Managed to stand for 3 seconds haha

Our best foot forward

Cafe hopping

13 years and counting!

Going for my food tasting later! Mighty excited! :D

And the countdown says.... 73 more days!!!

There wasn't much that we could do when stuck in the mountains for 6 days with intermittent connection to the outside world.

So we chatted, discussed in depth about our digestive systems, about shitting, about donkey and cow shit, and yes. A lot of talk about shit in general.

And admist all the talk about crap, the motley bunch reflected deeply found that there were indeed many life lessons that we picked up from all that dogged plodding, rocky steps, wading through mud, ups and downs, and puddles of poo.

Stemming from this, I present to you the 10 Life Lessons that we gleaned from trekking.

Life Lesson #1: Don't keep looking down at the shit in front of you and miss out on the bigger picture.

This life lesson is applicable in more ways than one, literally and figuratively. I take this in its literal sense, especially after I got a neck ache from looking down all the time to avoid the dung. After a while, everything I saw was just rocks and dung. Rocks and dung. More rocks and dung. Not pretty. In my attempt not to step in shit, I really missed out on the stunning views around me. So folks. Look up once in a while. You may be surprised by what you see.

Life Lesson #2: Don't be too quick to judge. Give everything a second chance.

On our first night during the trek, we ordered a serving of momo (Nepalese dumplings) for dinner. Momo is supposedly one of the more famous dishes in Nepalese cuisine, but honestly the serving we had was pretty mediocre. Captain Poh then banished the dish from our meals for the next few nights till the second last night of the trek, when we decided to give Momo a second chance. And lo and behold, the chicken momo served was delicious. So folks. Don't be too quick to write off something after a first try. It may bring you a delightful surprise in future.

Life Lesson #3: Follow the shitty way, it may make your life easier.

Ah this. While trekking, we noticed poo smeared all over various rocks. I would try to avoid stepping on the dung and would usually do some weird hop and skip to avoid it. But well, our 4-legged friends are the one leaving the trail of dung behind, and they would definitely be more agile and adept at manoeuvring the rocks than we are. It didn't take us long to realize that hey, perhaps the shitty way is actually the easier way to get us up. So folks. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to avoid it, you gotta step in shit. No choice. (I'm sure we all stepped on dung at some point, though I did make a conscious effort to avoid it at all costs. And stepping on dry dung is much better than stepping on wet. Still shit, but marginally better. So find the better shitty way out wherever possible.)

Life Lesson #4: Just when you think life is tough, there will be someone worse off than you.

With the hot sun beating on our backs, clambering around uneven stone steps, and carrying a heavy bagpack with knees that feel like they are giving way any moment, it's easy to whine and feel like you've been handed a bad lot in life. But just as you think you have it bad, there is someone else doing back-breaking work, lugging 30kg worth of load UP a bazillion steps without a whimper. This is part and parcel of their daily lives for these hardworking, weather-beaten porters. Then you see a  group of Japanese elderly, probably in their 70s, trekking and enjoying the sights and then you look at yourself. So folks. Really, sometimes the situation isn't as bad as it seems.

Life Lesson #5: There is ain't no mountain high enough.

We only trekked to Poon Hill, a vantage point that stands at 3,210m. Along the way, we saw so many snow capped mountains, offering stunning views of the Anapurna mountain range. There is still Anapurna Base Camp, one of the more popular trekking routes in Nepal, which we didn't get to go. There will always be taller, more beautiful mountains to conquer. So folks. Aim high. There is really ain't no mountain high enough. There will always be something higher, taller, stronger, better. Make that your next destination. (But having said that, I think I'd give Everest Base Camp a miss.)

Life Lesson #6: One is better than none. Two is better than one.

Haha this one is a classic that has been around since our KK days. Uttered from the lips of Am (our trainer from Adventure Quests - who helped organized our KK trip), this memorable quote originally referred to the number of trekking poles that one should have. LOL. So folks. The moral of the story is be prepared. And work with what you have. If you only have one pole, well it's better than none. One pole will still save you from plenty of slips and falls. But if you have two, all the better!

Life Lesson #7: Even shit has many uses.

