Last Pakistan Report

I will be going back to Malaysia for good on 8 Dec. 2006.

Last week I was actually in Malaysia for one week. I even managed to run again at KLCC park on Wednesday and Friday evening. I only ran 3 km each time but I was suprised I could still run after 2 months of rest. But my right knee is still not OK and is likely not to be cured anytime soon. I have to rule out running in races and doing long runs.

For the runners running in Singapore Marathon this Sunday "Good luck and hope you can meet your target finishing time".

Pakistan Report #6 - Visit to Taxila (Part 1 of 2)

Taxila is a town , 30 km from Islamabad. From 2500 to 1800 years ago, it was major Vedic and Buddhist learning centre. Me and several others went to Taxila on Saturday. We went to four places ; Museum, Bhir Mound (oldest site), Jhaulian (stupa and monastery) and Dharmajika (largest stupa and monastery). The photos taken during the visit are shown in two parts. The first part shows various types of vehicles travelling on the roads in Pakistan.

Visit to Taxila Photos and Report Coming Up

On Saturday, I went to Taxila a 3000 year old historical site which used to be a major buddhist centre. Photos and brief report to follow tomorrow.

Pakistan Repot #5 : The Good and the Bad

The good news : My right knee is no longer sore after not running for 2 weeks. I plan not to lay off running until January 2007.

The bad news: Yesterday I put on my Docker pants (black colour) which I bought in Paris way back in September 2003. I had brought along it to Pakistan to wear during the winter season. I found out with some suprise and horror that I could hardly fit into it. After I buttoned and zipped it up, it wasway too tight around my waist. Now I know I am definitely fatter than I was three years ago. Even after fasting one month, I could not reduce my waist size to what it was 3 years ago. Oh it is truly shocking on how far I have been redcued to what I was three years (In 2003 - I ran my personal best times in 10km in 47 minutes and 21 km in 1 hour 43 minutes).

I was planning to go to Taxila, a historical buddhist site located30km from Islamabad. But I have to cancel it today. I plan to go there next week on Thursday when it is a public holiday here. I will post some photos if I make it there.

I found out here are very few professional working women in Pakistan. To ny surprise, many of the female employees in the office hold degrees or even post graduates qualification but work as secretaries, clerks etc. Most of them or if not all stop working after they get married.

Newt week : security in Islamabad will very tight because due to an
economics forum organised by the Organisation of Islamic countries. Virtually all of the hotels in Islamabad are full and I have to stay in a guest house.

Suvarnabhumi Airport Photos - Part 2

The new airport was opened on 28 September 2006 but a few things were not ready a month later as can be seen from these photos.

Cables, paints and other stuff is stored at various corners.

Signboard at the entrance of the shopping area. The tiles used for the floor are quite slippery.
These men were on the roof and doing some construction work.

I was sitting in semi-darkness in the departure lounge. During the one hour I was there, two bulbs blew out causing the lounge to become even darker. Ten percent of the bulbs was not working. There is a design problem here as the lights were directed upwards to reduce glare. Fine if the roof was white in colour as the light rays would be reflected back. But when the roof is made from grey coloured concrete , it doesn't work very well.
Some more men working on the roofs above the shops.
Other problems include:-

• Insufficient toilets as only 100 has been built. An additional 300 toilets will be built.
• Insufficient signage. Curently many signs are "home made" from paper.
• Cracked aircraft taxiways and car parks.
• Only one bussiness lounge (Thai International) is available. Other airlines buss. lounger are not completed.
• Dirty windows and floors.

The Thai authorities will be carrying investigation to see if there are any corrupt practices involved for the new airport. The airport could have been much better without these problems. This is not to say it is not a world class airport but I am sure these problems will eventually be fixed at some cost .

Suvarnabhumi Airport Photos - Part 1

The airport is huge (can handle 45 million passengers per year) and spaciuos. The photo shows the departure lounge area.
The airport is shaped like ocean waves. Painted white instead of blue though.
The interior has a minimal and bare look with cable trays, pipe and unpainted concrete. Popular nowadays with new airports and saves money.
The arport structure is made of trusses. Looks quite nice.
Gardens at the ground level , similar (copied?) to KLIA.

Running: Is it FINALLY Over for me ?

Tomorrow I am flying back to Islamabad , Pakistan. I will be there for another two months.

This afternoon I had lunch at KLCC's Burger King with Ronnie, Jamie, Newton and DK. The main topic conversation was the usual ; running. Ronnie handed to me a beautiful corporate sponsor trophy. The upcoming two races were talked about - Bidor and Subang Jaya 10km, both to be held next Sunday. The other topics were the "competitors" - other runners; who is improving and who is getting there. I felt a bit left out of the scene after not running any races since Feb 2005 (Great Eastern 30km).

I only ran once during the fasting month. I ran 5 km on the hotel treadmill. Butr after that throughout the whole month, my right knee was sore. . After I returned to Malaysia on Saturday f0r Hari Raya, I did not run but my knee seemed to be getting better. But I found out otherwise yesterday (Thursday) when I decided to try to run at the Klang stadium. The first 800m was OK but my knee become sorer as I countinued. I decided to stop after 1.6km. Worse was yet to come. My knee was sore and a bit swollen at night time.

After five years (since March 2001) of battling the injury,continuing running (18 half marathons) through a persistent right knee injury - initially a torn meniscus, w the injury has gradually worsen and is now at its worst I think. I suspect my injury has now progressed to a point where the knee articular cartilage has become damaged. Hence my right knee is sore even when I am walking or just standing up.

So I have decided to stop running during my next two months in Pakistan. After that I will have to see what happens. It is a medical fact that knee meniscus tears are normally incurable. The reason for this permanency is the meniscus receives blood suppy to only 30 percent of it's area. (Red area). The remaining 70 percent does not contain blood vessels (White area). Without a blood supply, the repair mechanisms by cell action is not possible.

Even after 2 months rest. I don't think I will be able to do do long runs and much less running races. Maybe I have to stop running altogether. Perhaps it is the only option I have left now.

P.S : To those who have been reading my blogs since 2003, I think I have mentioned at least three times I was going to quit running. But I am serious now !

Pakistan Report # 4 : Another Shopping Trip

I went shopping again on Saturday. This time is I went to Sardar bazaar in a city called Rawalpindi, 18 km from Islamabad. Like I wrote before, Islamabad does not resemble a typical city in Pakistan. In Rawalpindi the main road was jam packed with all sorts of vehicles. There were colourful buses, vans, "tuk-tuks, cars, trucks and motorcycles. Other than the vehicles running on internal combustion engines, there were others vehicles running on animal or human power. There was a cart pulled by a horse with sacks of flour, bicycles and even a a man pulling on a cart filled with fruits. It was very chaotic and a scene you would never see in Malaysia.

I bought two leather jackets for RM 160 and RM 200 for men's and ladies respectively. They were not for me but a colleaugue asked me to buy them in Pakistan.

The Pacemaker Run was held at the Lake Gardens onn Sunday morning with a cake cutting ceremony for the birthdayboy. Ronnie (PM1).

I won't be running this fasting month. I still have a knee problem.

This morning in the local newspaper in one of the headlines " Hunger Haunts over 1.8 million children in Pakistan". An estimated 1.85 million children in Pakistan are at risk of malnutrition and 74 out of 120 districts of the country have been found to be food deficient in terms of availability at the grassroots.

Shopping Tip : If you want to buy Giorgio Armani suit, consider buying it in Pakistan. On Sunday I visited a shop which actually makes Armani suit and pants for just RM220 (USD 60) . They were not a fake or imitation product but it is the real thing. The shop make these suits in Pakistan and later they are sold under the Armani brand for USD 200 or more.

Pakistan Report #3 : Shopping

On Saturday I went shopping for souveniers in Islamabad. Islamabad, the capital city does not represent the conditions in the rest of the cities in Pakistan. For one, the roads are free of traffiic jams. Secondly, it has a well-ordered and planned areas. In a way it is like Putrajaya and Putrajaya certainly does not look remotely have the chaos and dirt of Kuala Lumpur.

I went to three places in Islamabad; Melody market Aapbara market and the Supermarket. Aapbara is the oldest market in Islamabad and the roads certainly reflected its old age with pot holes everywhere. The Supermarket is actually not a supermarket but rather a city block filled with shops. There is no shopping complex in Islamabad so you get forget mall crawling in air conditioned comfort.

Last week, two roket launchers (107 mm Russian made) were discovered hidden in bushes near President Musharaff's offices. They were wired up with a device to be trigerred from a mobile phone. It was something of a shock to residents here as these things are not supposed to occur in Islamabad. Everywhere else in Pakistan every week there are bombs exploding , people killed in sectarian violence (Sunni vs. Shia) and dacoits (highway robbers) robbing.

I haven't run since 2 weeks ago as I am still having a knee problem.

Pakistan Report #2 : Fasting, Training and Women

Monday is the first day of fasting in most of Pakistan. I wrote 'most' because in one part of this country, the Northwest Free Frontier Area, Ramadan started on Sunday. This area is something of a wild and lawless area governed by various tribes like the the Pashtun instead of the Pakistan goverment.

I did my first fasting month run on Tuesday. I ran 5 km on a treadmill. I had more than enough energy to run 5 km and could certainly run another 3 km if thirst and dehydration were not limiting factors.

I didn't run on Wednsday and Thursday. Right knee problem again.

Although Pakistan is officially an Islamic county and regarded as staunch Muslim society, most of the women here do not wear a hijab or "tudung" or even cover their hair. Most women wear a loose fitting blouse and tunic called Salwar Kameez. Last night I even saw some Causasian women in a shop wearing Salwar Kameez. However I have not seen any women in Islamabad wearing western clothes much less a skirt.

Pakistan : Report # 1 The first 3 days

I hope I won't into trouble by blogging this from Pakistan. Pakistan has imposed a blanket bsan on several blog sites including blogspot. Read this article for more information.

I arrived in Islamabad on Saturday morning on Pakistan Airlines from Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). I was in the UAE for 3 days. One thing I can say about the U.A.E is it's not for the budget traveller (read : backpacker). You won't see young people carrying back-packs roaming anywhere in the UAE. The reason ? Cost - UAE is one of the most expensive places to travel. A five star hotel here starts at USD 250 or more. Luckily my hotel (USD 160 per night under corporate rate) is paid by the company.

In the UAE, the majority of the population are foreigners. Indians and Pakistanis as labourers, technicians and engineers in the construction sector and filipinas in the service industry as waitresses, cashiers , receptionist , secretaries. Last year,the UAE passed a law to get the companies to employ UAE nationals to be employed in the public relations and secretarial services. The finance sector already has the same law for a number of years. The trouble with this law is the expectations. A national UAE secretary is asking USD 3000 per month while the foreigner (almost always from the Philippines or perhaps Egypt) , USD 1000. Sounds a bit like the situation in Malaysia. doesn't it?

Back to my first 3 days in Pakistan. I am staying in Islamabad , the capital of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The office is just next door to where I am staying: the Marriott hotel.
The Mariott hotel chain is of course owned by a US based company in a nation led by the El-Diablo "The Devil" himself as Mr Hugo Chavez (Venezuelan President) called George Bush junior (USA president) last week.

Let me describe the security set-up st the Marriott hotel here.

• Outside the 3 foot high concrete gate, there are 3 security guards holding rifles. I took s peek yesterday on what kind of rifles they were holding. The rifles seemed to be the old bolt action firing pins ala the famous Enfield rifle used in World War I. I am not an expert on this matter but that is the impression.
  
• There is a steel barrier (3 inch diameter steel pole) slung across the main entrance. Upon stopping here, the guards will check the car; opening the engine compartment and car boot. There is also some sort of device to check for bombs underneath a vehicle. At this point, there are about 4 security guards with few more inside a guardhouse.
  
• After passing through the above gate, there are 2 more security guards at the hotel entrance doors. Just beyond these doors, there is
  
• An X-ray machine to scan baggage and there is also a metal detector to pass through. The set-up is identical to an airport.
  
• Lastly, there is also a steel pole before getting into a separate car parking area.
  
• I also checked the glsss windows at the hotel. The windows have been laminated with tough plastic film to prevent shrapnels from say flying everywhere from umh ... an exploding device (bomb).

Don't get me wrong when I am writing sbout the security measures (I am not complaining but just describing them). The measures are quite unobstrusive and necessary in the ever present risk of a terrorist attack. The Marriott is indeed an amazing hotel. My room (USD 150 per night) has a 42 inch LCD TV mounted on a wall and 60 channels. Plus a fruit basket and free refill of the minibar everyday. The hotel services are very good perhaps near perfect.

I ran yesterday on the treadmill at the Mariott fitness centre. Did 5.0 km.

As for the price of petrol here - it is RM 3.40 per litre. Compared to RM 1.90 in Malaysia we have it good back home.

Airports

I say that you can judge a country such as how well or how badly it's run by the International airports. After having been through the chaos at Khartoum airport (Sudan) this year, I am to
Pakistan this Saturday via Abu Dhabi. I will be flying on Pakistan Air lines landing at Islamabad airport.

Read about what other people wrote about Islamabad airport here and here.

If you read the report, they are not exactly the sort of experience I want to go through but I have to go through it to get into the country.

I ran yesterday evening at 6.00 pm in the old park again. It was quite cold as I was just wearing a T-shirt and shorts. I did 3 km before deciding to go back before it gets any colder.

Sunday Morning Run in Asghabat

I managed to drag myself out of bed yesterday for an early morning run. It was quite chilly but it was not cold enough to stop me from wearing shorts.

The park where I was going running was 5 minutes away. It is old park untouched by the beautifification craze by the authorities. I did some strecthing near a tree. In the park, there was a guy with a huge dog , maybe a bull mastiff or some equally giant dog breed. I decided to run a route away from the dog just in case.

I was suprised to see someone else running in the park besides me. A short woman with flaming red colour hair and wearing black T-shirt and tights was running at a brisk pace (9 km/hr estimated). Too bad she looked a bit haggard and drawn out.

After finishing my stretching, I started to run. I love running in the cooler temperature (low 20's degrees C) . It 's just too bad that after 2 km, I was hit by the urge to go to the toilet. I ran another 1 km before doing my cool down stretching. I ran just 3 km.

I wil be going to Dubai this Wednesday morning . I will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for 3days for a meeting on Thursday. I will be leaving Abu Dhabi at 2.15 am to Islamabad, Pakistan for a 3 months assignment.

I though of taking a break from running during the fasting month but I have changed my mind. I plan to run on a treadmill which hopefully is available in the hotel.

I love this photo taken during the Mizuno Wave run yesterday.

Sore

Played 4 sets of badminton yesterday. Sore body today.

Turkmenistan Update

I have been here for 5 days now. When I reached Asghabat airport on Sunday, everyone had to had to have their baggage scanned at an X-ray machine before going through customs.

I had 3 things with me; 2 bags and 1 box filled with food , spices, ikan bilis (anchovies) etc. When I was about to collect the box, the airport guy manning asked me to open the box. Then he said something else "Ten dollar, go". He said it twice. He was asking me to bribe him. There is no way I was going to give him any money so I said I will open the box. I did and showed him what was inside He didn't seemed particularly interested in the contents. The point of the "inspection" was an opportunity for him to extract money.

It is now a noticeably cooler in Ashghabat. The temperature in the morning is the mid 20's deg. C. I plan to run a few km in morning in the park this weekend.

Going Overseas Again

I haven't got much to write on running. On Monday I ran 5 km on a treadmill. It was very boring.

On Tuesday the Rat Race was held in KL. Some of my friends were running but I wasn;t able to see it. On Wednesday, I wanted to run outddoor but it rained again.

I am going overseas again. Two weeks in Turkmenistan and then three months in Pakistan (until end Dec.).

This year if including the forthcoming Pakistan trip, I would ve spent about half of the year overseas.

To those running the Putrajaya race this Sunday and the Mizuno Wave Run next Sunday, good luck and enjoy the races.

Klang Merdeka Run (31 August) Report -

The event was a Merdeka Run on 31 August at Sekolah Rendah Cina Pandamaran B in Pandamaran, Klang. The race start time was 7.00 am.

