Discover your destiny

I am mindblown by how one book that I browsed upon weeks ago turns out to be a very fulfilling destiny discovery journey. This book presents itself in a manner where if one were to discover your true self, first you need to be aware and awakened.

For the writer doesn't believe in self improvement, it is more on "self remembering" of our true selves and knowing the true nature of laws. I am at awed. There is a seven steps of Awakening Stages that one has to go through. I do realise I myself am trap in what we name society norms. in our pursuit to be accepted, we lost our true selves. it is in everyone's goal to find back yourself. ask yourself. who am i? why am i doing? is this what will i do to be my happy, true self?

the destiny discovery journey begins. i am grateful that this has come to my life.

To the one guru that enlightens me. Knowledge knows no boundary when you have a book. =)

the place with tall concrete trees

i have just returned from the land where trees are made from concrete pillar structures and surrounded by living plants. what a way to describe this land. it is the land of the south where i stay currently. there is much to see, experience and think. 

for one, i love how system and forward thinking can brings this land to great heights. it is with these two qualities that i believe this place has prospered so much compared to my dear bolehland. from the mass rapid transit to residential housing, everything is so well planned that i feel out of place. to be frank, yours truly is not a systematic person when it comes to his daily life. i prefer the random. that's why there is a term for it. there is the cons of being random though. yet, you have no choice when it comes to preference. it is similar to why you like the colour red over yellow. as simple as that. 

for two, i fancy how i included two swimming sessions in two different places during my visit to this place. one: at the community pool. two: at the recently completed building sports arena. it is built to cater for 2015 asian games. i guess i have beaten the foreign atheletes to it by trying the new pool. my comments: clean, cold and refreshing. like it much.

for three, i did the non-touristy stuffs. i participated in the art crafting session at esplanade. i think it was meant for children but the inner child in me decided to participate along. i like to draw and create things. the idea is quite well incorporated too. in short, you have to cut the sponge to a certain shapes drawn, paste the cut sponge on wooden cube provided, colour the sponge with water colours and chop them on the piece of oil paper. result: a christmas tree with dragonflies overflying the tree with four little bears at the botttom plus lights overlooking the overall picture.i told my friend that is really the highlight of the day and they laughed. i like how the simple this little thing satisfies my inner interest which is drawing. i also did cycle. i cycled from bedok to changi airport (east coast park). really really like this when you can watched the plane flying above your head. the experience is just breathtaking. i literally stop breathing for a moment there. additionally, i just lied down at garden of the bay and beaches. my friend labelled me as a hobo. if that what makes a hobo. then i am hobo Seng then. i will get whatever label that is being thrown at me as long as it describes me well.

art crafting at esplanade

the beach appears empty on a weekend. 

blogger rhyming the "thinking out loud" by the soulful sheeran

travel embedded with life learning experience

little did i know, this litle hanoi travel made me thought a lot while experiencing tonnes of memorable experience.

it was a random idea brought up by my friend, "eh, why don't we go to ho chi minh?" after searching and googling through the airasia website, i suggested, why not hanoi? there's a promotion going. then, it was decided. i will be going with my high school friends: pc, andrew and ivan in july. while the plane booking was made few months in advance, the tour planning was done at the last week before we departed. all hail to mr ivan for making the necessary booking of tour. we did engage with a tour guide for the planning.

the first stop is hanoi. upon reaching the city, we are quite taken back when the question of "are you from china?" pops up at the airport during the immigration checking section. two vietnamese guys from the back of the queue investigate my friends with where are we from, what are we doing here and checked that our watches do really reflect malaysian time. i perspired a bit there. next up, we were greeted by our tour guide, Van ( pronounced as va-nh).

the first ride to the hotel is hell. the four wheel vehicle is moving at 80km per hour on the highway and the driver kept honking. he made the soft honks. during the journey, it was found that the honk is meant for "watch out, i'm coming. please make way." because the motorbikers really take their own sweet time changing lanes. i have to take several deep breaths to calm myself down. part of purpose of going away from kl is to avoid the jam but little did i know hanoi traffic and honks made it to a whole different level.

