A Hike in Bukit Timah Hill

Went for a leisure hike in the Bukit Timah Hill this morning. It has been quite a number of years since I last visited this nice nature reserve in Singapore.

I must say I am a bit annoyed by the fact that more and more luxuary condos are being built right at the foot of the hill. They are so close to the surviving natural forest. I am not sure whether one day I will wake up and find our lovely hill becomes a hill of concrete jungles.

That aside, it took me around 15 mins to go all the way to the summit. Great! That's my 'normal' speed of reaching the peak following the main road. The first 100m or so is the most tough, as the slope is steep, but after that, everything is easy.

I didn't want to spend 2 hours traveling on bus to/fro Bukit Timah Hill just for this 15 min hike, so I decided to take on some side treks on the way down. Without obvious reason, I took the track to Dairy Farm Hut, which is on the north side of the reserve, and at an altitude of ~60m, and right at the boundary of the reserve. You see, if you have the instrument but not using it, it is as good as you don't have it. I didn't use the altitude meter or the digital compass on my watch, just simply walked. I descended from the summit of 163m, down to 60m. Finding no way back to the visitor centre, I took the North View Hut track and ascended from 60m back to 140m!

On the ascend to the North View Hut, I was like going to die. The steps were endless, I was out of breath. If I continue, I felt a lot of pain; if I stop, I still felt a lot of pain. My lung was craving for oxygen, lots lots of it. I knew if I could walk on a levelled track for a while, I should be fine, but I was stuck in a small 2m by 2m platform, and must choose to continue to ascend, or start to descend, or stay put. I decided to continue my ascend, slowly. And then I finally got to North View Hut, but disappointingly there is not much 'view' to talk about. At this moment, I started to use my altimeter, 140m! I was like, my gosh, 40 mins walk and I only descended like 25m? I didn't know I actually descended from 165m to 60m, and back up to 140m! After North View Hut, I soon found my way back to the main road, and everything from there was smooth and easy.

Bukit Timah Hill is one nice place to trek, and you will see some interesting people. I saw one Malay guy in his 30s?, he was walking very fast, and he was carry a baby on his back! Power, man! And then you see many people obviously came here to do their conditioning for mountain trekking overseas. They wear nice hiking boots, with big backpacks, some even with trekking poles.

Ok, after today's experience, I think I will need to do more conditioning before the trip to Nepal in Dec. I was trekking at an altitude of 160m only, yet I was panting like hell, how do you expect to trek at the high of 2-3000 meters?

Proper trekking attire and gears are needed too. I wore my hiking sandals today. It provided good cushion to my feet, but not my ankles, especially during descend. The impact on my knees is not something to be sneezed at, either. Clothes that can dry quickly are essential too. I was sweating like hell this morning. My dry fit T-shirt became wet-fit, sticking to my body like nobody's business.

Feeling very tired today, but very happy too. So refreshed after shedding all that sweat, together with whatever toxic stuff that came out with your sweat. The body feels so much lighter.

You can find more information about Bukit Timah Nature Reserve here

Protrek Altmeter - Continued

This is a follow-up of this entry. Formerly all my altitude meter readings were compared with my gut feelings about the actual altitude, I couldn't decisively say whether the Casio Protrek's altimeter is actually correct.

So, what can I do? Of course compare it with a known altitude lor. Where can you find a place with a known altitude? Bukit Timah Hill lor, there is a stone with the altitude of the peak of Bukit Timah Hill ingraved.

I went all the way to this 'sacred' stone here. The height is stated as 163.63m. I took a reading on my Protrek 80, guess what the number came out? 165m! OMG, it is really accurate, just within the +/-5m accuracy as stated by the watch's manufacturer.

With this, I get a lot more confident about the altimeter's readings. Mmmh, this is before I bring this watch to the office, which is badly polluted by all the electromagnetic fields, from handphones, to computers, and the deadly magnets used in HDD.

Anyway, I am a lot more happier now :)

Protrek PRG80 - Altitude Meter

This is a follow-up entry of this entry. I further tested the altitude meter of this Protrek PRG80. The reading seems to vary quite a lot, depending on the weather conditions.

What I did was I put the watch at exactly the same location, which is atop my bookshelf and near the window. I took a number of readings over the day. Below are the results.

1. Temp=28C, Alt=35m
2. Temp=30C, Alt=55m
3. Temp=31C, Alt=70m
4. Temp=30.8C, Alt=65m

It seems like the altmeter reading varies. Of course, in this experiment, the watch was left on the shelf, instead of being worn on a wrist. According to the user manual, to get accurate altmeter reading, you should wear it on your wrist so as to minimize any temperature fluctuation. On the other hand, if you want to get an accurate temperature reading, you should remove your watch from your wrist to minimize the influence of your body temperature.

And then you are not supposed to wear this watch near electronic gadgets such as computers, TV sets, etc. That's quite a pain.

但愿人长久 千里共婵娟

Today is Mid-Autumn festival in China, Korea & Japan, all the ancient Chinese-influenced countries. This is the time for the family to have a union dinner, with the whole family sharing the joy of being together. It is something very Asian. For the westerners, maybe it is something they don't bother. They seek solitary life, living alone, and try to spread that disease to the east.

