Laugh or cry?

Let's go to the zoo

There's lots of things to do

And the food is finger lickin' good

Who still remembers that KFC song?

Last Friday was a day to remember. The day I finally visited Zoo Negara after all these years contemplating about it and it was the day I found my long lost brother...

Should I laugh or should I cry?

Let's make a change

Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson

I'm Gonna Make A Change,

For Once In My Life

It's Gonna Feel Real Good,

Gonna Make A Difference

Gonna Make It Right . . .



As I, Turn Up The Collar On

MyFavourite Winter Coat

This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind

I See The Kids In The Street,

With Not Enough To Eat

Who Am I, To Be Blind?

Pretending Not To SeeTheir Needs



A Summer's Disregard,

A Broken Bottle Top

And A One Man's Soul

They Follow Each Other On

The Wind Ya' Know'

Cause They Got Nowhere To Go

That's Why I Want You ToKnow



I'm Starting With The Man InThe Mirror

I'm Asking Him To ChangeHis Ways

And No Message Could HaveBeen Any Clearer

If You Wanna Make The World

A Better Place(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)

Take A Look At Yourself,

AndThen Make A Change(Take A Look At Yourself, AndThen Make A Change)

(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,Na Nah)



I've Been A Victim Of

A Selfish Kind Of Love

It's Time That I Realize

That There Are Some With No Home,

Not A Nickel To Loan

Could It Be Really Me,

Pretending That They're NotAlone?



A Willow Deeply Scarred,

Somebody's Broken Heart

And A Washed-Out Dream(Washed-Out Dream)

They Follow The Pattern OfThe Wind,

Ya' See Cause They Got No PlaceTo Be

That's Why I'm Starting WithMe(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man InThe Mirror(Ooh!)

I'm Asking Him To ChangeHis Ways(Ooh!)

And No Message Could HaveBeen Any Clearer

If You Wanna Make The WorldA Better Place(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change(Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man InThe Mirror(Ooh!)

I'm Asking Him To Change HisWays(Change His Ways-Ooh!)

And No Message Could've Been Any Clearer

If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place(If You Wanna Make TheWorld A Better Place)Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make That . . .(Take A Look At Yourself AndThen Make That . . .)

Change!

Why we raise our voice when we get angry?

A saint asked his disciples,
'Why do we shout in anger?
Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said,
'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'

'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint.
'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice?
Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.
Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'

Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'
The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.
Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all.
That is how close two people are when they love each other.

MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return. So learn how to love your partner... and all those around you, even the not so friendly neighbour

...take care & God bless..

Low's Peak

Ok, it's been taking me too long to finally finish blogging about THG Mt Kinabalu expedition a month ago.

Where was I?...Oh ya...Laban Rata. The last member of our group reached Laban Rata around four in the afternoon. All had brunch, late lunch, showered, and proceeded to Pendant Hut for Via Ferrata briefing.






One hour passed and we all knew wery well how to stay alive using a scorpion & a banana. And it's dinner time back in Laban Rata hostel. Munch munch munch ...with everyone fully loaded, early night's sleep beckons. Those staying at Gunting Lagadan scuttled up another 50m altitude to hostel before the sky turned pitch black.




9pm and it's lights off. But not many slept well. I was having some head pounding session and it felt like mild fever. Somehow I woke up every hour. Must be altitude sickness... finally it got hold of me. Kenny & Dr Ray were having it worse. Both contemplating on going up Low's Peak.

1am lights on. Had light breakfast, packed and all of us were ready to go by 2am.




Checked the thermometer and luckily 9degrees without any wind. No chill factor! Phew! But still, everyone were at their thickest...jacket, skiing gloves, balaclava, windbreaker...etc.




230am Tony & group from Laban Rata arrived at the gate beside our hostel. Once the guide unlocked the gate, Low's Peak here we come!!!

Sayat Sayat hut at 3810m is the last shelter to the peak. Vegetation from there onwards was clearly very different. No more trees or thick shrubs, it's boulders, rocks, more rocks and occasional mosses. Pitch black 300m to the peak so no pix taken. sorry! Step by step the climb got steeper and air was thinner. Finally, I reached the peak 4095.2m around half past four. Hooray!!! But pitch black. Strong wind. Drizzling. COLDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!


We were all gathered at the peak, all huddled against each other for some heat as the chill factor was zapping to our bones! Rain coat on, windbreaker on, jacket on but it was still freezing. That was when the time went by so slowly. 545am, a mountain guide came up to advise us to quickly snap some photos and go down. No beautiful sunrise with such cruel weather that morning.




Oh crap! Sky cleared but we were on the way down, not up! The wind & rain took a break as we walked to our Via Ferrata starting point down at the 7km mark.




Big rock toilet!





