It's more fun in the Philippines Part 5 (Palawan Trip Day 3)

We woke up for Day 3 with the air reeked of fresh rain and we realised there was some rain in the night. It had stopped so we can still go for the island hopping tour. We were still glad to get a good night's rest at Bill's, decided to get breakfast there before going back to Swiftlets to get changed for the tour. The breakfast was buffet style but food didn't look appetizing, there was corned beef and rice so P was mainly having that. I remember the reviews mentioned that we can get the staff to cook eggs for us, so P ordered two sunny-side-ups.

The tricycle that came to pick us up, this belong to the vendor Faith Agape

After breakfast, we were told that we will still stay another night at Bill's, so we left our overnight stuff with them and walked back to Swiftlets. The guy who was supposed to pick us up for the tour arrived promptly in his trike at 9am. He sent us to Marina Garden Resort where groups of people were gathering to set off for the tours. It is the shoulder season so only some of the bunkas were getting ready to leave and the beach was not too crowded. 

Many many bunkas at the seafront

We boarded the boat and realised that we were actually at the seafront just in front of Seaslugs. Now in the daylight, we could see the restaurant and its surroundings much more clearly. Unlike the previous night, not many tourists were up and having breakfast at the restaurants. 

View of Seaslugs and beachfront in the daylight

There were 9 people in total in our boat, all Filipinos except for another lady and me. The boat sped out towards the nearby island and we stopped at helicopter island first, it got its name as the whole island is shaped like a helicopter. We went up to the beach and were given 45min to snorkel around the area. We took some pictures and wade out to try our snorkels. The guides pretty much left us on our own but they took good care of two ladies in our group who were non swimmers. I reckon it's not easy to do island hopping when you don't have the water confidence, there is so much swimming to do. 

Boatmates took this for us

We took many selfies too

More selfies on Helicopter Island (before we went snorkeling)

The second place we stopped at was quite interesting. It was surrounded by tall limestone mountains and the part we disembarked was shallow with coral reefs so we were told to wear our slippers. After we went into the water, we put on our snorkels and swam along the rocks to this beach hidden among the tall mountains. I believe El Nido used to be even more amazing years back when the view under water and above water were both awesome. Now it's mostly left the top part as too many tourists step on these shallow corals daily to get to this Hidden Beach. Other than the first Helicopter Island, I counted no less than 20 boats docked at the remaining sites even at shoulder season. El Nido is still being discovered and developed into a tourist spot, I believe years later things will get worse if nothing is done to protect the environment.

Entrance to the Hidden Beach

BBQ pit set up by the guys on board

I was starting to get hungry and looking forward to lunch. Once we boarded the boat earlier, the boatmen had set up a bbq pit on one end of the boat and they put a big fish and other seafood onto the grille. As they were getting lunch ready, we stopped at this snorkeling area to do more swimming and snorkeling. When lunch was ready, I was amazed to see the spread prepared by the guys on board. The fish and prawns were really fresh and succulent, it was the best seafood we had tasted in Palawan. The fruits like mango and pineapple were sweet and tasty too. Kudos to the guys for the good seafood lunch!

Very clear water at the lunch area

Very unforgettable seafood lunch

The third destination was also interesting, we stopped at shallow corals once again, but this time we can snorkel and swim through this small hole among the rocks. With our snorkels on, we could see that it was actually hundred feet deep beneath the rocks so it was quite awesome. Beyond the rocks, it was the Secret Beach, I must say this is the most beautiful part of our two days island hopping tours. There were shallow corals all around and also a small beach area surrounded by very tall limestone cliff. Sitting on the beach, the view was magnificent. Unfortunately, we did not have a waterproof camera and did not get to take any photos at all. Nevertheless, we promised ourselves to keep this beautiful view in our memories. 

Boats in front of Matinloc Island

The smaller statue near the beach

Bigger shrine area with seats (some broken)

We had already done a lot of swimming and snorkeling for the day, so I was glad that the final destination was an island we can do some sightseeing. There were two Mother Mary statues on the island and they call this place the Matinloc Shrine. After the previous experience, we made sure we brought our selfie stick and iPhone with us to capture the view. It was not easy as we had to tread on shallow rocks and corals before getting on shore (I was holding my breath and praying hard that P will not lose his balance and drop the iPhone) but it proved to be the best thing to do as there was a spectacular view on Matinloc. Among some huge and steep rocks, some people put in some cemented steps so that we can get on top to a small viewing point. We could see the very clear blue waters surrounding the place from the height, so we took our time to get the selfies done. 

