Wordless Wednesday - Us

Just because..

Travelog Australia 2015: Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (pt.2), NT

Date: July 2nd, 2015

Woke up very the early and checked out. Head straight to the National Park for sunrise. There were a lot of viewing point - either the sun facing the Rock or raising from behind. We chose the one raising from behind...

After the sunrise, we went to the Mala Walk. There is a guided walk departing from there (need to check the timing) but since we're in a rush we decided to take our own walk around.

I wish I was able to run along the 10km Base Walk but since time was against us, we could only walk around partially up to Mala Puta.

Our final walk was to the Mutitjulu Waterhole.

It was finally the time to bid farewell to Uluru - Kata Tjuta N'tnl Park and off to Adelaide.

returning to my addiction

i'm on scuba-diving drug~

Travelog Australia 2015: Coober Pedy - Opal Inn Motel & Caravan Park; Old Timers Opal Mine

Date: June 28th-29th, 2015

It's a bright sunny day with a perfect weather. It was a long drive since the cruising speed of the Van was only 110kmph. We rotated and finally reached Opal Inn around 6pm. Nothing much was done that night other than settling in and cooked dinner. Opal Inn itself is located right in the middle of Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy itself as a very small mining town. Well, the town is small surrounded by the vast area of opal mines.

 The next morning, we went to the Old Timers Mine.

"The Old Timers Mine and Museum opens a window on the fascinating history of opal mining in Coober Pedy, revealing not only the hard physical grind and the occasional bonanza that was mining in the early days, but also an intriguing mystery at the heart of the mine.The original mine dates back to 1916, but the old miners, whoever they were, concealed its existence by back-filling the shafts. The mystery is why they never returned to dig out the opal that remained. Perhaps they went to the First World War and never came home again.  It was not until 1968 that the hidden mine was discovered by Ron Gough when he was digging an extension to his underground home and broke through, exposing three large seams of good quality opal, as well as opalised seashells. These have been retained and can be seen by visitors today."-http://www.oldtimersmine.com/

It was a self tour but it started with a briefing by the staff outside next to a mining truck (it looks like the truck at the town signage above). I forget what the name of this machine but basically, this machine sucks up the excavated dirt from the mine and then dumps it in a heap at the edge of the hole. Few of us had the opportunity to try on the suction capacity and it was strong. It could easily sucked a fist size dirt and stone easily from our hands and the guide said there're numerous count of sunglasses as well LOL (from those hang on the shirt collars).

Inside the mine, we saw how the raw opal was processed into the well shaped stones in the workshop. The uncle working there was really kind to show us with all the machines in there. The rest of the time, we explore and climb our way around hehe.

For those who doesnt know what  Opal is. Opal is the national gemstone of Australia. Australia supplies 85-97% of Opal around the world and 80% of them originates from South Australia and Coober Pedy is the main mine source.  The largest and most valuable opal found to date, The Olympic Australis Opal, valued at AU$2,500,000 was found in Coober Pedy.

Ya, I know. You must have expected it to be luxurious and sparkling, right? But due to the uniqeness and purity of the opal (99% gem), it was decided that the opal will remain exactly as found.

Anyway, we spent couple of hours here before continuing our journey to Alice Spring.

Runcation: Hatyai - Day 1: Ice Dome

Date: 22th-24th May, 2015

What is the most important thing to do when u travel? Yes, ure right! F.O.O.D!!!!

We head straight to Kai Tod Daycha @kedai pokok mangga by walking. The restaurant is located at "Sheutit Rd, Tambon Hat Yai, Amphoe Hat Yai" (that was what we searched in Google Map) which is about 700m from the train station. It was hot and the decision to order tomyam wasn't the best of an idea. But we're starving. We ordered the white tomyam, tempura squid, mixed veggie with Oyster Sauce and salty egg squid.
After lunch, we decided to take the tuk-tuk instead. The hotel was 0.9km away but we're already drenched by the earlier walk.

It was heaven when we reached Hatyai Greenview Hotel. Airconndddd!!! We booked the hotel via the hotels' website. i cant realy remember how much it cost but if i'm not mistaken it's only RM200 for 2nights. There're 5 of us, so it's RM40 per person. The room was huge and clean. There were 4 towels provided. :)

After settling down and taking a rest, we left for the Ice Dome. Seems to be the best idea with the hot weather.