Along the way we saw a lady using cow dung to build her house. Think she used it as cement for the foundation or something. Dried cow dung apparently is rather strong. And while we were playing a game with our guide Kumar, he also chose cow dung over donkey dung for very practical reasons - because cow dung has more uses. So folks. When faced with shit we gotta be creative and work with what we have!

Life Lesson #8: Always shower before the Chinese.

Captain Poh taught us a life lesson on how to guard your own space. Not to generalize but some of the ATs are really quite intrusive. Sometimes you just gotta be more territorial when dealing with people who jump queue or eat into your space on the clothes line. I'm on the fence about this being a life lesson but if I were to really wring something out... folks. Sometimes it's good to be a little aggressive to get what you want and to protect your own rights.

Life Lesson #9: Sometimes the longer path is the more scenic path.

Ade and WX wandered off and got lost towards the tail end of our trek and ended up taking the longer path. I'm not sure if they did see more scenery than us though. Hahahaha. But yup. Sometimes the longer and harder path is indeed more rewarding. So folks. Patience is a virtue yeah. And you will be rewarded for your tenacity.


Life Lesson #10: Sometimes you need to get lost to discover yourself.

We didn't really get lost (except for Ade and WX - see point above) since we were under the excellent care of our guides. But once in a while it's good to take some time off, wander around, lose yourself in the beauty and inspiring work of nature... take time off social media (very difficult for an addict like me) and discover yourself. So folks. Follow the guides without knowing where you are heading to. Unexpected views may greet you - like when we stepped out of the forest to be greeted by rolling hills and blue skies. Because before you know it, this was what happened when we returned to the city and had wi-fi:

 

Hahahahahaha all staring at their phones during breakfast

So this concludes my very rambly and lengthy post as well as the 10 Life Lessons from trekking. Today is also my 大寿 hahaha and yup another year older and wiser. This year I really can say that I became wiser since last year was a very very eventful roller coaster year. Sometimes you gotta be trampled on to know what you really want. Haha. Luckily this was not a life lesson that I learnt from trekking (imagine being trampled on by buffaloes/horses/donkeys/goats/sheep!!!) but still a good life lesson nonetheless. 

Last year I wrote that I wanted to learn how to dive and I did! Haha pretty much on track on doing the things that I want to do. For now, I shall "enjoy the journey"!

Also starting my new year on a new note, officially accepted a new post on Halloween and will be expecting to start in January, so let's hope all goes well with that. *crosses fingers and toes* The problem is now how to break the news to my boss... ahhhhhh.

So yup looking forward to a happy birthday today with a staycation planned and the year ahead can only get better! :) (Also please I need more money. Thanks. Haha.)

Back from Nepal and a shade darker!
Then I realized half of October's gone!

We are indeed racing speedily to the end of the year. Which incidentally is my favourite part of the year, what with holidays (well actually now holidays can be taken any time), and people generally getting into a more chill, festive mood.

Nepal was a good experience. We did practically zilch training for this trip but luckily it wasn't as intense as KK. A very manageable trek for beginners. 6 days of trekking through the forest, mud, rocky steps and cow dung, waking up to snow-capped mountains, and a couple of days of sight seeing in the city, paragliding, white water rafting, and a proposal! My knees were protesting on the way down though, I think it's time for me to give them a break. It was also boring to be the 5th wheel again. Mental note not to be the 5th wheel on any more trips after 2 of such trips. Facilities and connectivity aren't the greatest when you are in the mountains, so it's good if you just want to get away from city life and look at donkeys and cows. I however, am quite a city kid. I still like my city holidays.

Well on a separate note, this seems to be a good season to get proposed to because my sister is now engaged!!! *pops confetti* I can haz a brother-in-law! Hahahaha.

Will post some photos if I have the time, but if not everything's already on Facebook. Heh. The next few weekends look pretty packed - 2D1N in Batam tomorrow and then it's Paul's birthday, Shape Run, my birthday, Nike Run. Haha.

Also I have a tough decision to make about a job offer, I need to deliberate and weigh the pros and cons :( If only they offered me a bit more, it would have been a clean decision. Sigh!

