Ngiling Bidai

At Rumah Jipon

had a very quiet gawai this year. i thought since i was in song i would be able to experience gawai celebration even more intensely cause song is situated in the interiors. horrors of horrors, instead of taking shots after shots of tuak and ijok, i was seeing patient after patient from 730am till 11pm even though it was a public holiday.

Ngiling Bidai

so i wrote off gawai 2011 as a disappointment. until i went to rumah jipon during my last VHT )village health team). apparently there is this celebration called "Ngiling Bidai" which is to celebrate the end of gawai. Ngiling bidai literally means "to roll over the matt" and it signifies a new beginning for everyone.  

They gave me this traditional head gear to wear

so happen that day the folks at Rh. Jipon were planning to have their "Ngiling Bidai" on the same day as our mobile clinic. there are 25 "pintu" or rooms at Rh. Jipon and we are supposed to drink at every pintu. and at each pintu we were suppose to fold over a mat. once you fold the mat, its customary for you to down a shot of tuak in addition to the tuak being served earlier at each pintu.

Smoking the local "cigar." pretty strong stuff

i was kind of the guest of honour for the event. so i was given the privilege to fold the mats. never in my life (or ever will again) have i folded so many mats. i think i folded something like 18 mats that night.

River snail for supper

so you can imagine how much i had to drink that night. fooo..... never had so much tuak in a single night before. surprisingly i did not get drunk. i was high but not drunk. it must be all the oily food that they served at each pintu.

Playing their traditional music

among the foods served are home made cookies, fried eggs, river snails, chicken soup, fried mee, cucumber soup etc. needless to say, i gobbled everything down....except for the snails. never could suck the damm thing out from the shell.

Ngajat

i also tried the local tobacco that one old guy was smoking. i must say, its as strong as some cigars i've smoked. if not stronger. because of its intense smell, the locals here use to smoke it to ward off insects while working in the field or jungle. 

At one of the pintu

once we've finished with all the pintus, it was time to sit down to enjoy some local music and dance. the folks started to dance their traditional dance called the "Ngajat." they tried to convince me to Mengyajat as well, but i rather focused on my drinking. god knows i cant dance even if my life depended on it. 

Good company = Great time

all in all it was another good experience. the sincere hospitality and friendliness of the people here never cease to amaze me. if only more were like them. really looking forward to next year's gawai.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon

Part of the 12000 people running the 10km

FINALLYYYY!!!! i did go for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011 run. well, i didn't run the marathon la, just the 10.6km as planned. 2 weeks leading to the run had shin splints of both my legs. was worried i wasnt going to able to run cause i cant even run past 2km before a shearing burning pain develops on both my shin.

Runners running towards the finishing line

i made my way up to KL anyway and stayed at a crappy 3 star hotel. woke up at 430am and had half a chicken puff and 500ml of water. then i was off. took the monorail to Hang Tuah station and then hoped onto the LRT to Masjid Jamek. after that had to walk for around 20 minutes to Padang Merbok. many other runners were doing the same as well. by the time i reached there and after all the warm up i was all sweaty and smelly.....and so was 12,000 other runners.

At the finishing line

so imagine this.... 12,000 sweaty people all cramped up like sardine at the starting line. shoulder touching shoulder. then group stretching and warm up starts. and everyone was asked to stretch their arms by lifting their arms up...... CAN YOU IMAGINE THE SMELL??? i felt like i was in some damm ikan masin factory man. and you cant run away cause wherever you turn, there is a sweaty hairy armpit starring back at you. i swear to God some ppl probably fainted before the race started. never felt more relieved to hear the starter gun going off.

Post run ice treatment and massage 

there were a large number of lady runners at the event as well. some of them need to be told that there is something called a sports bra. so it was no surprise that during the run i noticed to my right: bouncing boobies. to the left: bouncing boobies. to the front: my bouncing tummy.

Cheer leaders 

worried about the pain at my shins acting up, i just decided to take it easy at the start and run at a slow pace. thankfully was able to run relatively pain free for most of the race. started picking up my pace only at the 8km mark. started feeling real tired at the 9km mark but once i saw the finish line, it was a 400m sprint to the finishing line. when i reach the finishing line, i almost puked twice. thank god nothing came out. that would have been a embarrassing sight.

It was a carnival like atmosphere at the runners' area after the race

my official finishing time was 1:11:08, ranking 607 out of the 4926 runners in the 10km Men open. was hoping to hit below the 1 hour mark. but considering that i hardly ran 2 weeks before the race its still ok la. i guess to improve my running time i need to loose more weight, pace myself better and improve my running technique. all can be achieved with more discipline and training.

Not something you want too see after a hard run

so next stop will be the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon this 4th December 2011. i've already signed up for the half marathon with a few other friends. looking forward to the next challenge.