I am back in Malaysia. Now straight to this post's title.
Frustration #1 :
I ran yesterday in Klang stadium. I did 400m x 7 and 5 laps of of walking - no knee problems but I am certainly far from cured. I walked with two "retired" runners. Runner No 1 : Mr *** whom I haven't seen for one year. It turns out he has an Achilles tendon injury. In his words "It is now wrecked" (hancur in Malay language). He can no longer run and now has to walk. Runner #2 : Has stopped running since 2005 due to foot injury (bottom).
Runner #3 : Has stopped running races since Feb. 2006. Ocassionally able to run short distances up to 5km. Missed yesterday's Great Eastern 30km. That runner is me.
Frustation #2 :
My home Internet connection has been down for five weeks. The DSL line is working fine but the PC is not detecting the IP address. I have even installed a new Ethernet card. The Telekoms Malaysia tech. guy has tried three times but without success. What's up ?
Monday, January 22, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
3 Day Weekend in Asghabat
Thanks for the SMS from various people wishing me a happy birthday. I turned 43 on 8 Jan 2006. I am well past middle age! But I do aim to stay healthy and fit regardless of my age.
Tomorrow is a public holiday in Turkmenistan for Remembrance Day. I don't know what it is about though. What I am thinking of what the *%%# I am going to do for the next 3 days (Friday and weekend).
What I have in mind to do is to watch some DVDs, finish a 2nd novel "Memories of a Pure Spring" by the same Vietnamese author and in case I finish it tomorow, a back-up book" Process Control for Technicians and Engineers". I hope the last book will not put me to sleep.
An election will be held on 11 February 2007 to choose a new President of Turkmenistan. There are six candidates and I've seen two of them on the local TV station channels. The front runner seems to be the current acting president, the former health minister (don't remember his name) . He has been the longest serving minister in the cabinet (5 years) compared to the other five.
Tomorrow is a public holiday in Turkmenistan for Remembrance Day. I don't know what it is about though. What I am thinking of what the *%%# I am going to do for the next 3 days (Friday and weekend).
What I have in mind to do is to watch some DVDs, finish a 2nd novel "Memories of a Pure Spring" by the same Vietnamese author and in case I finish it tomorow, a back-up book" Process Control for Technicians and Engineers". I hope the last book will not put me to sleep.
An election will be held on 11 February 2007 to choose a new President of Turkmenistan. There are six candidates and I've seen two of them on the local TV station channels. The front runner seems to be the current acting president, the former health minister (don't remember his name) . He has been the longest serving minister in the cabinet (5 years) compared to the other five.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Weekend in Asghabat
Weekend in Asghabat. It was very cold - sub zero degrees C.
On Sunday I went to the market to buy some groceries.
There isn't much to do here during the weekend. It's too cold to play any kind of sports.
The TV had a satellite decoder box with 1300 programs to watch. Most were in a foreign language. CSI Vegas was shown with with the actors and actresses speaking in Italian. There were dozens of channels offering pornography. None were free ; you had to call in the the tel. number shown on the TVand pay using a credit card to see any action. The only programs in English were BBC News, CNN, CCTV( (China), MRTV (Myanmmar) and sometimes Arirang (South Korea).
I finished reading "Paradise of the Blind" a novel written by D.T. Thuong from Vietnam. That was the highlight of my weekend. Other than that, it was a normal boring weekend in Asghabat.
On Sunday I went to the market to buy some groceries.
There isn't much to do here during the weekend. It's too cold to play any kind of sports.
The TV had a satellite decoder box with 1300 programs to watch. Most were in a foreign language. CSI Vegas was shown with with the actors and actresses speaking in Italian. There were dozens of channels offering pornography. None were free ; you had to call in the the tel. number shown on the TVand pay using a credit card to see any action. The only programs in English were BBC News, CNN, CCTV( (China), MRTV (Myanmmar) and sometimes Arirang (South Korea).
I finished reading "Paradise of the Blind" a novel written by D.T. Thuong from Vietnam. That was the highlight of my weekend. Other than that, it was a normal boring weekend in Asghabat.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Winter in Turkmenistan
I am now in Asghabat, the capital city in Turkmenistan. It is the midst of winter here and when the airplane landed at 12.00 am last night, the stewardess announced the outside temperature was -3 deg C. When I got out I could tsee he roads and trees partially covered by snow.
After I got my visa at immigration, at the customs check desk I had to line up behind an older man and woman (both were foreigners). One customs guy was going through their belongings in the two bags and he discovered a newspaper. To my amazement, the custom guy went through every page of the newspaper. A second customs guy went through the rest of the items. The experience brought home that in Turkmenistan, access to information citizen is strictly controlled by the government.
On running; on Monday I managed to run 7km with the Klang Pacer guys; Albert. Jimmy and Kong. But I had to stop and walk 3 times about 100m each time. The guys were kind and patient enough to walk with me. I still don't have the fitness to run more than 4 km. Staying here in Asghabat for the next two weeks will not make it better. It's just too cold to run here.
After I got my visa at immigration, at the customs check desk I had to line up behind an older man and woman (both were foreigners). One customs guy was going through their belongings in the two bags and he discovered a newspaper. To my amazement, the custom guy went through every page of the newspaper. A second customs guy went through the rest of the items. The experience brought home that in Turkmenistan, access to information citizen is strictly controlled by the government.
On running; on Monday I managed to run 7km with the Klang Pacer guys; Albert. Jimmy and Kong. But I had to stop and walk 3 times about 100m each time. The guys were kind and patient enough to walk with me. I still don't have the fitness to run more than 4 km. Staying here in Asghabat for the next two weeks will not make it better. It's just too cold to run here.
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