Virtual Virgin London Marathon 2021

 

On 3/10/2021 I ran my first marathon in 2021and it is not even a mass marathon where all the fun are. It is the virtual Virgin London Marathon. This is my second year in a roll taking part in the marathon where the registration fee is £38. There are together 50k participants for the actual and virtual marathon. This time I was joined by Paul who ran the virtual marathon even though he is staying in London. We were both unsuccessful in our bid to get a slot in the actual marathon in London and offered the virtual one. It is a blessing in disguise for me as I will definitely unable to travel to London for the actual marathon when Malaysia is imposing strict overseas travelling restrictions due to serious covid pandemic in the country.

I splitted my 42 km run which must be completed in 24 hours into 2 half marathons,  in the morning and evening. I chose the easiest route around Taiping lake garden where there is less traffic and almost flat route. It is a 3 km loop and I just have to run round the loop 7 times with my car parked besides the loop serving as my water station. I did not consume any energy gel which I usually do while running a full marathon. I just replenish my energy by consuming a piece a banana.

As I suffered slight knee injury while training for the marathon so I only ran slowly intermittent with some brisk walking. I managed to finish my 1st half marathon in 3:30 monitored by my garmin watch. After resting for 5 hours I resumed the marathon and the in -between break did not help much in reducing my fatigue. My 2nd half marathon was much slower that is 3:45. Total time covered was7 hours 15 minutes but tracking apps provided by the organiser gave my total active time as 6 hours and 54 minutes. Just wonder the London Marathon tracking apps or my garmin watch is accurate. I started my run at 8:15 in the morning and by the time I completed my run it was already 8:30 pm. It was a hard and tedious run but totally please that I managed to complete the splitted full

I did not receive my running bib this time and really hope that my hard earned finisher tee and medal will arrived safely at my doorstep three weeks later. My next virtual run will be the KL Standard Chartered Marathon some time in December. 

Virgin Money London Marathon 2020- The 40th Race

My running partner for the first 5 km and the last 8 km

I never expect to be able to run in Virgin Money London Marathon 2020 and not having had to go to London. The actual Marathon was scheduled in March but postponed to October due to covid pandemic. As the pandemic did not subside by August,  London Marathon organiser had to make the general participants run virtually wherever they were on 4th October. The elite runners were allowed to run in a very controlled environment at St James Park. The original participants who had successfully registered for marathon 2020 was allowed to opt for the virtual run or transferred their slot to London marathon 2021. Besides that more running slots were created for new applicants to participate virtually. I was very lucky to notice the opening for registration early and acted promptly to get myself a slot because the empty slots were fully taken up within few days. In total there were 45000 participants from 129 countries who would be taking part in this marathon.

My Car serving as my water station

We were given a running app created by TCS ( Tata Consultancy Services ) to be downloaded in our handphone. The app would be able to track our run wherever we were but we were only allowed to start our run earliest from 00:00:00 BST and had to finish by 23:59:59 BST ( British Summer Time) on 4th Oct. Since we were given 24 hours to complete our run I divided my run into 2 parts, that 21.1 km in the morning and 21.1 km in the evening. 

I started my run at 7:00 am or 00:00:00 BST from my starting point near the foothill of Maxwell Hill. Seok Wan accompanied me for the first 5 km of my run. I started my run by pressing on the start button in the app and stopped to see whether the app was functioning correctly after running a short distance. I was shock to see zero mile covered even though I had run almost 1 km. Actually I should set my phone's time zone to London time which I did not. After some trial and error I finally managed to set the time zone correctly and the app began to function perfectly. I had my Garmin watch as my secondary gadget to measure my run as a precautionary measure. If the app failed I could still upload my result from my Garmin connect to the organiser. 

After 5 km, Seok Wan stopped running and I continued on my own along my usual route around Taiping Lake Garden and the surrounding residential areas. It was quite sunny and hot from 8:00 am onwards and I really had a terrible suntaned. By the time I stopped my run or after covering half of the full marathon, it was almost 10:30 am.  Time taken for my first half marathon was 3:05. I paused my TCS app to be resumed at 4:00 pm as planned but I stopped my Garmin watch to just measure the time for 21.1 km. 

