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Singaporean woman’s 20 km ‘walk of love’ for mother’s birthday in New York City

Jacintha Phua formed the words "Happy", "55" and the Chinese characters for "birthday" for her mother's birthday. Photo courtesy of Jacintha Phua.

She lives in New York City, while her mother lives in China. So Singaporean Jacintha Phua decided to create an unusual birthday card for her mother’s birthday.

Phua walked 30,905 steps over two and a half hours to form the words “Happy”, “55″ and the Chinese characters for “birthday” across the streets of Manhattan as a birthday greeting. She then posted it on social media.

“I wanted to do something thoughtful which doesn’t cost money - she doesn’t like it if I spend money on her,” said Phua, 28, to Yahoo Singapore.

She sketched out the route on a map, then used the app Map My Run to track the route as she walked. “I planed each letter as generally two avenues in height and two streets in width, with one street space in between,” she said. The entire route covered 20.84km, said Phua who works in an investment bank.

And how did Phua’s mother react? “She says it’s nice and her colleagues and friends think it’s very cool,” said Phua. “She also asked how are my legs. And to be honest, aching.”

But she added, “Mums deserve the best.”