BG Run, November 2008 and Am Ende kommen Touristen

It was a wet and thundery morning. At around 0530 hrs, the winds were still howling and I could see from under my blanket that the buildings outside my window were being lit up by the occasional flashes of lightning. But the drive to go run overruled the desire to sleep through the storm, so I SMS-ed Ripley and said that I'll go ahead to meet her at the old SMU for this month's BG Run, regardless of the weather. Thankfully, BoSe and nerradhog had the same idea so I managed to catch a ride with them to the starting point in the rain. But the skies were clearing up by the time we reached at 0700 hrs. There, we were joined by _licht, doraemon_red and tktan. After waiting for another 30 minutes for the drizzle to subside, we set off.

For Phase I, we entered the Botanic Gardens via the Rain Tree Drive, then went past the Eco Lake towards the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden. Then, we double-backed along Eco Garden Way and ran through the Evolution Garden (stopping prematurely along the way because of upgrading works). Then we cut through the Visitor Centre and into the Ginger Garden, behind a waterfall and then up the Bandstand. After touching the Swiss Granite Fountain, we ran along the Swan Lake and then exited the gardens. We ran about 5 km, I reckon, by this time.

For Phase II, we ran up Minden Road, past Loewen and Ridley (and the house with many Ferraris), towards Tanglin Mall and then back to the old SMU via Nassim Road. A good route for hill training. :) And about another 5 km too.

The whole journey, interspersed with phototaking, was about 10.5 km by my guesstimate and took 1 hr 26 minutes.

Thanks to doraemon_red, we had refreshingly delicious Pocari Sweat- and Ribena-flavoured jelly to feast upon. :) Then we showered, and settled breakfast at the Prata Cafe. I had my standard teh halia and iced milo, plus two egg pratas :D

Later in the evening, I went to watch Am Ende kommen Touristen (And Along Come Tourists) at the Cathay with _licht. It's a German film about a youth Berliner Sven who had to serve a year of civil service in Auschwitz to help out an elderly former imprisoned Pole Stanislaw Krzeminski who lived next to the holocaust museum. A rather sombre film, which compares how the old Polish holocaust survivors and the new generation of Poles view and cope with the atrocities of the past.