.

Life is an adventure. Before that, you need to be responsible for yourself and your actions. With this, you need not worry about (superficial) security issues in any aspect of your life. Mentally secured will be the key.

Cambodia anyone?