Archive for Exercise

An Stroll to ECP and Early Dinner at Brussel Sprouts (23rd Nov)

Well it started with the usual “lets do some exercise” excuse – so we decided to go for a bus ride to the East Coast area.  We stopped near to the Stadium, and we decided to walk along the east coast from here.  It was a pretty hot and stuffy day (like every other day in Singapore), but it was a good stroll, as we weren’t in any type of hurry to get anywhere.

We aimed to try to see if we can walk quite a bit, but as we started to flair as we approached the Big Splash along East Coast Parkway, we decided to stop, rest a bit and have a drink.  We did do about 5km walk and it took just over an hour, so pretty good going methinks.

Mussels and Chips

Mussels and Chips

We stopped and walked around the shops here, and then we decided to have a bite to eat (well we were quite peckish by this time) at the Brussels Sprouts restaurant located here.  We had a nice beer – which was really refreshing, and we just chatted away, eating the mussels that and chips we also ordered.

They weren’t the best mussels we’ve had in Singapore, but did the job and we were actually very refreshed after the bite to eat.

 

Brussels Sprouts
902 East Coast Parkway
Block F #01-27 Big Splash
Singapore 449874
Tel: +65 6346 4344
Email: bigsplash@brusselssprouts.com.sg 
URL: http://brusselssprouts.com.sg

West Coast Cycling (20th Sept)

Time to test out the new bike again – so we decided to go for a west coast cycle trip from Holland Village , through to Buona Vista MRT, to where the west part of the Parkway Connector Network (PCN) starts.  We joined the Ulu Pandan PC along the canal way, and we past along Jurong East, and the IMM shopping mall area until we reached the PIE.

A nice panoramic

A nice panoramic

The Ulu Pandan PC then split into two, and we joined Pandan Gardens PC, until it reached the West Coast PC – at which point we reached the West Coast Park – wow what a ride that was.,

Here’s the runkeeper report…5.87 miles in about 52 minutes – not too bad.

 

 

New Bike Purchase – Yay Baby

AutoInc - Fine Cars!!

AutoInc – Fine Cars!!

After much toing and froing, I decided to get a new bike, so we decided to pay a visit to Rodalink in Commonwealth…a short walk from the MRT. Before we arrived, we noticed a car dealership with a difference – this one had Ferrari’s, Lambo’s, and Aston Martin’s on display – now THAT’s a garage that I would totally love to have!!

We looked at a few options and I decided to go with a road-bike – the pros is that it works well for the road and pavements, and parkway connector, but the cons are that it only works on the road, pavements and parkway connectors 🙂 e.g. it doesn’t work off-road or on dirt tracks…as I am not a pros or avid cyclist, I thought the pavement/road option was better. That said, I don’t actually intend to go on the ‘road-road’ cause that would just be insane in Singapore – rather cycle on the Park Connectors Network (PCN) – which go around Singapore connecting the various parks and parkways.

Lets hope I stay committed to cycling and getting FIT again! It cost just over S$850, but we had to add a cycle helmet, lock, bell, and air-pump – yikes…didn’t realise any form of exercise was this expensive. Just need going on the bike…and improve my cycling. Anyway, I intend to claim about S$400 of the above as part of my flexi-allowance, which is linked to my work’s ‘healthy living’ programme…so that’s quite a discount 🙂

Mount Faber Walk

There is nothing like a nice evening walk, so I met up a colleague at Harbour Front, and we went for the start of a long stroll around the south-west area. We went up the stairs to the Mount Faber trail, all the way to Mount Faber peak, we then joined the Mount Faber loop which went further to the west, as we reached Henderson Road, before we went across to the Southern Ridges.

This led us to Telok Blangah Hill Park – where it led us further West, towards Alexandra Road at Hort Park. We could see the weather turning, but it did not yet rain at all during our trip.

Going through Hort Park, we entered the Kent Ridge trail which took us near to Buona Vista. We then entered back to the concrete pathways, as we reached South Buona Vista Road, we took the road South until we reached the West Coast Highway, and then we reached Pasir Panjang, and the MRT and Food Court. This walk took us almost 2 hours 45 minutes, not bad at all 🙂

We had a nice and quick dinner at the Pasir Panjang Food Court, before calling it a down and I left home via the MRT across to Bishan (okay I took the long way home) before I changed to the North-South line to Novena.

