Greatest Love

The Greatest Sorrow we can feel in our life 

is when we ought to let go those we love most.

The suffering is because of our lack of enlightenment to detachment

in which is what life experience try to teach us.

Chinese New Year at Sandakan, Feb 2010.

Mom is the thrid from the right.

 

Why Not Heaven?

Only if human accept other human 100% regardless...

Only if human harmonize with our environment...

Only if human build from need not want...

Only if human become selfless...

If only...

Then Earth is Heaven.

If not...

Then Heaven is Earth! 

Passion of Travel? Fear of Travel?

The fear hits when the date draws closer, alone at a place where I know nobody, have no contact with people I know and I have never been.  Is that really a bit too gutsy? Anxiety is "will I be ok?".

Everytime, I go for this kind of trip, I will feel myself at the beginning of the trip - this will be my last because of the fear and anxiety.  But everytime I come back, the urge starts all over again. I will forget the fear and anxiety and start another journey. Fearless, not really. But there is a calling within, un-controllable and surface after peaceful life for a while. Well, it forces me to learn over and over again everytime I do  it again and again.

Jalan Sepilok in Sandakan - Sabah, Feb 2010.

Today Thought

Waking up with a heavy feeling of burdenness, as the trip to Myanmar, on the 3rd Go, is drawing nearer.  I feel tired first time after resting 3 months since mom passed away.

I didn't quite understanding the feeling as travelling has always been my passion, especially going to a places where I know nobody, have no contact, no possible communication to the exterior world.  It is a whole new challenge, like leaving behind one self in a secured and comfort world, and go in an environment where I need to re-learn how to live, how to handle every single daily task, how to survive with only my clothes on and pocket money for food, moving from places to places. I always thought a trip like that make me humble.

After a while absorbing in my thought, a feeling falls on me - Isn't it that is the way I cast myself away? Isn't that a perfect example of running away of the imposed social expectation?

It strikes me that I have nothing to run away from now!

2012 is a difficult year, but it is also a strange year to begin with.  So much lost, no beside sorrow and suffering, however, it is also with so much realization.  It is like mountain hiking, at its last stage before the summitting, keep going!

Sunrise at Mt.Kinabalu, Dec 2004.

Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world 

to be reminded of who I really am.

by

--- Michael Crichton ---

Difference in Focus

Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions

Case 1

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did the Russians do...???

They used a pencil.

Case 2

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies.

The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.

Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution.

He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral: Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems. Focus on solutions and not on the problems.

ONLY THOSE WHO CAN SEE THE INVISIBLE CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!

**Note**
I am not claiming this mine.  But I don't know who this belongs to as it was forwarded through so many emails. 

Faith & Einstein

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?
Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, you believe in GOD?
Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good?
Student : Sure.

Professor : Is GOD all powerful?
Student : Yes.

Professor : My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?
(Student was silent.)

Professor : You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?
Student : Yes.

Professor : Is satan good?
Student : No.

Professor : Where does satan come from?
Student : From … GOD …

Professor : That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student : Yes.

Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.

Professor : So who created evil?
(Student did not answer.)

Professor : Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, who created them?
(Student had no answer.)

Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?
Student : No, sir.

Professor : Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?
Student : No , sir.

Professor : Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor : Yet you still believe in Him?
Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.
Professor : Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.
 

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Professor : Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?
Professor : Yes.
 

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.
(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor : So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor : If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Professor : I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.
I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?
Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH.
By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.

**Note**

Extract from Cory Jone's note in facebook.

Limitation versus No Limit

I am only ONE.

BUT STILL I AM ONE.

I CANNOT DO everything.

BUT STILL I CAN DO SOMEthing.

AND BECAUSE I cannot do EVERYthing.

I will not REFUSE TO DO THE SOMETHING THAT I CAN DO. 

**Taken From Print on the BROS bottle**

Trail to the Summit - Mt.Kinabalu, Dec 2004.

 

the land Melaixia

Once upon a time, there is a land called Melaixia.

