Resumption of morning exercises

With COVID cases under control (i.e. no significant increase in both mild and severe cases despite gradual loosening of control measures over the past few weeks), and having recovered from COVID infection for one month, my wife and I started to embark on our routine weekend exercises. 

I have fully recovered from my COVID, apart from some occasional cough (some throat irritation); however, my wife seemed to suffer from long COVID syndrome, with exercise intolerance (particularly when involved in mild-moderately strenuous activities).

We felt that it would be good to get some fresh air from "mountainous" areas. And the only "high" point in Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill - which has been overwhelmed with many visitors over the past few months. We opted for Forest Walk @Telok Blangah Hill Park, enroute to Kent Ridge Park (with its canopy walk).

Surprisingly, there were not many people in the park today.

CJ tagged along for the morning walk/exploration today.

Forest walk

Forest walk

Arc cutting across Alexandra Rd, leading to Hort park

One segment of the garden @ Hort Park

View of the nursery @ Hort Park, from tree top canopy @ Kent Ridge Park

Glance of the tree top canopy higher up...

Explore the exercise trails @ Science Park, adjacent to Kent Ridge Park.

Rewarding ourselves with sumptous breakfast at Telok Blangah Hawker Centre after our morning exercise.

 

Buildings...of different grades

Life is never equal. Some people barely survive above poverty line, but others live in a life of luxury, blissfully ignorant of the struggles of the unfortunate ones.

Every country has different housing facilities, catering to different needs and capacity of different people.

In Singapore, we have the apartments of various sizes (single room, 2-4 rooms, executive apartment) offered by Housing Development Board (HDB) at fairly affordable /heavily subsidized costs (as long as one is employed and has steady income).

Towering HDB flats along Old Airport Rd 

For those who want a more pampered lifestyle, with swimming pool / gyms facility, then Executive Condominium (offered by HDB) or private Condominium are the next option.

Private Condominium

Private condominium

And people with deep pockets can opt for higher end Condominium or landed houses (of various grades and grandeur).

The important thing is to life within one's comfort zone.

Eating out...literally

"Eating out" in the old days literally means eating outdoor. Be it hot under the sun, or cool if it is windy. But of course, if it rains, nobody in the right mind will stay outdoor!

Nowadays, apart from Hawker centre, most of the eating places are air-conditioned. 

There are still some stalls with tables/chair arranged along the common corridor  (五脚基) in some old neighbourhood (such as in Geylang, Chinatown areas).

Arguably, the ambience (weather, humidity, smell, wind factor) inevitably provide additional boost to the authencity and flavours of the food being served.

Venturing out into Nature Park again... after a month' s break

It has been a month's hiatus in our routine weekend walking exercises in natural park.

My wife sprained her foot a few weeks after Chinese New Year. It took almost 3 weeks for her to recover.

Then, I was down with COVID infection....and 2 days later, both my wife and youngest son were also infected. Stayed at home for one week, refrained from strenuous exercises for another week or so.

Finally, we were able to resume our routine weekend morning exercises - we visited one of our favourite spots (which has free parking on Sunday), Windsor Nature Park.

What a wonderful view, with sunlight shining through the canopy!

Refreshing!

It looked as if the father figure is taking a hands-off attitude in childcare, while leaving the mother to "clean-up" her baby

It is "mask-off" when out in the field (with stream-lining of COVID restriction), even if we are just doing a casual/leisure walk, or resting on some stone benches near the entrance.

And of course, it was good to be back to Nature Park once more!

View from balconies

My apartment comes with two balconies. A bigger balcony at the main living area, and another smaller one attached to the master bedroom.

The bigger balcony

View of the balcony @ living room, from the small balcony @ master bedroom

Small balcony @ master bedroom

Both balconies have unblocked view of Geylang River Park Connector.

The view from the balconies can be quite charming and rejuvenating at times.

Greenery abound

People exercising along the park connector

Trees and shrubs @ ground level

Flower @ ground floor

Spotted Dove resting on the railing of balcony

Tale of two balconies (upstair/downstair)

Distant trees when it rains

Distant building

Distant building near Marina Bay area

Soothing view when it rains

                                                  Trees directly in front of the large balcony

Plants courtesy of my wife

Beautiful sunset

Tree right outside the main balcony

Sunset

As you can see, the view from the balconies is pleasing to the eye, and soothing to the mind. The only minus point is that there can be quite a lot of mosquitoes flying around during rainy season. Fortunately, this can only be a hindrance at night (hence, does not interfere with lazing around in the balcony in the afternoon).

Tested positive for COVID

Started experiencing some throat discomfort 4 days ago, after returning from work. Then feeling some body discomfort a few hours later. With COVID being "endemic" in recent months (particularly with the highly contagious Omicron strain being the dominant strain), I subject myself to ART (antigen rapid test) test at home -> it returned negative. 

Even with negative ART result, I decided to inform my colleagues that I would be taking 3 days medical leave, just in case it was COVID in evolution. 

And true enough, I started to develop some cough, and felt tired the next day. Self administered ART test showed faint positive line as shown below (indicative of COVID infection).

I went to a community quick test centre located at Old Airport Rd Hawker Centre to have an official documentation - but it turned out to be Negative!

The next day, I felt even more fatigued and exhausted, with blocked nose and cough. Went for another round of ART test at a medical clinic @ Geylang Bahru (another branch for community quick test centre) - and this time, it returned as POSITIVE.

Fortunately, apart from being tired (slept throughout the day when finally tested positive officially), and some throat discomfort and blocked nose/cough, the infection has been rather mild so far. 

Hopefully, can exit self isolation at home after 3 days!

Being COVID positive seems to be the "in" thing of the days - many people (celebrity and laymen included) have flashed photo of positive ART test results in their various social-media channel, declaring that they have "arrived".

Hopefully, the current infection remains mild for vaccinated individuals!

caught in the rain ... again

Went for routine evening walking exercises. This has been my routine over the past year. Despite this, my abdominal girth keeps on expanding over the past few months, especially after Lunar New Year in early Feb. 

The sky was overcast. I didn't think that it would rain. But after walking for about 1km, it started to rain heavily. Managed to take cover at a "bus stop"-like shelter along the exercise path; there were three other persons there at that time. 

Brave soul jogging in the rain!

Waited for over half hour... there was no sign that the rain would stop anytime. Eventually, I had to brave the rain (when it was less heavy) and walk home. Totally drenched when I reached home, as expected. 

Addendum:

This is the shelter that I took refuge from the rain