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Decided to share this little detour that I took in Feb this year when going to Xiamen for holiday. The original intention was to visit ancestor villages but due to lack of efforts, ended up just spent time in Xiamen and Huangshan (黄山). In short, Huangshan is not just a mountain but a series of ridges divided into north and south region supported by 4 cable car systems. You can choose to hike or take cable cars up the ridges, and then do the hiking, then descend by foot or cable cars. There is a short cable car ride within the ridges more for scenery at west side. To enter the mountain, you need to take the shuttle bus to the ticketing counters whether at north or south ends, pay entrance fee, and cable car fees if you intend to take cable car up the mountain which is highly recommended unless you are very fit and want to challenge the 3 to 6 hour route up depending on which one. Then after hiking the ridges which would take hours you can take the cable cars down the mountain or hike. The fees vary according to season, and this year all foreigners need to pay half price for entrance fee. It is advisable to spend one night on the ridges to catch the sunset and sun rise. Normally a visitor would arrive at foot of 黄山风景区 and stay one night to get ready for the strenuous hike. The South side also got 前山 and 后山 options supported by cable cars while the north side only supported by one cable car system, so now you know which side is more popular with hikers. The most popular route would be entering by 后山 and leaving by the 前山. The foot at south side got many hotels and I would recommend my choice of stay due to many reasons. https://www.trip.com/hotels/huangshan-hotel-detail-110631164/huangshan-yilong-anyue-hotel-huangshan-scenic-area-south-gate-transfer-center/?locale=en-XX&curr=SGD Firstly the hotel is cheap and clean, costing less than S$40 for 2 pax/night, think less than 2 years old. Secondly it has very friendly staff including those from the attached restaurant and minimart. Seems all owned by same boss. Ate in the restaurant for 2 dinners and very happy with the meals. No need to leave the hotel at all. Thirdly the onsite travel counter offers fantastic hiking service by doing a thorough explanation of the whole place and the best route to take depending on your liking or fitness, then help to make booking for all the tickets without any markup. I paid a RMB19 fee to join the hiking tour to have a guide following to tell you where are the famous stones and making sure everyone is safe throughout the trip. This was really wonderful as I would otherwise have to figure out where to buy the tickets at the counters but now it is all taken care of. Literally no need to do any pre-planning also can. Fourthly, the hotel is located just beside one of the shuttle bus stop so it is very convenient when returning to the hotel. The hiking tour that day would start from the north gate and coming back from the front gate at the south. The cable cars at the back gate at the south side were closed for maintenance when I was there, So now coming to the actual hiking part. My fellow traveler was my FIL and coming 75 years old. I overestimated his ability to walk up the endless flight of stairs at the beginning of the hike, so ended up paying RMB600 for the bamboo sedan chair ride for him for the first leg of the hike ending at 光明顶 (the building with a globe which serves as weather station) which is not related to the 武侠小说。It was supposed to be a 3.5km walk taking about 3 hours for one with normal fitness. After a short break at 光明顶 we walked for another 5km taking about 3.5hours to reach the cable car station to go down the mountain. If you are reasonably fit, you will benefit from the chirpy tour guide who tiredlessly shared many stories with regards to the numerous stones all over the place. I was proud that my FIL was able to complete the second leg of the trip despite stopping many time along the way. The bamboo sedan chair is really useful for those who have difficulty completing the hike and are reasonable priced also. I really enjoyed the hike as the weather was nice and scenery really beautiful. The pictures I took really did not do justice haha. By the way to reach the 黄山风景区, I took highspeed train to the 黄山北 station then took a taxi ride to the hotel. I spent another night at the hotel after the hike before taking the train ride back to Xiamen to continue my tour. Good to cater one or 2 rest days to allow recovery as the hike is really not that easy. Good if can spend time climbing stairs before the trip to have more enjoyable time instead of just panting and panting all the time in the beautiful mountain haha. So above is a brief sharing of my trip. Do let me know if you need more details. Good to watch more youtube videos to know more about the place before embarking on the trip.

