since ocktober fest is just around
the corner, i shall blog about Germany!
Germany is one of the many beautiful cities in Europe that alvin and i visited on our eurotrip!


a few photos to whet the appetite.

Classic german pork knuckle, sauerkraut, and of course the ultimante climbers' vice - BEER!

thats Florian, our German couchsuf friend in the picture. Couchsufing is essentially a network where travellers offer up their place to host strangers from all over the world, in the process we get to do cultural exchange and make friends from all over! and we were really lucky that we found florian on the network. His apartment was cosy and he was just this super cool german dude interested in philosophy...is learning chinese...likes chinese kungfu..asian arts..etc. The girl in the picture is Dan, another couchsurfer from hongkong he was hosting at the same time as well. We spent most days scooting around on his skatescooter that he affectionately names "xiao ma" (little horse)


we were also up in munich where Wilson was (the juniors may not know him, but hes a super pro dino of ours! ), and so had the honour of staying at his luxurious apartment!

Wilson was a great host, he baked yummilicious muffins for us in the morning, and this is one of the meals he whipped up for us!

Chef Wilson at work! He plated the pasta so nicely with the tomatoes and cucumber that we couldnt bear to eat it!


Like alvin mentioned before, Germany is home to the best climbing gym in Europe.
Massive Outdoor walls
Massive indoor walls


Look at her setting routes, so pro, using crane! Dont have to climb up yourselves lugging bags of tiles and allenkeys!

Another really cool thing is the fact that these climber mums and dads would bring their whole family there just to picnic and hang out while they climb. Babies..toddlers..prams...dogs...all in tow!
there were 2 cute little babies in basket cots right behind me on one occasion when i was belaying alvin, i was so afraid he'd fall on them!

photos of more clmbing gyms...



Europe was so beautiful and there was natural landscape all over. Every corner u turn , theres some rock face tempting u to climb it!


Germany has the freshest and sweetest strawberries blueberries raspberries boysenberries ever!! we would buy a punnet from one of the many fruit stalls lining the pretty streets, and just sit on the park benches devouring them. yummy and healthy! best of all, really cheappppppp!!!




okay since we're on the topic of food, i couldnt resist posting this up!
its not in Germany but in Paris, home of sweets, breads and pastries!
Even when we were in Font, I'd trek half an hour just to buy a pain du chocolat from the pastry shops in town!


Besides climbing, the Germans love all kinds of sports. This is like the hugest and most gorgeous indoor public pool ive ever seen!


Even though it was really cold and i was like wrapped in 3 layer, there was still a huge group of really pro surfers, doing stunts under this bridge on this famous river where the surfers hung out.


Yixiang, this is for you!!!

I can almost imagine u driving this with a subway sandwich in ur hand! haha.
and if u guys noticed, it just so happened that when i took this shot, another subway lorry was passing by in the background!

And last shot to ring in halloween as well.
delicious caramel apples, all the rage in the food markets there!


Not to forget, the famous Norschweinstein Castle, the castle that inspired waltz disney. It actually means swan castle, built by this king who was obsessed about the graceful creature, but it was so lavish (he had the workers to build the piping such that fresh mineral water from the surrounding mountains would run directly to the tap in his room! ) it took so long to complete, the king died before its completion and it was never finished.


Germany is one of our favourite Eurotrip places, both for climbing, the scenery, as well as the culture and modernity. i certainly wouldnt mind going back!

~eLi =)

(6 - 1) things about me.

ok here goes from Bertrand..first up a pic..Heres at equator hostel in KL on a climbing trip with my cousin and some friends. Id recommend this place to anyone going up to batu caves.Its a pretty comfortable place and cheap too..

Well then, the 5 things..

1. I love building things. Stuff like impossible bottles, suitcase computers, a cannon that shoots potatoes, etc. Haha sounds weird but its my hobby. Im very into computer modding, that is , doing stuff to your pc casing to make it look nicer..Guess thats why i chose mechanical engineering as my course of study. This is my pc at home :

And one of the impossible bottles :

2. Food! my other hobby is eating. I guess ive a high metabolic rate, so i tend to splurge on food. I dont mind going to a fair bit of inconvenience to find good places to eat. Then il blog about it. Food blogs give me an endless supply of food places to visit..

3. Musically im not too inclined..but i do play the drums because you hardly have to learn notes and i think its one of the most interesting instruments. That aside, i listen to music from most genres. Anything from country to gothic metal.

4.On language again i can consider myself effectively monolingual, due to being a complete failure in the chinese language. Im quite a bad excuse for a chinese, but i guess its not in my blood.So if anyone speaks to me in chinese, pardon me if i dont seem to respond:P Daffodil wonder if you rival me in this area..haha..

