Hey All,

Today is the rest day after yesterday's long march. It was around 75km. We had to wake up early and take a bus at 7am to the starting point which was at slight more than 2 hrs away. Stage started at 10am. Despite the sores, blister and aches, everyone was really gearing up for it. After this stage, we would have more or less done the entire race.

Started the race easy. Did some fast walking to get the body warmed up. Still have not gotten used to the cold morning. Got some teabags from Seng and Ken which helped a lot. After the first checkpoint, finally got into some rhythm and started picking up the pace. There were some rolling hills that we had to go through and the dreadful rocky riverbed. But I guess the first 4 stages helped a lot in helping me getting used to it. Knees were still hurting but guess the adrenalin was helping to cover up the pain.

Went through a lot of beautiful places again. This time went pass this green field/meadow with the snow capped mountains in the background. Once I got through around 35km mark, started to run more consistently. Had initally planned to get some hot meal at the 50km mark, but just topped my fluids and continued. Weather also became less hot. It was in fact drizzling and there was a bit of a sand storm. I was feeling really good and in a good rhythm. Kept running at a good pace and was catching up with a lot of people. Guess all the past 4 stages trained me up a bit and of course my bag was much lighter compared to the first day. Plus those chewy sweets helped too (Thnks Sil!). Was really moving up a lot and body was felling awesome.

After around 60km, each step was starting to become painful as the muscle soreness was increasing and the knees was hurting. Had the occassional sharp painful steps because of the blisters when i stepped on a sharp rock. But kept pushing myself and using each person in front of me as my immediate goal.

Got to the last checkpoint and i had around 8/9km left. By then, my legs were feeling super sore especially my knees. Could no longer keep up to the pace. Each step was agonizing and felt like the knees were going to give way. Tried to jog as much as I can until I can hear the sounds of the drumbeats which is the signal of the end point. At that point, shut out everything and ran as fast as I can through the end point.

Can't imagine that the long day was over. Finished just before 9pm which was just undr 11hrs. It was the best stage for me.  It was still bright. Came in 25th and because of that my overall position improved drastically to 45th.

But the knees are still really painful. Hopefully it gets better tomorrow for the last stage. Tmr's going to be 15km and we will end at a school. Started the race with no expectations other than to complete it. That goal has not change and tomorrow will be an enjoyable one to the end.. Everyone's feeling super great as the week long race will be almost over.

Race has taught me a lot of stuff. Met some of the most amazing people and seen beautiful sceneries in this race.  It has been a great experience for me. Can't wait for tomorrow. Thanks to all for your emails and comments. You might not know it but those stuff realy helped to push me and make it through each stage. Thanks Sil for those postcards too =)

See you guys soon in Singapore! Looking forward to proper meals, not freeze dried food =)

Today was a much better day for me. The highlight of the day and the event was the Heaven's Gate. We had to run around 2/3km to the bottom of the site and ddrop our bags and climb up multiple ladders and slopes to this huge rock arc and through the arc, you will get a great view of the mountains in the far distance and some plains. Awesome sight. Truly worth the climb up.

We were warned yesterday that today's leg was going to be a much tougher test than Stage 3. We had to climb up huge hills/mountains and run along the ridges. There were many climbs and downhills but when you get the top you can see such awesome views around. Took some pictures though don't think it can really show how great it was. Along with the climbs, you have to go down as well. And there were a few casualties.

Feelings today was good despite the many climbs. Hd my blister sorted out the day before so there was less pain. Knees were still hurting but you go up the rigdes, all the pain was gone. After the multiple hill climbs and ridges walking, it was downhill thru a big riverbed. Many uneven rocks and didn't do much running sa compared to the first 25km.

Went through the hills and riverbed walking with Franz. Had a good time talking and we were making quite good progress. After the 3rd checkpoint, there was a wide river, and both of us decided to take off our shoes and keep on exchanging my pair of slippers across the multiple rivers. We took at least 30 min. And once we got to the other side, we took our time to dry our feet. By then, around 10-15 people have passed us - these were the guys who Man Up and ran across in their shoes. We took some time but we have the long run tmr which is around 75km, so didnt want to risk getting a blister before a long distance stage.