Oh, we rented a tuk-tuk for the afternoon to take use to few places - Ice Dome, View Point and the Floating Market. This time i cant remember how much we haggled for it. We're kind of cheated since after coming out from the Ice Dome, the driver said that his tuk-tuk cannot climbed up to the View Point. He should hv said this earlier! We're already in the same Municipal Park.

We dropped the original plan to go to the Chang Puak Elephant Camp due to the late arrival. It's already 4pm when we left the hotel and the elephant camp closes at 5pm.

Anyway, back to the Ice Dome. Entrance fee was BHT300 including the winter jacket. To rent an ear muffler and booties, you have to add BHT100.

There are plenty of ice animals, small building and a slide. Apart from that, there is a section for flowers near the exit. We spent 1.5hrs in there, then off to the next stop. Klonghae Floating Market! 

Travelog: Australia June 2015

Part of the route

deserted

Running.

Diving.

Travelling.

I can only laugh for now.

Coober Pady to Alice Spring, Oz

June 29th, 2015

among all running photos..

i love these two!!

ahh miss those Milo :p

Thursdays' babbling...

OMG I just realized that it's May and I had only posted up 1x in April. 

This is my 2nd posting for the year LOL!

My work is piling up since my project has started. and with so many people left the company, I had to reluctantly take up other people's job as well...

Below is what happened for this year, up to today. I still owe a lot of updates and reports from last year. Please pray that I have time to update everythingggggg~

Wrap Up of 2014

It's already April 2015, marking the entry of Q2 and also the 4th month of abandoning my blog hahaha! I am seriously busy. Busy with work, run & trips :)

This entry is to recap the most important moment for my 2014..

There one and only thing that turn my life around is

ENROLLING TO KEVIN ZAHRI'S JOM KURUS program.

I am not paid to write this nor force to. I am writing solely based on my experience.

When I decided to join this program, my mind was set just to try to loose some weight. I thought that I'll be more discipline in eating and exercising when I enrolled in a PAID program. 

Who wants to WASTE their $$$, right?

And RM300 was a big amount to spend for a 6-week program.

But the point is, I REGISTERED. And I was alone.

Fret not, it doesn't matter if ure alone. I have no friends on day 1 but after 6 weeks, I got frens for life :)

Because of this program, I managed to loose 12kg. Much more importantly, thru eating right and exercising. U could said 12kg is not a big of difference, but I'll just let the pictures show. The most important gain from the program was to know what u eat and understand the concept of eating healthy.

With my frens, I was introduced to Crossfit, hiking and running. 

Crossfit was definitely a new thing to me. I can now do deadlifts, squats, rowing etc. Things I never thought I would do.

I liked hiking on-and-off. Now I love it. A year ago, I never dreamt of climbing a mountain, but I did! Kinabalu was a long stretch but I conquered it with the encouragements from the people I call frens.

I seriously hate running coz everytime I ran, my feet hurt (but now I know it's due to wrong shoe type). I STILL HATE it but running has become an addiction. It comes with colorful shirts, bibs & medals hahaha!

I'm not climbing any mountain this year but I plan to repeat my Mulu Pinnacle trip and reach the top. I guess this year I'll focus on running and losing more weight.

With my yo-yo diet, it'll no doubt take longer time LOL!

I still have 10kg to go (back to what 2011 was)!

Special thanks to my fit-for-life friends & family. 

U guys are my motivation:

Nad, K.Emma, Schu, Amy, K.Amy, Coach, K.Rini, Boy, Eki 

2014 MAKNA Founder's Night Run

Race Information
Date: 1st November 2014 (Saturday)
Venue: Putrajaya Watersports Complex
Organiser: MAKNA (Majlis Kanser Nasional)
http://maknafoundersrun.org/

Not much of an expectation. Why? Coz it's only 5km and I had other things to worry more at that moment (== my Kinabalu trip about a week after the run). Being only 5km, there was no timing required for this category. My brother registered for the 10km easy run.

The starting and ending point were pretty new for me as I only know that runs in Putrajaya usually started in front of the PoJ (Palace of Justice). I had my trust to my brother, the rider as he said he already surveyed the place few days before.

We reached there at 7.45pm, just in time for some warm up before my brother's 10km 8.20pm flag off. My flag off was at 8.40pm. There were a lot of booths around the area (i.e food, cancer clinic, Brooks etc) which were set up for the daytime and the night run event itself.

