Sydney

Back for niece's forth birthday. It's funny, kids at that age just want to show, or tell you something. "Can I show you something?". "Can I tell you something?". I wonder where they get this from? I can't believe it's already been four years. Four years since Covid, too.

Flight was delayed by 90 minutes, which in the grand scheme of things isn't the end of the world. However, when you're scheduled to be back for less than 48 hours every minute counts. I think I have a new rule, no more weekend trips to Sydney that are less than 48 hours. I think it's more that the flight is starting to take its toll, there's a fair amount of discomfort from sitting so long. So new rule, minimum 2 nights. Let's see.

I arrived into Sydney at 10:40. It was a cool, gray morning. I picked up a huge helium balloon from the arrivals hall. The balloon was a giant unicorn head. She called her Aurora, the unicorn. Aurora comically took up all the space in the car. 

Fun weekend. Yumcha in Kogarah. Birthday cake from Coles. 80th surprise birthday in Leichhardt for Auntie. Charlie is a bundle of energy, and Mac is as her mother puts it "a dragon baby". Sunday long run with the boys around the Bay Run. Into lunch in Earlwood and then back out to Hong Kong with a bag full of kiwis and oranges.

Da Nang

Much needed non-Hong Kong or non-Singapore weekend away. The year has felt both long and short at the same time. It's already deep into October and there's that feeling that the year will be over within the blink of an eye. First time traveling to Da Nang as a couple and we ended up at Premier Village, a nice resort, although we ended up with a four bedroom villa (they closed off the three other rooms). Unfortunately, it rained most of the weekend, although we were lucky to benefit from some patches of no rain. The trip was a classic Vietnam trip, grabs to restaurants, walks to massages, grabs back to the hotel, naps and just a whole lot of eating and relaxing. Despite being to Da Nang so many times, I've never tried the local dish of Mi Quang. Aside from that we fell back to the favourites, Bun Bo Hue, Bun Cha, Banh Xeo and even 4Ps pizza.

Forty Three

Gosh, I really feel old. It really feels like an eternity when I turned 40. Middle of covid, feeling like I had officially reached middle age status. Now, three years later, I feel middle aged both mentally, and physically. October growing up was always a fun month. There were always so many birthday celebrations. Aunties, uncles, cousins, mine included.

This year it's been a bit of an odd birthday. Minimal fanfare, no issues with that. Received some nice birthday messages, which I love. Although the idea of having "Happy Birthday" blasted in a group chat still feels awkward. This year, our corporate Bloomberg Square Mile, happened to fall on the 9th. We fielded a strong team which finished a competitive 11th. Annoyingly, I fell short of the sub-6 minute mark, again. 6:04, slowly getting there. 

Although, admittedly my mind was elsewhere. I have had a sore toorth a couple of days since returning from Singapore and today decided to see the dentist for further investigation. The consult resulted in me getting a temporary crown while we wait for further news. Nothing screams old age like the gentle deterioration of the body. Things, parts, bits that have been part of me for almost my whole life are now slowly starting to break down and require attention. It's an indirect way of age showing, time really is passing us by. 

Happy Birthday!

Singapore

October is upon us, which means, a slew of upcoming birthdays. Growing up October was a fun month, there were so many birthdays. It also means quite a few public holidays for us in Hong Kong. Feels a bit strange not being back in Sydney this year round, but managed to extend the long weekend and spend it in Singapore for the F1. This time of the year is always a lot of fun in Singapore, the energy of the city is second to none. This year, there's a bit of a quorum, the confluence of a crypto event with the F1 means that a lot of people are in town. Good catch ups and another year of not actually watching the F1 live. 

The long run

Finally clicked over the 30 km mark. Prior to signing up for this event the furthest I'd ever run was 21 km. It's all relative where 20 km feels like a non-event. Roughly 2 hours (for me), but with this week's run of 34 kms, it took me just under 4 hours. That's a long time to be out running. Aside from actually running that long, the other challenge is finding long enough routes.