later on, we reached the hotel. van decided to bring us around for dinner. we walked a bit and stopped at a no name street hawker. i was intrigued. where is tables and chairs. after some vietnamese chat exchanges, she told us they will bring the table and chairs out. oh okay. but where are we sitting? she said right here and we are standing in the middle of pedestrian walk. that's awesome. while i do eat street food in melaka, sitting in the middle of the pedestrian path tops it all and the motorbikes are just parked beside us. and the pho is nice with the rich pork soup taste. recommended but i have no idea how to recommend to you as there is no shop name.

eating like a boss on the pedestrian path

next day, we are schedule to visit halong bay, one of the main reasons we visit vietnam. to get there, we have to be ready at 730am for the tour guide to fetch us as we will travel a few hours by bus to reach the bay. i have no idea what does halong bay looks like due to time constraint for research. as we reach, the awe-inspiring view just took my breath away. all in all, it is a relaxing cruise. plus i get to attempt fishing in the middle of night under the glittering stars. my most favourite activity of the moment. after 20 min of no fruitful labour from fishing, i headed up to the deck and lay down and rest, overlooking at the moon and myriads of wishful stars. i feel calm and serene at that moment. lovely.

picture from the deck

halong bay view during the cave hike

the scene my friend resembled LOTR. too bad, yours truly did not watch LOTR, yet a mystical view

after the cruise for two days, we are heading to SAPA, the village area in the mountains. journey requires sleeping in the cabin train. another first experience. i manage to sleep soundly but waken up with a sore throat and knees. what is this? we are greeted by a friendly and cheerful tour guide, May. she speaks fluent english. we are up for 2 days hiking. on the first day, i was unwell, tired and my legs are sore. i did finish the climb down the mountain and for the up part, i took the motorbike. wheee. a good deal considering the headache is worsening.

sleeping in the cabin train for the first time. wheeee

on the second day, i was feeling better and decided to join the tour. we talked a lot with the tour guide. suddenly, i feel a bit sad. their lives are not easy. facts: she has to walk one hour just to meet us from her village. she has no free time. all her time is either cooking, bring tours, harvesting the crops, going to jungle (which takes 7 hours) for planting another crop or cutting woods in the jungle. despite all this, i admire her cheerfulness, positive outlook and perseverance. silently, i sent a mental note to myself, "if she can do these with all the hardships, i believe i can do better with my life too. all i need is a positive attitude and hardwork."

I can do this too if she can

later, a friend got upset when she noted another friend had different view on the lives of the natives. the other friend thought they have a good life because they are contented. i think he lacks empathy but i don't judge. empathy is not something you can teach, it is something you have to experience to have it. to me, you can't change the fact that they are in such a condition and they have no option, but i like my tour guide as she exudes cheerfulness, positive outlook and hardwork. i admire her as a fellow friend. she learn english solely from tourist and her english communicative level will put some malaysians to shame. this is what you get when hardwork is put in. we bought a small little gift for her. the thought of tipping her crossed our minds. however, she did say all her money earned from bring tours are given to her mum to help out with food and the basic necessities hence the small gift.

outside May's house

our tour guide, May

the natives

after sapa trip, it is time to go back to hanoi for some shopping and dining. one little thing that deserves mentioning is definitely coffee in vietnam. they are rich and have a fine chocolate smell in it.

the boutique coffee shop discovered randomly. they served us a cup of luwak coffee

ps: this travel really makes me learn widely, wonder wildly and experience excitedly. thank you.

thank you little vietnam for all this life lessons and many first times experience

(images courtesy of mr ivan lee and miss chong)

writing style

every blogger has its own writing style. this is what makes a blogger unique. some loves to attach photo to let the reader know exactly how it looked at the moment. i used to do that. now, i just love to use words to describe the scenario at that moment. that is the beauty of the words. as for the rest of it, it should be left with reader's imagination. bring them to a world where they are able to dream. your words are the determinant how far their imagination can go.