5. Strange very random things.I write poems often.I dislike taking the mrt but love buses. I think theyre relaxing and you get seats most of the time. For me Ipod + Long bus ride = relaxation. I wore braces for 13 years.

Forgive me if these arent the most interesting facts but its all i got for now.

And now..lets have.CHoon SHien

the crazy indian video

Even if you don't have time, check this out!!
Hilarous and non-offensive (I hope)

Jade V15 FA Daniel Woods

It's been quite some time since anyone posted a climbing video. Just want to share my favourite video, one which I can watch everyday and still be amazed and inspired by the sheer tenacity of the route. Enjoy.

Frankenjura (A famous crag in Germany)

<---This photo was taken by weimin. Indeed, the worst technique makes for the best photos. how ironic? (i fell soon after) I also like this photo where the light seems almost rainbow like





































I think the best thing about Frankenjura are the small quaint towns which dot the climbing area. They're just so pretty and rustic!! Many local tourists go there just for weekend holidays and to visit the churches.

The surrounding area is also outstandingly beautiful. Ponds and small streams (we saw baby ducklings) run near the climbing areas and we made several long treks through cool forest paths from our campsite to town (for food).

The towns are quite sparsely settled. Near the edge of the settlements are farms beside large fields of wheat and oat. There are also grazing horses behind electric fences. (i found out the hard and shocking way) Then towards the centre it usually gets quite touristy and the local food,wine and beer are so good!
















































And this is Wilson our shifu demonstrating what 'body tension' means. Without him to bring us there, it is indeed DAMN difficult to get from Munich to Frankenjura. We had to change trains several times and take a bus

This is the best climbing gym in Germany as declared by their local climbing mag. Large and high indoor walls bigger than camp 5(with mega roof) PLUS outdoor wall larger than Yishun PLUS bouldering gym bigger than climb asia!

How to fall properly

Hi guys, not that I know a lot on this, but just want to share what I've learnt about falling and landing safely from the past year of climbing. This should be useful for the juniors who are new to climbing.
If possible, try to land on the mattress with both feet flat and knees slightly bent. This helps absorb the impact of the fall. The mattress may be soft, but it's not almighty. If you land with your feet in weird angles, you may end up twisting or spraining your ankle. If you land with your knees straight, there's a high chance of you damaging the knee ligaments (correct me if i'm wrong, life sci majors).
When you're jumping off the end tile or any tile, don't just jump off happily without looking at whats beneath you. Look out for gaps between mattresses, shoes, chalk bags or hard objects. These are potential hazards waiting to claim their next victim. Land with bent knees and feet flat on the mattress.
When you are making a risky move, always prepare yourself mentally that you may fall anytime. This gives you the awareness of where you are, whether there are any safe landing spots below you, and the position that you are most likely to land on the mattress. You can then anticipate the fall if you fail to make the move, and adjust your legs accordingly.
In the event of slipping off footholds or handholds, you may not have enough time to react to the fall. If you can, try to land on your back with your legs away from the torso. I've been hit at the jaw by my own knees a couple of times. You may get bleeding lips or worse, a sore jaw (I have one now). And do bend your knees.
And lastly, always check if there are people behind or beneath you when you are jumping down or climbing. You do not want to injure anyone, including yourself. This has happened in the gym before.
Hope all these are useful tips. Everybuddy, please add on to whatever I have pointed out to everyone's benefit.
Climb safe, train safe, land safe.
Praying for a fast and complete recovery for all sprain victims.

Felicia's Turn!!!!

ahahahaha. i didnt know that we had to post this blog!haha.

anw, i dont look like this in real life ok!=)hahahaha.

this is the real me!



siighhh.like regina, we went to the same hairdresser to cut our hair.haha.now im desperately trying to grow back my hair!i miss my long long long hairr!


anw, i know i have been MIA a few times, rock camp, sometimes trainings.

rock camp, i was down with food poisoning, it sucks!hahaha. vomitted, "lao sai", stomach discomfort, pain until cannot stand. and i "keh kiang" take medicine for 1 day only, coz i thought i felt better, and it came back again, so it lasted for almost a week.groannss.must have missed out alot during the camp

so seniors, pls forgive me if i look at u as if i dont know u at times, coz i really dont.ahaha.but an intro would be great=).

anw, i think i have been toooo long winded. here are the 5 things you should know about MEEE!=) FELICIA!!!!