The starting line we a bit of a walk towards the end of the booths. Not that i mind as it also serve as a sort of warm up before the actual run. It wasn't a big crowd but i could see waves of pink everywhere! hehehe

From my perspective, everything was OK since this is a charity run. But there are few hiccups that can be improved next year; the PA system setup and the distance marker.

Honestly, the distance from the runners meeting point to the release point was really far. What made it worst is that the PA system was only at the release point. i still saw a lot of 10km runners (based on their bib colors) just talking and waiting behind the gate when their category has been released long time ago. The person in charge there (2person) just use their voices calling out runner and they just stand at the gate in front of the meeting point. I dont see any effort walking around the crowd.

Any way, the 5km event was run in sequence. Starting with the Cancer Survivors and school kids. Then the FancyFool group (riding bicycles, with wheelchairs, dressing up etc) and finally the runners. 

Nothing much to complain on the run itself. The group was well spread, no congestion. Just lack of distance marker. I could only see 1 marker marking 2km. So i roughly use the water station as my marker. The route was scenic (as i never run for fun in putrajaya) and the finishing line is different than of 15km and 10km.

Medal was given at the finishing line, and then straight to the goody bag collection. NOTHING IN BETWEEN. Then, I walked to the finishing line for the 10-km runners for my brother (same location at the finishing line). I was quite surprise that between the finishing line and the goody bag collection this time, there were plenty of stuff (read = FOOD & DRINKS). How can it be so contradicting for the 5km runners?

There were MILO, 100PLUS and Nestle Fitness cereal gv aways. By the time we reach the goodybag counter, we're pretty much full hahahaha. The 10/15km runners had extra a box of cereal in their bag, as well as a pack of extra food. Well, the box of cereal that my brother had was already spoilt. At home, I could see that there is a small hole near the bottom of the box. rezeki semut la tu..

All in all, it's 10km next time!

Pro:

• A lot of things to look around prior to the run. There was a carnival going on but by 8.30pm pretty much almost all closed.
• Snacks and drink provided post-run
• U still get a medal regardless of your finishing time and it's pretty.

Cons:

• PA system was not sufficient enough at the meeting/release point.
• NO DISTANCE MARKER. i used the water station to roughly estimate where i am.

2014 BSN Putrajaya Night Marathon

Race Information
Date: 11th October 2014 (Saturday)
Venue: Dataran Putrajaya, Presint 3
Organiser: Twenty First Century Sports (M) Sdn Bhd
http://www.bsnpnm.com/

Worried. That was going through my mind for this race. Why? It's due to the cut off time of the race. I need to finish 10km in 80minutes. Based on my virgin run, it took me 93mins to run 10km. So how the heck am I supposed to trim the 13min excess time???

I drove back from Penang at 5.30pm and arrived late for my brother's and niece's kenduri at 9.30pm. So dinner was late at 10.30pm. Nasi beriani hahaha (carbo-loading). Saturday was spent lazing around. Initially, I was thinking of going to SportsDirect to get a hp belt (borrow my dad's iP5) but I cancelled due to the laziness to go out.

Lunch was late at around 3.30pm and before the race, I think i ate some cream puff and snacks. I was really hungry during the race. Luckily, snacks were provided after the run.

By 6.30pm, it was already dark and by 7pm, it started drizzling. But when we reached the race venue, it was dry hahahaha! We walked around a bit and the split as the starting point for FM/HM and 10km/5km were on the opposite side of the road. I was supposed to meet my friend at the meet up point but ended up meeting other friends instead. Not having phone at that time was really hard as I hv no mean of comm (reminder to bring my pouch for next run). Well, at least I had companies while waiting for flag off.

My friends were eager to run so we headed to the front of the crowd ( i dont really planned to go upfront but what to do???). 9secs after flag off, we started. Of course, after 5mins I was running alone already hahahaha! No surprise there :p

The weather was humid and hot (now I know what they meants by Putrajaya being to most humid place to hv a run). I was sweating like crazy after only 10mins and the road felt long The boulevard was damn straight!! Distance marker is basically non-existence. I had to estimate based on the water station location (of course u need to remember the running route).

Like the years before, the organizer arranged a lot of entertainment along the route. The crowd of volunteers cheering really motivate me to keep running. There were a lot of percussion bands,  drummers and mascots apart from the (volunteer) crowds.