Cycling Trip at ECP (8th June)

Another weekend, another cycling opportunity with a colleague.

We decided to really push for Changi Park, so we met-up at 3pm, and cycled hard, to go east along East Coast Park, and reach the edge of East Coast Park, just before the Changi Airport stretch at around 4pm, not that bad going.

We rested for a few minutes and observed a group of students perform some Stand-up Paddle Boarding, looked amazing, but looked very difficult. We then continued on and pushed ourselves along the Changi Airport Perimeter road (or the coastal path along the ride), before we reached the north end of the cycling path. We arrived at Changi Beach Park – wow – what a result!

Look at the ride report at Runkeeper.

Cycling Fun – at East Coast Park

Another weekend, another exercise opportunity. I met up with a colleague from work at East Coast Park to try my hand at ECP cycling session.

We really aimed to push ourselves to get to the Changi Beach, but really only managed to get half way along the Changi perimeter road, before we decided to return back. On the way back, we stopped to enjoy the sights and sounds at a racing track – where we noticed some very nice vehicles paired up at the on-street parking. A nice red Ferrari (yes it still has to be red!), and a yellow Lambo.

We couldn’t resist to stop and enjoy the moment 🙂

Mar Jongg – practice makes perfect as they say :)

We’ll another fun weekend with a Marjongg session – to see if my game has improved…and yup it only just about improves.

One of the work colleagues arranged a short gathering (for fun, of course – no gambling involved, cos that’s illegal here in Singapore – haha!) – and I think I am finally getting the hang of the game again.  The only issue is that the Singapore game has a few more tiles – which really confuses the hell out of me.  But alas, practice makes perfect.

Overall I won a few games, and lost a few more…haha!  Not easy to improve at a game without sufficient practice, so I best get more games in…and it actually is quite good fun too!

Chinese Massage – Great and Cheap!

Mr Lim Foot Reflexology

Mr Lim Foot Reflexology

I am keen to find a foot massage place somewhere in central Singapore to really help me relax and chill – and someone recommended one in China Town.

It is called “Mr Lim Foot Reflexology” and is located in the People’s Park Complex shopping mall. There seem to have about 3 or 4 shops, and have a lot of demand! Definitely not bad for S$18 for 45 minutes. To help compare , an hour (normal for a foot and shoulder massage) would be S$25 – so yeah that’s pretty good going for Singapore. And it was actually very nice and relaxing.

They do a loyalty card scheme, so each time you visit, you get a stamp, and after 10 I presume you get a free massage or discount – even better 🙂 I will definitely repeat this, definitely feels very relaxing and refreshing!

Mr Lim Foot Reflexology
1 Park Rd #03-54-#03-78
People’s Pk Complex
Singapore, 059108
Tel: +65 6327 4498

Aaron acts as a tour guide

Well what an interesting start of the year, an ex-colleague from the UK office was in town, as she was now working on a project that related to Singapore. It was great that she was able to come out and meet her team, whilst at the same time, we managed to enjoy the sights and sounds of Singapore over the weekend – Aaron became the tour guide for the weekend 🙂

She was in town for about a week, and it was good to see an familiar face and catch-up on the latest happenings from the UK and my old team – it sounded like a lot of change since I left over a year ago. I do kinda miss the UK and Brighton teams, but actually I don’t really miss the work.

So on Saturday, I commenced the tour from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on the north side of Marina Bay, we then walked along the promenade towards Boat Quay and the Fullerton hotel, we headed across towards China Town, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Year of the Horse – as we headed into the Chinese New Year festive period. After that, we took the MRT and went across to Marina Bay Sands, taking the sights and sounds of this landmark. We had a bite to eat at the MBS food court – like any tourist does these days. I then noticed that there was this Ice exhibition on, called 2 Degree Ice Art – in an area just outside of the main MBS facilities. So we went in here, the tickets were a bit pricey at S$32 a ticket, but at least my mum (who was joining us for the tour) was able to register with a Senior ticket (at S$26). The exhibition centre then had the audacity to ask whether we wanted coat and gloves…we asked what temperature was inside, and they said -15oC. I don’t think we had much choice as we were wearing summer-ware!! Anyway, they charged us another S$5 each…making the whole session a total of S$105. Ouch! It was fun inside, and a nice way to see the various monuments of the world calved into Ice Sculptures. We then headed back into MBS, and we decided to do a bit of retail therapy. I got a nice pair of Hush Puppies shoes – very comfortable and reasonable, and a nice selection.