Fabulous view from the top, glad we had our selfie stick!

The shallow corals showing up under clear blue sea

After this island was done, it was time to make our way back home. The boat sped on the sea for quite some time to get us back to where we started as Tour C route went quite far. All of us were quiet, mostly enjoying the moment and a little exhausted from the day's activities. 

Left our footprints here

P reliving his childhood days

We spotted the iconic El Nido words on the beachfront and took some pics there. When we were walking to Swiftlets, we saw children running out of the village school after lessons. We stopped to get ice cream as there were several ice cream and titbits vendors waiting outside the school. We bought some freshly fried turons along the way and it was really delicious too.

Ice cream vendor on the street

Swiftlets in the day

We took our shower in Swiftlets (hot shower run on solar energy thankfully) and packed our things to go over to Bill's. P needed to catch up with his NBA series finals so I took a nap after eating some turons and surfing the Internet. I woke up again to the ringing of the phone and the staff informed me that the electricity supply has resumed at Swiftlets and we can move back if we wish too. After some discussion, we decided to move back for the night even though there was a risk of electric outage again. I felt more comfortable at Swiftlets even though the room was smaller. 

Art cafe spotted but it failed us :(

Looked nice but service was lacking

We walked back to put our stuff at Swiftlets, we were glad to see it in lights again, although we seemed to be the only ones back at the inn. It was almost 9pm, so we walked to the beachfront to look for dinner. P still preferred to have seafood for dinner, so I had been researching hard online. We passed Artcafe and Boutique on our first night and it really have good reviews in Tripadvisor (ranked 9) so we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, things didn't go well there. There wasn't a dinner crowd by that time but the server seemed a bit nonchalant when we wanted to order. We saw that angus beef steak was the specialty on the menu, P wanted to try it although it was really pricey (900php). He's very particular about steak gravy, so he requested to try the steak gravy before ordering, but we were told there will be a charge. Next, we ordered buko shake and avocado shake and both were not available. P was fuming and looking so angry with the restaurant although we already placed a pizza order with them, I suggested canceling the order and leaving to look for another dinner place. The servers started looking anxious and convinced us to wait for the pizza, we decided to takeout and eat in our hotel room.

Back to Seaslugs again

As the shakes from Seaslugs were pretty good, we decided to get our shakes there again. Fantastic beach time in the summer goes really well with shakes! I lost count of the number of avocado shakes I had during the trip. We also nbought some balots along the way back. The nice thing about our inn was that we could use the microwave and borrow some plates from the 'kitchen area' to have our dinner. We also moved the breakfast table into the room so that we can eat and watch videos on our laptop.

The pizza from Artcafe turned out bad although some reviewers left good comments about its pizzas. The hawaiian pizza had big pieces of tomatoes? and pineapples on it and I could not even taste the ham, luckily we left the place or P would have thrown the pizza on their faces.

It's more fun in the Philippines Part 5 (Palawan Trip Day 2)

The motel staff woke us up at 2.20am, I thought they will just give us a sandwich or something for breakfast. In fact, I was surprised that breakfast starts as early as 2am. We struggled to wake up at this odd hour, and were directed to a Chinese restaurant next door for breakfast. The breakfast was nothing much to shout about but at least it's a hot meal at this hour. We did some quick packing and were really to leave at 3.15am. Another plus point of the motel was that the free shuttle is operational at wee hours too. 

Initially I was wondering if it was necessary to go to the airport more than 2h ahead of flight as it is so near. P said it will be crowded even at wee hours and he was right. There was already a lot of traffic at this time, jeepneys already on the road and when we reached the domestic terminal, there were long queues to clear the security scans. Manila is the capital city of this very populated country, thus it never sleep!

Finally boarding

The check in queue was considered short as we were served immediately, after that there was almost an hour left before boarding. Finally, our onward journey to PPS! I'm crossing my fingers that our remaining vacation will be smooth and problems free. When I was booking the flight just the previous day, it looked quite empty and there were a lot of seats, However, we were surprised again that the waiting area was full of sleepy commuters. I'm so glad that we're able to get on board at such reasonable fare. 

