Bored Life

Since I had knee problem, I don't go for running anymore (No more blog entry about runs). Feels like nothing much to do in the weekends. Yesterday, the uncomfortable feeling in my knee came back again, after 2 hours badminton session with my friends. I really think that my knee is getting better and it's time for me to go for some easy sports. No, it's not! Whole body muscle is aching, just because of the badminton session. Lack of sports! I really don't know how my life would be if my knee problem persists.

A Naked Man

Just to share a weird man I've encountered a few days ago when I was coming back from Midvalley. After inserted the parking ticket to the machine, as usual, I drove directly to the exit. From far, I saw a dirty man standing at the road side soon after I left ticket machine. I was thinking that he's just an insane people. Then, as I get closer to him, I saw that he's not wearing any pants (I can actually saw his private part!), he's only covered with a dirty T-shirt with his beard and hair covering his face (He has a long and thick beard which makes him looks dirty). Then, he ran towards my car, trying to stop me! I don't even dare to look at him at that moment. I tried my best to accelerate my car to the maximum toward the main road. I really don't know whether he's insane or maybe somebody had just robbed him and ripped his cloths. My thinking is that if he's not insane, he would have covered his private part with that T-shirt. I think that I'm quite lucky because he didn't block my way when I was accelerating my car. However, hope that he is still ok right now.

What do you think about this man? Should I stop and try to help him? Has anybody encountered anything like this before?

Bon Odori Festival

After the waterfall trip, only few of us were interested to go for Bon Odori Celebration in Shah Alam. I've heard of the event in the past years, but I never had the chance to participate it myself and that's why I rushed back from the waterfall to be at this event at 7:30pm. Along the way to the event, I can see that there were many people wearing the T-shirt of the event, waiting to instruct and asist people to reach the place. In addition, they provided a huge parking lot for us. They did a great job in organizing the event. The opening ceremony of the event start at 7:00pm. We were too late for that. When I reached the place, I saw many Japanese, with most of the female wearing kimono, were dancing on the stage, with all the others on the ground followed their moves. On the other side, I can see many Japanese food stalls selling Japanese food. There, I saw my colleagues, YuanHui (together with WeeSeng), SehHui and SookLan (with her husband) enjoying the food. Then as I was queuing to buy some food, I saw KuanYew whom I managed to take a photo with him in such a crowded place.

Then, we walked over to the stage area and I saw YiYang and his gang dancing in the crowd. I took a video of them without their knowledge! For them who want a copy, please email me!

As we walked around, I noticed that there was a martial art performance during the intervals for the dancing sessions. I took some pictures of the performance quite far from the behind of the crowd, crowding toward the performance area. We finally went back slightly earlier before the event actually ends to avoid traffic congestion. Although the event was not very interesting, but I get to learn more about Japanese culture from the event which made the event well worth for my time!

Sungai Gabai Waterfall

Left Klang at 1:00pm yesterday to meet up with my ex-coursemates at South City Plaza, Seri Kembangan for the waterfall trip. It took around 45 minutes for us to travel from Seri Kembangan to the waterfall, which is located in Hulu Langat. The first thing I did before we all walked up the stairs, was to take some photographs of the beautiful view.

The stair has so many steps (hundreds of them), made the pain in my knee came back again. Have to move on! As soon as we reached the highest point, we unpacked our stuff and had some snacks before we jumped into the water. The water was chilling and refreshing! Although the place is nice, but walking on the rocks was quite dangerous as it is very slippery. We spent around 2 hours at the place playing with the water and finished up the food we brought. We were expecting there is bathing facilities, but there isn't any! Washed ourselves using a water tap and left the place at around 6:00pm. It would be a nice trip if I'm staying near the place..

Great Job, Maxis!

My father lost his handphone on last Thursday. On that night, I called Maxis to ask them on how to recover the number. I was thinking that it will not be possible for him to get a new SIM card with the same number since he's using Hotlink prepaid. They informed me that I can get it back if I'm able to pay a visit to Maxis Center and provide them with some information (for them to confirm that my father is the owner). Yesterday morning, I went there and fill up a form. In a matter of minutes, everything has been done and the service is FREE! I plugged the SIM card into a new phone and pass it back to my father. Didn't expect everything can be solved in such a short time!

TMNET Streamyx First Bill

I’ve just made my payment to my Streamyx account a few days ago thru online banking. For this first time using online bill payment service (I know I’m outdated), I find it quite reliable and efficient. It took 2 days to process where I can check the payment updated in http://tmbill.tm.net.my the third night.