the Big 1) i have been climbing for the past 3 years, i first started to feel the rock well when i was in p5. during a camp at labrador park.haha.it took me a long long time to reach the top, but i did. and being the "tom boy" i was IN THE PAST!, i began my love for rock climbing.haha.but unfortunately my sec sch didnt have rock climbing.so i join netball LOR.haha.but in JC, "ole!" SRJC had rockclimbing. haha.so of course i join la.and i never regretted since=)


2) i lovvveeee other sports, as well as Rock Climbing!haha. im a super Outdoorseey person, i love xtreme sports and will never get tired of it.muahaha....but im still not TOM BOY=) i changed ok!haha.i like to run,gym,swim,play ball games,cycle,and the list just goes on.so anyone up for gym?!?!?!=)

3) i likeeeee to TALK!haha.so pls forgive me if i cant stop talking at times. anw, all along, since pri sch, in my report book, the teachers have always commented on me for being "vivacious, extremely talkative, blah blahhh" and i think regina can vouch for that.wahaha=p

4) i like good food!haha.i will rather not eat if the food is LOUSYYYY!!dont get the wrong idea that i am spoilt or i need shark's fin or abalone. i just like to eat food cooked well(not in the food poisoning but though that is a must coz i wana avoid that incident again) but i like food with quality.haha.so anyone wanto go food hunting together=)

5) i love the 2 chip munks!haha.some of u may know coz i carry some stuff with pics of them.so if any of u guys see anything with the 2 cute chip munks (CHIP AND DALE la!) like the nail clipper=), pls pls pls tell me k!haha.
do any of u like them?we can open up a fan club u know.hahahaha.
by the way, i got food poisoning from my favourite OYSTER OMELETTE!=(


okiesss.i think i have said quite a bitt.haha.shall end it hereeee!thanks for not falling asleep guys and girls=)=)

see u all during training.

Love,
felicia.

and BERTRAND!u r next!muahaha.

Any Dancers?

regina's turn

didn't know this '5things' have been on going since september! -_-"
about me, i think i can easily name more than five

• i love GOOD FOOD and food hunts.

used to go food hunting so often and my friends and i used to eat like gluttons. but that was in the past! Miss secondary school days. now everyone eats so little. and i have many friends who are anorexic, sigh.

• i like to go for haircuts

this explains why i never had long hair since secondary school. shall show you all the transition
from
this is probably the longest i've had since sec3
had this hair cut in HK, lasted for only 2weeks
before i had this!
ta da! what shall i have next?

• i love grocery shopping!

esp in supermarkets like The Market Place. the supermarkets in HK are awesome too. they have cool stuff like.. (spot the bear-shaped ham!)

• i don't drink water
  

i haven't touched plain water for months.. i drink only juices and pink dolphin to hydrate myself. hate the taste of plain water and only drink it when i'm desperate.

• i collect nice paper/plastic bags and plane stuff

my room's a garage. but nonetheless i am proud to own plastic bags whom stores have closed down, example SOGO!

ok i've listed 5 more interesting ones out of the many that i have in mind. one more to go!

• there was one time when people kept commenting i look like felicia chin. and even submitted this for me!

this reminds me, felicia you're next!

Climbing In HK

John and I went to Hong Kong because I suddenly had this brilliant idea while looking at a Lonely Planet map in Yangshuo.

Me: Eh shit! HK is damn near here sia! Anybody want to go HK? I heard got bouldering.

That's how we ended up on an unplanned side trip to go bouldering and to pick up some gear. 5.10 shoes damn cheap in HK. The anasazi verde is something 110sgd. Suckers.

So we booked a bus overnight to Shenzhen. It was quite cheap. Less than taking a bus from here to KL. Unfortunately the night we left, we had a big (huge!) feast at the best restaurant in Yangshuo. Can't remember what its called. JS might remember. Anyway I was so damn bloated I couldn't sleep for the entire 9hr trip there. From Shenzhen to TST in HK takes 3hrs including immigration. We stayed at this run down place in Chunking Mansions in TST. Something like 20sgd a night.

Anyway to the bouldering. We went to this place called Allway gardens. Its on the last stop of the MTR (their MRT). Then you take a bus and hike up the hill, which is damn tall. I would say higher than Moon Hill in Yangshou. The boulders are up the hill. Its really pretty from up there. I imagine it would be really nice in spring when the temps are down.

View of Hk from the trail.

The trail is very steep

This is the beautiful side of HK

John is somewhere in the pic

 

And that's me

We didn't have any guidebook or crashpad and all that so it was all playing by ear. We just climbed whatever line looked good. Btw can you imagine humping a crashpad up that hill. You must be pretty dedicated. I have no idea what kind of rock these boulders are made of, but I can tell you its not limestone or granite. From my discription dr christer guesses its sandstone. But he doesn't know crap about rocks. Anyway it was all good fun and we didn't break any bones.

