Macau

Almost a month after my Macau trip, I'm finally posting this. As much as I'd like to write a complete account of the vacation, I unfortunately do not have the leisure of time. Therefore, I'll just pick up a few from my pool of photos and go through them in a breeze.

Historical Town, Melaka

Greetings from historical town, Melaka. The place which, together with my hometown Penang, was listed as UNESCO heritage sites a year ago.


Our first destination was the Portuguese Square. Unfortunately, the place was desolated except for a few shops and a humble museum.

"Sorry there's nothing much to see in this museum, because I am the living museum," said the museum keeper, a septuagenarian who is a direct descendant of the Portuguese. He then spent more than two hours talking to us with obvious passion about the history of Melaka and problems faced by the Portuguese descendants there who are struggling to maintain their cultural identity. While the local community is eager to help promote the city as a tourism spot, funding from the government is meager. The same thing goes to Penang. It all boils down to politics. Because sadly, Malaysian political mentality is seriously stunted.

We spent one whole afternoon walking around A Famosa's vicinity. The fortress was built by the Portuguese, who conquered Melaka for more than a century after defeating Sultan Mahmud of the Melaka Sultanate in 1511. It was located under a hill, where the St Paul's Church stood.

Then in 1641, the Dutch captured the city with the help of the Sultan of Johor, a direct descendant of Sultan Mahmud. The fortress was destroyed and only part of the main gate - also Melaka's landmark - now remains. The church too, lost its roof (whether to the war or to the elements of nature, I do not know) but nevertheless, still retains its former glory.

On the other side of the hill, is another famous landmark, the Christ Church, the clock tower and the Stadthuys. These buildings, constructed by the Dutch were painted in distinct red.


Further away, in Jalan Tokong, is Cheng Hoon Teng (青云亭), the oldest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, built by a Chinese Kapitan in 1645.


Our last notable stop in Melaka is Jonker Street, the heart of Melaka, with historical buildings selling curious antique goods as well as local delicacies such as cendol and ais kacang. It's probably Penangite pride but it's in my arrogant opinion that Penang cendol and ais kacang are far more superior.

But if you've the chance to drop by in Melaka, make sure you check out one of these shops and see for yourself how long they are. Melaka folks were once required to pay tax according to the size of their house. And by size, I mean the width, not the area size. Naturally, the inhabitants build their houses narrow and long. The one which we checked out is as long as 200 feet! But do ask for permission before you start wandering into the house because normally, while the front part of the building is used for family business, the other half is normally where the family lives!

Pulau Redang

Sun-kissed beaches, swaying coconut trees and crystal clear waters - it's Pulau Redang, a scenic island off Kuala Terengganu on the East Coast of Malaysian Peninsula. Right when we stepped onto the island, I knew we made the right choice of destination for our open water diving course. (Yeah, we're now certified open water divers!)

Self-torturing Ritual

Jogging is a fun self-torturing ritual. It's more fulfilling than banging your head on the wall.

A game of soccer is charged with adrenaline; your eyes can never stray away from the actions on the field; once you do, you get kicked in the balls. Swimming is pretty much a matter of life or death; you know you can't stop paddling until you reach the end of the pool or you'll drown.

Jogging, on the other hand, is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. Except that you have to do it at a fast enough pace, or you'll have to call it "walking" instead. It sounds deceivingly simple, but it's as boring as watching a moustache grow. Occassionally, you bump into a hot chick on the jogging course but to be that lucky, you'll have to have amassed a hell lot of good karma in your previous lives. Instead, more often than that, you only get to jog together with shirtless uncles. So, you see, what keeps a jogger on the track is a sheer will of steel. And for fickle-hearted souls like me, it's a mental torture.

I had the worst jogging session today. After a long week of rain, the clouds had finally broken. A rainy day may be much dreaded but thanks to global warming, a sunny day in spring isn't quite as much a welcoming thought as it used to be. Today's a freaking 27゜C. Good for a bottle of scotch on a sun-kissed beach but certainly not for jogging under the scorching sun.

Nevertheless, I set off for my self-torturing ritual, feeling all eager to keep up to my previous personal record. My target was to go all the way to Futako-tamagawa roughly 7km away, and back, just like last time.

This was the route I took the other day. I didn't strictly followed the same route this morning but thanks to iMapMyRun that malfunctioned for the second time, I have to make do with this one.


Let's just blame it on the breakfast I skipped in the morning but for some reason, I was in low spirits. The red lights at the crossings pissed me off as much as the nicotine addicts puffing away by the streets. Even the slopes were killing me. Merely after 15 minutes, I started to doubt I could finish the course. The anticipation of running into a hot chick couldn't keep my attention on the track.

