Dr Arthur Tjandra’s Race Photo Albums

Dr Arthur Tjandra’s Facebook account was terminated by Facebook in September 2016. As he can no longer share his favorite race photos with his friends and relatives on Facebook, he has now re-posted those photos on this blog. He will continue to post all his race photos here. When he took part in his first race back in 2004, he promised himself that he would compete in at least 80 races by the time he is 80 years old. As of June 2020, Dr Arthur Tjandra who is coming to 50 years of age, has competed in 56 races. Let’s wish him good health, so that he can continue to run up to and beyond the age of 80!

Dr Arthur Tjandra does not have any social media account. Therefore, if you see any social media account (e.g. Friendster, My Space, ICQ, etc) using his name and pictures, that is definitely a fake account! Dr Arthur Tjandra only posts his photographs, mostly photographs taken during his marathon race trips, on this blog.

After being ripped off by airlines, hotels and even bank/credit card issuer, during Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Dr Arthur Tjandra has decided to stop traveling and put an end to his marathon running tours.

Expedia.com.sg and Watermark Hotel-The Harbour in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, are two of those unscrupulous businesses which took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to forfeit pre-paid booking fees from travelers who could not travel because of travel restrictions/border closures imposed by the countries where the hotels are located.

Novotel Brisbane South Bank is another one of them. Dr Arthur Tjandra managed to claw back his payment to Novotel through a reverse charge back by OCBC Bank which credit card he used to make payment, but unfortunately, he could not do likewise for payment to Watermark Hotel-The Harbour, as UOB Bank which issued the credit card used to make payment, advises that it is in fact VISA‘s and MasterCard‘s policy that in the event of a country’s border closure or lock-down, hotels and airlines are not obliged to provide refunds to customers should customers not able to utilize the service because of the border closure or lock-down!

The following information is provided by VISA and MasterCard:

No wonder a lot of airlines and hotels, as well as third party travel booking websites are sending out mass emails trying to lure unsuspecting customers to book hotels and flights at heavily discounted rates for future stays even when the countries where the hotels are located in, still have not allowed foreign nationals to enter! Because they know exactly that if a customer cannot enter the country where the hotel is located, due to government’s policy of border closure, hotels and airlines have every rights to just pocket the money customers have paid, refusing to provide refunds. This applies to individual State border closure within a country, such as Australia! Customers can basically do nothing about it, because credit card issuers are not on their side. Even if a country or state allows foreign nationals or out-of-state visitors to enter now, there is no guarantee that it will not go into lock-down again when a second, third, fourth, or even fifth wave of Covid-19 infection occurs. Just look at what happens to the state of Victoria in Australia which re-opened barely a month ago, only to go into strict lock down and night curfew now. The fact is, unless Covid-19 has been completely eradicated from Earth, it is not wise to part with your money to pay for a future trip, because hotels and airlines have legal rights to seize your payments when you are unable to utilize the service due to border closure. While many people believe that Covid-19 pandemic is a bane to the travel industry, it is actually a boon to many unscrupulous businesses out there such as Expedia.com.sg and Watermark Hotel-The Harbour in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as they can get free money without even having to provide any service at all! All they need to do is to give huge discount to entice customers to book, then keep their fingers crossed, hoping that the governments where the hotels are located still impose borders closure by the time their customers are supposed to stay with them! If that happens, they can then legally pocket the money and refuse to provide refunds. It is such an easy way to get free money! The worst thing is that you, as consumer, can do nothing about it, because credit card issuers and banks are on the side of crooked businesses!

Anyway, Dr Arthur Tjandra is still bewildered by why OCBC Bank could immediately perform a reverse charge back to Dr Arthur Tjandra’s credit card account within 1-2 weeks of his filing disputes for transactions with a hotel and an airline which declined to provide refunds, while UOB Bank is unable to do so, and blames it on VISA‘s and MasterCard‘s policy? This is also perhaps a lesson to choose your bank wisely!

Covid-19 pandemic has taught Dr Arthur Tjandra four extremely important lessons:

1. NEVER book flights and hotels months in advance!
2. DO NOT EVER book flights and hotels during this Covid-19 pandemic until Covid-19 has been completely eradicated from Earth.
3. NEVER book through third party travel booking websites! They usually do not care about customers’ rights.
4. AVOID Expedia.com and Watermark Hotel-The Harbour in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, at any cost!