Geography is what most people understand to be the study of where countries are. That's why not knowing where a country is on a map will result in your friends saying, "Never study geography ah?" Of course, geography is deeper and more complex than just finding countries and cities on a map. It also involves studying a country's features such as mountains, lakes and rivers, and most importantly, peoples. We won't dive into all this. Instead, we'll get into how Singapore's geography determines its climate and how this in turn influences our lifestyle. Photo: Maarten Duineveld, Unsplash Swedish observation Singapore sits just above the equator, so you might say that our two most abundant resources are the sun and its heat. Anyway, during a work trip to Sweden some years ago, a fellow journalist and I noticed many locals doing a variety of outdoor sports. From cycling to running to tennis, it seemed like everyone had an active lifestyle. "It must be the weather. The climate is so cool that even I want to pick up a tennis racquet!" he remarked. As we drove along, I remembered my geography classes in school. How citizens of a country live - this is very much influenced by its climate. Obviously, Sweden is way up in the northern hemisphere and gets plenty of snow in the winter, which explains why it's a cold country. Indeed, it was cold for the first week of October, which was when the trip took place. I recall temperatures only reaching 12 degrees during the day, dropping to around 4 degrees Celsius at night. Walking, running and cycling would certainly feel shiok in this weather. The weather lately feels desert-like. Photo: Giorgio Parravicini, Unsplash Meanwhile, in the sweltering tropics... It's only going to get hotter in Singapore. Numerous temperature and UV warnings have been issued, and the wet and cool weather we enjoyed for a prolonged period last year has long departed. We can only hope it will visit again. Life doesn't stop just because it's hot. However, it also makes exercising outdoors - and being active in general - unappealing. Combined with high humidity, it's not uncommon to hear people complain that they're already sweating after walking to the bus stop below their block. If you're from a temperate country and have never been to the tropics, you probably think I'm exaggerating. Well, come to our corner of the world and feel for yourself. So, hot weather prevents us from exercising? Of course not. Many of us are quite outdoorsy and don't even mind getting tanned (but please apply sunscreen to mitigate skin damage). But the heat tends to make us lazy. Cooler weather makes commuting more comfortable, like these folks in Tokyo. Photo: Redd F, Unsplash Nobody wants to sweat while walking 10 minutes from the office to the hawker centre. So, we'll either drive there or get a private-hire ride. Nobody enjoys sweaty commutes requiring one to walk while transferring from air-conditioned buses and trains. Yes, yes, I know. First World problems. I think this 'problem' though, is one factor that prevents us from becoming fitter. Those of us who've holidayed in Tokyo during spring or fall know that you can easily clock 20,000 steps a day when you're there, probably without breaking a sweat. It must be why everyone there looks so slim. Cooler climes make it more comfortable to do such things. Tampines MRT station is less than 2km from my house, but if I started walking to it at 9am, I hope shower facilities appear in the office by the time I arrive. With cooler weather, more people would walk and cycle as well, since the impact to one's hygiene will be minimal. If commuting becomes pleasant, we might even drive less, thereby lowering emissions and our vehicle's running costs. Photo: Peijia Lee, Unsplash Will it really improve health? The optimistic answer to this is yes, cooler weather will make us more active and therefore, fitter. According to this HealthHub article, the crude prevalence of obesity among residents aged 18-74 years old is 10.5%. This is based on a 2019/2020 National Population Health Survey. But it's too simplistic to conclude that cooler weather will change lifestyle and health trends. Does everyone become healthier/fitter during the cooler and wetter periods? Based on casual observations and conversations, we actually end up eating and drinking more when the weather is cool. Mala hotpot, already a firm favourite, becomes even more irresistible then. Whisky seems 'less heaty' as well. In general, we tend to get hungrier and thirstier the colder we feel. It's all in the mind We can't change our geography, so we can only surmise that if we had a more temperate climate, we'd be more active. I don't think we need single-digit temperatures, but if our weather ranged between 15-20 degrees Celsius on average and humidity also averaged 60% instead of over 90%, a lot would change. Training in hot weather can help improve your cardiovascular fitness. Photo: Karsten Winegeart, Unsplash But would it make us fitter? That might be wishful thinking. Beyond lifestyle and dining habits, mindsets are the most difficult to change. Someone who only insists on high-cholesterol, high-sodium and sugar-heavy foods for every meal is unlikely to change their mind, no matter the weather, or impact to his or her health. I mention food because nutrition makes up a big part of the fitness equation. While exercising regularly (even with poor dietary habits) is better than not exercising at all, we all know that the key to better health is diet + exercise. That's never been a secret. To me, that means healthier choices from Mondays to Fridays, but indulging a bit on weekends. Being more willing to sweat it out will help as well. Instead of taking cover from the heat, I've learned (or convinced myself) to use it to improve my fitness. Hot weather is here to stay. It's our geography and we must do what humans do best: Adapt and thrive. - Jeremy