First bridge crossed. This was supposed to be the best part of the route but unfortunately, no breeze was blowing. To add to that, the sun was ridiculous. I wondered if by the time I finished the course, I'd be so badly sunburnt that my mom would mistake me as an Afro.

After crossing Marukobashi and turning right was the start of the jogging track. To my right was Tamagawa, where a bunch of anglers could be seen dozing away by the river. Along the river, there are more baseball fields than you can count, where aspiring kids train to be the next Ichiro Suzuki.

Futako-tamagawa could be seen in a distance. If it could be seen, it could't be too far away, eh? Yeah, right, 30 minutes away, to be exact. At this point, I started feeling as if I had had cow dung for breakfast. But I couldn't stop because my calves would start to hurt if I did. Anyway, I hate to admit it but I did make more than a few stops.

It felt almost as long as it takes to reach the end of the universe, but surprisingly, I managed to come to Futako-tamagawa within schedule. There were significantly less people there compared to Golden Week. After all, it was spring last week; today, it's summer. You don't go for BBQ in this weather unless you're thinking about getting yourself fried.

I soon came to the spot where we had our picnic last week. No picnickers there now. I thought I'd just lie down in the bushes and get dried up like a prune in the sun, till the next group of picnickers come by next Golden Week and discover my mummified body.

The last half of the course was more of a battle of mental strength. But I was just running a 15km course for goodness sake. By the time I train myself to finish a marathon course (if that ever happens), I'm sure I could light a match by mental power!

Now, here I am, feeling all achy in the calves and drained from the workout, physically and mentally. Preparation for the presentation? Nah, after a few episodes of my newfound entertainment, South Park.

But despite all that, I guess I'll be off in my running shoes again next week.

Odawara Castle

Come to think of it, I've only been to two castles in Japan. The first one being Matsumoto Castle (松本城) in Nagano Prefecture and this second one, Odawara Castle (小田原城) in Kanagawa Prefecture. Stopping by in Odawara wasn't my initial plan. Waking up at 5.30am, taking a two-hour train ride followed by a three-hour hike left me longing for an afternoon nap, even just a doze before going off again for a farewell dinner with my colleagues. (It wasn't much to my surprise that after the dinner, we ended up at a karaoke till the last train!)

But, spending all that effort and money to travel all the way to Hakone (箱根) just for a morning hike wasn't too fulfilling. Besides, I had to transit at Odawara station anyway, so why not make a brief stop, I thought. So, after treating my famished stomach to a gyuudon (お好み牛玉丼) at Sukiya - by the way, it was my second time since last Sunday - I headed towards Odawara Castle.

Odawara is an old city located at a strategic point on Tokaido (the ancient Edo-Kyoto Highway).. Whoever was in-charged of this city also controlled the traffic between Sagami area (now Kanagawa) and Tokai (south of modern-dayTokyo). During the post-Warring States Period (16th century), the castle belonged to the Hojo clan for five generations, but was taken over by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉) and handed over to Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康). Later in 1870 during the Meiji Period, it was sold away by the government and demolished, only to be replaced by a shrine 23 years later.

In the early Showa Period, there was even a ferris wheel, which was naturally a famous local attraction. It wasn't until the year 1960 (22 years after Odawara city was designated as a national historical site) that they finally rebuilt the castle keep.

All in all, it's a small castle with a big compound and a short stretch of moat on the lower side. There's no more ferris wheel but guess what, they keep monkeys and an elephant right in front of the castle keep! What's more, there's even train rides for children! I guess this is the quirkest castle I'll ever see.

Running Away from Boredom

People who complain about being busy obviously have not had a taste of extreme boredom. It's worse than having an itchy spot on your back where your fingers can't reach to give it a good scratch. You know you ought to move your ass and do something, anything; but for some uncanny reason, it's rooted to the chair or to the bed or to wherever you parked it on. You'd rather just sit there, and stay as inanimate as your other furniture, for as long as it takes rigor mortis to set in. Or until you eventually get bored of looking like a retard, and decide to put on your sports shoes and go out for a jog, just like what I did.

Taking a jog out of boredom was my first time. The last time I did it was for the peace of mind. It helped clear my head and offered me solace, albeit a temporary one. Ironically - or, should I say, in a masochistic manner - it feels good to have every muscle in your body throbbing in pain, and your lungs screaming for air.

However, I didn't achieve what I intended to when I set off for a one-hour run yesterday evening. The legs were vaguely aching from the weekend's badminton session but no bursting lungs. In fact, I was enjoying the run, to and fro Tamagawa 4.55km away from home.


Alden, I can see you stifling your laughter! I'm not a marathon runner, mind you! But maybe I should try to cover 10km within an hour the next time!