2009 - sundown marathon, singapore

2010 - tokyo marathon, japan

2011 - new york marathon, usa

2012 - paris marathon, france

in between the crazy weeks, gl and i booked tickets on airasia x for paris next april. i was having the most intense monday and she texted/called me and within minutes, we were booked to go.  
it has not really registered in my mind yet since it's a year away, but it would be a great race since it's spring and race route is similar to tokyo, running through the city centre.
and of course, we are finally doing a full together.

am looking forward to travelling southern france and parts of italy!

i was in four cities in six days. mumbai was for work where i stayed two nights at the very lovely westin hotel. our mumbai office is located at the same building, how luxe! i found the notorious traffic still tolerable, even though i was caught in the evening peak jam. i think last year's two vietnam trips have managed my expectation very well. after mumbai, i flew to jaipur via a domestic carrier and was very impressed by the timeliness and service (they addressed each passenger by name) even though it is a low cost carrier. what was hilarious (to me) was when they announced "....pls FEEL FREE to use your mobile phone now" while we were still on the runway after having barely landed. jaipur was amazing with its forts and palaces. all the buildings had a pink hue to it as a result of a king's order to paint the city pink to welcome the prince of wales. we then drove to agra, home of the taj mahal. visited the red fort and witnessed the sunset at the taj. when we were entering the royal entrance along with the rest of india (yes, that many people), one could get glimpses of the magnificence of the taj - at that point, all i could think of was the same feeling of excitement i had when i was at petra with ying and qj and seeing the famed monastery after hours of walking. delhi was my last city and i was taken aback at how orderly and clean it was, vastly different from mumbai. spent most of my time at delhi at the national museum (AIRCON) browsing through india's history of paintings, coins, fashion.

i have been asked whether i felt bored while i was alone in india but i had a fabulous time there.

if you know me well enough, you would know i don't believe in horoscopes, geomancy, divination or anything remotely related. but one thing i do know is that i'm a classic gemini - i have two sides to me and am rather contradictory. i like change, but i crave for routine. my colleagues are constantly surprised by how different i am at work and off work. i indulge in the company of people but i absolutely need my me-time, alot more than many others i know.

hence, i'm extremely thankful for the driver/guide sunil i had who was very perceptive and could tell when i preferred to be silent and when i welcomed talk. we drove for four hours every day and i spent most of the time watching the backs of the many trucks, reading (bought a travelogue in mumbai), dozing off and trying not to melt in the heat. i stated right at the start that i would try my best to keep awake so that i could ensure he wouldn't doze off, but failed miserably. each time i barely closed my eyes, i could hear him sniggering away. we took a walk at jaipur along the lake overlooking the water palace for about two hours in comfortable silence (of course not totally not speaking), in awe of the calm and beauty of the palace and caught in our own thoughts.
we would spend each evening drinking some beer and chatting - i learnt about his family, his travel agency business, his love for delhi where he's from (born there, lives there, hopes to die there), his travel escapades all over india (which made me want to return again) and finally understood how india's national game cricket is played with the help of drawings. he really made my trip so much more enjoyable.

touched down on wed morning without sleeping much on the flight, rushed home to shower and went back to work feeling very psyched! five straight days of working now but no complaints - things are exciting at work and i'm happy to be busy. glad taipei is postponed or i would definitely be holed up in the hotel room in the evenings..

maybe i should do solo trips more often!

it has been a long two weeks.

i rushed home to catch the results after haze's and qw's wedding last night and stayed up with my dad till 3am, exchanging msgs with gl, wee and yen at the same time. even before results were officially announced, we already had glimpses of them on toc and temasek review. but before  they came out from mr yam ah mee's lips (was in a few meetings as him when i was at stb, he is as deadpan and real in person as he is on tv), i didn't dare believe history really had been made.

hougang was unveiled very early with shin leong taking the seat by a comfortable lead. the major nail-biting moments were left to the last few announcements of aljunied and potong pasir. LTK opened his thank-you speech with "history has been made". indeed. i for one, am happy with the overall results - even though spp lost pp, george yeo got ousted and ms ks got into parliament by riding on sm goh. it's a major step into political awakening and i'm optimistic that this change would continue into our next generation, once we have more worthy opposition calibre.

there is a major outcry at the pp residents for "betraying" mr chiam. i thought the same as well initially but after knowing that the mrs chiam only lost by 114 votes, i could understand. i don't know much about spp but it seems like other than mr chiam, there isn't another like him who could lead the party and pp onwards. it must have been such a tough decision for the residents. if we consider how wp could still retain hougang despite LTK's departure, it's really because shin leong had been a capable enough candidate for the hougang residents to continue to believe in what the wp has in offer.

we might not have pp come the next election since it would probably be subsumed under a grc but their persistent support for mr chiam for 27 years would be appreciated. without a doubt, the legacy of mr chiam's efforts and work in his fight for democracy and for singaporeans would forever be remembered. am sure LTK's and his bravery in challenging a grc touched the hearts of many who eventually took the step to bring wp's a-team in, despite the popularity of george yeo.