Time for my first 21.1 km registered by TCS app and Garmin watch

I tried to get some sleep before I resumed my run but I could not sleep and did not get the proper rest I so desired.  By 3:45 pm while I was getting ready to go out for my next run. It rainned heavily and it only stopped at 4:30 pm. By the time I started my next run it was 4:40 pm. As I had volunteered to shoot a half-hour video of my run for BBC live video wall from 5:00 to 5:30 pm, I had to carry a camera stick with me. 20 minutes after starting my run and reached Raintree walk of Taiping Lake Garden,  I logged into the live wall of BBC by keying in the unique password given to me. I could not hear any voice from the moderator on the screen but when I touched the screen, I could see a small window occupying a small section of the screen showing my surrounding in front.  So I assumed I was in the BBC live wall and started shooting the video of my run for about 2 km from raintree walk until Maxwell Hill. Maybe I did not manage to shoot anything at all but I did not worry too much as my main aim is to complete my marathon. 

My e-certificate with my elapsed time

I was experiencing fatigue in my second run and my pace went down drastically compared with my first run. After running 11 km Seok Wan came to pace with me again. Seok Wan was in good form and ran faster than me. I really had to struggle with my steps behind her. She did not accompany me till the end but stopped after I had 2 more km to go. It was already dark when I still had  5 km to completing my run but I had my headlight with me since I had anticipated running in the dark. The last 2 km was spent running alone in darkness along waterfall road and race course road and I was shocked to spot a herd of wildboars by the road side. I turned back to avoid them and continued running in safer zone. I was really delighted when the voice from the app congratulating me that I had completed the 26.2 miles. My total active time for my full marathon was 6:20 but elapsed time was 12:30. If active time is considered this is my PB which I never dare to dream achieving but if elapsed time then this is my poorest full marathon time. Even though I splitted my run into two but I still felt very exhausted after the run. So perhaps two half marathons within 12 hours and a full marathon within 7 hours does not differ much in causing tireness and fatigue. It is amazing that I had finally earned a medal of the Abbott World Marathon majors by chance and luck. 

My e-medal , the real medal will come later.

                     Time for my second 21.1 km as registered by my Garmin watch and TCS app

Virtual Tokyo marathon 2020

Due to the corona virus pandemic rampaging the world at the moment all the marathons have to be cancelled. I was lucky to be able to run in Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon held in January 2020 which was only slightly ahead of the corona virus epidemic which first occurred in Wuhan, China. Actually I had registered to run another marathon to be held in March but that marathon was  cancelled as the epidemic had spread to Malaysia during that time. The whole country was put under lockdown for almost 3 months before situation improved.  During the lockdown I still exercised but only did running on the spot in my garden. Though exercising at home could be exhausting too but it was not so fulfilling as compared to running outside. 

Seok Wan, and I started the run together for 5 km

As my wife and I are members of the St Peter's Park Run in Sydney, we participated in its virtual park run called (not) park Run which was being organised every week. We just have to run 5 km anywhere in the world any time and submitted our time for 5 km to the organiser for ranking among participants every week. The ranking will be published in the Park Run’s webpage every Tuesday. So that is my initial exposure to virtual run and it is free.We usually run in the evening from 6:30 pm when there is less traffic along waterfall road and lake garden. From the result published by St Peter's Park Run Group every week our times ranging from 33 minutes to 50 minutes were ranked among the slowest but  we were ranked first for making the most runs every week.

As the pandemic caused all the premier marathons in the world to be cancelled,  Virtual Marathons for all those premier marathons in the world such as Berlin Marathon, New york Marathon , Tokyo Marathon, Prague Marathon and so on were being organised. The organiser, Virtual Runners fixed the date for the various marathon to be run anywhere in the world. Runners from all over the world could register to run either one or more of the marathons with a registration fee which includes a medal to be posted to those who completed the run. Finisher t-shirt was also available for booking during registration. I paid RM206 for the medal and finisher t-shirt by registering for Virtual Tokyo Marathon which I found it more meaningful. This is because Tokyo was the venue for 2020 Olympic Game but was postponed to 2021. Perhaps that is the reason the Virtual Run is called Tokyo Remembering the Olympic Spirit Marathon International. Anyway I just called it Virtual Tokyo Marathon. We could register for either 5k, 10k, half marathon or Full marathon. I registered for half marathon which would roughly be a 3-hour run for me in my neighbourhood. After registration, I was invited to join a facebook group consisting participants of the Virtual Tokyo Marathon. There are more than a thousand members from many countries and the platform allowed us to know our fellow runners by  posting our runs and getting feedbacks and comments.