Simple fare on board but still better than Cebu Pacific

A week before we set off for the trip, we had booked a private van to send us to El Nido from PPS. This part of the journey is the most dreaded as it is a 5h ride on bumpy roads. We chose a private van as I had read that it is faster than the public Ro Ro or Cherry bus. A shared van will be even more ideal as the cost will be shared between 10-12 passengers. However, as our initial flight will only reach PPS at 6.15pm, which is later than the latest shared van scheduled timing at 6pm, we decided to splurge and spent on a private van (6.5k) to get to our destination fast. Now that we missed the flight, it's a waste of money as we can just take a shared van in the morning. Even though we knew the money already paid and it is quite unlikely we can get a refund, P still tried his luck and asked them. Much to our delight, they agreed to refund part of the payment and convert the rest of the sum to payment for 2-way shared van. We're eventually happier to know that we spent less than we had thought (100+ SGD) to resolve the missed flight problems. 

At the rustic airport

We look tired, but definitely happy to finally be here

Landing at PPS is so cool, it's like arriving in the middle of a rice field. There is vegetation everywhere and low huts in the villages nearby. We are glad to have finally arrived at PPS after this mishaps on the previous day. It is hardly 7am so we waiting around for the scheduled shared van to turn up at 7.30am, P finally spotted someone holding a piece of paper with his name and we followed the guy to a nearby Eulen Joy office where there were several people waiting for the van. However, there was more waiting and we only boarded the van when it was close to 8am. A shared van is 10x cheaper but there was also a lot of waiting, the van stopped at picked up people at several points until it was full. I was amazed when the driver hopped to the top of the van and placed some luggage right on top to save space. After a English guy grumbled about being picked up at 8.15am when he booked a 9am ride, all of us realised that we actually booked our ride at different timing, some as early as 6.30am! I guess they really want to utilise the petrol used so they combined a few bookings into one, and it could even be different agencies! 

The private/shared vans

It was almost 9am when we finally left PPS town proper, and as I rode in the van, I surprised myself by falling asleep almost immediately when we hit the straighter road up north. It felt like a long time as my butt hurt when i was awake again, I had to shift my weight around to relief the ache. I woke up and look at the time, it was only 10.30am. Shortly after that, the van stopped at a small roadside cafeteria for a break, and all of us filed out to eat something. We were famished after the early breakfast at 3am, so we ordered two dishes and some fruits. The weather was really warm so I was glad that we could hide in the air con van once lunch was done.

My luggage was one of the lucky ones chosen to go on top

The van only stopped once more at Taytay for some of us to visit the washroom, and finally pulled into El Nido bus terminal at about 2pm. Including the lunch break, it really took us about 5h to make the journey, luckily most of it was concrete roads and smooth so there was no need to worry about motion sickness at all. Nevertheless, I was really glad we finally arrived at our home for the next 4 nights. The bus terminal is just a very small and dusty one, I do not see that many foreigners around so I guess this place is even more rustic than Bohol, a paradise that is not easy to reach. Even though the inn was said to be just 3min away, we decided to pay 50php to take a trike to our inn since it is hard to carry our luggage all the way there on the uneven road. 

Our luggage on the trike (different design at different parts of ph)

I was happy to see that the inn is new and clean as reviewed by other travelers. Among the rows of huts, the white brick walls of the inn stood out. The owners were nice and helpful, P talked to them and they agreed to refund us the amount for the previous night. We decided to book the tours with them in return. We were given the top floor (Rm 7) initially, but P asked for a room at 2nd floor as it is a hassle to climb up and down. The view from the top was just the rows of coconut trees and limestone mountain across the small road. The area around the inn is still under renovation so there's awkward pile of stuff at odd places.

View from the room (3rd floor)

We paid $60 SGD for a night stay by booking through Agoda (redeemed my points) so it was not too bad for a basic and comfortable room. When I was looking for a hotel, I realised that things are not cheap here in El Nido, rooms with mixed reviews and just the basics can be quite expensive. I decided not to expect too much and book one with the best reviews within our budget. I was delighted to see that there's a bathtub in the room, so I took my time to take a long bath and soaked in the bathtub. P was already asleep when I was done, I updated my blog while waiting for my hair to dry and took a nap as well. I heard a loud sound around 5.30pm while I was in my dreams and realised there was a power outage, the TV and the air-con went out but we continued our nap. It seemed quite common to experience that here in El Nido, therefore many shops and guesthouses have their own generator to provide their own electricity in such situation. When we finally woke up at 6.30pm, the sky was already falling and the power did not come back on. I peered out and saw that the houses next to us were also using candles to light up their place so I guess there's power outage in the whole area.

