And it has actually begun awhile back but thought I'd write something to give you a 'taste' of the life in a day of HG! Last week was supposedly Week 12 out of Week 21 of my 'training' programme to end of April, so yeah...here goes:

• Lunchtime - Boot camp aka Circuit training (press ups, sit ups, squats etc)
• After work - Spins for 45minutes, stretch 15 minutes

• Lunchtime - Spins (my fav killer instructor)

• Lunchtime - Circuits again
• After work - Spins (my fav killer instructor, don't know how he can do it)

• Lunchtime - BREAK, sauunnnaaaa weeeeee

• Lunchtime - tone (like aerobics classes but using weights)

• Woke up at 8am to make an appointment with Fitness First for spin classes
• Spin classes at 9am
• Abworkout from 9.45am to 10am
• Wanted to cycle out but it started raining, so I did an hour on the bicycle machine (ho hum so boring)

• I went into another Fitness First gym wanting to go for Boot Camp and wanting to cycle but the weather was just crap again.
• Did something like Taibo instead for an hour
• An hour on the cross trainer to kill time before Spins
• Spins for 45 minutes, then ab workout for another 15 minutes
• Started at 11.30am, finished by 2.30pm knackered
• Came straight home to bake and decorate for cupcake competition

First training on the road this Saturday! 30mile bike run, am excited :)

=)

This time we went to a bigger mountain in which we got lost on the first day! If you look at the map we are staying on the bottom left and on the first day we went as far as to the bottom right! haha.

The mountain this round is much higher but it wasn't superbly high as we thought coz the peak only has runs for advance skiers. Kinda ripped off in one way. But hey, can't complain when 4 of the 5 days was sunshine, had a nice 'panda' tan on the way back and waking up to exercise everyday is what everyone can dream for.

Not forgetting fresh water and french pastries everyday...Mmm, our trip this round was much more 'comfortable' with cab services taking us to the accomodation, cable cars and escalators to bring us around, train tickets to the airtport instead of the Easybus and we even manage to come back earlier than expected to avoid the school holiday traffic =).

As well as I have gotten much better with my snowboarding (almost tempted to try jumps) and I can't complain with runs going as long as 40mins and as wide as 3 football fields! T'was a great time just to get away in the snowy slopes.

Check out the pictures and videos as they say more of course ;) . Here's one for a teaser:

Alpe d'huez, France - Jumper in action from Gjin Ow on Vimeo.

Before getting into details, I actually took the initiative to post up my Singapore photos. Feel free to have a look.

Yes, after a week's work, I was off again to another Sunny place called Florida, particularly Orlando with dad. The trip was an Eye Opener in general to everything as well as being in the States adds more to that word summed up above.

I could summarise evenmore about Orlando: BIG. Everything here is in such a big scale from Cars to roads, to food, people and room size! We had 2 queen beds!! As well as I had to actually lean forward to avoid I don't spill in the sink. Funny thing is that the bath tub was smaller than usual. Haha.

So the whole trip was kinda balanced between going to the conference and having or trying to explore Orlando. The weather was quite interesting with it being super warm when I first arrived to flipping cold where I had to wear 2 jackets. So here's the brief timetable of what I did:

Sat (23/01) - arrived, registered with ASHRAE where dad had to walk about 10mins to get to one side from the Resort from the middle of the entrance. Headed to Member's night out where dad introduced to me yonks of his friends. He didn't realised food was available so I had yummy buffet that were in massive sizes. Sausages, hamburgers, salad, mini dessert cakes and complimentary drinks. People complaint that it was abit too expensive and the food wasn't that great.

Sun (24/01) - went to explore the Resort abit before I headed to my first talk that didn't have a conclusion. Was confusing and frustrating but the speaker was part of the WHO so it was an honor to actually see him speak. Went off to walk again to a nearby supermarket (that took about 15mins to get there) and pretty much fell in love with the offers. Wished I stayed here longer. Went to another talk after that and some casual meeting event before I met up with dad again. We had a Region's 13 dinner at Ming Court Restaurant. Oh Malaysia belongs to Region's 13. Apparently there were other people from other Regions joined in so it was kinda awkward but glad that I sat to a nice lady at the same time.

Mon (25/01) - Went out to check the Expo. Massive but was kinda worried about dad more so as he was sneazing and sniffing. Got a few freebies and there were 2 things that were super interesting. Will stop here as it may bore you hehe. The rest of the day was spent at the shopping mall similar to Dressmart but super cheaper. I didn't buy much except looked for gifts.

Tues (26/01) - Went to a couple of Technical conferences and visited Florida's Solar Energy Centre in the afternoon.

Wed (27/01) - Went to check out Universal Studios until we headed to the aiport in the afternoon. Was trying super hard to refrain myself from getting too many cute souveniers.

Was back early in the morning and went straight to work after only 3 hours of sleep. Yes, crazy but need the monie :P. Plan to give a presentation about my trip as it was an eye opener to not just me but everyone else. I guess this event doesn't really apply to the people here and I'll see how far I've practice my 'persuasion' skills at the presentation ;).

Now am back for a week before I scoot off again to the Snowy Alps for a nice snowy break! muahaha. Oh and yes, I didn't realise what I got myself involved to when I signed up and paid for a fundraising trip. Cycling from London to Paris in 5 days...that's 300miles in total, 60 miles a day! So glad it's not a race and from the way I time myself, I can finish each day in 5 hours when I have the energy. So I'll be busy training (have started this week) and eating more to get myself up to pace.

Thanks again to me couzie for her bike. I shall take extra care of it plus tweak it so it is extra comfortable when she gets it back ;)

Check out the videos and photos here for Orlando.