If you can see what I was doing, it's a symptom of descending altitude sickness. Those around me were stunned speechless. Looked like I was doing some sort of mountain dance. Hahaha!

View from the Via Ferrata cliff was breathtaking!



Donkey Ears behind us.

Ok...
Helmet - check!
Harness with scorpion & banana - check!
Let's go down via ferrata!





What is a via ferrata?

A via ferrata (or ‘iron road’ in Italian, plural via ferrate) is a mountain path consisting of a series of rungs, rails and cables embracing the rock face. It allows access to scenic sections of the mountains that are typically available only to rock climbers and mountaineers. The excitement, scenic beauty and personal conquest you'll experience on a via ferrata is guaranteed to give you an invigorating nostalgic experience for years to come.
There are more than 300 via ferrata routes around the world predominantly in Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland and Spain, and a few places in the United States and Canada. The world's highest via ferrata, Mountain Torq - which also happens to be Asia's first - can now be found on Mt Kinabalu in the east Malaysian state of Sabah.
(taken from http://www.mountaintorq.com/)





If you are interested to do Via Ferrata, please call Tony 0162742213. He is the contact person in KL.





Some pix of our Via Ferrata...

That's me doing my wee wee . Should be recorded in Malaysia Book of Records as the highest pee-ing in South East Asia! Pee and get a cert. Imagine that! Hahahaha!




Fantastic pix are courtesy of Kelvin, Shih Ming, Michelle, Soi Fung, Lee, Debbie, Tony...many thanks!

A story too beautiful not to share...

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'



One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend. He asked her,'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?'



The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him..



Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.'



This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.



Life Is a Gift Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.



Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.



Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.



Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who died too early on this earth.



Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.



Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.



Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.



And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.



But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without sin.



And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still around.







I PRAY THIS MOVES AROUND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.... Too beautiful not to share......

God Answers All Prayers - Faith

Praise God!
He has answered all my prayers.

We need to pray to Him, talk to Him.
We need to be patient and have faith in Him!
He is always there for us.

Thank you Jesus!

In today’s Gospel, Jesus assures us that His Father will answer all our prayers. We will not be able to believe this if our faith in God is not as deep as our impatient desires to solve our needs and overcome the trials in our lives. How deep is your faith and trust in God?

Onroad or offroad?

With KL marathon getting close, 5 weeks to be exact, doing early morning runs meaning waking up before the sunrise is still a failure for me. Somehow dawn seems to be the most difficult time to wake up. No early morning runs so I had to compensate in the evenings. These past three weeks have been Gasing in Gasing out Gasing pusing-pusing. Evenings with the sun setting do not mean immediate cooling as heat rises from the daily baked roads. I could feel the tarmac temperatures eating through my trainers. Made me wonder how some runners can go barefooted. Ouch!

So, to have a much cooler run, Gasing hill trail is the perfect choice! Offroad running is totally different & more challenging as there is no straight & flat trail. It's swerving left & right, up & down, like going through an obstacle course avoiding trees, roots, rocks and the occasional nature lovers. Much much cooler but humidity is higher & that's why I seem to sweat more. It's actually sweat evaporating at a slower rate compared to drier conditions on the roads. Different muscles are being used as well navigating through the nature trail. Climbing steep hills require more of gluteus maximus power, a.k.a butt muscle power la! Next day is a sore ass day.

Avoiding heat is probably my lame excuse for running through Gasing trail everytime I go that way. What da heck, it's fun!

Cramps, blisters, side stitch...ouch!

Here are some tips from the June 2009 issue of Runner's World...

You're in the middle of an important training run or race when a cramp, blister, or slippery banana peel strikes. Here's how to run around these setbacks.

Oh No! Muscle Cramp Recovery Plan:
Stop running and apply pressure to the muscle. Press firmly for 15 seconds—don't massage. Then gently stretch the muscle. Repeat the pressure/stretch cycle until the cramp subsides. Walk at first, then slowly increase your pace.

Oh No! Blister Recovery Plan:
In a short run or race, keep going. Otherwise, it's best to deal with a blister before it becomes painful enough to throw oft your gait. Covering it with a Band-Aid or moleskin is ideal. But if an aid station or home is miles away, adjust your laces. Tightening them could stop heel slippage (a common cause of blisters); loosening them could take pressure off a hot spot.

Oh No! Side Stitch Recovery Plan:
Notice which foot is striking the ground when you inhale and exhale. Then switch the pattern. So if you were leading with your right foot, inhale when the left foot steps. If that doesn't help, stop running and reach both arms above your head. Bend at the waist, leaning to the side opposite the stitch.

Oh No! Ankle Turn Recovery Plan:
If you suffered a minor sprain, your first few steps will be painful. But once the ankle loosens up, you'll be able to run on it and get back in the race with ease. Stop if your pain is more severe with each step—that's a sign of a fracture.

Oh no! Stumble and Fall Recovery Plan:
Get up and assess yourself. Road rash or minor scrapes can be patched up later. (Heavy bleeding needs immediate treatment.) Running might feel difficult at first because your heart rate will be elevated and you'll be shaken up.

Oh no! Stiffness After a Pit Stop Recovery Plan:
keep your breaks brief—two minutes at most. Walk while taking water rather than coming to a complete stop. Start back up slowly; don't resume your prior pace right away.

What's wrong???

Chinese New Year 2010 is on 14 Feb. Air ticket to go back hometown, not booked.

Langkawi Ironman 2010 is on 27 Feb. Air ticket to Langkawi, booked.

Can anybody tell me what's wrong here??????

Live like Jesus

If we want to love God more fully,

we must be wiling to die to all forms of selfishness

and put God at the centre of our lives

and live selflessly like Christ.

Health tips

Cancer-causing foods :

1. Hot dogs
Because they are high in nitrates, the Cancer Prevention Coalition advises that children eat no more than 12 hot dogs a month. If you can't live without hot dogs, buy those made without sodium nitrate.

2. Processed meats and bacon also high in the same sodium nitrates found in hotdogs, bacon, and other processed meats raise the risk of heart disease. The saturated fat in bacon also contributes to cancer.

3. Doughnuts are cancer-causing double trouble. First, they are made with white flour, sugar, and hydrogenated oils, then fry at high temperatures. Doughnuts, says Adams , may be the worst food you can possibly eat to raise your risk of cancer.

4. French fries
Like doughnuts, French fries are made with hydrogenated oils andthen fry at high temperatures. They also contain cancer- causing acryl amides which occur during the frying process.They should be called cancer fries, not French fries.

5. Chips, crackers, and cookies
All are usually made with white flour and sugar. Even the ones whose labels claim to be free of trans-fats generally contain small amounts of trans-fats.

BRAIN DAMAGING HABITS
1. No Breakfast
People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level.This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High Sugar consumption
Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells. Adults require 7 to 8 hours sleep daily. Childrenrequire 9 to 10 hours sleep daily for their brain to develop properly.

7. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease ineffectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain

11. Too much TV is bad for health
Too much TV is bad especially for children.Watching TV before bed is not good and does not promote good deepsleep for the brain to rest well and develop properly.

The main causes of liver damage are:
1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.

2. Not urinating in the morning

3. Too much eating.

4. Skipping breakfast

5. Consuming too much medication.

6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener.

7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.

8. Consuming overly done foods also add to the burden of liver. Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.

We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to 'schedule.'

DO TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH

Bye bye Monday blues!

Had a busy weekend helping to set up the NB15km and that means no usual long run for me.

Today, I'm glad to put in some decent training. Bye bye Monday blues!
Did a 30 min swim, 90 min run and finished off with a 24 storey staircase climb to make sure I'm breathless at the end of it. The evening sun was kind enough but my tummy wasn't. Had to do a pit stop exactly an hour into the run! Fortunately there was a school on the Gasing running route. Luck was on my side, I was running towards it! If it was otherwise, the Gasing shrubs will be happy with my fertiliser!

Although momentum for running went down the toilet hole with you know what, I must say the 'deposit' did lighten myself a wee bit for the staircase climb. Well, not that it's going to help much but I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

Tomorrow will be another day...wonder what's in store...

Malaysia Boleh?

The colour...green

The name...Setarbak

Looks like it...

Sounds like it...

But I can't confirm that it is!

If you can't get the original, home made will do...

The national flag is flying, must be signifying....Malaysia Boleh?

Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia 25th Anniversary Night Run

Dear Fellow members,
For the 25th Anniversary celebration of the Club, we are organizing an inaugural Night Run in Putrajaya especially for Club members to have a leisure run and an enjoyable time with fellow members and their families.

Date : 23rd May 2009, Saturday
Time : 8.30pm
Distance : 5km and 10km
Venue : Palace of Justice Putrajaya
Entry Fee : RM5.00 per person (adult & children 10 years old and
above)

Running bibs will be issued upon receipt of RM5.00 entry fee.

We will start the run at 8.30pm for both distances. After the run, members can look forward to the snacks or rather light supper before your journey back home for a good night sleep.

If you would like to join in the fun and mingle with the members, please make your payment to:
Exco member Mr SK Goh (Tel: 016 366 9288) or Any other Exco members

In order to add variety to the light snacks to be served we would like to appeal to members who are passionate about cooking to contribute a dish or two for this event. Corporations who are interested to sponsor in cash or kind are cordially invited to join hands with the Club to make this event a memorable one. If you are interested to contribute or sponsor, please contact Sook Ying at Tel: 012-2718 173 or email to sookying108@gmail.com.