Free flow coffee, tea and milo at the inn

We went out to explore the place and get our dinner. It was just a short 10min walk from the inn to the main beach area. The stretch just next to our inn was also in darkness, and many lit up their shops using candles or torchlight. Most of the shops along the street were small and selling basic stuff like titbits, there were no fast food outlets in this small town, another sign that it had not become too touristy. Most of the bigger restaurants are opened by foreigners, who chanced upon this place and see its potential in attracting tourist business. 

This is the only bakery in town and its popular, we only bought this once

The beach front area is somewhat like boracay but the number of shops along the stretch were not as many and there was no proper footpath. Most of the sea facing bars have an area for people to drink and chill out by the sea. We saw quite a few eateries and Seaslugs caught my eye, I remember reading some reviews about it so I was telling P we can just eat here if we can't find other places. We walked further down and it was just a few shops with only a few customers so we turned back to Seaslugs. It was brimming with people but I could see that service was slow and many people were waiting for their food with an impatient or bored look. P was keen to try their seafood so he was undeterred, we managed to get a nice table on the beach with candlelights and sand under our feet. 

Nice setting and ambience 

We waiting for abt 10-15min and our food started to get served. I could hear the staff telling the next table that they had stopped accepting orders for 10min to clear the piling food orders, so we were considered lucky. 

Very nice shakes and we came back for more

The drinks came first and I'm happy with the quality of the shakes. It cost the same as Jonah's shake in Boracay. P ordered prawns with tomato sauce and crabs, I felt that the prawns are not that fresh although it tasted fine. The crabs, unlike those we normally have in SG, were smaller mud crabs so there was a muddy taste. But P was happy with the food and he finished most of the crabs. Later on I realised that I read mostly negative reviews about the place but I forgot all about it.

Two servings of these, I didnt like it but P enjoyed it

After we walked back to the inn, it was still in darkness and the inn owner told us that the area electricity supply will not resume as the transformer is damaged, therefore they will relocate us to another inn down the street. We just packed our stuff for the night and they sent us there in a trike. It's quite an inconvenience but since the owner and staff were really nice, we assured them that we were fine with the arrangement. It turned out to be a bigger and more expensive Bill Tourist Inn, we were even allotted a superior room with a jacuzzi style bathtub and big sofa. However, for comfort and cleanliness, I still prefer Swiftlets.

Superior room with big sofa (bed)

At Bill's for the night

It's more fun in the Philippines Part 5 (Palawan Trip Day 1)

It's June hols again and we decided to tick off Palawan from the list. We planned to visit El Nido, which was once voted as the most beautiful island in the world and said to be the last frontier of the Philippines. Honestly, there are many beautiful islands in this nation and I believe there are still others out there yet to be discovered. Boracay was indeed beautiful but it is overflowing with tourists, I know of some friends and colleagues who visited Boracay these years but none went to Palawan yet, so I'm hoping that it will be as rustic as Bohol. Unlike Bohol, where we did an 'island tour' and zip line etc, the charm of Palawan is all out in the sea, at the surrounding islands.

I'm very much a beach resort person. I love the sand, the sun and the sea. So, a very charming place like Palawan has been on my list of places to visit for the past two years. Just like Boracay, it is not easy to get to such a gem on Earth. After flying to Manila from Singapore, we need to take a domestic flight to Puerto Princesa and then another 5h van ride to El Nido. It sound like a longer journey than going to Boracay and we almost changed our mind about heading there. The only good thing about the whole journey is that it is still relatively cheap, at least cheaper than many other places we have in mind.

Not wanting to make the same mistake as we did for the past two June vacations, we tried to set out as early as we could. On top of that, we also have to help tita check in and ensure that she will not lose her way around Changi Airport. Even though both of us were too tired to pack the previous night, we woke up early at 6.30am to pack for the noon flight and we finished well ahead of time. We set off punctually and made it to the airport in time to check in for our flight as well as tita's. Coincidentally, tita was leaving from the same terminal and even the same gate as us, therefore it made things even easier. We arrived at the gate right on time for boarding, bade tita farewell and boarded the plane.