We were blessed with good weather during our trek. It only rained on our first and last day there. The only regret was that I was too lazy to wake up at night in the cold to check out the stars. There were shooting stars! Sigh. I missed it. :(

Sometimes, pictures can't capture the awesomeness, the splendour and the magnificent views that the naked eye sees. My photo taking skills are pretty noob. But we have to make do somehow.

 

Si Yi the warrior

 

Picturesque Ghorepani

Whoop whoop, imma certified open water diver now! v(^_^)v

 

Must pose v(^_^)v as I unglamorously crashed into corals (can't control my body well underwater haha). Emerged with a few little nicks and cuts here and there.

 

Our group! Everyone looks the same underwater haha. I'm the one on the left :D

 

On the surface with our stern looking dive instructor Michael

We've only got a few precious underwater photos courtesy of our groupmate's friend. Underwater cameras and casings are so expensive! The case for my Olympus EPM-1 is $1k. Say whut?!?! I bought my camera for only $600+ leh.

Still, it was an interesting and pretty cool experience despite my initial apprehension. The skills were boring but we still had to go through it. The fun part was the leisure dive, and we saw a turtle! *achievement unlocked* Haha. And so it's another ONE OFF THE BUCKET LIST! :D I've cleared the mountain, I've cleared the sea, next up, I think I wanna skydive! OK maybe trek Nepal, then take my Advanced diving first, then we save money, we go see Aurora Bourellis, then we skydive. So many things to do before I turn 30, I don't know if I have enough time (or money). ㅠ.ㅠ Did I mention that I have $1.82 left in my travel fund?

But yes, all on the bucket list. Will tick them off one by one eventually!

Also, I got kissed by an elephant (in Phuket) :3

 

Very enthusiastic, this one

 

I think she likes Paul more haha

And I finally found some time to bake! Tried the Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies again; my friend has been requesting me to bake it again for her since one year ago.

 

Swirly swirls 

 

Someone commented on Instagram that it looked like raw beef :(

  

Easy peasy nutella brownies that I made into the form of cupcakes

Can't remember if I left anything important out but what's been hogging the news these days is the terrible, terrible haze. It hit 401 today and it's really unfortunate because I had plans to go to Legoland tomorrow. :(

So Legoland was postponed, and I thought I'd stay at home and bake some banana cake while wishing that I was breathing underwater from an oxygen tank. But within a few hours, we decided to escape smoky Singapore and now I'm scooting off to KL for the weekend to get away from the haze. Haha. Talk about impromptu.

June is shaping up to be a rather happening month. It's an overseas trip every weekend for the third consecutive week running! Haha and may I reiterate that I only have $1.82 left in my travel fund. Hurhurhur. Live now, pay later. Bonus coming in July!!! Then I need to sit down and take a long and hard look at where I am going from here.

Completed my second Sundown 10km run in the wee hours of 1 June despite not really training for it. Haha sad case. My weekly jogs have become monthly jogs because somehow or another there was always something happening on Sunday (and also I'm slowly but surely gaining weight! EEK!!!).

Clocked 01:15:46 which is the best 10km time that I've had so far, ok la, achievement achievement. It was horribly crowded as usual, as one would have come to expect at such runs. I spent half the time weaving in and out of the crowd and trying to siam people.

Wah I have too many things happening right now, went to Genting, went for a Jay Chou concert, just came back from a chillax trip from Phuket and scooting off to Dayang again on Friday night for my first ever diving trip 0_0 and I'm not sure if there will be more to come haha. I'm living my life by the weekends now!

I miss baking!

Haven't been pottering around in the kitchen for a while. :( There are still so many things on my to-bake list, think I need to find some time for myself to do the things I want to do.

So two of my awesome friends just got married recently! Oh wait, before my awesome friends got married I trekked up this "山坡" in Kluang called Gunung Lambak on Labour Day! Doable in 3 hours.
Level of difficulty: 4/10. To provide a point of reference, I would rate Kinabalu 7 or 8/10.