See you all in Putrajaya and let’s make it a night to remember!!

Rustam Affendi Zaihan
President
Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia

Mt Kinabalu - Day 2

6am…bright and sunny…an exciting day awaits! Alarm was set at 630am but it was one of those rare mornings I woke up earlier. Even the warm comfortable bed failed to entice me for another 5minute snooze. Gunung Kinabalu is calling!
When it comes to eating, everyone is punctual. If you’re late, oh it’s so sad. 730am and all of us were busy stuffing ourselves silly with nasi lemak without any sambal, chicken curry, ommelette, milk & cereal, bread, muffins…the list goes on. Tummy fuel tanks full, body engines warmed up and cameras were clicking away and hyper gila antics were in the air!

Big daddy Tony & mountain guides gave us a short briefing. All of us were more than eager to climb and before you know it, a bunch took off as if competing in a climbathon while the photography maniacs snapped on almost every step they take. Happily shooting whatever they can get their lens on but those pics were worth it.

Mesilau trail, with undulating or should I call it rolling hills was in a more natural form compared to Timpohon trail. What do I mean? Timpohon trail became so commercialized with wooden staircases and steps carved into the trail most of the way. Very climber friendly. So are we still climbing Mt Kinabalu? I don’t think so. Taking steps up Mt Kinabalu is more like it. Gone are the days when Sir Hugh Low took nine days just to reach the summit plateau. Today, nine hours is enough to reach the peak.
Well, being a tourist attraction, you can’t expect to torture tourists with a real mountain climb. But hopefully everything is in place to maintain it as The World Heritage site. Even flushing toilets made their appearance beside some of the huts.

Somewhere around km5, we stopped for lunch.
Nicely packed lunch box. Fried chicken was better than kfc.

On one side, Low’s peak and the other, Kundasang or some small town.

Instead of sheltering myself from the sun, I’d rather be under it as the wind chill is making its presence. Heavy breakfast had us still bloated, without appetite and lunch were more on munching on titbits, thus saving it till we reach Laban Rata.

The higher the altitude, vegetation changed from tropical rainforest down at Mesilau into sub tropical and at Laban Rata, temperate forest.
The first group reached Laban Rata just after one o’clock. Magnificent views above the clouds!

...to be continued...

Wish came true!

Yesterday I wished for torrential rain and this afternoon, it happened. Wonderful!

Dear God, Thank you!!!

Dried up marathon

We are now in the midst of dry season. Even in the middle of the night, it's so hot & dry we can be sweating while asleep. Does that mean we get dehydrated if we sleep too long? Oh no!

After coming back from Mount Kinabalu, I must admit I've not done much running. My only long run was 17km last Sunday. Six and a half weeks left to KL Marathon and I've not done 25km, 30km, 35km long runs. How?How?How? Gotta stop using the heat as my usual excuse of not running. But seriously, with this heat, it's gonna be a very dried up marathon. The final 10km will be a torture...tomatoman is going to be sun dried!

Half an hour ago, rain was pouring. Hooray!!! I was just about to sing the song, rythm of the falling rain, but....but now, where's the rain? Half an hour and it stopped! Argh!! Is that it? Clouds suffering from dehydration too?!?! We need more water, plants need more water!! Grass fields have turned yellow, shrubs are shrivelled and some of us are pretty much dried up just 5km into the run.



Wish it can rain like this...

God is The Creator!

By God’s grace I stand on tiptoe,

Viewing all His wonders grand,

Praising Him who freely gave me

Simple faith to understand! —Bosch

In God’s character and in His creation, we see His majesty.

Mount Kinabalu...I'll be back!

Hmm…guess I’m still overwhelmed by the greatness of Mount Kinabalu. After years & years of dreaming to scale that mountain and finally accomplishing it, I must say I fell in love again…with highlands…mountains. In love with God’s creations. God’s creations are beyond words of description.

Somehow or rather I felt so much at 'home' up on that mountain. Perhaps I should uproot myself and move to the Sabah highlands. Away from the hustle & bustle of city life. Serenity. High up there with the clouds, it sure felt closer to God. Isn’t that’s why monks have their monastery up in the mountains? I don’t know…you tell me…

I’ve just registered for Mount Kinabalu climbathon on 24-25th Oct. My excuse of going back so soon after my maiden climb exactly a week ago.

Last year's results...

The champion did it in 2hr44min up and down. I just hope to be able to reach the peak with that time. Oh my! What have I got myself into?!?! Hahaha!

Check it out...

http://climbathon.sabahtourism.com/2009/