Lazy weekend

We didn't do much this weekend. We watched Fast & Furious and Fast Five on Friday night and ended up going to bed at 3am on Saturday morning. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift wasn't as good as The Fast and The Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious so we were a bit apprehensive when we embarked on the 4th movie. It ended up being very much worth the late night.

Father and son walking

The boys slept in on Saturday and Sunday. It was Captain America that kept them awake on Saturday night.

On Sunday we took a slow walk to Sembawang MRT for a train ride to Woodlands. We left our home after 12pm and figured that parking would be a serious challenge at Causeway Point. We were right. When we arrived at Causeway Point, we could see a long queue of cars waiting to enter the car park. Although the train ride would have cost more than the parking, it saved us an inordinate amount of time. Plus the boys were hungry.




We had lunch at Ichiban Sushi in Causeway Point and stopped by Secret Chamber to pick up some Lego pieces. I chose a Grand Prix Racer for myself while the boys selected the following:

Xavier - Legends of CHIMA Eglor's Twin Bike
Keane - Legends of CHIMA Nest Dive
Ryan - Creator Super Racer




Xavier's Lloyd ZX

Ryan's Ninja Kai

Keane's Laval

Any surprise on the selection of key chains? The key chains are now fixed onto their school bags. We are wondering how long they will stay on the bags.



We then went to Gelare for ice-cream. Xavier loves his Cookie Dough and Keane his Cookies and Cream. Ryan is not a fan of ice-cream. Daddy and Mummy had our much needed cups of coffee.








What remains to be seen is the first day of school after a 4 week break. Wish us luck!!!!

Random thoughts

A friend told me that I have this tendency to come up with random thoughts. I have never given it much thought but tried to do an inventory of my thoughts after I received that comment. I realize that I had to agree with him. I can be thinking of what I'm supposed to do in the afternoon but then the thought of lunch will come in. Yes, you may say that I'm probably trying to schedule my day. How about thinking about my facial appointment this afternoon and then about how much I need to go on vacation by myself? Again, you might say there is link.

I am a person who cannot manage lists. I can start a list but I never ever come back to that list. When I was dating someone many years ago, I was looking for what I thought then were things to spice up the relationship. I made up a list of things that we should do as a couple. I wrote it down and then we embarked on this journey to accomplish these tasks. Obviously we never completed the tasks on that list. I forgot about going back to the list and called off the relationship some time after for some other reason. When I look back today, 20 years on, my perspective on that relationship has totally changed. I can only use 2 words "So juvenile!!!!" on the me then.

Lego Supercar

I learned that I'm easily bored. I need to have a very clear objective or final goal to stay focused. And the objective has to be challenging. For example I can stay up the whole night to finish up a novel or to complete putting together Lego's Supercar (which I just found out to be a retired product!!!!). This now brings me to my next challenge of putting together Lego's Extreme Cruiser. I've put it off for a few months now. Time to get to work.



Challenging is when a lot of people say it's too hard or it's very unconventional. I like to be able to tell myself that I am better today than I was yesterday. The way I do that is to always do new things. Yes, yes, some people will say that I am a show off. I do not deny that. But I blatantly show off only to my pals and blame it on my Teochew genes! I would add a smiley behind this but I don't know how to do it yet. (How to show off like that?!?!?)

I lose interest unless the topic on hand is very intriguing. What fascinates me is even more random. I am intrigued by the cultural revolution in China, the thoughts of the Dalai Lama, the mafia in the US, army defence strategy, Lego, Mother Teresa, etc. I'm trying to illustrate the broadness of it all.

Why am I writing about random thoughts? I see a bit of myself in Xavier where this is concerned. Xavier is a very curious child. He can jump from one topic to another very quickly. He gets bored very easily. He can read a few pages of a book and give up on it if it doesn't grip him from the start. On the other hand, he can complete Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan in a few days. He devoured the entire 5 book series of Fablehaven by Brandon Mull in less than a month. He gave up on The Hobbit after less than a chapter. He didn't even start on The Hardy Boys but has completed all of The Famous Five. When he is into something, he gets into it in a big way. He will beg, plead, bug or manipulate his way into us buying the entire set in any series of books that he likes. Or he can eat otah for lunch and dinner for 5 consecutive days, only to give up after a tummy ache.