Back in London, after one lovely trip back. I can put it in two ways: This trip has given me a slap in the face, in which it's rather refreshing...that I shall elaborate more.

3 weeks was enough, have done all I need plus spend time with family, catch up with relatives and friends, eaten what I want to eat, bought what I want to buy and all under budget and modesty. I may have not done everything but it was good enough.

This trip however, feels so different from the previous trips that I have been back. I see things differently again, I guess it's because this time I am independent and there were just unlimited views, experience, realisation that I have not come across had I not move out. I've becomed more sentimental, and finding more difficult and torn between 2 things in life: My dreams and my family. As much as I would give anything to spend time with my family, part of me wants to be selfish. I guess there has to be a balance at the end of the day, so that you appreciate both side of things.

It was more of an emotional event when I went back, so much so that my philosophical way of thinking could not comfort my heart, my feelings. And having time to actually stop and think (specially on the plane) brought alot out of me. I wrote emotional blurbs...and allowed my thoughts to just flow by heart.

ANYWAY, here are the brief snippets of what I did in the last 3 weeks just so I don't bore you with my melancholic writings :P.

Christmas and New Year week:
After arriving, I actually went to Genting Highlands the next day. Thought about trying to escape the bitter cold but it was a favour for my uncles and aunty who can no longer drive. I spent this week shopping too since the sales are on, although I didn't buy many sale items LOL. Yes, I buy my clothes from Jaya Jusco and local brands!


Was also obsessed with pasar malam the moment I came back. Not for the instant glorious warm and abundant food and groceries but also that it is actually much cheaper to shop ;). All about bargain prices.



Checked out Sentosa Island, Underwater World, Orchard Road, and the Night Safari. As well as spent time with sis and bf =)


Last few days were spent more on hanging out at the pasar malam, dad and shopping on the last few things on the list. Oh and I tried Bikram Yoga, kudos to my friend aka the yoga teacher!

Lots of family time spent through the trip since the 2nd day that I went to Malacca. Also manage to catch up with my kindergarden and primary school friends too.

What a holiday it was. Back to reality. But also, back to being under the arms of the man of my life which was inevitably comforting :*

Here is the summary to each of the days snippit as well as my photo album if you're lost =). And if you're extra bored head to check out my videos.

Enjoy reading!

1. Egypt Day 1 - Cairo and the picture album
   
2. Egypt Day 2 - Cairo and the picture album
   
3. Egypt Day 3 - Aswan and the picture album
4. Egypt Day 4 - Aswan & Felucca and the picture album
5. Egypt Day 5 - Felucca all day and the picture album  
6. Egypt Day 6 - Luxor and the picture album 
7. Egypt Day 7 - Luxor and the picture album 
   
8. Egypt Day 8 & 9 - Cairo and the picture album
   

Yes, I'm procrastinating abit because it's the last day! We were back in Cairo and back to where we started from the first day. Checked into Cataract Hotel again and head out after a nice warm shower and quick lunch at KFC down the road. The weather was slightly more chilly (about 18 deg) than Luxor.

Coptic Church
First place we went to is the Coptic Church. This was situated through the older streets of Cairo and is dub 'floating' church as it was build on top of a Roman buidling. Coptic is a name given to the Christian Egyptians and was derived back in the times when the Egyptians in general were called Coptics by the Greek Romans. When Egypt was conquered by the Arabs and slowly converted into a muslim country, this word was then only used towards those that remained christian.



Oldest Mosque in Egypt
We were meant to go to the Mosque of Muhammad Ali but it was under maintenance so Zizo organised for another mosque instead. We had to wait for 10 minutes as there was a funeral happening so he told all of us to throw him all our questions and curiousities no matter how silly they are on the topic Muslim. He is such an absolute sweetheart. He admits that he doesn't pray everyday unlike some who does so he is rather laidback. And after going through that session, it seems like every religion are about the same.

We headed in but the ladies had to dress in robes, and we had to take our shoes off. I was quite excited as this was my first time heading in to a mosque. We sat down and discussed further about this religion. Apparently there are 5 things you have to do to reach the point of pure muslim. One being to pray 5 times a day, and then the ladies have to cover their hair and I forgot the rest hehe.


Cairo Street Stalls
It was then off to the Cairo Markets! We had lunch at the place Zizo does since we were too intimidated going on our own. Gosh, the haggling is crazy! The moment you gaze your eyes over something, in a split second someone yells or comes towards you almost immediately. In fact, even before you look at a shop, you'll be pounded with 4 or 5 people offering you things.


Egyptian Museum
No cameras were allowed here but it was just amazing to marvel at the tombs and jewellery. Apparently it takes 2 months to actually finish the museum (that's if you look and understand an item) so Zizo told us the rooms to go to in that 45 minutes.

One thing that intrigues me was the the findings from the Tomb of Tutankhamun. He died at a really young age of 19 but he's tombs and items that were left behind were all very intact. His tomb was in another tomb, in which as in a box and that box is in another box and I think there were about 7 layers covering this tomb. The one thing I can remember is that each box has a door but the door doesn't actually fit the box inside, so they must have assemble the box and the door up together.

Not forgetting we saw his mask, that is made out of 10kg worth of gold that was on display so I did stood by that display for a good 5 minutes ;)

We were back at the Hotel where we pretty much gathered together to have our final dinner before all of us went separate ways the next day. As our flight was in the evening, we did manage to get a bit of the sun (despite it being quite chilly) before heading to the airport. It was quite a mayhem at the airport and a full flight back so the trip wasn't as comfortable as when we went down but hey ho, it was a great trip throughout!

Click here for the rest of my pictures