The funniest story is from our trip back to Guangzhou. On the MTR to Shenzhen immigration we got separated. I was in the train and John was outside. The stupid train door closed. Even funnier. My hp was flat. Lucky we were smart enough to find each other on the other side of Shenzhen. So that's all for HK. If you want more stories like shopping stories and all that, better ask me. I think we spent 600sgd or something in a one of the climbing shops buying 5.10s for all these people in sg. They must have thought we were damn hard up for shoes or something.

Alvin's right. My favorite thing about climbing is just the pure pleasures of movement. Kinesthetic pleasure. There's this mental zone that you go into when you're pulling on the hardest moves. Its fantastic.

Krabi by Jensen

http://fruitofgod.blogspot.com/2007/08/20-days-and-19-nights-in-climbers.html
This is my account of the 20 days that I spent chilling out in sun-drenched Krabi. It's a fantastic place that I'd love to go back to soon. Maybe the June hols.
Sorry, I don't have many pictures or videos of the exciting climbs that your seniors sent.
Enjoy. It's quite boring.

many things to come

Hi! this post is more so intended for the new climbers (the rest have heard enough of this) - I just hope that as you guys/girls grow to love climbing and appreciate the beauty of its' movement and the chill factor of the gym, you can also look forward to a further goal:

To Climb outdoors!! You will get your first taste of this in Dec and although it won't be one of the best crags in the world, it should be fair enough..

It's quite impossible to describe the joy of it .. it's almost like describing an elephant to a blind person. In short, it's about enjoying the beauty of the route, fighting hard against your limitations, enjoying nature and the company of friends! One of your recently graduated climbing team senior (Kelly) is now in Europe for 6months climbing at world famous crags in France and Spain. Follow her exciting travels here! http://cesttoutcequejaime.blogspace.fr/

Here are some photos from my climbing trips. The first few are of Fontainebleau in March and the last one of north england in January. Next blog post from me will be of Frankenjura when I get the photos from elisa! Can we do a climbing trip summary for the junior's sake?

I tag John to blog about Yangshuo, Sandra to blog about ipoh, Charlene to blog about batu caves, jensen to blog about krabi, Ruix to blog about ceuse, kesheng to blog about Tampin and pengyang to blog about hk. Any other places I left out? Hope you guys can spare the time and pls post fotos if you're able to :)

The world reknowned Fontainebleau (That's weimin)



Still in Fontaineblea (that's me on a famous roof boulder)



Typical sunsets



Cosy camping site



North England with some friends (it's really cold)

Non Climbing Related Like Alvin's and Peng Yang's Posts

Hullo! For all who has a facebook account, please do accept my invitation for the battleships game! Or you can join yourself and gain no bonuses pfft.

It is a game where ships bomb each other. Super fun. I had a great deal of fun watching alvin's ship chase me, sinking jiasheng's and sibin's ship. There are weimin, teckie, liuli, junjie, jiwei, yixiang, youjie, kesheng's ship to sink too! Hard to describe (and you all know that I can describe things very well and at length too). Fun because I am currently at this port where there are only 7 floating ships. It used to have like 200 ships but all of them are sunk! So basically everyone is killing each other muahaha macam battle royale like that!

I am going to check my ship now cos i tink it may be sunk haha!

This game is good when you are studying or at your computer for 17hours in a row now, writing that damn piece of term paper.

facebook. beware.

Gym Enforcer

I nominate Claudia for Gym Linebacker. Its time to get physical.

Feast.....yet again

The desperate things that people do to get stronger:

five things bout me me me! (:

HEY there!


okay b4 yixiang pester me bout blogging again, here's my entry! proudly brought to you by me, yap zhao xiu haha!

one. okay as u can see from e above, green is my fav colour. bright colours generally. im fine with pink [there isnt pink font!!! :( ] red yellow too haha. they just make e world a much more wonderful place to live in. (:



two. uhh i know alot of ppl will be defensive over this, but i dont like chocs! haha sorry mayb i dun know how to appreciate them. but yea, cant really stand e feeling of it in my mouth haha. love gummies tho! (: oh ya thanks angel for e gummies tt time haha. many of my frens wud be like "i know why u dun like to eat chocs le. cuz u'll be eating ur own fingers". (cuz im so tan..) -.- which leads to my third point!