Taiping Burmese Pool

My route consists of a few slopes

The hidden Tupai river at the fringe of lake garden

The complete route of my half marathon

One week before the Virtual Run I practised running the full distance of the half marathon at Taiping Lake Garden. As I embarked on the run without much preparation and started off the run too late in the morning, I was totally exhausted due to the heat and bringing insufficient drinking water. In fact I was feeling hungry and I could hardly moved after 18 km of my run. Actually I could just stop the run but I persisted until I finished the 21 km as planned but the time was 3 hours 14 minutes, about 25 minutes more than my run in Taipei. My aim of running this pre-run is for the purpose of making use of this time for virtual Tokyo Marathon if  I could not run on the actual day due to any unforseen circumstances. I hit against the wall in this pre-run because I ran without consuming any energy gel which I usually do. This terrible pre-run experience taught me a lesson and forced me to be more prepared for the actual virtual Run on 2 August.

   

On the actual day, I woke up at 4 am to take my breakfast and only set out in my car to my starting point at the foothill of Maxwell hill which is very near to my house exactly at 6 am. My car was serving as my water station with plenty of drinking water, isotonic drink and banana to make sure I would not hit against the wall. My wife , Seok Wan ran together with me for the first 5 kilometers before I continued to complete my half marathon alone. Even though I was running alone but there were other joggers along my route whom I could pace with. The pacing allowed me to run slightly faster than my normal pace as most of those joggers were faster runners. My route was quite a big loop but I still managed to return to my water station twice to hydrate myself.  I started and stopped my run exactly at the same spot that is near my car but the total distance covered was not far from the 21.1 km half marathon distance. Though my time of 3 hours 7 minutes was not too impressive but I was quite happy with it and did not feel so exhausted as compared with my pre-run. 

I posted my time and snap-shot of my Garmin connect for the run as proof to organiser on the same day of the run as required. The organiser was quite efficient in the sense that on the next day the result of our run was ready for viewing. I thought I could be among the last in my man's half marathon category but I was still faster than one hundred plus runners among the total of one thousand plus runners. This is my first International Virtual Run and I found it quite a good experience. As virtual run is the normal now due to unrelenting pandemic, I may register for other virtual run especially local virtual run which is much cheaper to register.   

In the mean time I am waiting eagerly for my medal and finisher t-shirt to arrive which according to the organiser would take about 3 weeks.    

My certificate for Virtual Tokyo Marathon

Thumbs up for myself and all the runners

Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon 2020

2020 Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon

Taiwan is the country I wish to visit since many years ago but never know that it is the Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon that trigger the trip. I was jokingly talking about going to Taipei to take part in a marathon to a friend who studied in Taiwan before. A great surprise that he was interested in going with me and invited another friend to follow suit. We started our trip from Kaoshiung on 10/1/2020 and travelled northwards in Taiwan until Taipei where the marathin was held. We reached Taipei on the 16/01/2020 from Taichung via high speed train which only took one hour. We stayed at Beauty B7 Hotel which is very near to the starting venue of the marathon besides Taipei 228 Park for four nights.  

The collection of running bibs was not an easy task as the venue was quite far from our hotel and quite difficult to find. Luickily I had my two friends who are good as navigator using google map. The site for running bib collection is at Xinyi Boulevard just opposite Taipei 101 building.

Taipei 228 Park, landmark near the starting point

After collecting my running bib we proceeded with our itineraries of visiting places of interest in taipei before the day of action on 19/01/2020. The night before the race I still had cough infected while on the plane to Taiwan and I was wondering whether I should just give up the race. As I was feeling better in the morning of the race and very reluctant to give up the chance to run in Taipei which was my main intention of coming to Taiwan, I finally decided to run even though I am not in the pink of health. Luckily I was just running half marathon which would not be to demanding on my physical condition.