This is the second time Dr Arthur Tjandra has been cheated by such unscrupulous third party travel booking website. In 2019, Klook.com sold half-priced train tickets on Taiwan High Speed Rail to Dr Arthur Tjandra. But, when he attempted to redeem the tickets at THSR counter, he was informed that those tickets had expired, although he presented the email he received from Klook.com which indicated clearly the date of his travel booking on the train. Dr Arthur Tjandra ended up having to purchase new tickets, while Klook.com refused to provide a refund! Klook.com and Expedia.com are two unscrupulous businesses which have been black-listed by Dr Arthur Tjandra! He should have known better when he made transaction on a dubious website which chose KLOOK, which rhymes with CROOK, as the name of its company!

Although it is safest to only purchase air tickets and book hotels last minute, preferably just hours before departure when it is confirmed that there is no border closure, being a frugal (read: cheap) person, it is also not an option for Dr Arthur Tjandra to book last minute and end up having to pay 2 to 3 times more. Luckily, his more than half a million frequent flyer miles and hundreds of thousands of loyalty points across ALL, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors may be put into good use for completely free travel for another year or so, when borders have re-opened. After spending all his frequent flyer mileage and hotel loyalty points, Dr Arthur Tjandra will stop traveling and stick to races within Singapore only. He will not allow the hospitality industry to rip him off anymore, whether it is hotel, third party booking website, travel agent, or airline. He may, however, need to re-acclimatize his body so that he can take part in races in hot and humid Singapore again. Perhaps he would downgrade to a much shorter 5K or 10K race distance. Definitely not half or full marathons!

Perhaps all these incidents are wake-up calls for Dr Arthur Tjandra to inject more funds into his foundation, instead of spending them on marathon trips! Why let unscrupulous hotel rip you off thousands of dollars, when that money can be used to feed half a dozen African kids for 1-2 weeks?

The following selected photos tell his life story.

Early to mid-1990s: Life as a medical student.

At University of Wales, College of Medicine:

At University of Sydney School of Medicine:

Mid- to late 1990s: Life as an intern and medical officer.

At Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney:

2000-2008: post-graduate specialty training in Singapore.

Some photos taken with prominent figures in Singapore:

With President Wee Kim Wee:

With President S. R. Nathan:

With A/Prof Fong Poh Him

With Dr Pierre Fournier

Once Upon a Time in Singapore

And of course, not forgetting some of the most memorable shots taken at his marathon/duathlon/triathlon races!

First Race: Osim Singapore Triathlon 2004:

Singapore Duathlon 2005:

Completion of his first full marathon distance race in Dec 2005, approx. 2 years after Dr Arthur Tjandra first picked up running as a hobby in Jan 2004:

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2005:

Singapore Duathlon 2006:

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007:

Photo shoot Oct 2008:

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2008:

Gold Coast Marathon 2012:

Gold Coast Marathon 2013:

In 2013, Dr Arthur Tjandra took part in his last full marathon race at Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon. 2014 is the year he downgrades from full marathon to half marathon races, as he simply does not have the time and conducive environment to train for full marathon. He is a decent sub-2-hour half-marathoner, but a pathetic 5-hour marathoner.

With such bad timing in his last full marathon race, Dr Arthur Tjandra is determined to focus on and train for half marathon races.

Last full marathon race, Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2013:

Maldives 2014:

Gold Coast Marathon 2015:

Gold Coast Marathon 2017:

Sydney Marathon 2017:

Brisbane Marathon 2018:

Sydney Marathon 2018:

Melbourne Marathon 2018:

Spring Break, April 2019:

Chinese New Year, Jan 2020:

1. My virgin race: Osim Singapore Triathlon 28 Aug 2004
2. First State Visit to People’s Republic of China Oct-Nov 2004
3. Singapore Duathlon 13 Mar 2005
4. Osim Singapore Asian Triathlon Championship 2 Jul 2005
5. New Balance Real Run Sentosa 28 Aug 2005
6. Army Half Marathon Singapore 11 Sep 2005
7. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 4 Dec 2005
8. Singapore Duathlon 26 Feb 2006
9. Phuket International Marathon 18 Jun 2006
10. Army Half Marathon Singapore 27 Aug 2006
11. Singapore Oakley City Duathlon 20 May 2007
12. Siemens Run Kuala Lumpur 8 July 2007
13. Army Half Marathon Singapore 26 Aug 2007
14. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2 Dec 2007
15. Army Half Marathon Singapore 24 Aug 2008
16. Photo Shoot Oct 2008
17. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 7 Dec 2008
18. Tribob Sprint Series Singapore Duathlon 15 Mar 2009
19. Army Half Marathon Singapore 16 Aug 2009
20. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 6 Dec 2009
21. Long Beach Marathon 17 Oct 2010
22. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 5 Dec 2010
23. Army Half Marathon Singapore 4 Sep 2011
24. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 4 Dec 2011
25. Tokyo Marathon 26 Feb 2012
26. Paris Marathon 15 Apr 2012
27. Gold Coast Airport Marathon 1 Jul 2012
28. Army Half Marathon Singapore 9 Sep 2012
29. Behind the scene: Channel News Asia documentary TV show, Nov 2012
30. Seoul Marathon 17 Mar 2013
31. Gold Coast Airport Marathon 7 Jul 2013
32. Army Half Marathon Singapore 1 Sep 2013
33. Sydney Marathon 22 Sep 2013
34. Melbourne Marathon 13 Oct 2013
35. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 4 Dec 2013
36. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 7 Dec 2014
37. Gold Coast Marathon 5 Jul 2015
38. Melbourne Marathon 18 Oct 2015
39. Vienna City Marathon 10 Apr 2016
40. Gold Coast Marathon 3 Jul 2016
41. Sydney Marathon 18 Sep 2016
42. Melbourne Marathon 16 Oct 2016
43. Jeju Olle Trails Run 22 Jun 2017
44. Mount Namsan Seoul Run 26 Jun 2017
45. Gold Coast Marathon 2 Jul 2017
46. Brisbane Marathon 6 Aug 2017
47. Sydney Marathon 17 Sep 2017
48. Melbourne Marathon 15 Oct 2017
49. Mizuno Wave Run Singapore 26 Nov 2017
50. Run for Hope Singapore 21 Jan 2018
51. Gold Coast Marathon 1 Jul 2018
52. Brisbane Marathon 5 Aug 2018
53. Run for Singapore, Nation Run Challenge 53 Km, 9-31 Aug 2018
54. Sydney Marathon 16 Sep 2018
55. Straits Times Run Singapore 23 Sep 2018
56. Run for Animals Challenge 4 Oct 2018
57. Melbourne Marathon 14 Oct 2018
58. Home Team National Service REAL Run 21 Oct 2018
59. Christchurch Run Jan-Feb 2019
60. Queenstown Run 2-7 Feb 2019
61. Te Anau/Milford Sound Run 7-8 Feb 2019
62. Canberra Marathon 14 Apr 2019 (running with plantar fasciitis)
63. Sun Moon Lake Walk Jun 2019 (recovering from plantar fasciitis)
64. Qingjing Farm and Small Swiss Village Walk Jun 2019 (recovering from plantar fasciitis)
65. Gold Coast Marathon 7 Jul 2019 (running with plantar fasciitis and cough/cold)
66. Run for Singapore 54 Km Run/Walk Aug 2019 (recovering from plantar fasciitis)
67. Sydney Marathon 15 Sep 2019
68. Batman Run Singapore 21 Sep 2019
69. Melbourne Marathon 13 Oct 2019 (running with buttocks and lower back injury)
70. SG Run 19 Oct 2019
71. Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 30 Nov 2019 (withdraw from race due to bad influenza (Covid-19?))
72. Da Nang Chinese New Year Run 23-29 Jan 2020
73. Covid-19 Runs Singapore Feb-Mar 2020

 

Dr Arthur Tjandra’s Race Results

2K Run

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	28 Aug 2004	Osim Mini Triathlon – Run Relay	0:07:58 *PB

5K Run

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	6 Oct 2018	Treadmill Running	0:21:05 *PB
2.	2 Jul 2005	Osim Triathlon – Run Relay	0:24:34

