Philips InfraCare review: Helping my achy knees

I always say that 'you never regret a good workout'. I standby that saying but even a good workout has its backfire if one is not too careful. Injuries, muscle pull and wore out joint often go hand-in-hand with being healthy and fit (ironically) and if not properly treated early on, these aches and pains can go on to be a nuisance and movement hindering for older you.

I, for one, am feeling the 'rewards' of my tennis days, sliding across the court and running back and forth with a lot of stop, turn and sprint motion thrown in. Those left my knees and heels with a lot of pains even until now.

My left knee in particular has taken the blunt of the injuries and I could feel sharp pain every time I squatted or knelt. It got worst when I injured my hip which in turn affected the way I walked which brought back the pain in the knee. Sigh.

Bright Spartan Trifecta Weekend 2016 recap

Well, I have done it. I managed to completed not one but two Spartan Trifecta this year. Once a distant dream, it was made possible with a lot of planning and the willingness to make small sacrifices like buying less clothes and going out less. So much less...I have no social life now outside of my bootcamp and work groups.

A Weekend in Beautiful Hell

It seemed right that my first Trifecta for 2016 had come from Malaysia and very appropriate that my second came from Australia, the land where my Spartan journey started. The journey to these Trifectas has been nothing short of memorable.

My Spartan medals since 2014

St Marc Cafe's Chococro lands at Sunway Pyramid

I remember one rainy morning in Kyoto, I sought shelter and breakfast from the heavy downpour in a St Marc Cafe near the Teramachi shopping arcade. It was early, cold and I was hungry. It was then I was introduced to their delicious array of pastries and its...Chococro....drools. Think layers of buttery croissant wrapped around a rich centre of dark chocolate. Delicious!

It seemed that founder Naoyuki Katayama discovered it by accident one day after skipping the fermentation process when making the croissant dough, resulting in a pastry that is denser and richer, and creating one of St. Marc Café’s bestsellers to date.

Now, I don't need to go all the way to Kyoto for St Marc Cafe because it has just offically launched its first outlet in Malaysia at Sunway Pyramid. St. Marc Café prides itself in creating and baking all of its pastries in-house, ensuring their freshness and quality. The café’s open-kitchen concept allows customers to see how the pastries are made, as well as enjoy the aroma of freshly-baked goods.

Get your cat checked up with MyCat2Vet Campaign by Royal Canin

"Your cat is a little on the chubby side for his size."

When the vet told me this, I stared at my silly furkid boy, Milo and patted the underside of his belly and his sides. Now that he mentioned it, Milo was a little on a meaty side and I hadn't realised it.

There are a lot of things we don't realise about our pets, cats in particular and one of those things are their health. A survey commissioned by Royal Canin revealed that an estimated 2 in 5 cat owners in Malaysia won’t be taking their cats to a veterinarian this year. One significant finding was that 40% of cat owners surveyed have never taken their cats to the veterinarian.

Mobile wifi review: Travel Recommends in Melbourne

We all read about that Olympic Champion who incurred a $5,000 phone bill just from playing Pokemon Go at the event. Noob. Like why you no buy local sim card or rent wireless wifi router? Gone were the days when we lived in fear during our travels over obtaining a thousand dollar phone bill just because we needed to google a location and address while on holiday.

What more with our constant practice of sharing and posting on social media and not to forget hunting region exclusive Pokemon such as this Kangaskhan.

[Hokkaido 2016] Day 6 - Dominica Soup Curry, Hokkaido Shine and Beer Fest!

My last day in Hokkaido and for the third time throughout that trip, it was raining....the urge to just curl up in my nice hostel bed was tempting. BUT then again, it was my last day in Sapporo and driving by a need for piping hot food, we headed out in search of soup curry.

This time we tried Dominica Soup Curry, a little hidden jem 15 minutes from our hostel. Located in the isolated hallway of an unsuspecting building, Dominica Soup Curry offered the most unlikely form an eatery with odd decorations and a tight seating space that can accommodate about 15 people at its peak hour. And even that meant elbows being bumped and rubbed occasionally.

[Hokkaido 2016] Day 5 - Self Drive to Lake Toya and Noboribetsu

Day 5 in Hokkaido brought on heavy grey clouds followed by a heavy downpour in the later part of the day when we were on the road from Lake Toya to the Hell's Valley aka Noboribetsu. It was yet another long drive into the countryside and after the previous day's adventure into Biei and Furano, I found myself wishing that we opted to stay an extra night out near Lake Toya.

Anyway, due to the weather we decided to play it by the ear and ended visiting the following places:
1. Silo Observatory
2. Lake Hill Farm
3. Volcano Science Museum
4. Sendoan,Toyako-cho
5. Noboribetsu

Lazada Online Revolution 2016: Retail Therapy for All

Well, we now live in a world where Donald Trump is POTUS. Not only had the idiots taken over with this victory but little do they know how their choice will also affect the rest of the world.

Let us console ourselves with some therapy and nothing works better than retail therapy. And where else than at Lazada Online Revolution 2016. Think over 1,000 brands, 55,000 international and local merchants. All for one month as part of Lazada's fifth Online Revolution since its inaugural event in 2012.

OCR Highlights: Great Eastern Viper Challenge Sepang

Viper Challenge has come a long way since its first event in Nov 2013 as Asia's Biggest Obstacle Challenge. The recent Viper Challenge Sepang (the final leg of the Finisher Series and the fourth long distanced challenge to be held at Sepang International Circuit) saw an attendance of 17,568 participants tackle the terrain and obstacles throughout the day, in the morning and at night!

It helped tremendously that the event was blessed with a cooling weather and an overcast of clouds that kept the sun rays at bay. Less heat meant less dehydration and that meant less injuries amongst the participants. Blessed weather aside, the organisers themselves were no slackers as they pulled out all the stops at this event with many big-named sponsors and new and improved obstacles.

In a nutshell, here are the highlights from the Great Eastern Viper Challenge Sepang.

Four Years on...

Sigh... it's quite bad that I missed my own blog's anniversary. And here I was wondering why people were congratulating me on LinkedIn. 

But yes, it has been four years. It's my blog's fourth anniversary and of late, I have questioned and pondered the direction of my creative medium amongst other other things. 

Four year ago, I started this blog to allow me to continue writing as I used when I was a writer at a magazine. It was quite simple then, the content potential unhindered and unbound but eventually I realised things were changing.

Things have changed. I've changed and those changes reflects in the way I write and what I write about on this site. From general lifestyle to food and travel to its current status - fitness, OCR and travel oriented.

It has been a long journey but I finally found my passion, my niche. I've been blogging about OCR when it first landed in Malaysia with Viper Challenge leading the way. Alongside the growing OCR scene in Malaysia, I hope to see this site grow with it.

Happy Anniversary and Happy Halloween, blog. 

Cheers, 

Tania