Flying back to England for Christmas

Today I'm flying back to England for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to spending two weeks with my family before returning to Vietnam just before the new year. I'm flying with Thaiairways whose slogan is 'smooth as silk'! We shall see!! 

Below is their flight map. I fly to Bangkok for a few hours then take a very long flight to London.

 

Decorations in the library at work

It appears I was blogging about the wrong decorations at work. I've been doing updates on the decorations in the gym for three years now. I went into the library at work there other day, something I don't do very often and was taken back by there display!

It hits you as soon as you walk through the entrance doors. Its the big snowman from Frozen with a house and Christmas tree. I was very impressed and will now add the library to my annual updates!

The decorations in the gym at work 2018 - Update

A week or so ago I gave my annual update on the decorations at my gym. The tree is the same but was missing a start. What was also missing was the decorations from the reception area. I'm please to say this has been rectified.

 

This year we see the return of the big RMIT letters but this year it has been extended to read #WEARERMIT which was left over from graduation last month. The letters are also covered in fake holly with some lights. The display has been moved outside as its too big for the reception area.

In addition to the above there is some holly leaves around the door entrance. 

When you move inside the reception, there are some starts hanging from the roof which is a really nice touch. It would be good to come to the gym when its dark to see it all lit up.

I'm pleased to see that they added to the Christmas tree that was in the gym. Will do another update next year.

 

The decorations in the gym at work 2018

Its time for the annual post to show off the decorations at my work's gym for 2018. This follow on from those in 2016 and 2017. Please see the links below. To summarize, both years have had a tree in between the running machines but in 2016 there was a 'wishing wall' in the reception area while 2017 displayed a big christmassy RMIT sign.

Christmas 2016 post of decorations at the gym

Christmas 2017 post of decorations at the gym

In sad to report that this year there is no display in the reception area but there is a tree in the gym! 

I believe it's the same tree from last year but I was disappointed that there was nothing on the top. It appears they have lost the star which was on the tree in 2016 and 2017. I may ask the staff what happened or buy one myself. I will also keep an eye on the reception area in case they have something big planned but have not gotten around to putting it up yet.

Angkor Wat International Half Marathon, Siem Reap Cambodia

Today I ran the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon. This has been one of my goals since I first heard about it in 2011. 

I had to arrive at the start of 5:30am as it starts at 6am. This meant being awake at 4:20am to the get tuk-tuk to the temples, a 20 minute drive from the town centre. 

 

There were thousands of people there and I finally got to see a good sunrise at Angkor Wat!!! 

The race didn't start at 6am, it started at 6:20am which isn't normally a problem except every 10 minutes really makes a difference with the heat. I wanted to be finished by 8am as it starts to get really hot. Fortunately, pretty much all the run was under the shade.  

I didn't take any pictures around the track as I was busy running but it was a fantastic run and went past all the great temples. It was a really pleasant run and it went as well as I could have expected. I finished in 2:05 which I'm pretty pleased with since I wen form being able to run zero miles three months ago.

I took a tuk-tuk home and took the following two photos from the back. I was very happy!!!

Anyway, we book out our hotel at 12pm and fly back at 9pm, then its back to work tomorrow morning at 8am as fresh as a daisy!!

 

Around Siem Reap, Cambodia

Tomorrow is the big race so I've been resting up and not really seeing much of anything. I've been here several times before so its okay to just relax. Been eating food, reading and drinking coffee. Below are a couple of pictures from Siem Reap.

 

 

Half Marathon Race Pack Collection, Siem Reap

We arrived in Siem Reap after a pretty horrible bus journey which I'm bored of blogging about. Pretty sure I'll fly next time. Journey took about 11 hours.

Today I had to go and collect my race pack. Not a very exciting event but something to blog about. It was located at the Marriott Hotel a few kms outside the center of town. Below is a picture of the course map which goes all around the temples of Angkor.

Annoyingly, I'm going to have to rest up so I'm fresh for the run on Sunday so I won't be visiting the temples again until I go to the race on Sunday.

Shopping Malls of Bangkok

We've had a lovely time in Bangkok so far. One thing Bangkok had a lot of is enormous shopping malls. I've no idea how a lot of them survive as lots of them are deserted. 

There is a new one that has opened on the river called Icon Siam, which requires a boat to access. 

It had one of the coolest food areas I've seen. it was made out like old Bangkok and the food areas reflected this.

 

That's all from Bangkok. We've off to Siem Reap tomorrow. Time to focus on the half marathon.

Running in Lumpini Park, Bangkok

As previously stated. I will be running the Angkor Wat Half Marathon at the end of the week. This means i still need to do a few short runs in whilst in Bangkok. Before I came here I did some research and made sure I was staying very close to a place to run. This is Lumphini Park, conveniently located on by the metro and sky-train. 

It was a really nice park and one of the few places to have a proper run in Bangkok. It's 2.5km as a circuit and pretty good for running. There were hundreds of other running the same route at the same time as me. Running is a pretty popular past time in Thailand.

There are also lots of people doing various aerobic classes in the park to music and I saw an enormous lizard!

The park was nice and green and a pleasant find in Bangkok.