When Fern and Spirits Intersect

(I wonder why hiking never tear me down, but has me murmuring instead).


Episode 1

A reincarnation is in embryo while taking in the essence of morning light. The fern is unfolding. There will not be any shaking of the Earth, or cracking of the sky.

Tokun Hill will be as quiet as now. Reincarnation is a silent simplicity that happens now and then.

What can I see through the center of the "coil of fortune"?

Episode 2

Are the silky threads holding the fern, or is the fern providing the webs a foot-hold?

We are not Independent, somehow or other.

Only tradition on these few days

I had not and I am not going to have any trekking activities these few busy days. We had new year eve dinner with my parents at my brother's place yesterday. This, actually a re-union dinner, is a grand dinner for us, during which everybody comes back from where they are.

This is what we call Family.

I shall bring my kids to visit our relatives from house to house on today, the first day of the new year. This is part of our new year culture. Red packets with some money inside will be given to the kids symbolise older by one year, grow wiser, more discipline and healthier for the coming year.

Me and my wife insist to go through all these together with the kids. This is the only way to pass on our tradition to the next and next generation. Culture and tradition shall not be challenged against scientific arguments. They are belonged to the inner part that guide us along our journey so as we will still know who we are while facing waves of modernization.

I will travel 140km to north for Kangar, the capital city of Perlis State on the second day. Kangar is my wife's hometown where her parents are staying right now.

My trekking will be resumed then. More interesting stories will be shared later, I promised.

Wishing Everybody a Happy and Prosperous Year of Ox

Tomorrow is the New Year Eve. I have been thinking of how to greet my fellow blog mates for quite a number of days.

Everybody is busy at cleaning up the whole house, hopefully to clear away all unwanted items and to welcome the new luck. By then, decoration will be put up.

My plants are also adorned with red and golden ornaments. How can I leave them alone on this festival? And I decided to greet everybody through the silent whisper of these little plants.






May the New Year bring happiness and Success to everybody.

In Search of Light

MyJourney started when I was driving back home. It was drizzling that late evening.

I did not like to use my wipers at this moment, mainly because of old wipers kept lines of water mark on the windscreen, and I did not like the wiping sound as well. Thirdly, I was almost home.

When I stopped before a traffic light, I made a few fast shots pointing close to my windscreen before the traffic light turned green again.

I want to know how different is the view with my naked eyes and that through a camera.

I observed water bubbles on my windscreen had absorbed the colour of street lights as well as those from surrounding. They had evolved into hundreds eyes of light, stared at me. This was only made noticeable through the interface of a camera.

And then, very soon, I reached my home sweet home. Anyhow, you know, once started, it was difficult to stop.

I continued to snap at the lamps inside my house.

I snapped at the warm white hanging lamps trying to assimilate to my friend Mickey.

Though it was not much a success, the photo of the lamps still exhibited the beauty of geometrical shapes.

But the excitement of the night came later when I turned myself to the cool white incandescent bulb.

And this was what I saw.

A face that hid inside the lampshade.

Was the bulb designer aware of what he had done?

Was he merely as normally as us, lost the eyes of a kid?

Did he intentionally hide the face code for us to explore?

Instead of drawing a face full of unknown, why did he not fill our eye sight with a smiling happy face?

Yes, too many questions are in the air.

Vertically up

I had a dream last night.
Alice told me to change my point of view and to look at thing in a different angle.
So, I decided to look at things differently. I saw my world vertically up.

Before I start, let me clarify myself.
You know it is Sunday today.
I should be very free to sit in front of my notebook, spending the whole day reading and writing, of course, drinking Chinese tea as well.
But, since I needed to lie down, bent my neck, squeezed and sticked my body to the walls, it was hard for me to adjust myself towards my notebook.
That's why, only by now, I am writing.

When I was on my weekly hiking trail, there was not much surprise.

The ascending trail always guides me to look somehow vertically up.

I can easily identify which trees are busy at mingling with others.

The relationship between them looks very complicated and messy.




I saw a tree which we call "pokok Asam" (pokok is in local language, it means tree) .

Even though with broken arms and shedding skins, it continues to grow taller and tougher.

It must be able to provide me with a big enough shed at the time I asked for it.

Yes, this is what friends are for.

When I was back home, my vertically up type of world continued.
My papaya tree was not as usual as it used to be.
It made me lying down on the floor in order to appreciate it fully.

Its leaves grow so thick. I was almost not able to see the sky.

I have almost forgotten the reason why my kitchen is not hot during daylight. Everything seems to come natarul to me.

Only thing I am sure is that a few papayas have made themselves ready for me.

The view from the bottom, how can I phrase it......can I say sexy?
Then came the difficult time.
I had to squeezed myself underneath my pot of bonsai.
And I managed to, finally.

Bonsai is a small plant, a small creature.
When I went for macro view, it seemed to be so gigantic.

Remembered what I had said before? Illusion, life is full of illusion.
We could be fooled by our eyes, although they supposed to be our closest comrade.

And the story continued.


I sticked myself almost flat onto the walls in order to understand their world.

To my relief, they were breathing in the blue blue sky.
They were heard talking to my lamp,

"Boy, thumbs up. We are still able to have a piece of clean land with blue sky.

Man must continue to save the Earth."

This come to the end of my one day long vertically up journey and experience.

Yet, my mind has not back to sea level.

When I shall return to work, can I tell my MD to have mind-set change? Think out of box. Look at thing differently. Start to see vertically up. Or, more technically, to practice bottom-up rather than top-down.

Will he? Alice should know.