As it is such an important day, I will just dedicate this song by Teresa Teng, and the lyrics were written by the famous Song Dynasty poet Su Dong-po, to all the people who celebrate this festival, and wish everybody a happy family, happy family union and a happy life :)

Xmen Origins: Wolverine

This is the 'pre' episode of all the X-Men movies, and it is obvious centred around Wolverine. It explains how he got those metal blades, why he has no memory of the past, he isn't sure who he is, blah blah blah.

The dialogue to action ratio is about 50:50. Sometimes the dialogues drag too long, too boring.

Story-wise it is interesting, as least I can't predict the ending and the process right at the beginning. It manages to draw your attention to the movie, not other things :)

My rating: 3/5

Protrek PRG-80L-3V

Finally got my dream Casio Protrek 80L 3V watch. Yes, it is great. It has a digital compass, a thermometer, a barometer and an altitude meter, a world time, and the standard functions such as stop watch, alarm, etc. This watch runs on solar energy, so there is no need to replace battery (theoretically only).

I check out the digital compass function, more or less the same data as my magnetic compass. The thermometer reading is similar to my stand-alone thermometer reading. Not too bad. Barometer reading, I have no idea :P The altitude meter reading is a bit interesting. When I stand on the group floor, the altitude is still 55m above sea level. I wonder where the sea level is, Singapore is this high in altitude meh? Mmmh, need to check it out one day. Must go to the seaside and then take the reading.

Everything looks great on this watch except the followings:

1. Size. Size matters, and the size is really big for this watch. The watch face is bigger than my wrist.

2. Complicated functions and controls. There are not that many buttons for you to press, but there are many different sequences for you to remember. I don't think I can remember all the functions. Luckily the basic functions, such as the altitude meter reading, etc, are easy, just a one button press and voila, you get what you want. The other functions are a lot more sophisticated, and the time pressed on a button counts too.

Ok, other than these two, I have no other complaints. The size maybe is actually an advantage if you are in some harsh natural environment.

I got my watch at the Bencoolen, May-May watch at S$226.00. This is cheaper than what the shop at AMK Hub offered (S$278.00). The same model in eBay goes somewhere between S$217 to S$240.

I don't know why this version (with leather strap) is cheaper, but the other version (with metalic bracelet), it is actually more expensive (S$320 vs AMK Hub's S$310).

I didn't know the difference between the 1V, 2V, and 3V models, but I figure they are referring to different colors, and there is a price difference (although small).

The warranty is 12 months by Casio.

I am quite excited with this watch. For those who have not already known, all those barometer, altimeter, etc in the watch are using semiconductor sensors. It is the MEMS technology. Can you imagine they actually build a mechanical system in that tiny piece of sand? Does this prove what Buddha said "one sand one world" is correct? :P

You can find the review on this watch after my field trip here.

勇敢的中國人

Yesterday was PRC's 60th anniversary. Dedicate this Song by Lisa Wang to a country that went through unimaginable sufferings in the past century, a country that managed to get up, dust off and catch up with the rest of world.

我们一定要坚强。 认定了目标，就要全力以赴， 勇敢地走下去。 路途可能很远，可能很崎岖。 一路上也不可能总是风和日丽， 也会有狂风暴雨，但只要我们每天都向前走，那么我们每天就离我们的目标近一点。弯路也是会有的，不进反退也是会有的，但只要目标明确了，它就会像夜空中的星辰，大海中的灯塔，指引我们前进。 我们一定要意志坚强，勇敢前行。。。

东西丢了，那就丢了吧。 没有必要为倒了的牛奶而懊悔。 只要人还在，我们就可以创造出更好的，钱财毕竟是身外物，生不带来，死不带去，快乐人生才是人间正道。

September: A Bad Month for Stocks?

Some research says that in general, September and October are the worst months in the year for stocks. For that reason, I told myself to stay away from the market for these two whole months. Then, I was influenced by someone, and changed my mind.

As a result? You can expect. Heavy loss! Yesterday came the biggest blow. Starhub lost its exclusive rights to televise Barclays Premier League, and ESPN Star sports channels to its rival SingTel. Starhub's price plunged from S$2.17 the previous close, to close at S$2.03, with 39 million shares changed hands. Then today, at a low of S$1.94, I dumped all mine, total damage is over a thousand dollars.

With this, my total loss for September amounts to well over S$1000, wiping out a significant portion of my small profits of the year.

The Starhub episode serves as a good lesson for me.

1. I didn't do my homework properly. Didn't pay attention to the date on the BPL bidding, although I was aware Starhub had this issue hanging above its head. And I didn't expect it to lose the rights.

2. I didn't react quick enough to cut my losses. When I noticed a sharp drop in Starhub price, and came to know that they lost the rights, I still hesitated and dragged until today to dump all my shares.

3. I deviated from my original plan of staying away from the market for the whole of September and October.

The medicine is bitter, but if it can cure your illness, you have to swallow it. Looking for good health ahead. :)