My nice prison

Pros and cons of working from home. 

Pro, I get to sleep in. Pro, I have less distractions. Pro, I don't have to wear office attire, or any attire for that matter. Pro, there's no travel time. Pro, the risk of catching Covid and falling sick has reduced. Pro, I have better control of my time. Pro, I get to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pro, I can go for a run after work.

Con, ergonomically my workstation will most likely cause me long term posture problems. Con, working from home is noticeably more frustrating (ie: slower via the VPN). Con, the amount of movement through out the day has drastically dropped. Con, social, real life interaction has dropped. Con, I work longer hours. Con, unless I make an effort I don't leave the confines of my 450 square foot apartment. Con, my apartment kind of feels like a prison.

Currently reading: "A Man's Search for Meaning"

Well that escalated

There was a time when people, I included, thought Hong Kong was the best place to be during the global pandemic. Across the globe, countries were struggling to contain the spread of Covid19. Meanwhile here in Hong Kong we monitored the daily updates and celebrated the continuous string of no local infections. The cases that were showing up were those imported from overseas and there was a sense of containment. Hong Kong was heralded as the poster child for border control, immigration quarantine, stringent contact tracing and the promulgation of mask wearing. So when the number of local cases jump from zero to suddenly a steady number of daily cases from reportedly unknown sources. Clusters are identified in elderly nursing homes and amongst the taxi drivers.

So here we are. The third wave. More cases. More deaths. There's no surprise that the rules have become stricter. School, bars and gyms have naturally been ordered to temporarily shutdown. Employees have been asked to work from home. Restaurants have been ordered to restrict patronage and limit dine-in to breakfast and lunch, no dinner. The rules this time are stricter. Social Distancing. Again.

It was a good run. Managed to finish the practical component of my yoga course. Attended two weddings, a bachelor party.

Kimchi

Social Distancing Cooking

So what's been happening with the diet? Well, I've been eating more meat lately, primarily fatty fish and a lot more organ meat. I've also found a place in Sheung Wan that sells preserved fruit. As previously mentioned, I've had more cravings, eating instant noodles a lot more. But also started with the experimentation again, some baking, testing different sambal recipes and experimenting with fermentation, and Kimchi.

Yoga Teacher's Training

Signed up for my Yoga Teacher's Training back in January; 200 hours of yoga training. At the time, I had decided to start the course in April, as it was scheduled to be immediately after my Singapore, Sydney and US trips in April. Since then, those three trips have been canceled and it's the first time I've had no trips lined up. I do remember saying I wanted to spend more time in Hong Kong, so I definitely got that request. So here we are, end of April and the course is going ahead, all online, all on zoom.

I'm slightly concerned because since this whole pandemic broke out and yoga studios closed their doors back in March, I've done one yoga class online, there really isn't the same level of interest in yoga at home. Some suspect this has to do with the dearth of Lululemon clad women in my apartment compared to the yoga studios (by dearth, I mean none).

In any case, let's see how this all goes. To my surprised the class is very full, with over 30 plus students still enrolled for the virtual certification.

Makeshift yoga studio - Fingers crossed this isn't for the entire 200 hour journey.

Breakdown of course 200 hours at $25,000 HKD (~3,200 USD)

• 25 classes x 3hr Theory/Practical = 75 hours
• 40 classes x 1hr Yoga Studio Practice = 40 hours
• 30 classes x 2hr Andiappan Yoga Practice = 60 hours
• Assignment/Self Study = 20 hours
• YTT Group practice class = 5 hours

Adventure day

Short drive down to the south side of the island. Picnic out at the beach. Nice to get away from the city. Plenty of laughs.

Hitting the pavement

Gyms and fitness studios have been instructed by the Hong Kong government to remain closed for another 2 weeks. For some reason, I cannot for the life of me get into online fitness or yoga sessions. It's similar to being in a hotel gym, I just can replicate the same intensity or motivation. I suspect it has something to do with familiarity but also the subtle motivation of having other people.

With that being said, I have purchased a yoga mat, a skipping rope and some resistance bands. This has eventuated to 15-20 minute "workouts" at home. When I say workouts, the term is loose, i break a sweat, but my heart rate isn't racing, but it still feels good to get the blood moving. My primary form of exercise has shifted to running. I no longer have the luxury of Bowen Road, however I've found an equally amazing running route near to home. 10 minutes away down by the harbour is Sun Yat Sen (SYS) Memorial park. On weekends, you can find plenty of people working out and casually lounging (well, at least before what happened).

Lately this park has become a surrogate fitness studio. I challenge you to go there during the week where there's not somebody running, boxing, using a TRX, doing yoga, HIIT. It's pretty cool and thankfully it's not summer in Hong Kong, yet.

So back to running, I have been running two to three times a week down by the harbour front along Victoria Harbour. My route, takes me from SYS along the harbour, through to Sheung Wan, up to Central along the CBD and the ferry piers, around past Admiralty over to the Golden Bauhinia. As far as runs go, it's a pretty epic 7 km roundtrip. Sometimes if I'm feeling ballsy I'll keep the run going past SYS and continue west towards Kennedy town and that tops the run up at approximately 10 km. The great thing about this run is that you get to see the entire harbour and all of the iconic buildings of Hong Kong. I sometimes have to pinch myself that the two regular running tracks that I have had are Bowen Road and the harbour front.

I am enjoying running, I do see my pace improving, not drastically, but enough to give me motivation. I do notice the difference between running when there's a headwind, or when I'm running in a fasted state. Admittedly I have become a little obsessed as I'll run now even if it's raining.

I don't usually run with my phone so haven't had the opportunity to take a photo, but I'll try to get something up soon.