Have found some decent routes in excess of 30 kms in Sydney, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The challenge with Singapore and Hong Kong is that during this time of the year, it gets hot, quick. So even starting at 6 am, but the time you've wrapped up it's almost 10 am and it's warm. 

Final block

The final block. Maxing out at 34 kms, although I cheekily jammed in a 35km. Annoyingly, headphones died 1 hour in, so was just running out with no entertainment.

Probably a bit too much travel, but managed to bang out 34 km in Singapore at McRitchie.

Found a nice sports ground in Siu Sai Wan.

It's a real test. There is an element of boredom that kicks in and excitement, but mostly boredom. The nice thing is that most of these runs are are gentle 'conversational' pace. The challenging thing is that it's the middle of summer in Hong Kong and chaffing and wet shoes are almost mandatory. The other challenging thing is finding a route that is long enough. So far I know from North Point to Shau Kei Wan, is approximately 3.8 kms to the Museum of the War of Resistance, just under 8 kms return. North Point promenade, through to Sun Yat Sen is around 8 kms, or 16 kms return. Continuing through to Kennedy Town, the end of the Praya is around 12 kms. There's a nice loop up Mount Davis down through Caine along through to Bowen down to Victoria Park which is around 30 km. or 34 km, around the South Side, to South Bay back to Ocean Park. There's times I wish there were other people I could run with.

 

The pain cave

It's funny, when I signed the lease to this apartment, the main draw cards were the modern facilities. Namely the pool and sauna. As it would turn out, the facility that I've utilised the most and probably the most fortunate to have access to is the gym. Specifically the treadmills, which throughout the Hong Kong summer has been nothing short of a saviour when it comes to getting mileage in through typhoons, and blistering summer days. Conditions aside, it's also been invaluable for dialling into those speed sessions. Think intervals, tempos, all in a controlled environment. No dodging cars, waiting for lights, or dealing with uneven surfaces.

This is a sneak peak into my pre-work sessions. Down into the gym before sunrise. There's always one other regular I see at that hour. A lady who's on the stair master. I have a favourite treadmill, 1st from the right. It's a Life Fitness. There's four things I always bring down. 1) Music, my earphones. 2). Water bottle, in the right cup holder 3). Portable fan,  on the left handle 4) Hand towel, in the left cup holder. It's a familiar sight. Sometimes I'll have a gel. After the session the area is always splattered in perspiration. Gross. My easy pace is somewhere between speed 9.0 (or 6:40 min/km), or 9.5 (6:20 min/km), always with an incline of 1.0%.

I think I've watched all of the running videos. I like the ones through cities and in national parks. Sometimes I wonder what it be like to actually run these routes in real life instead of virtually. Maybe that could be my next goal?

Hong Kong Q2 Dump

Not a whole lot to report here. In between the travel between Singapore and Sydney it's really just been sparse amounts of socialising and a huge amount of running. Four times a week, Saturday easy run, Sunday long run with intervals and threshold between. Some highlights include, MTG, Farewells, Dragon Boat Festival Zhongzi, Coldplay, long runs with visitors to Hong Kong, Hikes, Blood donation, Jimmy O Yang, and Udatsu Sushi, Lei Yue Mun fish markets with cousin.

Juizhaigau

Final destination in the 10 day Sichuan Easter adventure. Once again back on the high speed train, back to Chengdu before interchanging for another train to Huanglongjiuhai. A recently built station which allows visitors to access Jiuzhaigou Valley and the Huanglong Area. This time of the year (April) happens to be low season. So it was busy, but not busy busy. Apparently during peak season, they allow up to 40,000 visitors into the Jiuzhaogou Valley per day. Our days were capped at 20,000, but it still felt like a lot. The things about China parks is that there's no opportunity to explore, it's one path, one direction, look at this mountain, take a photo of this lake. With so many people it's easy to understand why they have adopted this philosophy for tourists.

We stayed at the amazing Ritz Carlton Reserve in Rissai Valley. Snow capped mountains in the background, clear star spangled skies at night, beautiful alpine scenery, turquoise lakes and blues of every shade all while surrounded by thousands of Chinese people.