At the end, I was a bit dissapointed to see that my running time only improved by few seconds and there is no medal for me. But I was surprised to see everybody was given the medal regardless of not finishing in 80mins! What a relief!!

I then waited for my brother at the 21km (HM) finishing line. There I could see different kind of walk after the run (and a lot of runners being wheeled to the medical tent as well) - limping, walking barefooted etc. These runners must have had a hell of a run. most of them are drained out but looked very satisfied (and relief!) to finish the race =)

My brother finished the race at 3+ hrs, after resting for about half an hour while eating; we drove back home. And due to the high adrenaline, I ended up sleeping at around 4pm (3+hrs of sleep) and my brother didnt slept at all that night hehehehe.

Pro:

• A lot of things to look around, i.e selling booths (GNC, Brooks etc)
• A lot of entertainment along the route- bands, cheering, people dressing up
• Snacks and drink provided post-run
• U still get a medal after the cut off time!

Cons:

• Most of the booths closed at around 11pm. So those running for HM/FM doesnt really got a chance to look around when they finish the race (well... not that they hv the energy to do so)
• NO DISTANCE MARKER. i used the water station to roughly estimate where i am.

My 1st Run, ever..

So, i'm no longer a virgin in running.

My 1st run was supposed to be the SP Half Marathon 2014 (12km Fun Run) but the run clashed with my dear cousin's wedding. Hence, 2XU Compression Run 2014 became the one.

When the organizer released the route, I had many thoughts. Why did I choose this run?? It's hilly. It's at the Botanical Garden, Bird Park and Parliment area. Only then the name "Competitive" 10km Run makes sense.

I blamed all of this on my friend, Nadiah, who forced me to register for 10km instead of 5km. I was nervous. Nadiah is a seasoned runner, so this should be easy for her. She even ran half marathons, for Godness sake!

The event was scheduled at 21st September, 2014 (Sunday). I actually ran without much of a preparation. I had my cousin's wedding in Melaka on the 12th & 13th, then to Tioman on 15th-18th, another cousin's wedding in Kelantan on the 19th. So, the fact that I 'skipped' exercising for more than a week didn't help me to calm my nerve down.

Anyway, getting there on that day was nerve recking. Flag off for 10km run was at 6am, and i reached there around 5.40am due to the roadblocks. There were hundreds of people (there were close to 2000 runner as Nad's bib is 4:1123)

The host announced that whomever aiming for prizes need to be in the 1st wave (Wave? huh??). Well, I don't need to. My aim was to finish the run under 2hours. There are medals for all finisher :)

At flag off, I bid Nad farewell. We'll be meeting again after each of us has finished our run. I saw a glimpse of her at the 1km mark, then she's gone. Surprisingly, I managed to run all the way past the 1km, altho slowly. I could hardly run during my crossfit run although it's just a 600m around the block!

The route was clearly marked at every km. So i set my self to go by 1km distance with an average pace of 10min/km. Here's what i talked to my self at every mark hahaha:-

1km- Wow! I maanged to run that far w/o walking?!?
2km- Darn, already started to climb for the hill. I'm walking already.
3km- ure good, liyana. ure meeting the 10min/km pace. Keep it up!
4km- 3/5 of the race more, then ure done!
5km- OMG! I would hv finished if i signed for 5km run instead of this!! ~47min @5km.
6km- how come ure very far away from the 5km mark?!? i hate these hills -_-'
7km- 3km more to go! to eat the gel or not? eat laa.. yummy, green apple flavor is quite nice..
8km- 2km to go. all the way downhill, but seriously i cannot run anymore.
9km- i can see the entry of Botanical Garden. it's the last km! I should really thanked Nad for this.

10km/Finish- run for the last 200m hahahahahaha! i crossed the line, grinning :)
i finally finish my first run!! And i don't feel like dying.

Of course, Nad out run me. It's a huge difference for an 18min gap.

Overall, i'm really proud of myself! 

Tq Nadiah for pushing me. Tq Crossfit. That one particular WOD: 3.2km-row-1.6km-row-0.8km-row 0.4km: was really awful.

Race Information
Date: 21 September 2014 (Sunday)
Venue: Taman Botani Perdana
Organizer: Pink Apple
http://2xucompressionrun.com.my/index.html

Pros:
Clearly visible distance marker
Water station at every 2.5km-3km

Cons:

Nothing really : )

Can't wait for my next run: BSN Putrajaya Night Run on 11th Oct, 2014.