But as soon as we got our shoes on, we ran an other 50m, we reached another river. FML. Well at least it wasn't as wide and we managed to avoid our shoes to be completely wet. Today was tough but in my opinion not as bad as yesterday's

Tonight is going to be an exciting night. Everyone is just tlaking about the long march. There are going to be a lot of hilly sections but will think it will be awesome as well. Can't believe already at the end of the 4th day - around 60 percent of the whole race.

Thanks to all for the wishes. trying to write as much but as each day passes, it gets a bit shag. haha. Anyway thought of the day for some of us "Hope for a downhill, Expect an Uphill!"

Till the next update!

Today was the 3rd day and think was the toughest of all the 3 days. And its going to get tougher tomorrow! Today, i basically most of the way because there is a bad blister at on  my left sole - exactly at the ball of my foot. So each step was agonizing! Plus the right knee is not doing too well. There were a lot of parts where it was rocky, steep slopes up and down, and the temperature was hotter today. We were going mostly up.

Slopes were steepeer today. Each time I walked and looked at the two guys in front, they kept disappearing. And  that's because there were going down another slope. And there were a LOT of up and down slopes. Going down was basically like a skiing experience with the loosse rocks. If I was wearing my army pants, would have definitely slid down.

Today's checkpoint is called the Heaven's Gate so this stop will be the start to the uphill run tmr. It's going to be whole lot tougher with the elevation and the rocky terrain. It is going to be a cold night. Already feeling the chilly winds. So gonna mke sureim all wrapped up tonight. Didn't have a good start today as the cold temperature made it difficult to breathe. For once, I was wishing for Singapore weather..

Today we had a few people who didn't make the cutoff timing. Heat, terrain and slopes were agonizing. Kuan from my camp had to fallout due to his bad ankles. On top of that he is carrying a lot of stuff in his bag. But good job nonetheless - this race is really tough!

Only managed to see the blog comments today. Had only seen the emails previously. Reception is bad up here. Thanks to all who have messaged. Really helps to get through each tough day!

Sil: Yep reading your postcards. Sometimes a bit shag so takes some time to understand and read your handwriting. Awesome stuff  =)

Tough day today so definitely the stuff in postcards helps. And no, i am not cheating. Though it is adding some weight hahaha

Fer: Vamos!!!! I will remember that each time i go up a slope.

Nianjia: Thanks bro. Good hearing from you.

Sourabh: Sourabh bhai! Shag man. There are a few indians here from Delhi. Got my dose of indian tea yesterday at camp 1 =)

Grace : Blisters got the better of me today. Got them punctured and taped up. Hopefully tmr the blister and knee is all good and can do some running tmr. I am not a god walker =) Giving anything less than my best is to sacrifice the gift.

Sazali : Humbling experience. Terrain was really unexpected. But those lunges and legs workouts helped!

Fong Chin: Yep hydrating well. Hot here so need to keep the salt intake together with the water.

Janice : Cold weather. hahha Well at least not blazing.

Weiyi:  Thank bro. We join together next time hahaha.

Finished the 2nd day of the race. Didn't blog yesterday so this will be an update for the past 2 days.

Day 1 started off well. Due to the rains in the mountains, the route for the first 10km was changed. So we only ran around 32/33 km on the first day. Weather was excellent. It wasn't as hot as I expected and it was a cold morning. Started the first part of the race quite fast and ran past some beautiful sights. Will update the pictures when I get back. 15km onwards it started getting tougher. There was a lot of rocky terrain which was not very friendly for my knees. So decided to walk till I went past the rocky parts. Must say my walking speed is really really slow. There were so many people who went past me. Definitely helps if you have long legs. But you get to walk and talk to some of the people. Met a few interesting people along the way and during that 10 min or so, you get a glimpse into the life.

Towards the end, caught upo with a Nicholas, French who is based in Beijing - cool chap. Started talking and we walked most of the time until we got to the last 500m to the end. End point was at a village called Tashpushkar. The locals were kind enough to let us into their house to sleep. So we were quite comfortable. not sure what the locals do - probably some agricuktule but they were far from the main town of Kashgar. They were mostly muslims if not all. There was even a mosque in the town. Toilet was in the cow shed, so you are really doing your 'business' with the cow beside you.