He saw me making an entry yesterday and asked me why I blogged. I told him that it is to leave something behind so that I can remember my thoughts years from now and for him to see my thoughts if he comes to the blog in future. He got all excited and wanted to update his blog but gave up after all of 5 minutes. That's my boy.

Hello, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.....crazy!

The silent cat has struck again! This time it has struck a chord with Singaporeans who are Kitty crazy. I still don't understand the fascination with a cat without a mouth.

I learnt about the new Hello Kitty series of plush toys when I noticed a colleague having McDonald's for breakfast recently. Let's call him Bruce. Bruce had been having breakfast from McDonald's every Thursday for a few weeks, all in the name of love. Not love for McDonald's but for his fiancé who is a Hello Kitty fan. He was collecting all the Hello Kitty plush toys which can be bought at S$4.60 with the purchase of a value meal or at S$10 without a meal. A new plush is introduced every Thursday. He doesn't even like the cat. This week was meant to be the last week he has breakfast from McDonald's. This week is when they launch the special black coloured Kitty called The Singing Bone Kitty. (The cat cannot sing so the bones had to step up???)

Bruce's plans went awry when tons of other people started out earlier than him. The toy goes on sale from 12am on Thursday morning at 24 hour outlets. Fans were queuing way on Wednesday night. He went to 2 outlets and staff at both outlets had to turn people away when the queue became longer than the supply of the plush toy. He then promised his fiancé to go to outlets that open at 7am way before opening time - 5am. Alas! There were people who were earlier than him! Apparently news of the long queue spread and everyone went to queue earlier than usual. And the queues were again longer than the number of toys available. Lucky for Bruce, fiancé's friend was lucky enough to have bought 2 pieces!! I cannot imagine his fate if the set was incomplete!!!

This phenomenon hit the headlines on The Straits Times this morning. Apparently there were disputes and police were involved at one McDonald's outlet. The funny thing is that not all in the queue were there for the love of the Kitty. Some were there for the love of money. This obsession for limited editions of the cat is obviously a good chance for people with too much time on their hands to make a quick buck. Some of the plush toys went on sale on the internet and after browsing, I came across some sites which had advertisements for the toys. The cats were going from S$20 to S$250.

Is the cat really that cute? Are the toys really that worth collecting? Worth is subjective and one's man meat is truly another's poison. I received a pair of Hello Kitty plush toys as a present before but I don't remember where they are now. I must have given them away. I don't remember the person who gave them to me but the cats must have been worth a lot to him or her. Unfortunately these cats do not strike a chord with me. Can they strike any chord at all without a voice?

The moment the words "limited edition" are used, the value of something goes up. This is pure economics - demand and supply. Low supply matched with high demand result in high price. That price may not be just monetary in many cases. Some people pay with time and effort while others pay with hurt and pain. I'm not just referring to the Hello Kitty plush toys here. If you are in love with a special someone (low supply) who is very attractive (high demand), you may end up paying a price by getting hurt and feeling pain in the process of trying to capture the heart of this special someone. But if you think it's worth it, no one can say you are doing something wrong or something silly. No one can tell you that it's not worth it because that's the price YOU are willing to pay, not THEM.

The pursuit of happiness comes with a price but the reward is indeed priceless. To one and all, I say - to each his own. As long as you are happy, no one can say you are crazy.

Staycation at RWS.....again.......

We were very blessed this year that the haze cleared up during the weekend and we had almost clear skies when we checked in at Hotel Michael on Monday. At least the PSI was in the moderate zone.

Berrylicious smoothie

Hard Rock Cafe - recommended!!