 

The adrenaline junkies

  

510m from the top, hmm not much of a view

And of course, we got to be in charge of the morning gatecrash! However the frogs proved to be too easy for the guys. Boo. :(
Never mind, we will up the difficulty level for the next one in September! Muahahaha.

  

Little froggies procured by our 7th Jiemei, the Frog Whisperer

 

No kick! Should have blindfolded them haha

 

Bridesmaids looking pretty in purple

Congrats to the newly weds! 

Together with the most fabulous and awesome friends one can ask for :)

And I shall leave you with my fabulous new hairstyle. :) I think I look quite hip with orange hair! LOL hahahaha.

Booya!

I had a pretty awesome long weekend :) In fact, I think March has been pretty good to me. Am going on my second trip this year in just a few hours' time - I have to be at the airport in 3 hours!

So here's another notch up the adrenaline junkie meter - tried kneeboarding (the noob version of wakeboarding) at the Cable Ski facility in East Coast Park on Friday since I was clearing my leave. My arms are still aching slightly from the kneeboarding as I type this, and it's already been 4 days. No joke man. I thought my arms were gonna dislocate from my shoulder because of the very strong tug from the cable when we manouveur a corner LOL. Warning: Very strong arms needed to hold on for dear life.

Also did some baking, had awesome dinners, and yup basically life hasn't been treating me too badly. Parents are away for the week though - so I was also busy being the maid. Haha. Oh well.

Looking forward to chilling in Vietnam with the pals! :) Sometimes it feels good to just escape from this world or from your reality for a while. Throw everything behind and jet off into the unknown. More short trips please!

Noob kneeboarder - couldn't even complete one round of the circuit! haha

 

Cranberry cornflake cookies - a little crumbly though

Chocolate banana muffins

Woah it's already mid-July! :x

Much has transpired since my last post on 1st July:

1) I climbed a mountain! :D
2) One of my bestest kakis left to do her Masters - I won't see her for 2 years! :(
3) I got passed over for promotion :(
4) I completed another 10km run
5) I got hooked onto the Fifty Shades trilogy

Of course the most exciting and significant of which.... was to reach the summit of the highest mountain of South East Asia!!!! :D :D :D

The idea of climbing a mountain probably first formed in my brain as I was going through one of those quarter-life crisis moments... in an attempt to make my life more exciting. It's just one of those things that you want to do at least once in your life! After 2 years of empty talk, I can now say that when I am old and start thinking, what exactly did I do with my life when I was in my twenties? DUM DUM DUM DUM.... I can proudly list this as one of my achievements!!!

Climbing Mount Kinabalu is by far, the most physically challenging and exhausting thing I've ever done in my life. It's tiring to the bone, there is no other way other than UP, and with every breath you take you just push yourself further. And because of the thinner air, I was panting and gasping very audibly all the way up despite all the training we've done. Thank goodness I took altitude sickness pills, or it could have been much worse.

That said, there's nothing like that sense of accomplishment and knowing that you have pushed and overcame limits. :D Really an experience to be treasured. Plus nothing bonds people like physical torture and adversity LOL.

Hmmm, perhaps there is some truth to us being adrenaline junkies after all!! :D

Some photos to summarize:

 Still pretty excited at the airport

First stop to fill our tummies!


 
At City Park Lodge. Setting off at 6 or is it 7am!

 

22kg of barang that our guide lugged up

All bright-eyed and fresh, unaware of the terrors that loom ahead hahaha

 It's a 6km + 2.5km (?) trek to the summit!

 

Our first milestone marker, at 0.5km, still feeling pretty relaxed!

  

Means still got mood to take and pose for photos haha

 

Our very pro guide Johan, who has traversed the mountain about 500 times. He will offer his magic hand and drag us up when the going gets tough. All while carrying that huge load 0__0

Surrounded by lush greenery

 

Passed the halfway mark!

 

The terrain starts to change... it gets rockier and the paths are not as clearly marked

 

False bravado after lunch break LOL. The toughest 2km trek to Pendant Hut looms ahead!

 

Started to rain

HOW TO CLIMB THIS YOU SAY?! (I thank Johan's magic hand)

 And I was thinking, shit man, dunno how the hell I'm going to come down. From experience, I really suck at maneuvering around rocks for the way down!