President palace, landmark near starting venue

Riverside park, finishing venue

As the temperature was around 10 degree I had to wear a thermal shirt before putting on the running singlet of the marathon. I could notice quite a number of participants wearing a just singlet and a short under such low temperature for the race. There are 3 categories in the marathon that is 42 km, 21 km and 13 km which attracted about thirty thousands participants. 10 minutes after the full marathon was started, we the half marathon category was flagged off. There were pacers for half marathon but only until 2 hours 30 minutes. I was standing behind the group which has no pacer as I was prepared to just run at a leisure pace through out the 21 km. I managed to maintain my pace at 12 to 13 minutes per mile as the the route is totally flat. We ran from garden road besides 228 park towards the direction of Beitou passing by quite a few tourist attractions. I stopped on many occasions to snap photos of the landmarks of Taipei such as Taipei 101in the distant,   the historical Yuanshan hotel, kuomintang war memorial and river side park which also was the finishing venue of the 21 and 42 km categories. There were water stations every 5 km interval and every water station provided banana , chocolate wafer, mineral water and carbonated drink. There were quite a number of support and cheer groups along the route to motivate us. 

I finished the race in a time 2 hours 55 minutes which is within the cut off time of 3 hours. After collecting my goodies bag which contained a medal , a nice towel, some drink and bread we had to line up to take a free shuttle bus to the starting venue which was almost 10 km away. As the queue was so long I had a hard time locating the end of the line where I could join in. The worst part is the cold because I did not bring any jacket or winter coat to put on after the race. I thought the finishing venue is the same as the starting venue just few hundreds metres away from my hotel. So I was reckless in that sense and should not complain being put in such miserable condition of being wet , smelly and icy hands for almost one hour before I reached my hotel. 

Misty Taipei 101  in the distant

 

The historical Yuan  Shan hotel

My 6th Full Marathon across the strait of Penang

With PBIM Ambassador and Olympic gold medallist ,  Bernard Lagat 

Penang Bridge International marathon 2019 was my fifth Full Marathon on the first Penang Bridge. If I were to include the Full Marathon across the second Penang bridge organised just once then this is my 6th Penang Bridge Full Marathon

PBIM 2019 was special because Kai Yang and 6 of his classmates were also taking part . All of them were running their First Full Marathon except one who took part in half marathon. During collection of running bibs I was quite shock to see very few participants queuing up to collect their goodies bag. It is a great contrast to last year when I had to wait for one hour or so for my running bib to be collected. Perhaps the organiser is more efficient or there is less participation this year. I was lucky to encounter the PBIM ambassador, world olympic champion in Full marathon with a time of 2:12 Bernard Lagat from Kenya but now American citizen.  He was there to take photo with participants and I was there at the right time to have a photo with him. As usual after  collection of goodies bag, my next stop would be at the store selling energy gel. As Kai Yang is running I bought one box of energy gels which contains 20 packets for us to share. We would most probably consume about 6 packets each as the organiser also provide energy food such as banana and energy gel. The box of energy gels cost RM130. I also bought a pack of salt tablets with a price tag of RM 18. I need to take salt tablet because I tend to sweat a lot which requires salt replenishment during the run.

Kai Yang and Seok Wan after collecting their goodies bag

After lunch we straight away proceeded to our hotel at Jalan Burma. The hotel is 13 km from the race venue which is quite far. I would not have stay there if I need not have to use up my hotel time sharing entittlement. Actually it is not wise to stay far from race venue because we lost plenty of resting time travelling between the two sites. Perhaps next year I will just book a hotel near to the race venue to save time and avoid the trouble of looking for parking which is hard to come by.

Met my Ching Ling Schoolmate Chee Hoong who competed in 10 km

The full marathon started at 1:30 am while half marathon at 3:00 am .We started off our journey to the race venue around 12 am and we had to park our car at Taman Pantai Jerjak which is more than 2 km away from the starting line. Really envious of those who stayed at Eastin hotel just 200m from the starting line. I had about 30 minutes to roam around before we were flagged off. I squeezed myself into the middle of the pack or 3 minutes behind the starting line hoping to reduce my gun time finish. As I was standing among those who were faster runners I seemed to have run faster too. But, it looked like my strategy was a mistake because I was totally exhausted after running about 15 km. My pace was very slow when I was on Penang Bridge towards Butterworth. I was feeling sleepy and exhausted and I had to run interchanging with walk and on certain time running with my eyes closed. Just wonder how many run like me in order to catch up with some sleep. Perhaps that is one of the characteristies of a fanatic and extreme marathon runner. Sometimes extremism is just hard to comprehend.