Checked in! 

This is the first time I've redeemed a flight on SQ using my Krisflyer's miles and also the first time I fly to the islands on SQ. I was so happy as we only needed to pay $300+ for the taxes and to top up the miles. The onward flight to PPS was redeemed using the voucher from the flight delay we experienced last year at Caticlan so it was also free, I only paid for the one way ticket from Manila back home on the last day.

Finally my turn to fly! 

Our aircraft

Low caloric meal with two sides and brown rice :)

I've not heard of this brand but it was nice.

It had once again proven that Manila is a disaster, or maybe it's Cebu Pacific. I've booked a SQ flight that will land in Manila at 3.45pm and an onward flight from Manila at 5pm. I was thinking that things should not go as badly as last year since we are just transiting in Manila, right? Wrong! I've not done that many trips that need transit before, especially one on different airlines. We landed punctually at 3.45pm in Manila, but P took a long time to clear the customs (very long queue for Filipinos but it was a breeze for us foreigners). I thought that we surely do not need to get out of the terminal but I was wrong again. We had to get out of the very crowded airport and run to the Cebu Pacific domestic terminal at one end. When we reached the last call counter, it was already 4.20pm. 

The thought of missing the flight had not cross my mind before as I know that SQ is quite punctual and surely 1h+ to transit should be sufficient? P was conversing with the staff and from his tone and anguish expression, I already guessed that the counter had closed and we barely missed the flight by 5min or so. I was relatively calm this time but P was visibly upset. Our immediate thoughts was to rebook another flight on the same day but a quick search shown that there was no more flight going to PPS. We don't have any choice except to rebook another flight on the next day. The only life saver was that there was free wifi at the airport and Skyscanner showed that booking a flight on Philippine airlines is much cheaper (5.3k for 2 person) than rebooking on Cebu Pacific. I really hate Cebu Pacific flights after so many bad experiences! We want to leave as soon as we can and the earliest flight is 5.20am on the next day. There is still 12h to go till our rebooked flight and the next obstacle is to find a hotel to get some rest. Of course, we can also stay in the airport till the flight but that will be quite uncomfortable, on top of the plight we were facing. P chatted with some airport police people and they recommended some motels that are just in the vicinity. It sounded quite good as I didn't want to spend time traveling in this city, remembering the negative vibes I had the previous time. The nice lady (probably with commission) called a few motels and we settled for one motel with free 2-way shuttle to airport at 3k. Spending additional 8k+ seemed bad but at least it solved our problems for now.

Dinner place!

I love palabok!

Nice halo halo too

We reached the motel (Achievers' Econotel) which was just opposite NAIA Terminal 4, I was glad to see that it was surrounded by eateries and cafes. We chose to eat at Mang Inasal as I remembered it tasted really good the previous time we tried it at Boracay. We ordered sisig, palabok, bbq pork and halo halo . I loved the free flow soup and rice they provided. 

After the very good meal, we were back in the motel at 8pm, we were wondering if we would even sleep at all as we would be leaving at 3am. However, after a hot shower and some chatting, we knocked out at 10+. 

Race Review: Nila Run 2015

After my last Runninghour race in Mar, I had not participated in any race till yesterday. The whole of April and May had been a quiet period for the racing scene in SG while the Go50 runs were being held daily, I did not sign up for any race but merely took part in some runs the various groups organised.

I've signed up for Nila Run as it is considered cheap ($30 for 10km) and it is significant as Nila is the mascot for the SEA games hosted by Singapore this year and the run was organised as part of the marathon event on 7th June. I ordered Bibfix online a few weeks earlier ($10 a set) and this is the first time I'm trying it instead of the usual safety pins. I chose red and I liked the fact that it matches the colour of the Nila Run event tee. I took sometime to fix the clips on as I had initially thought the clips should be where the punched holes were, it took me awhile to realise that I can just fix a corner of the bib to the clip and the bib will be quite secured. I should be able to put the bib on in just a few minutes after this first experience.

All ready with bib fixed!

