Walking till my feet ache

My feet are aching, probably from a day of walking. Actually, if I include the amount of distance that I have travelled yesterday, I had done quite a fair amount of walking in these two days.

Since I don't not carry a measuring tape around to be able to calculate the exact distance that I had travelled these two days, I shall report the routes that I had taken during these two days.

If I happen to have any reader who know the routes around Singapore well enough to be able to give me an estimate of the distances that I had travelled, I shall be appreciative.

I shall promise to write descriptions long enough to ensure that you would believe me that I had walked a lot these two days.

On 22 May 2005:
I took an MRT train to Dhoby Ghaut MRT station and walked from the station to the Singapore Art Museum. Throughout the entire two hours that I was there, I was walking from exhibits to exhibits. There were only few short moments when I had a chance to rest my feet.

After that, I walked to Bras Basah Complex to look for a book. I combed almost the entire second level of the complex but had no finding. Then I walked to the Kinokuniya Bookstore at Bugis Junction. There was such a crowd there, I gave up trying to ask the counter staff for assistance to search the database for the book that I had wanted.

Then I walked to the Asian Civilisation Museum (Empress Place), and then spent time walking within the museum itself. When I left the museum, I spent time walking between the Old Parliament House and the new Parliament House, and also walked along a short stretch of the Singapore River.

After which, I walked to the MICA building from the new Parliament House to take a bus to Little India. That was a short moment when I could take a seat. At Little India, I could not stand still to wait for my friend, so I paced up and down about the meeting place. Pacing, in itself, is a form of walking. Then when my friend reached the meeting place, we walked to the eatery for dinner. After dinner, we walked to another spot for a second round of dinner, only to discover that it was not open. That was fine. Strangely, I did not mind walking yesterday. Then we walked further to a restaurant for the second round of dinner. After the second serving of dinner, we walked to Mustafa Centre. Then we walked about within the compound of Mustafa Centre. When we were done with Mustafa Centre, we walked all the way from Mustafa Centre to Sim Lim Square to take a bus home.

23 May 2005:
I took an MRT train to Orchard MRT station. I walked to Borders Bookstore to check out for the same book that I did not manage to get. The bookstore did not carry the title, and I hate to reserve for I feared that I would end up waiting indefinitely for the book even if I were to reserve.

Then I walked, via the underpass, to the Kinokuniya Bookstore at Ngee Ann City. I got a nil response too for the same book. Trying to lighten my feelings of disappointments, I decided to spend some time at the Kinokuniya Bookstore and after much browsing, I bought myself a map of Scotland.

Then I travelled to the Orchard Library and borrowed some travel guides of Scotland. I checked for the book too, but there was one and only one copy held at the Repository Used Books Collection. The book could not be loaned out, but could only be read within the compounds of one of the Regional libraries. When I asked how long I would need to wait before I could get to browse the book, the librarian-on-duty told me that she was not certain because it was dependable on how long her colleagues at the repository (which is like a warehouse) take to find the book. I decided that getting the book via the National Library Board was an awfully unaccessible option so I ended up not making a reservation for it.

As if I had not enough of walking, I walked to Paragon to check ou if there were any bookstores there. There was none, but I spent some time at one of the shops there. Then I walked to Centrepoint Shopping Centre to check out the Times Bookstore. The reply that I got was "Sorry, we don't carry this title."

More walking awaits. I walked from Centrepoint, to Stamford Road, walked to The Adelphi, and then to Peninsula Plaza. No attempt had been made to take any other modes of transport in-between. My mind just decided that I had to walk, even though taking a bus was an affordable option. Before my feet die from exhaustion, I did my feet some justice by taking a break for meal at Peninsula Plaza. There I sat for about close to half an hour.

Maybe the urge to walk has became ingrained in me. I would not be surprised that if I were to stand up from this very seat which I am now sitting on, my feet would go on auto-pilot mode and start walking. I still feel like walking, but my feet are aching, so I shall consciously rest my feet. They ache such that I find myself walking with a slight limp on my left leg. I would think that if anyone would to show me some concern, my tears would start shedding.

So, how far do you think I have travelled on my feet for the past two days?

I somehow foresee that I would still wish to walk long distances tomorrow and the days after, until my feet simply protest from walking.