Older Version

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. 
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Modern Version (To be exact, Melaixia version)

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he shiveringly calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while Grasshoppers are cold and starving.

Broadcasting station 1, 2 and 3 show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The majority of the Melaixian Parliment stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be that this poor Grasshopper allowed suffering so?

Kitely stages a demonstration in front of the Ant 's house.

Nasli goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers to be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Most of the related people criticizes the Melaixian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The local newspaper and the internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

Deputy minister immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.

Herhammudin makes 'More Special Reservation' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions and in Government Services.

The Ant; fined for failing to comply with 30% sharing and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes; its home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by Broadcasting station 1, 2 and 3.

Chief Minister announces to the whole Melaixian that this is part of the New  Government Transformation Program and all have to respect, no question ask and have to follow it.

Many years later, the Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company.

Hundreds of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in Melaixia because of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, Melaixia is still a developing country!!!

All because the ANTS are still doing their work.............................

**Note**

Sorry, it is a fiction!

I am not claiming this mine.  But I don't know who this belongs to as it was forwarded through so many emails.

Be Deaf to Negativity

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs... who arranged a running competition.

The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants...

The race began...

Honestly :

No one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.

You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!!"

"They will NEVER make it to the top."

or :

"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one...

Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher...

The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up...

But ONE continued higher and higher and higher...

This one wouldn't give up!

At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal?

It turned out...

That the winner was DEAF!!!

Steep Climb to Low's Peak at Mt.Kinabalu, Dec 2004.

The wisdom of this story is :

Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic... because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you --- the ones you have in your heart!

Always think of the power words have.

Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore :

ALWAYS be.... POSITIVE!

And above all :

Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams!

**Note**

I am not claiming this mine.  But I don't know who this belongs to as it was forwarded through so many emails.

Kids Cool Thought

Kids in school think quick.

    TEACHER    :    Maria, go to the map and find North America.

    MARIA         :    Here it is!

    TEACHER    :    Correct. Now class, who discovered America?

    CLASS           :    Maria!

    ___________________________________________________________

    TEACHER     :    Why are you late, Frank?
    FRANK          :    Because of the sign.
    TEACHER     :    What sign?
    FRANK          :    The one that says, "School Ahead, Go Slow."
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER     :   John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
    JOHN             :   You told me to do it without using tables!
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    :   Glenn, how do you spell "crocodile?"
    GLENN         :    K-R-O-K-O-D-A-I-L"
    TEACHER    :    No, that's wrong
    GLENN         :    Maybe it s wrong, but you asked me how I spell it!
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    :    Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
    DONALD      :    H I J K L M N O!!
    TEACHER    :    What are you talking about?
    DONALD      :    Yesterday you said it's H to O!
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    : Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't 
                              have ten years ago.
    WINNIE       :  Me!
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    :    Goss, why do you always get so dirty?
    GOSS              :    Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    :    Millie, give me a sentence starting with "I."
    MILLIE        :    I is...
    TEACHER    :    No, Millie..... Always say, "I am."
    MILLIE        :    All right... "I am the ninth letter of the alphabet."
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    :    Can anybody give an example of COINCIDENCE?
    TINO              :   Sir, my Mother and Father got married on the same day, 
                                 same time."
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    : George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry
                              tree, but also admitted doing it. Now, Louie, do you know why 
                              his father didn't punish  him?"
    LOUIS           : Because George still had the ax in his hand.
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER    :  Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
    SIMON          :  No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
    ___________________________________________________________
    TEACHER     : Clyde, your composition on "My Dog" is exactly the same as 
                               your brother's. Did you copy his?
    CLYDE           : No, teacher, it's the same dog!
    _________________________________________________________
    TEACHER     : Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when 
                               people are no longer interested?
    HAROLD       : A teacher.

**Note**
I am not claiming this mine.  But I don't know who this belongs to as it was forwarded through so many emails. 

Addiction vs Passion

In a day, you feel agitated, im-patient and can not sit still

because you have not had that one thing you feel you need,

you have an Addiction!

Mine is coffee and chili!

