Back in S’pore for about a week now…. and somehow, i feel that i haven’t left at all. Everything feel and look the same, except my room – which looks alot cleaner and neater. My mum has been busy cleaning up my room, knowing that when i return, i will also return with about 100 tons of gear. i’m glad she did not faint when she saw all my gear when i came back. my backpack and duffels are still lying around and although i know i should unpack my stuff, i feel slightly reluctant to do so.  i think the presence of all my gear provides a little comfort, especially when i feel like i’m being sucked back into the mundanes of the life here.

i went back to work 2 days after i came back and for awhile i regretted my decision. it’s like i forgot how working life felt like and i couldn’t wait to plunge right in. haha. but now i’m wishing i could be back in the mountains, or simply travelling in tibet. sigh, the grass is always greener on the other side – you spend most of your time wishing you could be somewhere else. but having said that, ymca has really given me support by allowing me to take such a long period of leave to go away and climb. Hearfelt appreciation goes out to my boss jacq, melissa and wendy for taking over my work when i’m away! it’s never an easy task to take on additional workload, on top of grappling with your own share.

i’ve also been having mild diarrhoea ever since i came back, which is ironic cuz i never had diarrhoea up in the mountains. it must be the overly clean and hygenic food that i haven’t really gotten used to. or perhaps cuz i’ve been over stuffing myself with all the yummy food that i could only dream and hallucinate about up in high camp.  i’m also feel like i’m falling sick…been getting runny nose every morning and sometimes my head hurts – an effect of too much oxygen?? up in the mountains, for fear of falling ill, all of us have been religiously taking our vitamins and supplements. Centrum multivits has done a fantastic job in keeping us well and healthy on the mountains. i remember thinking how it’s bright orange pill makes a great contrast compared to the white diamox pill – a trivial observation if you think about it now, but up in the mountains, it made alot of difference, especially when you are constantly looking for things to amuse yourself 😛

and it’s back to local training soon. running, gym, stairs, bukit timah, rock climbing and technical training at Safra Yishun. i missed running when i was in cho oyu – so you can imagine the feeling of pure ‘liberation’ when i finally had the chance to put on my favourite adidas running shorts and dri fit shirt to run on friday morning before work. i started off slow and easy, just so that i can regain the ‘feel’ of running again. I only ran for about 1hr 15 min, before i felt that my leg muscles (or the lack of it due the amount of weight i’ve lost) felt strangely weak. My breathing rhythm seems ok, just that i feel that i’ve lost leg strength to continue running at a pace that i was previously comfortable at. Then i realised i made the fatal mistake of forgetting to stretch before i started my run. How could i?!? i haven’t ran for about 2 months and for my very first run i forgot to stretch. during the climb, all of us lost alot of muscle mass due to the high altitude and all the strenous climbing. so now, it’s gonna be intensive gym time!! to put back all the mass that we lost! perhaps eating some weight/mass gainer might help……