Travelogue 2025

Just like how, in Runescape, fighting skills were always prioritised over things like... woodcutting and firemaking, something had to give. And so I accepted the break from writing while dealing with the rest of life.

But in the process of drafting the annual year-end post I thought it a shame to let my future selves forget some of the best times in 2025. After all, 4 trips in half a year is grand! So here's a quick one, just to preserve the best memories.

Kuching, 17-20 Jul

• The travel restart couldn't have been formulated better: short trip, short flight time, highly trusted company.
• A sign of a great trip is great appetite! Must be something to do with being on a(n active) holiday. There's absolutely no way I could eat a whole bowl of kolo mee at 6.30am in SG, or large amounts of garlic naan at 11pm.
• Other notable food mentions: I loved all the varieties of stir-fried curly shoots but was severely grossed out by the sago worms... they uh neither looked appetising nor tasted nice. Happens that we saw live ones not long before attempting to consume the dead version, and they looked and moved like muscular marshmallows.
• While this was not meant to be a hiking trip, there were elements of it coz Kuching is an access hub for various nature reserves. My poor knees were stressed.
• By contrast, Kuching town itself was nice and walkable, and clean beyond expectations. Thing is, 80% of the shops were closed for most of the daytime which makes me think rental recovery is not an issue there.
• One of the trip highlights was succeeding at entering the Fairy Caves within seconds of closing time which involved an action film-worthy sprint out the car door (not by me). We then proceeded to climb many stairs before reaching the namesake-worthy grotto.
• Another highlight was the boat ride to Bako National Park. I always enjoy the strong sea breeze, and this time on a boat was definitely a happy one haha.
• The trail we took in the park was actually pretty fun. i.e. engaging and undulating but with no boring sustained inclines haha.
• After some freefalling grey monkeys and grey boars, seeing a proboscis monkey was like seeing a pokemon in real life. Oh and it was perched so conveniently on a tree next to the path, purposefully planted. 
• Salomons are awesome. No need to fiddle with shoelaces while taking off shoes and socks for beach boarding!
• Even though this trip was objectively physically tiring, it brought a feeling of renewal that I hadn't realised I'd forgotten. The first 1-2 days back at work were unusually productive haha.
• This trip was also important in helping my body understand what it could do, and to slowly chip away at its fears making unknowns known again. Won't miss the major pre-trip anxiety which thankfully reduced with each successive trip.

Seoul, 21-26 Aug

• Seoul in summer was rather high level for my old lady body, but Suju left me with no choice haha. There really is no other reason for me to visit in summer.
• In many ways, I was extremely lucky to be there at SS10 in Seoul and on my birthday no less! Thank my luck and decisiveness in snagging that one precious ticket.
• Thankfully also, I had travel companions in the form of friends who were lucky enough to snag tickets (each of us on a different day lolol).
• Concert trips come with concert vibes to soak up! This also meant 3 days of soaking up intense sunlight, taking pics and getting handed freebies outside KSPO dome.
• As for the concert itself, Suju really outdid themselves with that insane setlist that was such a statement of longevity. I could only marvel at their physical endurance.
• Cafe hopping was a thing for escaping the heat. Even if this meant upsetting meal times haha.
• One special cafe visit was to Forest For Rest (i.e. Ryeowook's cafe), alllll the way in Gimpo. He obviously wasn't there due for work reasons but his wife glided in! She sportingly agreed to take photos on request of so many ELFs in the cafe.
• First time taking uber in Seoul and it's so affordable?? It helped to cut down on what would have been a lot of strenuous walking in the hilly city.
• As a non-picky eater, I ended up having mostly vegetarian food/food from vegetarian restaurants for most of the trip, to cater to a friend.
• It was only on the last day that the other non-vegetarian and myself realised that we almost hadn't had meat at all. So cue a final kbbq before the night flight home!

Manila, 3-5 Oct

• Yet another concert trip!
• While VIP tix was a faraway dream in Seoul, it was possible here with some help. As a result, we landed literally the closest seats to the extended stage!
• Tried Filipino food for the first time in 3 concert trips! Of all the dishes, I liked the gising-gising the best - a sort of winged green bean in coconut sauce.
• Honorable mention to the sumptious Italian meal on the first night after checking in. We were quite shocked at the size of the pizza when it landed on our table, but every item was outstanding - the pesto spaghetti and thicc cheese sticks.
• Since it was Oct, Christmas deco was out in full force and prob had been for a while, since the -ber months started haha.

Japan, 5-12 Dec

• I must say first that tours are not my preferred way to travel. The daily 6-7-8am (morning call, breakfast time, move off time) schedule was nuts, considering that I usually start work at 9+am, and we were whisked from place to place to tick boxes.
• But then, this trip was about spending time with family members I don't usually get to travel with, which meant that a tour was the most likely modality.
• Two things were top notch on this trip and the first was the weather! My favourite kind of clear blue skies + 10s deg C weather 😎 the sunlight was an absolute blessing for film photos. 
• The clear and cool weather meant that we had ample views of Mt Fuji, both planned and unplanned (like seeing it loom up off the side of the highway).
• The second thing was the shopping! I'd been living with stuff that had come dangerously close to end-of-life and was lucky to find suitable replacements.
• The shopping was buoyed by the extremely favorable exchange rate! It never fell below $1:¥120 in the entire week.
• It was definitely winter, but we were lucky to see sizable samples of the autumn colours, especially in a location where they were enhanced by night lighting.
• Overall, travelling with family (+ family friend) comes with lots of gossiping, snacking and love 🩷

Rounding up with 2 choice photos!