10K Run

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	21 Sep 2019	Batman Run Singapore (8K)	0:45:58
2.	21 Oct 2018	Home Team NS REAL Run	0:53:38.2
3.	23 Sep 2018	Straits Times Run	0:54:48
4.	16 Sep 2018	Sydney Marathon	0:53:12
5.	21 Jan 2018	Run for Hope	0:56:38
6.	26 Nov 2017	Mizuno Wave Run	0:54:27
7.	8 July 2007	Siemens Run KL	0:55:12
9.	20 May 2007	Oakley City Duathlon	0:57:55
10.	26 Feb 2006	Singapore Duathlon	0:47:47 *PB
11.	13 Mar 2005	Singapore Duathlon	0:56:21

Half Marathon

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	13 Oct 2019	Melbourne Marathon	2:08:36
2.	15 Sep 2019	Sydney Marathon	2:03:17
3.	7 Jul 2019	Gold Coast Marathon	2:14:59
4.	14 Apr 2019	Canberra Marathon	2:08:02
5.	14 Oct 2018	Melbourne Marathon	1:59:16
6.	16 Sep 2018	Sydney Marathon	1:57:22
7.	5 Aug 2018	Brisbane Marathon	1:59:20
8.	1 Jul 2018	Gold Coast Marathon	2:01:01
9.	15 Oct 2017	Melbourne Marathon	2:02:12
10.	17 Sep 2017	Sydney Marathon	2:00:21
11.	6 Aug 2017	Brisbane Marathon	2:03:48
12.	2 Jul 2017	Gold Coast Marathon	1:59:48
13.	16 Oct 2016	Melbourne Marathon	2:06:51
14.	18 Sep 2016	Sydney Marathon	2:11:40
15.	3 Jul 2016	Gold Coast Marathon	2:09:14
16.	10 Apr 2016	Vienna Marathon	2:18:44
17.	18 Oct 2015	Melbourne Marathon	2:21:39
18.	5 Jul 2015	Gold Coast Marathon	1:57:45
19.	7 Dec 2014	Singapore Marathon	2:20:48
20.	13 Oct 2013	Melbourne Marathon	2:04:13
21.	22 Sep 2013	Sydney Marathon	2:00:13
22.	1 Sep 2013	Singapore Army Half Marathon	2:18:40
23.	7 Jul 2013	Gold Coast Marathon	1:58:11
24.	9 Sep 2012	Singapore Army Half Marathon	2:06:53
25.	1 Jul 2012	Gold Coast Marathon	1:53:06 *PB
26.	4 Sep 2011	Singapore Army Half Marathon	02:23:24
27.	17 Oct 2010	Long Beach Marathon	02:08:08.93
28.	16 Aug 2009	Singapore Army Half Marathon	02:03:41.50
29.	24 Aug 2008	Singapore Army Half Marathon	01:57:45.45
30.	26 Aug 2007	Singapore Army Half Marathon	01:58:54.54
31.	27 Aug 2006	Singapore Army Half Marathon	01:57:33.65
32.	18 Jun 2006	Phuket Marathon	02:06:02
33.	11 Sep 2005	Singapore Army Half Marathon	02:07:06.82

Duathlon

No.	Date	Event	Distance	Time
1.	15 Mar 2009	Tribob Sprint Duathlon	3K-20K-3K	1:03:42
2.	20 May 2007	Singapore Duathlon	10K-40K-5K	3:20:28
3.	26 Feb 2006	Singapore Duathlon	10K-36K-5K	2:35:17
4.	13 Mar 2005	Singapore Duathlon	10K-40K-5K	3:04:37

Marathon

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	4 Dec 2013	Singapore Marathon	5:29:02
2.	17 Mar 2013	Seoul Dong-A Marathon	5:10:37
3.	15 Apr 2012	Paris Marathon	5:09:28
4.	26 Feb 2012	Tokyo Marathon	5:05:17
5.	4 Dec 2011	Singapore Marathon	5:26:43
6.	5 Dec 2010	Singapore Marathon	5:38:35
7.	6 Dec 2009	Singapore Marathon	5:09:22
8.	7 Dec 2008	Singapore Marathon	4:44:18 *PB
9.	2 Dec 2007	Singapore Marathon	4:53:25
10.	4 Dec 2005	Singapore Marathon	5:09:30

*PB: Personal Best