I woke up at 4.15am to prepare for the run. I regretted not signing up for the $6 shuttle bus but this allowed me to have more time to sleep (shuttle bus leaving Sembawang at 4.20am). I was initially worried about getting to the run venue as there are many road closures in lieu of the SEA games marathon event in the morning. According to the website, the cab can drop me off at Kallang Leisure Park, so I left the house at 5am with ample time to reach the run venue for the flag off at 6.10am.

As the cab went along Yishun and made a right turn onto Lentor, there was this punk motorcyclist who weaved in between different lanes and this absurd behaviour caused danger to the cab I was in. Initially, we thought that it was a one off event as the cab had to brake suddenly and slowed down so as not to knock into him. However, the guy changed lane and got just in front of us a second time, obviously taunting the cab driver in some ways. I tried to recall what might have happened earlier but my cab driver certainly did not provoke him since we had just turned into the lane while he was traveling straight at the traffic lights. The cabbie looked like a calm uncle but he was incensed by this irresponsible act, and I was so worried that he will seek revenge in a extreme way. Somehow, he had a video camera installed but it was not on, instead he slowed down and was rummaging through his bag in the front seat. He actually whipped out a camera and there were flashes of light as he took picture of the punk motorcyclist from various angles. I was holding my breath and praying real hard that the guy will just divert away so that this ordeal will be over. Luckily, trouble stopped after this and we arrived at Kallang Leisure Park in one piece.

The torch of 28th Sea Games

When we were approaching Kallang, I noticed droplets of water on the windscreen and realised with a jolt that it was drizzling. When I alighted, there were looming dark clouds overhead and lots of runners arriving at the same time. There was a very slight drizzle as I made my way to the run venue (cab could not drop me at KLP as the road was blocked), it was still quite dark but I could make out long queues of people in front of the portable toilet. I was trying to look for the baggage deposit so I just followed crowds of people who should be doing the same. Fortunately, I've walked a few steps and realised all of them were not carrying any bags, so they were actually heading to the start line. I quickly turned back and finally located the baggage deposit counters right a the end of the tentages. Depositing of baggage was fast and there was no queue.

We were held here for 5-10min

I grabbed a cup of water and headed to the start line. Again, my bladder gave me the feeling that I need to visit the toilet but I quickly dismissed the thought, knowing myself that its just psychological and probably I'm more excited than in need of relieving myself. The walk to the start line was really long, we walked along the perimeter of the Sports Hub and passed the Sea Games torch that was still lighted even in the drizzle. After we reached the OCBC Aquatic area, they stopped us from proceeding and I thought the start pen was full of runners for the first wave so we were stopped. We waited for 5-10min before they allowed to proceed on. I still could not see the start line after walking for awhile, though I can make out the crowd of people gathering at the start pen. There was throngs of people ahead of me and I thought I certainly could not make it to the first wave, but amazingly I was at the last of the first wave and nylon ropes were pulled across just behind me to stop the second wave of runners.

All ready to go

After we were waved off, I crossed the start line after two minutes. Even though we were waved off in batches, there were a lot of runners ahead of me. Immediately after the first km, we headed up Sheares Bridge and there were many who started to walk. Afterall, this was a non competitive run. There were a lot of walkers along the way and I slowly weaved my way through as I just wanted to keep my pace but not really pushing myself too much. The road was wide enough to slowly pick up my pace but after the main gate of Dunman High, the road started to get narrower and there was a slight bottleneck.

I ran past the 2km mark and kept looking out for the hydration station, I did not study the route but normally the first hydration station will appear at the 2km-3km point for a 10km run. I went on and on, noticed that my Garmin only recorded 2.5km at the 3km mark but the hydration station still did not turn up. I make a mental note to study the route in greater detail the next run, so that I will be better prepared and plan ahead. I'm just glad that I grabbed a cup of water earlier despite the feeling of visiting the washroom.

I caught up with W who started right in front of the start line, I greeted her and went ahead as she was already walking at the side. I went on at a steady but slow pace till I finally saw the hydration station after the 4km mark. I was already getting a little impatient and was wondering why the organiser placed it so far away, there was a little flooding just before the station so runners were all jammed up around the area while trying to grab a cup of drink. Somehow I kept thinking that I will slow down to a walk after 5km but I was glad that I kept going. As we turned into Tanjong Rhu and headed towards the bridge to cross back to the Sports Hub, I noticed the layer of dark clouds seemed to have gotten thicker. I was still feeling thankful that the it didnt pour when I felt drops of water coming down from the sky and it quickly escalated to a huge downpour. I had already passed the 6km mark by that time and everyone around me was drenched in a few minutes.

