Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Same Jeans - The View

This is my favourite song at the moment, a catchy tune by Scottish Band "The View". The rest of the album "Hats off for the Busker" is fantastic too. It is produce by the same guy who produced the unforgettable "Definitely Maybe" of Oasis.

But don't care about names, just press play and sing along.... I've had the same jeans on for four days now, I’m gonna go to a disco in the middle of the town. Everybody’s dressing up I’m dressing down .....

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Friday, May 25, 2007

Action Asia Photos

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It is already May and Action Asia has yet to announce the dates for any of the Adventure Races this year. Though they have put up a few albums to show pictures of last years AA Challenges and the AA Sprints over the winter. I managed to dug out some great moments of Tempo Sparks in the the past 12 months. If you ever want the what was it like in one of those races, don't miss the albums.

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Al Petra

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"Been somewhere exotic lately?" No, this is just a very authentic arabic cafe opened in the middle of Tsim Sha Tsui. As you probably know that I am fond of exotic cusine and have even famously cooked a middle eastern feast for 12 people all by myself in those days in England. There is a little Arabic grocery in the seedy district of Nottingham which equipped with all the strange spice I needed then. Back in Hong Kong, I have never found satisfying middle eastern food, the up market restaurants in Soho just doesn't really feel right. My shish kebab should be down to earth, straight forwardly delivered with a street food touch. That is before the arrival of Al Petra, opened by two Jordanian and cooked by a former five star hotel Jordanian chef. The tiny cafe occupied the last shop on a dead end street and the knock down front wall layout enhance the ambiance of a street cafe from Marrakesh. The night I was there, a group of Indian youth were smoking sheesha and playing card around a table on the pavement. What about the food, it was simply like the best of the best I get from anywhere around the Arabian Sea. The best bit was the chicken kebab, they've marinated the chicken for 2 days and the taste of the spice fused with the meat was astounding. And can't go without mentioning that one of the owner is a DJ and no doubt the Arabian pop music also help fooling my brain to imagine that I have just taken a little trip half way around the world.

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Total Immersion Swimming

As ecommended by Alex, I bought a book called “Total Immersion – by Terry Laughlin”, and learn this revolutionary swimming technique. Under the Total Immersion (TI) system, 70% of swimming is done by the core, the limps merely provide the remaining 30% of the propulsion.
When you can balance, you can reducing body drag by maintaining a body shape that “swim through a hole”.
Hence the legs only kicks to help balancing the body and to hide themselves in the “shadow” of your body down the slipstream. As for the arms, their main function should be to lengthen your body, to turn yourselves into a torpedo (more hydrodynamic). In the pull cycle of a swimming stroke the arm and shoulder is surprisingly not the source of power but merely an extension of an action that originated in the turning of the hip, an analogy is like hitting a backhand in tennis, the power comes from the turning of your waist, not the arm. Of course this makes perfect sense so far, you probably know that when you were a kid.

What I found radical is the drill in the TI system; the drills are all emphasizing body balance. When you can balance, you can reducing body drag by maintaining a body shape that “swim through a hole”. The drill also emphasis the hip turning, not only as the power source but also to bring your side out of the water at each stroke, again to reduce drag. None of the TI drills will build stronger kicks nor improve shoulder endurance, the idea is when you can glide through the water like a knife, you will become strong at the right muscle (which happen to be the muscle below the armpit, not the shoulder.) Strange huh?

I’ve been visitng the pool in the gym the last 2 days to try out the first few drills on my own, hard to tell if I am doing it right. Though being able to flow on my back and move forward is not something I can do easily before, it is definitely new insight to find that delicate body balance of neither sinking my legs nor drowning my face.

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Sunday, May 06, 2007

AA Sprint - Discovery Bay

Action Asia Sprint 2007 Race 5 - Discovery Bay
Date: 29-April-2007
Time: 1:47
Overall: 139 / 295 Finishers
Men's Team: 11/17 Finsishers

Andy's Album
Action Asia's Album

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Tuesday, May 01, 2007

2007 Freeyasoul Adventure - Japan Alps

We are now planning the long awaited Japan Alps trip in mid-July, you might have already got my invitation already, here some more pictures to temp you to this 6 days hike. Our trip will begin in Murodo and ends in Kamikochi. Reserve your holidays now!

Tatayama - 立山

Gosikigahara -
五色ヶ原

Kurobegara-dake -
黒部五郎岳

Yari-ga-take - 槍ヶ岳

Oku-Hotaka-dake - 穂高岳

Kamikochi - 上高地

Want more click on this link for some even more stunning pictures that I can't copy off the webpage.

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