After 25 km and almost reaching butterworth, the 7:15 hours pacers overtook me. That really sent a shockwave through me signalling that I might not be able to reach the finishing line within cut-off time. The pacers were shouting and motivating us to run and that finally spurred me up. I forced myself to keep up with the cut-off time pacers until I overtook them while turning back to Penang Island. I kept running even though at very slow pace. I was so slow that I was overtaken by the pacers again. The pacers were running too fast and in no time I just lost sight of them. As I tried to beat the cut-off time I ran up the elevated section of the bridge which I would normally walk. There were no big crowds of 10 km participants near the end of bridge due their earlier flag-off. Even then I still felt my speed was hindered slightly and when I reached the 200 m to finish line, I was glad to see the 7:15 hour pacers waiting for us making me to think that I would cross the finish line within the cut-off time. I thought I crossed the line before cut off time but later realised that the digital clock was already 7:01:20 meaning I failed to beat the cut-off time.  As I was still in front of the last batch of pacers I was still given my finisher's tee and medal. My nett time was 7:00:30 which is only 30 seconds slower than the cut-off time and very much slower than my 6 hours 38 minutes achieved last year. Last year we ran in heavy rain from Penang to Butterworth and that is the only reason I could think of for me to achieve my PB in full marathon last year. I tend to run faster in the rain which I am yet to find an answer for it.

Kai Yang with his classmates proudly showing off their hard earned medals

Kai Yang's FM result

My poor performance this time could be due to few reasons such as insufficient sleep, staying too far from marathon site and did not recover totally from the 7 hours hiking trip to the peak of Taiping Maxwell hill few days before the marathon. Not enough training for long distance running could be part of the reason too because the longest distance I practised was around 15 km only. Actually my time of 7 hour is exactly similar to the time I achieved in KL Standard Chartered Marathon on 28/9/2019 which has a cut-off time 7:15. 

My slow FM time and only ahead of few who finished

I am quite surprise that Kai Yang could finish his first full marathon in a time of 6 hours 51 minutes even though he hardly trained for the marathon. Seok Wan too managed to finish her half marathon in her usual time of 3 hours 8 minutes. Penang Bridge International marathon was my last marathon in 2019 and my third full marathon for the year.     

7 hours of hiking up and down Maxwell hill

With Siak Poh at the peak of Maxwell hill , 1340 m high few days before PBIM

My second Full Marathon in Kuala Lumpur.

Should be the first to take a picture here on 28/9/19

Long queue to collect running bib at PWTC

On 28/09/2019 I completed Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Full Marathon in a Gun time of 7hours 10 minutes but a net time of exactly 7 hour. I considered this run a tough run due to the hilly track along Bukit Tunku and also the late start which made us slower runners exposed to the scorching sun for our last few hours of run. It was stated that the cut off time for full marathon is 7 hours 15 minutes but it seemed the cut of time followed the time of the digital clock at the starting line or gun off time. It is not so fair those runners at back of the pack who crossed the starting line 10 to 15 minutes after the gun off. In fact there were 2 more cut off times , one at 21 km and another at 32 km. Three bus load of runners did not make it to the 1st and 2nd cut off time and were seen sent back to the starting point. 

Landmark at starting venue

Stand behind the 6 hours pacers even though I am much slower

I did not run well in this marathon because I went to the  starting venue too early. I was at Padang merdeka around 1:15 am. Perhaps I was the first pariticipant to arrive because I could only see volunteers and no other participant at that time. The starting time for full marathon is 3:45am which meant I had to wait for 2 hours and 30 minutes. In fact I was feeling a bit hungry near to the gun off time which affected me psychologically. I went to the starting venue early because I was worried I could not get  transport from Bukit Bintang where I stayed if I started out too late. I initially thought of taking a grab but ended up taking a taxi instead who charged me RM20 for the short trip. He sure had overcharged because he was very happy when I pay him the fare because he was seen kissing the notes I passed him. It is good sometimes to be a Santa Claus to make people happy. The road in the initial part of the race was not really level even though it is in the city centre. I had to run slowly fearing that I might step on uneven ground. The big crowd and hot weather is another factor that prevent me from slower than my usual pace. . I like the part on Duke highway which stretches for more than 10 km with excellent pacement  but that was the time I was strucked with fatigue. I had to employ the technique of heavy breathing to relieve my tiredness and kept me going forward.