We then had a couple of options, head towards the original Botanic Gardens, or visit the Gardens By the Bay. I decided that we should do this, so we headed there, which is a short walk from the MBS complex. There was a nice Dragon dance within the gardens which was very entertaining (I do wonder what these guys do for the rest of the year!!). We then continued our walk around the gardens until we arrived at the 2 domes, we went to the ticket line. I had my ‘free’ pass, and I then tried to see if there was any ‘senior’ tickets, they said only for local residents, which was a shame. Anyway, I then had this brainwave, and as local / EP-visa holders was slightly cheaper, I pretended to buy one for myself (even though I already had an annual pass entitling me free access), so I got one expensive (S$28), one cheap (S20) and I had my own annual pass …haha! a bit crafty – but that’s me 🙂 If no one tells, I won’t!!

We went into the two domes, I do feel that the flower one is better, as they change the displays to the current themes etc. The first time I went, they had a tulips display, previously it was the horse display, similar to this time. But still nice all the same. The Cloud dome was a bit boring, but was refreshing inside at least.

After this, we headed back towards the hotel across the Helix bridge, just as they were doing some sort of art projection on the ArtsScience museum monument. Very nice indeed, it was like they were throwing paint across it in time with the music. A great show! We then went to the hotel, and relaxed at the bar, and then said our farewells.

On the Sunday, it was more of an Orchard Road tour, so we met up for Brunch at the Wild Honey at Scotts Square location – very nice and tasty indeed. We did a relaxing walk down Orchard Road, being part of the hustle and bustle of the Sunday afternoon. A bit of window shopping and retail therapy throughout the sprawling malls and shops along the road, before we ended up at an interesting wine bar just off Orchard Road – the House of Robert Timms – an interesting spot, as you can watch the world go by and enjoy coffee (or wine, in our case) and chill and relax. We then made on our way, a nice way to end the Singapore tour and the busy weekend 🙂

Biometric Health Screening

On Monday, 25th November, we had a biometric health screening session scheduled for MBFC, so I was keen to do a check-up to see how I was doing – health-wise. I previously had one done in early 2012, so was keen to check whether I was still alive and kicking!

The Biometric screening was basically focused on a few quick checks – your height, your weight, your waist, a quick prick on the finger to check your blood sugars, your blood pressure and then a quick profile check. The great news is that I passed with flying colours.

Having been ill over the weekend prior (I had a stomach bug) I was a bit worried that this could impact my results, but in a way, it could have helped in the sense that my body was clear of any toxins 🙂

My weight was 53.8kg (8stone 6lbs), my height 176.8cm (5feet 10 inches) and 72cm waist. My BMI was 17.21 – which basically means I am slightly underweight, so I need to eat more, do more exercise, have a balance diet and eat protein etc – to puff up a bit.

My blood pressure was okay 126/75mmHg, my total cholesterol was 100mg/dl – so VERY good (and low), my glucose is 5.1 – which is in the health range, although my heart rate was in the low rate of 72bpm, so I definitely need to do more exercise.

Anyway, it’s not all bad – so I am pretty happy with the results!

The second intermediary and advance screening – was also done, and they took some blood for these more detailed tests. The funny thing is the clinic staff advised us that the costs were covered by the employer, but we then received an email later in the morning stating that there was a cost incurred for the intermediary and advance tests – I complained to them stating that we had volunteered our blood, and I felt that there was some miscommunication. Finally, they accepted this error, and they advised us that the checks would be free for those that gave the blood, and they corrected the communication for the other new tests from the afternoon onwards. Yay – more free tests 🙂

I am hoping to do a more thorough health screening to do additional checks and discuss in more details what plans I can deploy to improve my overall health and wellbeing.

© 2012-2024 Aaron Brigatti - Brigatti Online   ® All Rights Reserved.