The simple, but deeply delicious.

And the lucky.

Month 6

And so opens the 12th blogging year with a progress report.

Month 1: Dec

- Ventured downstairs after a period of strict couch potato-ing. With just about 10 mins in the tank initially, I was too unfit to climb a mountain go out and buy lunch. 

- But it improved. So at some point I got bored after exploring every corner of my immediate neighbourhood. 

- Still it took some courage and mental prep to cross the road and go further, something I'd put off for fear that I wouldn't make it back.

- With the benefit of escort by retired dad, I even reached the start of the tampines park connector. Was too underleveled for the rest of it at that point, but I was just happy to have made it over the overhead bridge.

- Overall, life on HL was necessarily simple: wake up, bring myself out on a walk, shower, nap, do couch potato stuff until bedtime. Fueled by mum's nutritious cooking and social nutrients in the form of friends/family who made the journey to the far east to visit. And of course, regular jaunts to my personal cafe/cinema run by le sis, just a manageable 3 blocks away.

- When the limits were that low, every little bit counted, every day.

Month 2: Jan

- Ended HL and commenced 100% WFH - the first in a series of workplace concessions that were granted with much kindness. Still required 2 naps a day to start with...Who knew sitting and staring at a screen consumes that kind of energy.

- Managed to go out and buy lunch. First with one-way bus ride, and then by walking both ways. 

- Continued bringing my fragile self out on walks every evening, building up to a 30-45 min capacity which allowed the exploration of random corners in even further neighbourhoods.

- Aimed for and completed my first accompanied MRT expedition (home > bus > pasir ris > bugis > rochor > burlington square > bencoolen > tampines east > bus > home), overcoming the constant pleas from all around my body to give up and turn back to safety. I hope there will never ever be a more stressful journey.

- I guess training is meant to be tough... even if it was just training for normal life. 

Month 3: Feb

- Requested to continue 100% WFH for one more month, after assessing that I was still too underleveled to travel to office, let alone actually work in office. 

- Solo bus rides were unlocked by then at least, expanding my "safe radius" to tampines. It was like reaching level 10 in a game and venturing out of the starter area for the first time lol.

- But semi-freedom only came sometime later, in the form of my first MRT solo, both ways! This meant that I could really roam, as far as I had enough battery to make it back.  

- So time spent outside (doorstep to doorstep) became my new measure of progress. It wasn't too bad to begin with, as even half-day weekends (~5h) could be very fruitful. This typically involved a morning photowalk + lunch + drop off before the 2pm developing cut-off before heading home for a well-deserved nap.

- Since walking seemed to have become more of a given, physical training got a bit of an upgrade in the form of loading/short stair climbs. I could also help to carry groceries once more. 

- It felt like the tide was turning.

Months 4-5: Mar-Apr

- And then these 2 months combined into the most tiresome lump in the recovery journey thus far.

- The return to office commenced with a mini rollercoaster which reminded me that I wasn't the least bit crisis-resilient. Part of recovering involves recognising warning signs and backing off well before medical attention becomes necessary. 

- Was generously allowed a safer arrangement of going in only on the half-days that contained meetings. It took the entire 2 months to painstakingly stretch this to 3/4-days, a few times per week.

- There was no choice but to scale back on the exercise due to limited battery life, so it was back to plain walking with no progress. But I took it that the training helped - I could at least be sure that I wouldn't faint while climbing stairs to office hahaha.

- Dealt with the worst 2 periods of my life (and I hope ever), filled with debilitating tiredness and underground mood.

- Truthfully, I expected it to be hard but it went beyond that. But whatever's necessary since work is part of normal life~

Month 6: May

- Had a sudden sense of stability and thought to try pushing boundaries.

- As a result, unlocked full office day + after-work activities :D First of my 2 indicators for baseline normalcy fulfilled! On track to being a regular young person again lol, after so many months of having to ration weekends for fun things and social life. 

- I felt that my heart was ready to taste higher rates. Drew down on free activesg credits to try a different, more controlled approach - inclined treadmill walks. Felt great to set and complete time and HR goals without reaching the stress of overexertion.

- Long walks with mildly heavy load (vintage cameras), in increasingly hot weather, are now well within limits.

- Progress is sweet.

++++++

As the song goes, "... come so far, and there's still a long, long way to go." 

Still can't say I'm back to normal, even after 6 months. This is a soberingly common pace of recovery for PE survivors, judging from reddit posts. The good thing is that the structure of my life (no major commitments, understanding workplace) relieves me of any need to rush. 

That said, baseline normalcy feels within reach! The second indicator is to be able to jog at least 1km without stopping. Not a high bar to begin with haha but crucially, it'll be more than what I could do when my lungs were all blocked up. 

And then, I can make my way to real normal in 2H 2025 where good things are waiting :)

Such supportive data.