We arrived in Sentosa earlier than check in time so we went for lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. It was a lovely lunch and service was very good. Check out the garnish on my smoothie....I think it was Berrylicious or something to that effect.


It is the fourth time we staying at Resorts World Sentosa but the first time we are booked at Hotel Michael because it is cheaper than our usual Festive Hotel. The kids were a bit puzzled because they are so familiar with Festive that they thought we were lost when we made a left instead of right turn as we came up the escalator to the main lobby.




The room was smaller than the Festive Hotel. My mom was disappointed because when she was given a complimentary stay at Hotel Michael, the room was very big. We figured they gave her a suite rather than a deluxe room. It's funny how hotels make the word deluxe turn out so ordinary. The room was cosy enough except that the bathroom door didn't come with a lock so we had to ensure we coordinated bathroom times to avoid unnecessary embarrassment with our helper.

Oh where are the towels???

The first thing the boys did was to hit the pool. They love playing in a pool and since we don't have easy access to one, they made sure they took advantage of the pool at the hotel every time we have a staycation. They went to the pool for each of the 3 days we were at Sentosa. The only thing was the pool was smaller at the Hotel Michael and there were a couple of pain points. On Monday afternoon, the hotel seemed to have miraculously ran out of towels. The towels are normally placed on the racks unattended. This is convenient for the hotel guests if there are towels. Check out the empty racks.

One of the service staff who happened to walk past helped us to call the front desk to ask for towels. No towels were delivered after 10 minutes. I walked along the corridor and asked a housekeeper who was working if there were towels available. She said she did not have any and there were none in the rooms as well. 5 minutes later I called the front desk to ask for towels. This was followed by another frustrating call another 15 minutes later. During this time hubby managed to find another housekeeper who conjured up 1 towel for us. She had nothing left. The towels were delivered fresh from the laundry 5 minutes after the last call. I did receive an apology during my last call.

We did an analysis and find that there is a lot of improvement that could be made. The fact that the reception area at the pool/gym was unattended poses an issue because guests could just walk off with the towels into their rooms. There was basically no control over the number of towels being returned after use. We noticed that Hotel Michael provided white towels at the pool/gym unlike Festive Hotel which provided orange coloured ones. Guests would easily remember to return the towels because they are of a different colour from the ones in the room. The differentiation would probably make it easier for the distribution of towels after laundry. I wonder if the hotel has an exceptionally high number of inventory loss where towels are concerned.

The accused....the ledge

Another concern was that the lack of towels made the entrance to the pool area very wet. Guests were dripping water on the tiles as they were leaving the pool without towels. It was very slippery. The entrance to the pool area had a door frame which had a ledge on the floor. This made it very easy for highly excited kids, like mine, to trip as they rushed to the pool. This is very unsafe when you add the slippery floor into the equation.



Xavier with his blaster

Keane and his blaster

Anyway, safety issues aside, the kids had a blast of a time at the pool. No picture of Ryan because he didn't have his goggles on.

 

Since the kids don't really go on the rides at Universal Studio, we spent Tuesday afternoon at the aquarium. It was more crowded than it was in November last year. This time we took a slower walk and I was able to capture some creatures on camera.

Belly of mantra ray

Starfish

Here's some undersides for viewing....interesting how the star fish can grip to the side of the wall.

Here's looking at you babe.....

Looking right back at you

The only fish that I could capture easily were the big and slow ones........other than the jellyfish!!!!









Interesting forms of jellyfish......the lighting create some special effects too.








Japanese Sea Nettle

I don't remember the species....yes, was too lazy to write down except for one......but jellyfish are really fascinating in the dark.








Dolphin....?

Black tip reef shark

The one thing I was curious about was whether the dolphins and sharks can really feel comfortable living in confinement.








Nice yellow coloured fish.....again unsure of species, sorry!!!!

Moray eel going after a fish?

Checking own reflection

Some pictures taken by Xavier at the Moray Eel section.