Back to the main point! When I receive my bill, I saw a large amount to be paid! The payable amount was RM188.00. Angrily, I called 1800-88-9515, Streamyx hotline to ask them. And their explanation was:

RM50 - first month
RM50 - second month (advance payment)
RM88 - registration fee

I can accept the advance payment for the second month (though we shouldn’t have to pay), but why there’s a registration fee? She then explained that the registration fee could be deducted if I send an email to customer care center after I’ve paid the RM100. Ahh… Feeling better. According to her again, this process would take around 3 months. What an inefficient service! Hopefully everything will be fine after this.

Do check my past post about my bad experience during TMNET Streamyx installation if you have not read about it.

Retire From Running?

The uncomfortable feeling in my right knee makes me quite worry. It becomes worse from one run to another. It makes me hard to decide whether I should go for the Seremban Half Marathon (21KM) which I’ve registered. WeeSeng suggested that I should go for Chinese acupuncture to confirm my knee problem. Today afternoon, I went with him to one of the Chinese doctor he claimed reliable and has helped him cure his leg in the past. And what the doctor said is… I need to rest at least 6 months to actually get back into running. I’ve never thought that I need to retire that early. He further explained that the pain in my knee is caused by the ligament has became loose and not able to hold the joint very well. If I continue to run, the ligament might become overstressed and incurable. Then I’ll have to retire from sports forever! No! Hopefully I can get back to track after 6 months, which is until next year. Have to go for swimming as my main sport until I fully recovered. Anybody interested to join me for swimming?

[update]To runners, good warm-up and regular training may help to prevent this problem. I've never practice those in my past runs...

Ipoh International Run 2005

After woke up at 8:15am last Saturday morning, I prepared and packed all my stuff before leaving home at 8:30am. I had my Bah Kut Teh breakfast (again!) with a group runners and some non-runners who are going to Ipoh with me, then leave Klang at around 10:00am. The journey took around two and a half hours to reach Ipoh to meet up with BoonSeng who was already there, alone, from Penang.

Since I've been to Ipoh before, I know a little about the roads in Ipoh. Although I made them went into the wrong way a few times, but still I managed to bring them to the destinations. First place we went was O-town White Coffee shop. I had char kuey teow and smooth white coffee as my lunch. Next destination was Ipoh Parade. The only special thing in Ipoh Parade is that they don't have any McDonald in it. As for dinner, as usual, all the Ipoh visitors would go for the bean sprout chicken rice (nga choi kai). We went to Lou Wong instead of Onn Kei (the second time) without any special reason. Maybe they looks like the more original one. After the meal, we went to a pub for a while before going to take some night scene photo of Ipoh.

The Running Day

In the Sunday morning, I woke up at 5:15am. Did I mentioned that we checked in at a hotel as soon as we reach Ipoh? We stay in Grand View hotel, which is quite comfortable and more importantly affordable. We reached the Dataran Ipoh, in front of the Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh (MBI) building at around 6:45am. I warmed myself up and the flag off was around 7:15am for 10km runners. WeeSeng and BoonSeng went for 21km run.

I found myself running slightly faster in the beginning today. Everything was OK and the route is quite flat (much more better compared to the Pacesetter run). As usual, my mental become weaker and weaker as I run further and further. The main thing I was thinking all the time was "How long more to go?" (Really hope I'd a sport watch to at least help me keep track how long I've been running). Then, I saw "4km". Ahh.. I felt so good at that time. I thought 4km more to go. That really kept me motivated to go on. After a while I saw a counter providing drinking water, then only I realised that I still have a long way to go. I guess the counter is normally placed at the middle of the track.

Took a cup of water then continue running. Suddenly, I felt my knee was aching. Is this normal for runner? Or should I go for treatment? I kept myself concentrating on running and hoped that I can run till the end. Next, I saw another station which provides wet sponge. Though I never like those, but had to spour some water on my face to make myself feel better and motivated to go on.

Finally, I reached the finish line at around 1 hour. I know it's quite a bad record, but this time, I ran the whole route without any stop! As soon as I reached, I looked for some drinks. Spent quite a while for me to find the 100plus counter. Drank 5 cups of it before looking for Milo counter which is always available. But after I saw the queue for Milo, I went back to take a few more cups of 100plus. They didn't provide any food for us. MBI is not a good organiser thought the track is good. The air along the track is quite fresh and not so polluted compared to the runs in Klang Valley.

Before we left Ipoh for Klang we had Dim Sum at Foh San and bought some pomelo. Along the way, we stopped at Kampar to have Min Bao Kai (Curry Chicken Bao). I finally reached home at 9:30pm. Straight to bed after bathing!