Despite being soaked to the skin (really reminded me of Hello Kitty Run), I did not stop. I was actually enjoying this moment of running in the rain with so many others. My shoes were totally wet after awhile but I kept to my pace. We ran around the Sports Hub where we could run momentarily in the shelter at certain stretches, I kept thinking it should be ending soon but soon we were diverted away from the Sports Hub and the route led us downslope towards the underpass. At the underpass, there was a sheltered U turn point and I was glad that we are finally turning back towards the endpoint. As I headed back towards the Sports Hub, I could see that people after me were diverted to take a shortcut and they no longer had to hit the U turn point.

I kept going on until I see the finishing point, I actually felt really proud as I had thoughts of giving up and walk initially. I looked at my Garmin and total distance of 9.1km was recorded, I guess the actual route really fell short of 10km so could not be considered for a PB. Many runners were seeking shelter under the tents of the race village, but I see no point in doing that since I was already drenched. I headed to the baggage collection point to get my stuff and meet up with H. I'm glad that baggage collection was fast and the tentage was spacey, many people were seeking shelter there while planning their next course of action. The volunteers were nice enough to hand out ziplock bags so that we can keep our phones and valuables waterproofed.

Another good race

I loved the limited edition SEA games 100 plus and Nila medal we had gotten from the race. We took the Circle Line to Bishan for a nice warm breakfast at CBTL before heading back home to shower and rest.

GGRC Go50 Support Run

After not running for weeks, I was glad that I woke up on Vesak day morning to go for GGRC run. This Go50 run is meaningful as two ultra marathon runners were taking up a challenge of running 50km for 50 consecutive days to commemorate SG50. I've wanted to join them when RD and PRR were supporting their runs, but somehow I didnt make it. I'm glad that on the 47th day (4th last run) of their runs, I finally made it!

I'm not familiar with Upper Peirce Reservoir at all, but the meeting place is easy enough and I took a cab to the meeting point at the Casuarina Carpark off Old Upper Thomson Road. Many runners had already gathered there when I arrived, it seemed like there were more than 100 runners that morning.

Runners gathering around

I've followed the Go50 Facebook since the start of their first few runs, and it was like meeting the heroes when I saw the two runners Mr Lim and Mr Yong, and their pacer Ah Siao. After a mandatory briefing and singing of national anthem, we were off.

Group photo of the runners from GGRC

It's my first running at Upper Peirce Reservoir, or to be exact, the roads leading up to it. There were no walking or running path, so the guys were shouting for us to keep to one side and the roads were really congested when there were so many runners. Eventually, we spread out and I realised it was really a long long way in, with many slopes and hills. I slowed to a walk on several slopes going up, and did not even see the lead runners after we set off.

Looking focussed and unglam

Upper Peirce Reservoir

After more than half an hour of slow jogging, I finally see the sign leading to the carpark at the reservoir itself. My Garmin had already recorded 3km+ even before I reached the reservoir. I stopped for a break to catch my breath and to refill my water bottle at the toilet. Unlike Macritchie reservoir, runners were not going one whole round around it, but just doing loops around part of it. I did one loop of 3km, joined others who were resting and chatting at the side and decided to call it a day. I was happy enough to meet the 3 heroes in person, especially Mr Lim as he smiled at me when I gave him the thumbs up as he passed. I got home after that and get to know that the other two runners were feeling unwell so they ran really fast and broke their own record by finishing the 50km at 4h+.

Us with Go50 organiser

Group picture while we rested (Photo courtesy of Go50 website)

The way out was quite lonely as I had to conquer those hilly slopes all alone, there were occasional bikers and runners and I guessed this must be a popular spot for people who want to train on slopes. There were cars going in and out, thus I was really careful since I was running on the road, most of them were really slow as the road was narrow and winding. I even spotted some monkeys acting like a boss in the middle of the road.

Monkey sitting in the middle of the road

The long hilly road

Finally, I saw the road widened out straight ahead and heaved a sigh of relief as I've finally reached the carpark where we've started, clocking around 9.1 km for the day. Since Casuarina curry seemed to be really popular and already crowded with people so early in the morning, I bought some to try at home.