Didn't get to have a room each and we all shared a common room. Plus there was clean water and had time to wash up. Some even went to wash their clothes. Also, didn't realise that i brought a 1.25 litre of orange juice throught day 1. So had a good night of orange juice.

Sleep was good despite some annoying swinging door action and a baby crying for the first 1 hr. Woke up this morning and it was really cold!  today's distance is around 39km. First part was nice and ran with Franz for the first part. View was again awesome. But after the first checkpoint , it was all up and down the slopes. It was rocky as well. Really took a toll on my knees. They are still feeling sore now. So the 10-20km mark was hell for me. Wished I bought the poles.

3rd part was ok but rocky with undulating ground. Ran along the river bed in the earlier part so it wasn't that interesting. Caught up with a team from Australia who did Atacama previously and planning to do the next 2 after Gobi. Also met up with a Singaporean. That was nice because you have someone that you can rlate to and speak a bit of singlish.

The last part was a bit of uphill on a road. There were no rocks but just decided to walk on the uphill but once we got to the top, it was all the way downhill and great view of the mountains and plains in the distance. Ran most of the downhill nd think finished around 6 hrs for the 2nd day.

Knees are sore, so hope it gets better tmr. The toenails are having some blister inside as well so had to poke some holes to relieve some pressure. Tomorrow will not have many downhills, just upslopes all the way but I am sure tmr will be an awesome day again!

Sil: Yep got your emails/comments. Reception is poor. So can't really msg you. Hope the week goes well. Miss you too. Please let my parents know abt the blog and how to email me.

Ian: thanks bro! Taking each day one day at a time =)

Mike: Thanks bro for your prayers. Appreciate it

Appreciate all your emails/comments. Helps especially tough days.

Got into kashgar yesterday evening. It was a long flight from Shanghai – longer than from Singapore to Shanghai. City was more built up than I expected and majority of the people here are muslims. They had signs in Chinese and ARABIC! Knew there is a big muslim community here but didn’t know it was evident in even the signs.

There is one more day to the start of the BIG RACE! Had the equipment check today at the hotel and made our way to the starting line by bus. Bag is around 11kg without the water. Tried to lighten as much as possible. Guess have to eat as much as I can in the first few days to lighten the load. Bus ride was around 3 hrs with awesome sceneries and weather wasn’t as bad as I thought. Have another 7 days of running/walking to go so I don’t really want to jinx it.

Gazi is the first camp and I am sharing a tent with 8 other guys! 2 guys from Austria, 2 from HK, a HK born UK, a Swede and English based in Singapore and a Singaporean. I am sure we will be spending a lot of time talking and motivating each other for the next few days.

We had a nice welcome from the locals here. They did some performance and showed us a sport where they ride horses and try to  get hold of a dead lamb and bring it to an end zone – something like ultimate Frisbee?? Had my first freeze dried food for the race. It was Mediterranean pasta. It wasn’t pretty hahaha. Well good thing brought some instant noodles and some chips.  There is going to be campfire today but probably will try to sleep early tonight to have some proper race before the 7 days of rocks/sand/sun!

Terrain is very rocky and full of high cliffs and canyons. We are starting off at 8 am tomorrow morning. This area is following the same time as in Beijing. But because it is in line with India, sunrise is around 730am and it gets dark only at 10pm. I am writing at 8 pm but it is bright like it’s 3-4 pm in the evening in Singapore. So there is a lot of time to go through the whole course. Planning to enjoy tomorrow’s day 1. So let’s see how it goes. Will update in my next post.

To ian: thanks bro! appreciate the encouragement from London. KEEP IT COMING!!!!

To Fer: Hola  bro! Still haven’t meet the 2 Argentineans. Jajaja. Thanks for the support!

To my family: I got here safely. Customs confiscated my honey though. Forgot to check it in – was in my hand carry. But wouldn’t be able to bring it because weight is already so heavy.

To Sil: Hey Princess! Sorry couldn’t call you earlier but it was a big rush earlier in the day with the equipment check and the check out. Will keep you updated on my progress. Have an awesome weekend and enjoy Singapore for me!

Till the next update guys!