three. im naturally quite tan alr! like since i was born. serious. okay mayb not as tan like now, but yea i was born blacker than normal. den went to tan on purpose to even out tanlines. yup many ppl mistook me being malay or worse, indian(!) b4 and started speaking to me in their languages. uhhh like aku tak tau melayu!! haha gerry diana mayb ur shud impart me some melayu! to counterattack them. haha. oh yah. my dad told me there was this incident that happened when i was young, like arnd 1yrs old? haha my grandma was bathing me, den she started scrubbing my foot vigourously, thinking it was super dirty, and said "zho meh gam hak geh?!" which means "why isit so black?!" in canto. and den upon further scrutinity, she realised that it was actually my natural skin colour. haha! yea, so unfortunately or fortunately i've been living with it for almost 19 yrs!


four. hmm i've heard comments bout me being man and stuffs. but im nott!! there's e other side of me too! heh like i was from the symphonic band in secondary sch. played the flute and the harp. my sch was e only band in spore at that time to include harp as one of the instruments in a band and i was e harpist! haha.. all e old times la. and i've got a grade 8 piano cert. haven touched e keys for qt some time now tho. i guess my fingers have more affinity to rock tiles now! haha..

five. i can fold my tongue. (: as in upwards. haha i can show u one day! (: i can twist it and turn it and fold sideways and flutter it and make a lil flower with it too. haha. e only things i cant seem to do is to use it to touch my nose and make a knot in a cherry stalk. :( e books say that tongue folding is heriditary. haha try it! den check if ur mum or dad can too! hahaha fun fun!


anyw e above are some things bout me. hope u do know me a lil better. oh yah wud like to take this chance to thank all e senior for ur concern over my ankle. thanks! (: hope e swell will go away real soon. and edwin pls do take care!! and to all of u out there, take lotsa care when climbing esp when u land kk! dun wish for e curse of the sprain ankles to prevail haha.

and realised i have e same initials as mr Zheng Xin! haha so whenever ur refer to ZX on e blog i'll get a lil confused at times. haha but it's okay. they're cool initials that make up e last few letters of e alphabets! totally unique. :P

yup that's about all! next up... reginaa!! (:

5 things abt WeiLiang ...

here's a pic of me & gf, miki, when we are at Phuket during our 1year anniversary trip ..

its my first time blogging so its quite hard..hahaha.. nothing to write actually but have to think of long ,long blogs as requested by everyone.. ok so lets start with the 5 things ... hmmm...

1. lets start with my wonderful gf, miki then. Ya its a long distance relationship between us, ongoing for 1year ++ since we met in Bali when we r both on holiday. And ya, she is actually 27, 5 years older than me and she is Korean. i believe some of you guys might seen her before at the recent gym clean up, ya that's one of our scheduled meetings.
2. i'm an army regular (sold my life to the army) if some u still dunno. but i'm not the jungle fighting, camoflage kind of commandos anymore, that was last time. i joined the urban group of commandos, the counter-terrorism side. mainly doing hostage rescue, close protection etc..
3. so the next point is related to my job.. that is the tattoo on my left wrist which writes 'batch 23'. it is the batch number of my group. i put it on cos it means alot to me. because me & my 9 other buddies goes through hellweek suceessfully and was named batch 23, hope i can conduct hellweek for batch 24 next year.. Evil ... and also batch 23 was important as a memorance to 1 of our buddies who left us from this world in one our trainings.
4. on a happier note, i liked toys. so i collected quite alot from my own to those people dun wan. mainly i collect resin figures and do plastice/resin modelling & painting.
5. lastly, i love sports. most favourite will be running but i tried all kinds almost. so i'm a jack of all trades but master of none. i think i played volley?dragonboat?rugby?soccer?basketball? many more.... so now climbing is a new sport that i picked up..

ok thats all abt the 5 things abt me. hope u all enjoyed, if not also no choice cos u all chosse to read..

So the next in line to write will be zhao xiu, ur turn..

Gym maintanence (is that how you spell it? )

The gym tiles are so clean whee!! Can stick so well. And so pretty the colours, like i am underwater in a coral reef.

I am high cos I have just done the most beautiful route ever in the gym (yea what better time to climb than a Sunday night with fellow Old KR Residents). Set by Wilson sensei, it is of moderate difficulty but technical, sequency and oh so dicey.

Brought me back to Fontainebleau in spring when earthy smells surrounded me, flowers and animals all around. Left a big smile on my face when I jumped down from endtile.

~~
On a slightly more serious note, I humbly propose that we outlaw bare foot climbing and loose chalk to keep the tiles fresh and the gym clean. your thoughts?