Short stop at Amsterdam

I had been sick this week and last week for a week and half was away for training in Madrid, Spain. Along the way, I took the opportunity to stop by Amsterdam to visit one of my good friends - she is working at Philips in Netherlands.

I took advantage of the long weekend from Deepavali and spent a short 4 days with her at Amsterdam. The last time I have been there, it was on a tour, and it was probably at least 5 years ago. This time, it was a free and easy trip, as I had wanted to honor my promise to visit ML my friend this year.

One of the things we did was pretty different - we rode around Amsterdam for half a day on a bike - the only thing was that the bike I took was a tiny bike she owned - a "for fun only" bike she bought from China where her previous posting was. Whilst she rode around in a city bike with twice the circumference, I peddled furiously for 3-4 hours all round Amsterdam in the biting cold and freakish whether in this tiny wonder.

Still, it was a different way to see Amsterdam. And a pretty good overview tour with the DSLR as well (the backpack on my back).

Yes, this is the first time I took my DSLR on a training/side trip. Carrying the DSLR and notebook in a dual function bag I just bought - this was pretty cool, but it meant I could carry nothing more! I will still rethink to do this, the Sony camera was ok as well - when I post the link to the photos, you wont be able to tell the difference between both the cameras.

A summary of Amsterdam :

- Beautiful city, wonderful autumn countryside, freakish whether or I'm getting old and the cold gets to me

- Saw a 10km race in one of the towns when we went there, running in those beautiful countryside, I am sure it will increase my pace 2x, the coolness will help too

- Love the donuts - oliebollen, and the hangout places by the square - a lot of atmosphere in the city

- Nearly everyone owns a bike, they even go to work riding bike on a suit and take the bike into the office (foldable bike) - I was shocked ...

- Good spoken english, polite and very helpful if you ask

- Library was stunning (why was I in a library? heheh) - I guess when they do something, they do it extremely well

- Feels like a liveable city if not for the freakish whether, lots of different cultural exposure places to visit and hangout

Don't ask me why I always end up going places only during winter... I only decided to do this with about a week's notice since I managed to maintain the training schedule... but I'm glad I did this, as I had long not met up with my good friend and take a break at the same time despite the short stop.

The Terry Fox "Walk" 4 Nov 2007

For two years in a row, the Terry Fox Run has become the Terry Fox Walk. This inspiring event about Terry Fox a Canadian who battled cancer to run across Canada has been made into such a commercial event that the ever quiet Lake Gardens was swamped with people last Sunday for this annual run/walk where it is notoriously known that the entire expat community is present in one area in one day.

My initial intention of running before the run to practice for the Singapore Half Marathon did not turn out when I turned up late, just around 9am, with my precious camera in a tow. And when I saw the crowd of people "walking" up the hills of the starting point, I was not sure if I could run or walk or take photos as the crowd was just too much.

Eventually, I waited 10 minutes, saw a few colleagues bringing their children, one crazy young colleague who lugged along 3 cameras --- a Leica (I've only heard of this), a Nikon and another which I cannot even remember the name. Then I noticed the strategic positioning of the Lensa Malaysia members, all along the path - how did I notice? I ran the route with my camera!!! I practiced this run ahead and stop when I saw someone interesting, and the stop allowed me to rest for a few seconds as well, so it turned out well.

All in, a pretty eventful simple Sunday morning, good exercise, charitable cause, and even managed to see family members of my colleagues - a rare family day out.

Pic 1 - The Terry Fox "Walk" - up the first ramp

Pic 2 - I am ahead of you!

Pic 3 - Crocs and clown hats makes me a fatherly figure...

Pic 4 - All together now...

A wish for Simplicity

Pretty touching to receive a small card from the project team, to wish me happy birthday.

Small gestures goes a long way. I was really touched. For each of you who were so kind to sign the card and to have made that extra effort to get a card for me, it makes me want to do more to help you in any way I can.

Thank you. And what is my wish?

Simplicity.