There are quite a few places of slope and I followed the crowds by walking up the slope but ran down the slope at slightly faster pace. Perhaps it was the slope that made me suffered slight pain in my left knee. I tried to keep running slowly in the last 10 km as I did in my previous full marathon in Borneo Marathon but fatigue just did not allow me to keep on running without walking. Even though I had consumed 6 energy gels and 2 pieces of banana but those energy enhancers just did not help to improve my performance.  

The organiser had really lived up to its reputation as a good organiser because they provided more than sufficient water and isotonic drink, cooling stations with sponges and many first aid stations. The commendable part is the provision of 2 energy gels and 2 banana at different water station. The shortfall of this marathon is despite all the precaution yet there was an accident involving 2 faster runners who were  knocked down by a lady driver high on drug. Luckily their injuries were not life threatening but it would be a big blow to them because they might not be able to run again in the very near future. 

Hard earned medal

Even though I just managed to beat the cut off time by 5 minutes but I am still happy with my achievement. What matters most to me is to complete the full marathon within cut off time and earn myself the medal and finisher's tee. While collecting my running bib at World trade centre, Taipei Standard Chartered marathon organisers were seen handing out brochures to invite runners to run in Taipei Standard Chartered marathon. I was surprised they had to come so far to invite participant because marathon in Taiwan usually sell out very fast. Perhaps it is due to the Hong Kong unrest and the prohibition of mainland visitors to Taiwan. I finally decided that I would grab this golden opportunity to run in Taipei which I had yet to visit. I would just register for half marathon which has a cut off time of 3.5 hours and within my reach. See you Taipei Standard Chartered Marathon on 19/01/2020. 

Visiting Tian Hou  temple with two Chung Ling Classmates

Third Edition of my Parit Buntar Kampung Run

Mesmerizing sunrise above the padi field

It had been a while since I ran my third Parit Buntar Kampung Run on 1/9/2019 but only  now could I force myself to make a report of my run. The run was really a run through scenic padi field and seaside in Kerian district between Tanjung Piandang and Kuala Kurau. It is a bit special this time because my former colleague , Charlie and his Son Aaron from Sarawak registered for the race inorder to experience a real village run in the remote part of Perak. Unfortunally Aaaron did not make it due to job assignment. My wife and I registered for half marathon while Charlie decided to walk in the 12 km category.

Scenic " Broken Bund"

small fishing boats at the " broken Bund"

beautiful sunrise and water ripple

There were roughly few hundreds participants for the half marathon category and we started our race in Tanjung Piandang at 6:20 am. From the starting venue we ran into a Chinese fishing village before we turned into the coastal area called the " Broken Bund". It is a straight tarred road stretches from Tanjung piandang to Kuala Kurau for almost 11 km. It is the best moment to run on this part of the route because it is the Strait of Malacca on one side while canal and wide padi field on the other side.We passed by small sandy beach, hardly surviving mangrove forest, fisherman's jetties and big fish farms. 

It seems only two of us are running

Charlie, a brisk walker 

The most exciting moment was the encounter of sunrise. The big and clear reddish sun rising above the horizon of  the padi field was just stunning and mesmerizing. Before reaching Kuala Kurau we turned into the padi field but it was just over padi harvesting season and we could only see waterlogged fields waiting for replanting. Perhaps the organiser should choose a date of race where runners will have the opportunity to see the padi field full of its golden padi grains hanging from its  bending stalks. After the padi field we turned into the trunk road from Kuala Kurau to Tanjung Piandang and this is the most unplesant part of the run. We had to share the road with other traffic and the road is quite dusty. It was getting hot too aggravated by no roadside shady trees.  Luckily it is only a few kilometers before we turned into padi field again and then onto the trunk road before we reached the finishing line. My time of 3:00 hour is not impressive considering the whole route is totally flat. Seok Wan was not too bad , only 10 minutes behind me even though she was quite slow in the beginning and spent more than 5 minutes in a toilet at the fisherman's Jetty. When I reached the finishing line Charlie was already back with a time of 2:00 hour for 12 km which is a great achievement considering that he did not run but brisk walked all the way. 

After the race we spent sometime in Kuala Kurau , a picturesque fishing village famous for its special prawn fritters, stingray noodle and seafood. We visited the salted egg factory which also sells a lot of other specialties from nearby towns before we returned to Taiping to continue our visit to Taiping spritzer ecopark and duck farm in Trong.

Charlie and wife in Kuala Kurau

  

On the pedestrian bridge of Kuala Kurau

Feeding the ducklings in Trong duck farm