2020 - A Pandemic Year of Challenges

This will probably be the shortest look back post I've written in this blog as I didn't travel much in 2020 because of the pandemic. 

Ronan Keating Concert at Arena of Stars, Resorts World Genting - 14 February 2020

An acquaintance from church had given me 2 tics for the concert in return for a ride up to Resorts World Genting and coffee money. I happily agreed on the barter trade and brought a friend to accompany me to the concert. 

Although we sang our hearts out at Ronan's hits like When You Say Nothing At All and If Tomorrow Never Comes, I felt that the concert which lasted around 1.5 hours was a tad too short for the price of the tic. Thankfully I didn't pay for the tics or else I would have asked for a refund.

Mr Keating rocking the crowd at the concert. 

Participated in Kuala Lumpur City Day Half Marathon - 8 March 2020

This was the first and last run I had participated in before the Movement Control Order (MCO) kicked in on 18 March 2020. 

Because COVID-19 was spreading rapidly at that time, many participants didn't turn up and this gave ample room for those who participated to practise physical distancing throughout the run.

COVID-19 pandemic

What can I say but the pandemic has turned our lives upside down. It had indeed been a challenge and perhaps even a blessing to some extend. I captured my experiences during the initial part of the MCO here.

The things that I had learned during the pandemic warrants another blog post on its own.

Started volunteering at Samaritan Hope Home (SHH)

SHH is a centre for the homeless located in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. The homeless could go to SHH for a meal 6 days a week. However when the MCO was enforced on 18 March 2020, SHH had changed its modus operandi to packing food for distribution to the homeless instead. 

This is the food that we packed daily during the MCO:

Getting sufficient manpower to pack the food was a challenge as many volunteers were fearful of stepping out of their homes, let alone volunteer at SHH. 

In the end we only had around 8 volunteers to pack the food and clean up after. We started at 8.00am and finished around 2.00pm daily, 7 days a week. Back breaking work indeed, but the rewards were immeasurable. 

Visited Perhentian Island in August

This was a long awaited trip after not being able to go anywhere since 18 March 2020. 

We drove to Kuala Besut, stayed overnight at a small motel beside the bus station, and took the ferry to the island the next day. Along the way we stuffed ourselves silly with nasi kerabu and keropok.

After seeing the beauty of Perhentian Island, I kept asking myself how come I didn't visit this island before. 

Perhentian Island is indeed paradise on earth and I'm planning to make a trip there again once the monsoon season is over.

The drive from KL to Kuala Besut was an 8-hour journey which was too long for me. By the time I reached home, my feet had become swollen due to water retention. I had to get a feet massage and went for a short 5km run to get my blood circulating. So no more driving to the East Coast. Instead, I'll fly to Kota Bahru and travel by road to the jetty.

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In the coming year I hope we'll be able to travel more and that marathons (HM & FM) will be allowed too. 

Eventhough I like to travel out of Malaysia, perhaps 2021 is the year I do my part as a citizen by travelling more within Malaysia to help revive the economy.

However the end of the pandemic is not in sight yet. As I type this, a new strain of virus have been found, and eventhough vaccines are being distributed around the world, we do not know whether it'll be effective at all.

So in the meantime, we must take care of our health, watch out for each other, and trust in the Lord that everything will be alright.

Here's to a hopeful 2021.