The only other place we frequented (frequented means more than once) was the candy store.

Candylicious!!!

On the whole the trip was fun and we were really fortunate that the weather held in that part of the island for us. I am trying to find another hotel we can stay at next time.

Hazy Daze

For the past week, Singaporeans have been plagued with haze carried by winds from the island of Sumatra. The pollution levels hit record high in Singapore history.

Judging from reactions, the impact from the haze has affected many in more ways than one. Those with a sense of humor conjured up hilarious photos, some of which were not very polite. Others complained about the government's actions in this "crisis" in typical Singaporean fashion. Most of us just tried to carry on as usual while taking precaution against overexposure to the pollutants.

Instead of writing a commentary, I have decided to take the lazy way out and put my comments and observations in point form for easy reading. You can deduce my opinion about the whole situation from there.

1) Indonesian farmers who practice slash and burn are probably doing it because that's how they have been at it for decades. I don't think there is any ill intention, just ignorance or pure obligation to survival. This is not a malicious attack on Singaporeans.

2) I have a feeling that a lot of people, like myself before I came across Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's comment publish in The Straits Times, think that cloud seeding is equivalent to planting seeds to grow clouds. Cloud seeding requires clouds. This link explains that cloud seeding is the process of inducing rain from clouds.
http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/Cloud-seeding.htm

3) What are clouds? I found this very interesting link when I did a search on Google. It is a page meant for kids and explains clouds in a very comprehensive manner.
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-clouds.htm

4) Politics itself is not a bad thing. It is people that make politics sour with their actions or ignorant comments.

5) Money itself is not a bad thing. It is people's greed that turns money into an evil tool.

6) Yes, we may be a victim of acts committed by another party. But in the scheme of things, if you look at the world globally, there are worse things that could happen.

Today is Impact Journalism Day. Newspapers around the world share stories on creative solutions to global issues. The Saturday section of The Straits Times carried these stories. Read it and feel fortunate that we live in Singapore. Other than applaud the creative solutions, look at the issue itself and see if you can help to reduce such problems - don't waste food, save energy, help others worse off than yourself. Easier said than done but don't give up trying!!!
http://www.straitstimes.com/impact

That as a bit of a side track. Back to the haze situation. The haze eased up a lot today and I could actually see the blue sky. After a week of gray, the blue was magnificent. We really take a lot of things for granted everyday. Blue skies and white clouds......

It was a fortunate coincidence for my family that the boys are home on school vacation now. There was no need to ponder over the dilemma of sending them to school or confining them at home. Ryan had a fever on Sunday so we let him stay at home. When he recovered on Tuesday, we figured that it was better to let him stay at home for one more day just in case he was affected by the haze. The haze worsened by Wednesday so we kept him home for the rest of the week.

We have made reservations at Hotel Michael of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). Yes, we are staying at a different hotel this year. We have been staying at the Festive Hotel for the past 3 times we stayed at Sentosa. We are trying a new hotel this year because it is cheaper. We are using my mom's reward points with RWS to redeem the hotel stay. Yes, my mom has that many points because she is a frequent patron of the casino.

Ryan has affirmed that there will be rain before we go to Sentosa on Monday. I wonder how he knows.....I'll let you know when the day comes. Wish us luck with the weather.......

Rain, rain, come my way.
I can't wait for one more day.
Little children, little children,
Little children want to play.

Gym updates

I have been going to the gym for slightly over a year now - 14 months to be exact. When I started out last year, I was basically unfit and out of shape. I couldn't jog as I would be breathless after 2 minutes, my muscles existed only for regular movements, I had saddle bags at my hips/thighs area and my waist was non-existent.

If you look for "Journey to fitness fitness takes off" posted in April 2012, you will see I tried a free trial at Amore Fitness and attended the Pilates Basic class. I didn't post anything about the aero-lo class which I attended 2 days later. Let me share that now to put things into perspective. I attended the class thinking that it was really low impact. It was low impact on the joints but my heart and lungs took a beating. Besides, I had lost my sense of coordination. Believe me when I say I could dance in my younger days. I basically left the class feeling miserable because I couldn't follow the routine and I couldn't breathe properly during and afterward.