 

One more km left! We can do it! 

 

It gets colder and mistier

 

Scrambling to rest with a mere 500m or so to go. Displaying our best shagged face hahaha.

 

Pendant Hut - where we crashed for the night. Ended up not bathing! Water was so cold, my hands froze when I washed my hands and my nose felt like dropping off when I washed my face.

Crashed at 8pm and woke up at 2am to plod our way up, up, up countless stairs, hoisting ourselves up with rope, praying not to lose my footing on the treacherous rocks, onwards to the peak. I felt giddy at times, thinking, this must be how it feels like to hyperventilate. Giving up wasn't an option, we just had to go on, one small step at a time. It's too surreal, now looking back, I wonder how I managed to make it up.

 

This is what I look and feel like, half-dead, about 1km away from the summit 

 

 Breaking dawn

 The summit's just behind us!

 Team Ain't No Mountain High Enough at Low's Peak, 4,095,2m above sea level!

 

Was too cloudy for the sunrise :( The view up there is gorgeous, but I think I was too tired to fully appreciate it. Haha.

 

View from the top

 

It would have been totally awesome to do the Visa dance against this backdrop. Hahaha :D

Spot the pals :D

Our victory cry LOL

  

At the highest toilet in Southeast Asia! (Yes I had the chance to pee in it LOL)

 

At the edge of glory

 

 We are survivors!!! :D

 Taking the Via Ferrata - scaling down the surface of the mountain

 

It looks steep from here but it's actually not as scary as it looks - it's like rappelling 

Took us 2+ hours to complete the Via Ferrata. After that, we went back to Pendant Hut, thoroughly exhausted. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down, and we still had a 6km trek down to Timpohon Gate. GARHHHH!

It was a very tortuous trek down. Coming down is definitely much harder than climbing up, and as I mentioned I really suck at navigating such rocky terrain because I have this morbid fear that I will slip and fall spectacularly and probably knock my head and die. Hahaha. I mean look at what happened when I went cycling in Pulau Ubin.:x

Coupled with the fact that it was slippery (intermittent showers), my feet started to hurt, our legs were starting to feel the effects of the strenuous climb up the day before, and all those stairs aren't great for our knees.

GOLDEN RULE #1: Good trekking shoes with a very firm grip + a walking pole will save your life!!!!

We left Pendant Hut at 2pm, and arrived at Timpohon Gate at 8pm. Night fell and our last 1.5km was spent navigating in the dark. Never felt so 狼狈 in my life.

GOLDEN RULE #2: A headlamp and torchlight is essential! And so is a poncho, for that matter.

 
Rewarded ourselves with a good breakfast the next morning. I quite like their laksa!

 

And because we didn't have time to take photos with our signs at the summit, we accosted a patient tourist who very kindly helped us with the photos LOL

 

One is enough! Erm yeah but now I have thoughts of going for another one in like Nepal or something after looking at the Adventure Quest webpage haha. (http://www.adventure-quests.com/activities/Intro%20to%20Trekking/intro_poonhill_trek.asp - the highest altitude is 3,210m! If we can do 4,095m we can do 3,210m... right? LOL.

 

EVIDENCE, y'all!!!

Summited Kinabalu + completed the highest Via Ferrata in the world!

Certified adrenaline junkie!

My legs ached for 4 whole days before they started regaining some sense of normalcy on Friday.

And then on Saturday I went for a run. Hahaha. 

And this was from last Saturday's Marina21k run at Punggol Promenade. (10km)

I also - perhaps foolishly - signed up for the half marathon at this year's edition of the Great Eastern Run.

Gulp.

That's happening in November, which is 4 months away... oh do I think I can prepare to run 21km in 4 months? 

My current pace is slightly less than 8 mins per km, and that is without stopping or walking, so with some simple multiplication, I should take 168 mins for 21km. Rounding up, I hope to finish it in 3 hours. With time to walk and collapse on the floor if need be. Hmmmm.

I think this post is getting too long and rambly. Will blog about other stuff another time.

"Laters, baby."

(Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey)