U Run 2013

My first race of the year 2013.I have not prepared as i should be for this race, nevertheless i decided to run to check my body condition.Prior to this run i ran every weekend around 10-12KM .

The starting points was at near Marina Boulevard near NTUC center.I woke up around 4:45 AM and got taxi to the starting point. As i was eating bun , the taxi driver told me that i should not eat anything 1 hour before the race.I told him that i was hungry and i need to eat something. Then the driver started telling his story while he was in army. He told me that he was one of the top 5 athlete in his regime and he ran many races.He told me i should eat well the previous night dinner.He asked me to enjoy the run and listen to my body. Thanks to this wonderful man.

Starting point:

My category which was 15KM run + OMB Challenge (30 floor vertical climb) scheduled to start at 6AM , i reached the spot at 5:35 and i did some stretches and was very happy to some familiar faces.The first wave was flagged off at 6AM , i was at third wave which was flagged off at 6:08AM. For the first time i set my race watch and decided to check the timings for myself.

I started briskly and i felt comfortable with my pace and was enjoying the cool early morning breeze. The race route was scenic, we ran inside the Gardens by the Bay , what a scene! Morning beauty! Simply awesome. These kind of routes really motivates one.I was motivated.After 9 KM , i felt bit tired and started walking for 2 minutes until i passed the bridge(dont know the name of this bridge). I ate half of the remaining bun and felt good.The last 3 KMs was awesome , ran faster than i expected and i finished 15KMs in good time.

The Climb:

NTUC Building .30 Floor climb.

The ran was good even though i ran slower than normal.Once completed the run, we need to climb the stairs to reach the 30th floor. I started walking on stairs after climbing 5 floors i decided the best way to finish was to go on without stopping, that worked greatly, kept on walking .The fellow runners were encouraging and i too encouraged others.Some of them took photos at every floor, very funny but enjoyable.After almost 15 minutes reached the top ,really TOP. Wow, what a feeling! The cameraman told "Well done , young man!" . I patted myself and thank the Lord.

The Volunteers:

The volunteers were awesome. The way the handled the water points were exemplary. The route marshals too were excellent and encouraging . On the way to stadium bridge, i saw an old man shouting "Go, Go!" and clapping ,that was a great effort by the man.Well done!

Finisher T-shirt.....

 

 Overall a great race to start the year... 

The Forger's Spell - Edward Dolnick

This is my first book on art forgery and it was really a wonderful book. Before reading this book i never heard or read about Vermeer, the great Dutch painter, thats bad. But while reading this book i searched a lot in internet and found out many things about the great Vermeer.
Most of the time my art world stopped with Michelangelo, Rembrandt  and some time Da Vinci but  it seems  Vermeer was as good as those old masters.Some of his paintings were breathtaking , i wonder how it looks in real time.Vermeer did not paint much but all his paintings speaks volume.

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Vermeer 

This book talks about Van Meegeren , a painter himself, who drawn paintings in the the name Vermeer and fooled the whole art world for more than quarter century.Van Meegeren's talent was not appreciated by the Dutch art word and they kept on tell him that his works were "ordinary and sometimes pathetic" . To take revenge on those critics , he joined hands with some others in the art world and painted many "Vermeer"s and fooled them all.

Its surprising that even die hard Vermeer supporters did not even suspect those painting by Van Meegeren as fake but they were all praising like anything one fake after another.The author clearly explains the phenomena "A little Knowledge is famously dangerous thing, but a lot of knowledge can be dangerous too,if a fraudster knows how to exploits it".

The book also explains how Hitler and his generals loot arts and other wealth from Netherlands . Hermen Goering who was second only to Hitler in Nazi regime was very much interested in Vermeer's painting and he generously offered money to anyone who shows Vermmer's.In case of Van Meegeren too Goering paid loads of money for all his (fake) paintings.The author explains how monument men reclaimed all the 'lost' arts from Nazi regime.

Van Meegeren

When Van Meegeren was convicted, he himself drew the paintings and proved that he was the one who painted all the paintings in question. In fact, he enjoyed the limelight and his popularity.He died of hear attack even before he start his jail term.

Nice book to learn about Vermeer and techniques in faking and of course about Van Meegeren- an amazing cheat!

To find more about the fake paintings and its cost click here

*Thanks to Wikipedia  and Museumboijmans

Argo

This movie is based on CIA Operative Tony Mendez, who led the rescue of six  US diplomats from Tehran, Iran.When the militants seized the American embassy and took all the people hostage , six of the embassy officials escaped through the back door and was given place to hide by Canadian ambassador.

The CIA has to rescue those who escaped from the embassy and hiding in Canadian embassy.The CIA operative Tony Mendez came with the plan, in which he will go to Tehran and make those diplomats as a  movie grew and rescue them. The imaginary movie name is "Argo". How Tony  rescued those diplomats? thats Argo.

From start to finish , its nail-biting, very interesting and engaging. I was hooked to the film never got distracted by anything and it was a good experience.Ben Affleck made an true story into an engrossing espionage thriller.Hats off to him.This movie shows that now and then CIA can pull something off.All the characters played their role to near perfection.

Ben Afflect as Tony Mendez was amazing, this guy is really talented.The way the screenplay slowly creates tension was awesome, well done Chris Terrio.I loved the background score by Alexandre Desplat.Overall a very crisp and neat movie.

Our Malaysia Trip - 1

We planned this trip sometime back but everything fell into place only after the approval of our Malaysia Visa.We booked one day tour with Desaru Fruit Farm through Groupon. The booking process was neat and very clear.The staffs of  Desaru took care of everything.We just took printout of the confirmation and they sent the vehicle details in SMS.

Wait to crossover to Malaysia :
We started from People's Park Center,Chinatown at 7:05 AM and reached the Singapore immigration around 7:30,there was a big queue of all kinds of vehicles. In spite of  wonderful traffic management and police , the whole process took 2 hrs and 15 minutes.Both Singapore and Malaysia immigration were fast and maintained orderliness.We came out of Malaysian Immigration and headed to a hotel for breakfast.We are supposed to eat in a chinese hotel but due to Chinese New Year it was closed and we were asked to eat in a nearby one. We ate Roti Prata ,it was good.

Desaru Fruit Farm:

After our breakfast we moved in top gear(in fact the vehicle speed was around 110 KMPH) to Desaru.First thing we noticed was the vastness of the land.We thought everything was big -the road, the trees and the land when compared to Singapore. We are used to Singapore's traffic and closeness of buildings but Senai-Desaru expressway is surrounded both sides by green fields.Whichever direction one turn he/she can see palm trees.The bridge on the Johor River(Sungai Johor Bridge) is beautiful and i learnt that it is the second longest bridge in Malaysia.

After almost one hour we reached Desaru Fruit Farm.I love farms thats the reason why i immediately agreed to this trip and i was not disappointed.This farm is a beautiful place to learn lot of things specially about fruits. We were taken inside the farm in a neatly covered truck.Our guide was a old lady but very lovable and knowledgeable . She explained as if she was explaining to children, she really made us love the place.Fruits like Dragon fruit,Passion fruit, Jack fruit and many others were in numbers and they gave us some to eat.

Dragon Fruit

Passion Fruit Trail

Passion Fruit

After the Passion fruit trail , there is a herbal garden where you can find many different herbs like Tulasi etc.I was really fascinated by the plant called "Sweet Leaf" as the name suggest these are replacement for sugar, our guide told us that she is using these leaves to sweeten tea. She gave us to taste it and it was really sweet.

Sweet leaf

Another plant which fascinated me was Coffee Plant, the guide explained us the process of Coffee bean processing,really interesting.

Coffee plant with beans..

In the middle of the farm there is artificial but beautiful lake with dummy animals and sculptures.There were lots of  Koi fishes .

There is a mini zoo with rabbits, 2 monkeys,same snakes(pythons),rats, Ostrich ,Goose,Ducks,turtles and goats.Wow.. my daughter was thrilled to see all these wonderful creatures. She specially liked rabbits and started playing with them and spent lots of time with them.

Rabbits are sold for 20 Ringgits thats almost half the price in Singapore.We started asking the guide about buying rabbits and taking it to Singapore but she told that we can not buy like that and take as they keep the animals for quarantine and its not worth to spend money.

Beautiful rabbits.... very playful ...

An Ostrich 

Goats and Sheep

After the zoo visit , we walked for sometimes ,ate pear fruit and gooseberry.We were given honey to taste ,they are breeding honey bees and harvesting honey too in the farm.Around 2 PM we had our buffet lunch. The buffet had
                            - Rice
                            - Fried Chicken
                            - Squid (Sotong)
                            -Fried Prawns
                            -Chicken Soup
                            -Tofu
and some more desserts. But the highlight of the lunch was definitely the fruits-all fresh and very tasty.All were locally grown and harvested.

   After the lunch we were supposed to go to Ostrich farm but due to Chinese New Year it was closed and our tour organizers told us that they will arrange a trip to Crocodile park.

Beautiful Entrance

The only thing which disappointed us was the climate, it was very very hot, nevertheless the trees and the guide made our day a memorable one.Overall a great place to spend time ..

 Bye bye Fruit Farm....