So I started personal training. I have been training 2 or 3 times a week with my trainer Louis at Amore Tampines1 since then. I did 3 times a week until late last year when I reduced to twice a week but I'm trying to go back to thrice now. When I did my measurements last year, I was supposed to lose a target of 9kg of fats and gain 7kg of muscles (if I remember correctly). I did my measurements last week and now my target is to lose 2kg of fats and gain 3kg of muscles. It is a great improvement but I suspect the PT might be reading it wrong because the printout was very faint due to lack of ink!

But I truly dropped one size, going from a tight UK12 to a lose UK10 for my tops, since last year. The bottom half is the hardest so I'm still a tight UK10 for most bottoms, depending on the cut. I can't really tell the difference so I rely on feedback from friends, colleagues and my trainer. Size aside, I can feel my fitness level improving. I was only able to brisk walk 20-30 minutes as part of my warm-up routine last year. My warm-up routine now involves either a quick 10-15minute run covering about 2km or a slow 30min jog covering almost 5km, depending on the amount of time I have. It helps a lot that I was very fit in my teens and my body has some vague memory and can perform the actions required for some routines.

I shall try to share some of what I call my torture routines from the gym. This is an attempt to motivate those who think it's impossible and to motivate myself to keep those CLP jokes at bay. I tried to draw the steps in the routine but that took too much time with awful results so I'll stick to descriptions for now. This is for those who are not familiar with technical terms, like myself, to understand the routine. I'm more of a writer than artist.

My workout normally consists of 3 sets of a routine so the reps you see in brackets represent the reps I do for each set.

Routine on Monday 10 June 2013:
1) Burpee ending with hop (1 min, 1 min, 1min)
     - do a regular burpee but end up with a hop as you get into the upright position.....continuously for 1 min.
2) Single leg squat ending with a hop on TRX (12, 12, 10 on each leg)
     - stand in front of the TRX with anchor point aligned to you;
     - hook right foot to the TRX and stand on left foot;
     - bend left knee into a squat stretch the right leg backwards - right arm in front, left arm behind in a runner's pose as you bend for balance;
     - straighten left leg, move the right knee to the chest then hop - move arms and end up with left arm in front and right arm behind in runner's pose as you hop;
     - repeat. Switch sides after 12 reps on one leg.
3) Cross lunge (12, 12, 10 on each leg)
     - stand in front of the TRX with anchor point to your left;
     - hook right foot to TRX so your right foot is slightly crossed behind your body;
     - bend left knee into a squat and stretch your right leg - right arm in front, left arm behind in a runner's pose as you bend for balance; 
     - straighten left leg to get into upright position - move arms and end up with left arm in front and right arm behind in runner's pose as you straighten;
     - repeat. Switch sides after 12 reps on one leg.
4) Atomic push-ups (10, 10, 10)
     - get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
     - lower body by bending arms (like a regular standard push-up) then push up;
     - bring both knees to chest like a crunch;
     - straighten legs;
     - repeat push-up followed by crunch for another 9 times.
5) Pike on TRX (10, 10, 10)
     - get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
     - raise hips so you look like an inverted V from side view;
     - lower hips so that body is parallel to the ground again;
     - repeat raising and lowering of hips for another 9 times.
6) Mountain climbing on TRX (10, 10, 10)
     - get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
     - bring right knee to the chest; straighten right leg; bring left knee to the chest; straighten left leg;
     - repeat movement of bringing alternate knee to the chest for another 9 times.
6) Jack knife (20, 20, 20)
     - lie on the floor with arms out-stretched and legs raised slightly off the floor;
     - raise legs and arms so that you from a V from side view;
     - bring arms around legs so fingers touch behind knees;
     - go back to start position; repeat another 19 times.
7) Plank (30 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec)
     - rest on your elbows while body is parallel to the ground (it's like a push-up position but you are resting on your elbows) while ensuring that arms form a 90 degree angle to the ground; feet are together; hold for 30 seconds.
8) Waist plank (30 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec)
     - similar to the regular plank except you straighten your arms instead of resting on your elbows so your body is not quite parallel to the ground; hold for 30 secs.