When you have different activities you like to do,

but you have limited amount of time and money,

and you give up the rest of the things you could and would have done,

for that one thing you can not stop doing,

you just found your Passion!

Mine is simply travelling and writting!

As a Malaysian versus As a Backpacker

As a backpacker myself, I had heard too many complaints about Malaysia from my fellow backpackers.  So if I ever been asked again on the road about the backpacker scene in Malaysia, I would tell them off by giving the comments I got from the rest of the fellow backpackers.

The truth is my fellow backpackers, somehow it is ok for Singapore to be 1st world, but it is not so fun for Kuala Lumpur to be a big city.  It is ok for Angkor Wat to charge USD40, but it is not ok for another site here to charge USD10.  We fellow backpackers only want cheap and nice.  I am sorry, the fact is the fact!

The point is, Malaysia is not a country where people comes a few days and comment I know Malaysia.  For all I traveled, I never been in a country with such diversity of races, foods, cultures, religions, directly transcend by its multi-cultural, multi-races and multi-religions society.  For anyone who could even come closed in understanding the meaning of "multi-cultural, multi-races and multi-religions society", well, as I said, I have not seen another country in this world can even come close in that meaning as us, Malaysian.

So, let me tell you my fellow backpackers.  Malaysia is more than for you to like, it is for everyone of Malaysian to appreciate.  Let me count the 3 major blessing we have as a Malaysian,

1. Where can you go in the world to find a country allow an educational system by the choices of the people?  We have public school system, we hace Chinese school system, we have Tamil school, we have religion school here in this country. We are all taught in multi-lingua.

2. Where can you go in the world to find a country which allows freedom in newspaper publishing in different languages?  We have newspaper in Malay, Chinese, Hindi, English...We even imported Japanese, Korean...

3. Where can you go in the world to find a country which their cabinet is formed by more than 3 races.  We have minister who is Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban, Bajau, I can't even name them all as I sorry to say I don't know all.

Oh yes, we are not as transperant and as democratic in many aspects as we want to be.  But for the least, there are many in this country know that and still in the process fighting for it.

As a backpacker, being traveled to all the continents except Europe, even though I always  introduce my own country as friendly, excellent and authentic food, nice weather.  I have always tell any of my friends or fellow backpackers that Malaysia is not a favourable country for backpacking. We just don't transcend authenthicities like Thailand, Indonesia or Phillippines.  However, it is a nice country to live and I will not leave it for any where else.

Dataran Merdeka - KL, Jan 2011.

Yes, we might not be cheap, we are not the nicest, we are not the most unique culturally, we are not 1st world.  But, we, Malaysian know one very special thing in this country, we do not form to have that strong sense of anything because we are uniquely able to tolerate and accept every single aspect of other culture, other rave, other religion.  That is the whole point.

the Sum of Human Happiness

Not what you have, but what you use;

Not what you see, but what you choose;

Not what seems fair, but what is true;

Not what you dream, but what you do;

Not what you take, but what you give;

Not as you pray, but as you live.

These are the things that mar or bless

the Sum of Human Happiness.

- Author Unknown

Slow Down

Got this from my friend ... don't know the origin ... but worth reading.

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalized processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to possess a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

1. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.

2. Stockholm has 500,000 people.

3. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, are some of its renowned companies. Volvo even supplies NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work).

The first day, I didn't say anything, neither the second or third days. One morning I asked him, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I notice that we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot."

To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, don't you think that whoever gets in late will need a place closer to the door?" Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart, Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fuelled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being".

French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity driven up by 20%.

This slow attitude has come to the notice of USA, the pupils of the fast and "do it now" brigade.

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity.

It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress.

It means re-establishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous.

It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, a happier, lighter and more productive work place where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.

It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence.

In the movie, 'Scent of a Woman', there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al Pacino responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance the tango!

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious to live for the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists.

We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in what each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who would have stopped in the middle so as not to "waste time" in this "Globalised" world.

Taiping - Perak, Dec 2009.