Easter @ Sepang

Was, 2 words. AWE. SOME.

It was such an experience, I had to break it up in 2.

It was a trip I didn't exactly know what to expect. There were writers and photographers (including Amy) from various papers (Straits Time, New Straits Times, AsiaOne, The NewsPaper etc). It was work for them, holiday for me. Although it wasn't exactly a holiday with all the travelling back and forth from the hotel early morning and being scorched at Sepang and back to the hotel hoping the 45 minutes trip back won't drag any longer than it should (with the expected jams in KL). I needed new inspiration. And thanks to Amy, I've had a helluvan experience; the F1 culture. Still a noob. So please don't mind my amatureness.

Basically I got to familiarize a few favourites.

Fernando Alonso: an arrogant b******d and a helluva skilled racer. His pick up speed is AMAZING. I can't really explain it in race terms. It's like he can rev from being stationary to 200km/h within 2 seconds. Am I exaggerating? Maybe not!

Lewis Hamiltom: the favourite rookie. He's like 22 years old? And yes he came in 2nd. SECOND, after Alonso.

Kimi Raikkonen. Oh Raikkonen. He was a second close to Hamilton.

Jenson Button. According to Amy, a pretty good looking racer. I've googled (of course I'd google) and he was right.

Even being seated at the grandstand 50m from the pit stops, with the sun glaring down and without a $3k, 3kg camera lens, plus the necessity of the helmets, makes it hard to see their faces!

They've placed Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen next to each other (from left to right). Coincidence?

F1 was a 3 days event. First two days were practice sessions. Third day, the Grand Prix.

Left for M'sia from Changi Airport on Thursday late noon. And before I left work (half day), B.Boss had a chat with me. This is my last month. They're restructuring and laying off the customer service department (outsourcing) and even though I'm under distribution, half of my job scope is to assist customer service. They go, I go. Can't possibly pay me for doing almost nothing can they.

BUMMED out. But I expected it (even with my fingers crossed) when I heard they're cutting off customer service.

I tried not to let this ruined my trip. It had some slight effect. But untill I touch down back at Singapore, I refused to think about it. Sigh.

ANYWAY. Sheraton Imperial was beautiful. The bathroom was almost breathtaking. I took pictures on my mobile (I've no idea how to load it up from my phone) and the website only has pictures of the room where the bed's at.

The sound of F1 car is almost deafening. Quoting Amy, it's so high that it's got digital pitch to it. Already at an constant start up speed while it's moving out of the pitstop sounded like a mini jet starting up on the engines, imagine at it's fastest, my hearing would have been impaired without the ear plugs!

It was exhilerating. I could feel my heart thumped a full pump before the blood rushes to my head and I thought I felt a slight high from the thunderous pitch and the vibration of it's waves.

Man. I'm having a total Sepang hangover. If I close my eyes and block out Staind's Outside (currently playing on my winamp) I could see myself back at the grandstand watching the action along the pits.

In between practise sessions, the Carrera's came in from the side, for their practise session too. After you've seen how fast F1 was on the track, watching the Carrera's trying to tear down the track almost seemed, sad.

I mean, an F1 could make a turn in 1-2 seconds. A Carrera took almost 2-3 seconds (a hell lot of milliseconds involved to win, or lose) to make that same turn. Can you imagine?!

I wanna get my ass on the F1s.

The Grand Prix. The big day. It was a race between McLaren and Ferrari. Check www.oneshift.com for pictures.

I'm gonna try and remember what happened so if there's any error, do pardon and correct me if I'm wrong.

Alonso held lead througout 56 laps. Hamilton and Massa were fighting closely for 2nd place for a few laps. Nick Heidfeld caught up to replace Massa. I must have fallen asleep when Raikkonen took to the 3rd.

How could I have possibly fell alseep? With the sun almost in your eyes, and the heat zapping you of your energy, I was surprised how drained I was that when I closed my eyes to rest them for abit, I actually managed to dozed. Amidst the loud engines running at full speed. A power nap for a boost.

Alonso was getting away with his winning position with every lap. It was impossible for anyone to even try to surpass him. But it was definate close fight between Hamilton and Raikkonen. Nick Heidfeld came in 4th, Massa came in 5th (?) Previous day during the qualifying Massa had surprised the audience (and I'm sure Alonso as well!) when he came in for the first position for the starting line up.

Oookay. Enough of F1. It was good times spent outside of it. Dinner @ IndoChine on the 2nd night, courtesy of SHELL. Drinks @ Mezza Notte. Beautiful cafe pub. Something close to Barfly. Back at the hotel lounge at almost 2am on the piano, a little performance, courtesy of Amy. (Music degree okay dun pray pray)

It was almost excruciatingly depressing when we landed back in Singapore. Reality hits like nothing else. Sigh. The hangover of a holiday.

I had to remind myself to breathe.