To have an effective work out you should try to minimize rest throughout the routine. This means the only rest you get during the routine is when you change positions for the next exercise. I cheat a little by getting my towel to wipe my sweat and sip a bit of water after two or three exercises within a set. Then I get a 30 sec to 1 min break in between sets. Sometimes I take a 2 minute break when I am really winded. I find that I need to learn an exercise through practice so I will only be able to do a new exercise with perfect form during the third set. However, I can do with perfect form at the next session. My PT makes sure that every session is different from the last by varying my routine. I have a set of basic movements but I don't use the same movements in the same sequence all the time. This keeps the workout interesting and challenging. See the routines below to know what I mean.

Routine on Wednesday 12 June 2013:
1a) Burpees with press using dumb bells (15 counts in first set only, this is replaced in the second and third set with 1b because I was too winded)
     - place 2 dumb bells shoulder width apart on the floor;
     - as you bend to start the burpee, hold on to the dumb bells;
     - as you complete the burpee by coming into upright position, bring the dumb bells off the floor to shoulder height;
     - push the dumb bells upwards towards the ceiling by straightening arms;
     - bring dumb bells to shoulder height;
     - get into a crouch position to start burpee and place dumb bells on the floor without letting go;
     - repeat burpee and press.
1b) Mountain climbing using dumb bells as anchor points (1 min, 1 min)
     - place 2 dumb bells shoulder width apart on the floor;
     - get into waist plank position (see above - regular plank except you straighten your arms) with hands holding onto dumb bells;
     - bring right knee to the chest; straighten right leg; bring left knee to the chest; straighten left leg;
     - repeat movement of bringing alternate knee to the chest until 1 minute is up.
2)  Single leg squat with press on TRX (15, 12, 12 on each leg)
     - stand in front of the TRX with anchor point aligned to you;
     - hook right foot to the TRX and stand on left foot;
     - hold weight in front of chest (I used the free weight which is round);
     - bend left knee into a squat stretch the right leg backwards - still holding weight to the chest; straighten left leg - still holding free weight to the chest;
     - push weight upwards towards the ceiling by straightening arms; lower weight to chest;
     - repeat. Switch sides after 15 reps on one leg.
3) Single leg squat using platform (12, 12, 10 on each leg)
     - stack platforms used in step aerobics until hip high;
     - stand with platform about 1 foot behind you;
     - rest right foot on platform while holding a free weight in right hand (right arm is straight, holding dead weight) with left hand on hip;
     - bend left knee so you get into a squat position while keeping your right foot on the platform;
     - straighten left leg so you get into upright position;
     - repeat until reps are complete. Switch sides.
4) Standard push-ups to the max (17, 15, 12)
     - do standard push-ups until you burst. Can rest in between push-ups by maintaining waist plank position.
     - Once the knees or elbows touch the floor, you have maxed.
5) T on TRX (12, 12, 12)
     - This is basically a deltoid fly. I cannot really describe this....you have to go look up "T on TRX" on YouTube for a visual!!!
     - But what I have to emphasize is you must maintain straight arms throughout for the effect.
6) Clench on TRX (12, 12, 12)
     - you have to look up YouTube too......notice that I'm getting lazy here.
7) Pike on TRX (10, 10, 10)
     - get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
     - raise hips so you look like an inverted V from side view;
     - lower hips so that body is parallel to the ground again;
     - repeat raising and lowering of hips for another 9 times.
8) Mountain climbing on TRX (10, 10, 10)
     - get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX
     - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
     - bring right knee to the chest; straighten right leg; bring left knee to the chest; straighten left leg;
     - repeat movement of bringing alternate knee to the chest for another 9 times.
9) Crunch on TRX (10, 10, 10)
     - get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX
     - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
     - bring both knees to the chest; straighten both legs;
     - repeat movement of bringing both knees to the chest for another 9 times.
10) Plank on TRX (30 sec, 30 secs, 45 secs)
     - get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX
     - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
     - hold for 30 secs.