Before I started driving, I checked out a map on how to get to the school. It was still dark when I left the house at 6.00 am intending to reach there at 6.30 am. I should have known better as I got lost. Although I reached the area at 6.30am, I promptly became hopelessly lost. I spent the next 30 minutes driving around, stopping 3 times to look at the map and pissed one time into a drain. It was only at 7.00 am that I was able figure out where the school was but it was too late as the race would started already.

As it turns out, when I reached the school there were still many people milling in front of the school hall. Ahh thanks goodness, it is a "political" race. You can always count on such races to start late. I met up with many Klang Pacers runners whom I didn't meet often due to absence from running scene and weekend training. I was especially glad to have met Kong who I have not seen for 3 months.

An announcement was made before the start that the race distance had been shortened from 5.5 km to 4.5km. The race finally flagged off with a Malaysian flag (Merdeka!) at 7.34 am. In no time everyone else was ahead with me "leading" the back-end of runners. 5 minutes later the Klang Pacers have all dissappeared far ahead. For a while I was running with Mrs Kong. I think this was the first time I've run with Mrs Kong. I think if she was younger she would be more than able to give the current female runners a run for the their medal.

After a while , my right knee was still OK so I decided to run faster in the hope of making up for lost time and perhaps a chance to get the 100 medals. Alas, my desire and attempt to run faster was not matched by my stamina. I had to take short walks (100 to 200m) about three times. I had never run at the back-end of a race before and it was quite discouraging to be at the bottpm 10 percent of the pack. But still I reminded myselt to let it go as I was in not in the best of shape. I still felt the tinges of excitement to be in a "race" and ruefull recalled the races I had missed this year; Ipoh, Seremban , Penang and so many others.

27 minutes later I passed through the school gates and ran in between a row of chairs to finish the race emptyhanded - the 100 medals were all gone.

I hung around for a while to watch the prize giving ceremony and witnessed two Pacemaker members (PM 37 and PM39) getting their hampers. I left the scene after all the prizes had been given out.

My First "Race" this year

I registered yesterday for my first "Race" for this year. It is a low key last minute event to be held near Klang town to celebrate the National day. No prizes given out and a free registration. The distance is only 5.5km.

I joined the above event to support the Klang Pacer Athletic Club who is organising the race. The race will starts at a Chinese Primary School. Strangely enough the run starts quite early at 7.00 am. I think it will be a social run for most of the serious runners.

Customs Again!

I received a notice from Pos Malaysia on Tuesday asking me to pick-up something from the Post Office. On Wednesday , I got the item but it was what I was expected but instead it was another form. The form said the item I had bought from the USA is now at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The precise location ? Customs dept. - it has been held back pending clearance and possibly payment of sales and import tax.

The item I bought are two iPod accessories ; a silicone case with a belt clip and an FM tranmitter. The total value is USD 100 (RM 360). The silicone with belt clip is for me to use the iPod while I am running on a treadmill. What amazes me is the customs authorities taking the trouble to inspect and possibly charge taxes on something that is worth very little.

Malaysian customs motto now is "Every Dollar Counts"

Update

It' s been more than one week since my last blog update. To tell you truth, I wanted to write a some entries but the broadband speed at my place is so slow that I could not open my blog to write them.

I attended a course this week at JW Marriot hotel in KL. I only managed to run 2.6 km at KLCC park on Monday. I ran too fast, made my right knee injury worse and had to stop after the 2nd lap.

I couldn't run for the next 3 days.I wanted to run but I had to rest my knee.

Friday : The course finished at 12.00 pm. My right knee was still sore but decided to try running in the evening. Only managed to run 2.6km before stopping. Walked 3 more laps with a trio of women walkers who are regulars at KLCC park.

I bought a PDA last weeek; a Palm TX. If only I had the time to use it.

Today (Saturday) : I had to pay RM 275 to the Fedex delivery guy for the flashlights I bought from the US. I was hoping customs would not charge sales and import tax (30% total) but no such luck. I'll bet that during the upcoming 2007 budget speech, taxes and duties collected over the past one year will be the highest ever. I have certainly made my contributions in import and sales tax for the things I bought from the Internet.

Last week I bought PALM TX. If only I had the time to learn how to use it.