i found a blog recently. his style of writing intrigues me. part of his unique style of writing stems from his willingness to improve and learn. yours truly is impressed. in the meantime, i want to learn and improve too. can you help me?

blogger feels sleepy. time to off the light.

riwayatku

"apa khabar?". begitulah bermulanya kehidupanku. saya ditanyakan khabar oleh seorang saudara yang tidak kukenali. dengan penuh perasaan tenang. aku menjawab, "baik." terasa asing sekali walhal aku tidak pernah merasai perasaan ini sama sekali di persekitaran yang kelihatan baru dan bising.tertoleh ke kiri dan ke kanan, ku menampak banyak saudara-saudari yang mempunyai mirip serupa. yang berlainan, cumalah warna. saya berwarna merah dan hitam. setahu saya, namaku amporlo.

pada minggu pertama, aku berasa seronok, mempunyai ramai sahabat setiap hari. walau bagaimanapun, terdapat juga segelintir yang dibawa pergi ke tempat lain. sahabat pertamaku, asadi menjawab, "hari kita juga akan menjelang. kita akan mempunyai tuan-tuan"

hari yang ditunggu-tunggu tiba lebih awal daripada dijangka. aku dibawa ke sebuah kedai runcit di taman bukit rambai. perasaan yang gembira bercampur sedih, meninggalkan sahabat-sahabat yang baru dikenali.
setiap hari, terdapat ramai pelanggan yang menjenguk kedai runcit. di situ, aku melihat banyak tuan mengambil abang penyapu, kakak kuali dan pak cik periuk. mereka diambil pulang untuk menjalani tanggungjawab masing masing. yang kutahu, pak cik periuk dan kakak kuali akan dimainkan di atas api yang cukup panas. terasa gerun apabila memikirkan pengalaman seketika di bawah pancaran matahari. apatah lagi bahang api.

pada suatu hari, seorang pemuda masuk ke dalam kedai. cukup jelas kulihatkan pemuda tersebut memandangku. ditanyakan wanita sebelahnya tentang kewujudanku. wanita berumur lebih kurang 50-an menunduk kepalanya. aku berasa gembira. aku akan mempunyai tuan yang baru.

dipakaikan atas kakinya, dia terus mengambil ku ke atas dan dibayarkan dengan harga ringgit sepuluh. begitulah bermula hidupku. ku kira, nasib ku dikira baik. ke mana tuan ku pergi, ku pergi. dapat juga bersiar siar di jusco, tesco, tempat pejabat besar serta kedai kedai makan. semua pengalaman pertama dingati. kurasakan nasibku lebih sempurna pak cik periuk dan kakak kuali.

semasa berjalan, ku melihat ramai sahabat lama. sempat lagi bersandiwara saudara asadi tersebut. pengalaman demi perngalaman ku timba. HSBC bank. mamak Ali Maju. tidak kurang juga GSC panggung wayang.

selepas setahun, ku rasakan bosan. tetapi, kini tuan telah membiarkan aku di dalam kereta. sebagai alas kaki ketika memandu. haihhhh... apa nak buat? saya mempunyai sahabat baru yang menggantikan tempat lama. namanya, HP. sahabat baru ini berwarna jingga dan putih kekuningan.

setiap hari, tuan akan memakai HP ke mana mana dan saya pula dipakai di dalam kereta. hari seperti inilah yang mula membuatkan saya resah. di man pula saya akan pergi jika saudara baru sampai. tertanya tanya di fikiranku. mungkin ini la yang dikatakan riwayat sepasang selipar. hanya mampu bertanya dan tidak tahu hala tuju kehidupan.

Tamat.

penulis blog ini terkenang sewaktu zaman kecil dahulu, kerap menulis karangan yang bertajukkan, "riwayatku".