I'm getting tired just listing down these exercises and going through them mentally!!! For any newbie who wants to get into a workout routine, please remember that it takes time and determination to be able to do more. No one can start with being able to do 20 push ups at one go or hold a plank for 30 secs. When I started last year, I could barely hold a regular plank for 30 seconds. Now I can hold the plank on the TRX for 1 minute.

So good luck to all who are attempting to get started on fitness and for those who are into fitness, as my chum Gabriel would say "Pain is the ultimate pleasure!!!".

Madness at Pudong airport

I was on a business trip for the second half of last week. I was due to depart Shanghai Pudong airport on Friday 7th June at 7.05pm to arrive home at about 12.05am. I reached the airport very early, with a colleague who was leaving on the 6.05pm flight to Incheon.

I spent about 2 hours at the cafe after a very smooth check-in and customs clearance. I was downgraded to Krisflyer Silver status on 1st June. I was therefore not entitled to go to the lounge since I'm on economy class. The 2 hours at the cafe was nice nonetheless. Free WiFi, nice coffee.

I got ready 10 minutes before boarding time. As I was walking towards gate 87, I did something that I usually didn't do. I checked the departure notice board. The gate was changed to 229. I turned around and went down 2 floors to gate 229. I settled in for a wait as I saw that the crew were waiting to board as well. There was an announcement of another gate change 10 minutes later. This time I had to climb 2 floors up to gate 61 without the help of an escalator.

Upon arrival at gate 61, the plane was nowhere in sight. That wasn't a good sign. I settled in for another long wait. The wait turned out to be 3 hours. At first boarding was delayed to 7.40pm but after a while they decided to make announcements without committing a boarding time. All flights were delayed. Meal coupons were distributed and this signaled an even longer wait. An airline was actually distributing meal boxes at the gate!

I met a business associate who was with his client. So the 3 of us went to another cafe for a drink in anticipation of a long wait. All this while the rain was pouring, the light poles were wavering in the wind and crowds milled around the cafes and restaurants. The service staff were hassled and moving non-stop. It was a while before our order was taken. We made our way back to the gate at about 9.10pm and were told that they are not sure when boarding would be. However, they are sure that the flight will not be cancelled as the plane is needed back in Singapore.

So we caved and redeemed our meal vouchers. We walked to Burger King and got in line. By that time it was about 9.20pm. Then the announcement for boarding time of 9.40pm was made. We walked back.....another 8 minute walk. We finally board the plane and departed at about 10.10pm.

All this while, my colleague who was headed for Incheon was in his seat on the plane!! He was in a worse situation than I was. I was grateful that I had the freedom to walk around. It reminded me of the time when I was at Haneda airport waiting for my flight out of Tokyo after the 2011 tsunami.

During my visit in Shanghai, I found out that 80% of China's air space was reserved for the military. This explains the challenges passengers frequently face when flying within China air space. Delays are commonplace. The airlines will normally let you board the plane and hang on for an indefinite wait if delays are expected. I don't think it's intentional. I guess it's just the way things are. If you are ready you can be given the all clear by air control.

A lot of my overseas colleagues tell me that Singaporeans are spoilt. We expect the same efficiency we have at our airport when we are overseas. In reality, delays and cancellations are very common in air travel. I guess we should manage our expectations when we are travelling. It does make me appreciate the efficiency and comfort of our Changi Airport. And honestly, we are spoiled in more ways than one......think about it.